“To be, or not to be,” bored from this poem, “That is the question!”

Shakespeare wrote many a play during his time.  Some of which are not so popular such as “The Comedy of Errors” or “Coriolanus”.  There are some, however, that you most likely have heard of such as “Macbeth” or “Romeo and Juliet”.  The play that is believed to be his most popular play was, and always will be, “Hamlet.” The tragic story of a young prince who finds out his father has been murdered by his uncle! His uncle then turns around and marries his mother! The play consists of him plotting to get revenge and in the end, no one makes it out alive! There are many different portrayals of Hamlet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Director Franco Zeffirelli and star Mel Gibson combine their talents for this full-blooded adaptation of the classic tragedy. The movie is a concise, trimmed version of the play, as Hamlet returns to Elsinore to finds his mother married to his uncle and his dead father’s ghost demanding vengeance. Shot in Northern Scotland amid actual castles and foggy landscapes, the film has a very realistic, rugged feel courtesy of cinematographer David Watkin. Mel Gibson is superb in the title role, burying his movie star persona within a sulking, sometimes completely unsympathetic performance as the prince. Glenn Close as his mother is also disturbingly real–the two share some scenes that are nearly incestuous in their intensity–and Helena Bonham Carter lends Ophelia the perfect note of otherworldly pain. This is a perfect companion to Zeffirelli’s earlier Shakespeare films, TAMING OF THE SHREW and ROMEO & JULIET, and proves that he is a true master of poetry and period realism. Shakespeare fans should be very pleased, and beginners will find no better place to start than this accessible and vibrant adaptation.” – http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1032851-hamlet/

This is a review of “Hamlet” performed by Mel Gibson starring as Hamlet, Glenn Close starring as Gertrude the queen and Hamlet’s mother, and Helena Bonham Carter starring as crazy Ophelia.  They all recieve excellent reviews.  The highest review, though, goes to director Franco Zeffirelli who has also directed “Romeo and Juliet” and also “Taming of the Shrew,” both again Shakespeare plays!

Superstitions in many ways!

There are many different ways that people can be superstitious.  One place where superstitions come into play in a major way is sports.  For some reason athletes always make emotional connections with numbers and they are superstitious about these numbers.

Take Kobe Bryant for example.  He won 3 NBA titles with the number 8.  However, many people looked at him as a ball-hog and a bad teammate.  When Shaq got traded and he finally learned he needed a team around him he began to be a better teammate.  But the aura of “ball-hog” still loomed over him so he changed his number.  For some reason, along with his number change came his personality change.  He ditched the “ball-hogging” number 8 and assumed the role of “extreme team player” number 24:

 

Another superstition that is out there is the idea of Friday the 13th.  Coming mainly from scary movies, Friday the 13th is always a “bad day” as most people seem to think:

Mr. C. Echevarria, Modern Day Renaissance Man? YES!

Mr. C. Echevarria. 

I know when you say this name that MANY words pop into your head.  Some of which may be “wow he is such a dadgum cutie!” or “oh my goodness, he is such a great basketball player,” and possibly “an amazingly talented soccer player.  Some say he is the Pele of his time!” or my personal favorite “wow”.  I may not have a catchy name like ‘sexpanther60,’ but my name is still known around the world (Pickens)!

Yes, all these descriptions of me may be quite accurate to say the least!  However, there are some things that make me quite a renaissance man.  I believe in the old idea of ‘courtly love’ by admiring someone from afar (my prom date) as shown by my elegantly designed prom invitation! I am also a real nice guy!  I clean the house routinely (sometimes), mow the yard a lot (occassionally), and clean the pool regularly (only if my parents make me). 

So, as you can see, I like to think of myself as a Renaissaince Man!  I am quite a nice guy, and follow the rules of old!  If there is still such a thing as a ‘Rennaissance Man,’ then I have got to be in the short list of them!

Lyre Bird, Lyre Bird, Sing Me A Song!

The Lyre Bird has a unique attribute that allows it to comprehend a sound it hears and replay it in nature.  They can copy almost anything they hear.  In the video the bird copies a Kookaburra and the Kookaburra actually replies to the call!  This shows the amazing skills of “copy cat” that the Lyre Bird holds.  He has even acquired the sound of chainsaws and car alarms!

I’m not exactly sure where a Lyre Bird would hear a car alarm.  A chainsaw is moderately understandable with the bird being in the forest and trees grow in the forst and chainsaws cut down trees.  So that little bit is understandable; but the car alarm!?  This shows how humans have imposed themselves into the most remote places on eart.  To be able to get a car far enough into the forest for a bird to hear it and mimick it is quite impressive. 

This shows how humans have imposed our will into the lives of animals and foilage!  We have uprooted plants and cut down trees to get what we want.  This is a danger to species of all kinds; not just the ones in the forests are being endangered!  I think this video is a testament to what humans have done and we should realize our faults and take steps towards a more peaceful and fair world and leave space for animals to inhabit!

8 for 20

I did the race identifier game Mrs. Roper showed us and I did fair on it.  Let’s say this, if you give me a Hispanic/Latino, White, or Asian descended person i have a 50/50 chance of guessing them for that particular origin.  I was 2 for 4 on each of those races.  When i guessed Black and Indian, on the other hand,  I was only 1 for 4 on each!  That is a bad percentage. 

As bad as it is for me to say, I did use stereotyping.  I guessed one guy was black because he had a larger nose and darker skin.  I guessed one person was indian because he had a light brown skin and long black hair.  I guessed one woman was white because she had curly, reddish hair and I don’t know many races other than white that have that. I was wrong! 

Stereotyping is a bad thing to do and I feel quite bad about using this.  Although we were supposed to use only pictures to guess, it does open your eyes to stereotypes in America.  Now that I have done this game I think i will second guess whether I am right about people’s heritages anymore.  I thought I could tell pretty easily but this game proves that you could not!

Assignment #2

After watching the video again and seeing the transformation the girl undergoes to become pretty I realized that there are many of these sorts of commercials out that I never paid attention to until it was presented to me.  One of the commercials that is directed towards men and women about “body image” that I never looked at like that before is the commercials for Bowflex.  This goes for both men and women.  They show the “perfect body” as one that is tone and in shape.  They do not allow kids to live their lives’ comfortable of the body they are in because of how the media portrays the way your body should be.  Not until I saw the video from Mrs. Roper’s blog and realized how media does this did I realize that Bowflex and any other workout system does the same thing. They do not show people happy in the body they are in, they only show people as being happy in the body Bowflex can put you in!  It’s a sad thing but it happens and people just have to accept it and make their own conclusions.  Unfortunately some people do listen to the Bowflex commercials and others like it and think they have to have a “movie star’s” body to be truly happy.

My First Blog (on wordpress.com)

I’m not new to blogging.  I blog on other websites all the time about diffent topics, mainly the Atlanta Hawks! That is what my first blog is going to be about. I am a huge Hawks fan and I am tired of hearing people say they are garbage because they are not! They are the number four team in the Eastern Conference which is VERY good considering two years ago they were the last team! They took the Boston Celtics to 7 games in the playoffs last year and I guarntee a second round this year! So if you have any comments feel free to argue it out with me.  I’m prepared to defend my team!