Tag Archives: Shakespeare

Just Because You Are You

So many times when we are in the middle of our marriages we focus the shortcomings in ourselves and in our spouses. We look at the flabby middle, the graying hair, the fact that no matter how we try, we just can’t learn to make a good casserole. We worry that with marriage comes familiarity leading to disinterest, or that we don’t keep ourselves attractive enough. How many times have you asked your spouse or has he asked you, “Why do you love me?” Have you been able to reply from the heart about all of the little things, the … Continue reading →

The Wednesday Wars – Gary D. Schmidt

The unfortunately named boy Holling Hoodhood is starting seventh grade with a strike already against him – he’s the only Presbyterian in a class full of Jews and Catholics. While the other children are excused early on Wednesday afternoons to attend temple and mass, Holling is stuck at school, and he’s sure his teacher hates him. No doubt she was looking forward to Wednesday afternoons completely free, but with this one lone Presbyterian to look after, she’s trapped, and she takes it out on him by making him read Shakespeare’s plays. He doesn’t realize until later that she’s actually doing … Continue reading →

Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000)

I’m so confused! I don’t know if I just saw a corny musical, a Shakespeare play, a strip club dance number, or a war film. I just finished watching “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” which is a Kenneth Branagh film, a remake of the Shakespeare play. I really was not expecting what I got. The basic story is that the King of Navarre and his three best friends make a vow that they will stay in college for three years and devote themselves entirely to study, and that no woman will enter the court until those three years are up. There are … Continue reading →

Lyle the Kindly Viking (2001)

Archibald Asparagus is a bit of a loner on the VeggieTales set. It seems that he is the only vegetable with a strong sense of the aesthetic, that no one else can understand art and literature. It’s his cross to bear. In an attempt to inject some culture into the Veggietales video series, he asks for permission to be in charge of just one episode, which Bob grants him, but not without misgivings. Archibald immediately redecorates the set to look like an old English library, and settles down in an easy chair to narrate the first tale, which was supposed … Continue reading →

Kiss Me Kate (1953)

This charming movie is one of my all-time favorites. Fred (Howard Keel) and Lilli (Kathryn Grayson) used to be married and spent a lot of time on stage together, starring in opposite roles. They’re divorced now, but when Cole Porter gives them a call to talk to them about a new musical version of “The Taming of the Shrew,” they are willing to put their differences aside for the sake of art. In fact, Fred decides to use the play as his opportunity to win Lilli back, and it would have worked, too, if not for the fact that he’s … Continue reading →

Shakespeare in Love

The film Shakespeare in Love is one of my favorites. Not just because it features Judi Dench. Not just because it tells the story of William Shakespeare and his love affair with a beautiful woman who is destined to be the bride of another. Not just because the tragedy of love is so highlighted within the plot of the movie and the plot of the plays that Shakespeare writes. But because the topic, love, is so readily and brazenly addressed, it is at different times in the movie equally exalted, mocked, embraced, disparaged, applauded and ultimately left unsatisfied. It recognizes … Continue reading →