Surfacing.
The last few days have kind of been a blur. Thursday, I felt dizzy and lightheaded and basically did not leave my couch. Friday was supposed to be a 1/2 day at work on account of me feeling like something that might be scraped off a shoe, but then my boss had to go to the hospital. By 6:30 I was feeling so poorly that I did not make it to dance rehearsal. Saturday and Sunday, I slept. And by 'slept' I mean very literally that I spent over half of that time unconscious. I did not leave the house. I did not leave my pajamas. I slept. The upshot is that I feel a lot better today. I had rehearsal and danced, even if I did not dance particularly well. I at least got the structure of Friday's performance down. And I stabbed no one and nothing with my sword.
Today, I work on commissions, as I will be working extra in the shop this week. My boss is still in the hospital, although he is doing better. So I need to put my nose to the grindstone, and pack orders as well. One productive thing I did do while I was communing with my couch and a pile of blankets: I re-tooled the shop categories at Sihaya Designs and put a buncha stuff on sale. So that's something.
I also rented Anonymous, the recent Roland Emmerich flick that posited the Earl of Oxford as the true author of Shakespeare's works. On one hand: it was an enjoyable historical AU. If you view it as an alternate history in a universe parallel to our own, it was a decent movie. For all of the details that don't line up (I mean, honestly, screenwriter dude, the details of Marlowe's death are widely available!) there were enough nice nods to historical events that I could say "this is Tudor history if a few different choices had been made." They even worked in Ben Jonson throwing shade at the Poet-Ape!
The costume designers and set designers did an AMAZING job. Everything looked lived in, and the lighting was so lovely. This is a particular nitpick of mine-- I hate seeing historical flicks where everything is perfectly and brightly lit indoors at night (Pride and Prejudice miniseries, I AM LOOKING AT YOU). And the actors did a pretty good job with what they were given. (Vanessa Redgrave & Joely Richardson both playing Elizabeth I? Brilliant!)
...However. There is a super ridiculousjump the shark nuke the fridge moment near the end that I was like "REALLY? REALLLLLLLY?" Apparently the Virgin Queen was screwin' errrrrrrrrrrbody. For the sake of the story, I could buy that she had a secret lovechild with Dudley-- there was, after all, a notable claimant to that tale, and some circumstantial evidence. I'd even be willing to swallow for fictitious purposes that she had a baby with Oxford, because the Essex + Southampton thing lines up nicely, and it serves the story. But that she was ALSO Oxford's mother? HAHAHAHA NO. It was like the screenwriter was like "this is not tawdry enough! Needs a sprinkle of incest! HA!" The story would have been sooooo much better off without taking it so far that it actually fell off a cliff.
Anywho, it did renew my interest in reading up on the Shakespearean authorship controversies. While I'm very much in the "Shakespeare did write his plays" camp, I do find some of the claims of the Anti-Stratfordian camp at least intriguing. I want to read more about it from both sides of the coin-- mostly I just find historical conspiracy theories fascinating. I'm kind of a nerd like that. And it makes for good fictions.
Okay. Work time. Well, caffeine, then work time.
Today, I work on commissions, as I will be working extra in the shop this week. My boss is still in the hospital, although he is doing better. So I need to put my nose to the grindstone, and pack orders as well. One productive thing I did do while I was communing with my couch and a pile of blankets: I re-tooled the shop categories at Sihaya Designs and put a buncha stuff on sale. So that's something.
I also rented Anonymous, the recent Roland Emmerich flick that posited the Earl of Oxford as the true author of Shakespeare's works. On one hand: it was an enjoyable historical AU. If you view it as an alternate history in a universe parallel to our own, it was a decent movie. For all of the details that don't line up (I mean, honestly, screenwriter dude, the details of Marlowe's death are widely available!) there were enough nice nods to historical events that I could say "this is Tudor history if a few different choices had been made." They even worked in Ben Jonson throwing shade at the Poet-Ape!
The costume designers and set designers did an AMAZING job. Everything looked lived in, and the lighting was so lovely. This is a particular nitpick of mine-- I hate seeing historical flicks where everything is perfectly and brightly lit indoors at night (Pride and Prejudice miniseries, I AM LOOKING AT YOU). And the actors did a pretty good job with what they were given. (Vanessa Redgrave & Joely Richardson both playing Elizabeth I? Brilliant!)
...However. There is a super ridiculous
Anywho, it did renew my interest in reading up on the Shakespearean authorship controversies. While I'm very much in the "Shakespeare did write his plays" camp, I do find some of the claims of the Anti-Stratfordian camp at least intriguing. I want to read more about it from both sides of the coin-- mostly I just find historical conspiracy theories fascinating. I'm kind of a nerd like that. And it makes for good fictions.
Okay. Work time. Well, caffeine, then work time.