Linkies

[ink_splotch]

So, you know how in my English class we've been reading 'Who'd Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', and it turns out the play is all kinds of awesome. And part of the reading excercise and such is that you have to learn something about the author - this was going to be done by watching a movie about Edward Albee, but I got impatient and looked him up on my good friend Wiki and I thought, okay, that's kind of interesting; basically I learned he was a city boy, part of the Off-Broadway movement. And then yesterday we saw the movie about him and just, just *love*. How can you not adore a man who compares writing and directing a play to writing and directing a symphony. Gods, so awesome (he even mentioned semicolons, at which point four people turned and pointed at me. Erhm. Hee, am such a geek). And the clips from his plays! Okay, I didn't really feel anything for Zoostory, but 'Three Tall Women' and 'The Sandbox' both looked very interesting; his images of the disfuctionality that lurks under the surface and in the fictions we create are amazing.

Anyway, he kept mentioning Tenessee Williams, so I figured that since none of the Albee plays were available at the library, I'd get one of his and having a vague knowledge of his plays, got Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Oh My God. Awesome. So awesome. I read the entire thing duing school today, possibly missing a few details in social studies and physics, but soworthit. Absolutely wonderful, dysfunctional, ohsopainful play, which wonderful, wonderful hurting characters.

So, it's right back to Wiki to check him out, and Oh! Poor Tennessee. God. The poor, disturbed man. Wonderfully interesting. So now I have two new playwright crushes, and even more options for my 3rd year big essay. It's strange, I was so sure that I was going to write about Victorian litt, but now...I want this. I mean, I want to read more of these plays, because they're amazing. They're incredible portraits of people so deep in their own illusions and lies, it'll blow you away.

Well, in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, there's a very strong homosexual aspect to the plot and on Tennessee's bio it says he detested the film version of the play for removing the gay aspects; this rang a bell for me so I went searching for this page I'd found about gay aspects in film, and whaddya know? I found it: Here is the overveiw. It's pretty cool, if slightly jarring'll written. Go check it out.

Related to that, I went amazon shopping again. I'm not proud.

Day after tomorrow, Sofie and Tess come for the weekend! Much fun will be had, I can promise you.

Hm, maybe I should clean.

Oh, to finish:

Fun coming out stories

You all know the myth of Persephone, right? Brighid has written an Oz take on that story and it's amazing. It's written in verse form, and even if you know next to nothing about the fandom, you should read this; it could stand as an original work. It's incredibly vivid, incredibly beautiful; it's stirring in a completely different way that one's used to. Go read it. Now.

Comments

[likethesun2.livejournal.com]

Edward Albee is one of my favorite playwrights of all time; and actually -- maybe I'm just weird -- I love The Zoo Story. A quote from it sits right on my bed-side table, in fact:
...[H]e smiled benignly, wrapped up the hamburger in waxed paper, and said: A bite for ya pussy-cat? I wanted to say: No, not really; it's part of a plan to poison a dog I know. But, you can't say 'a dog I know' without sounding funny; so I said, a little too loud, I'm afraid, and too formally: YES, A BITE FOR MY PUSSYCAT. People looked up. It always happens when I try to simplify things; people look up.

But Who's Afraid has kind of a special place in my heart. (We won't even go into how many quotes from it are on scraps of paper under the bed.) If you haven't seen the movie, check it out: it's Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and it gave me a new perspective on the play when I saw it. On the page, it's a very sharp, witty, almost erudite play sometimes; on the screen, it becomes much more grating and pathetic, and that's as it should be.

This comment is getting to be overly long, but Cat is my favorite Williams play, so I have to mention it, too. As you saw, there's a movie version, and I saw it knowing that it had been toned down. Actually, although it was less explicit than the original version, the homosexual element was still very clear to me, and, I think, to the other people watching with me. Of course, that might've been because I knew from reading the play what was really going on, or maybe I'm hyperattuned to these things. In any case, it's a pretty good movie. I don't like some of the changes that were made between the page and the screen, but that's life.

Coincidentally, Liz Taylor is the leading lady in it, too. And Paul Newman plays Brick.

Paul Newman plays Brick.

It's amazing. :)

[vampirespider.livejournal.com]

I've never actually seen The Zoostory or read it, all we saw were short moments for a reading of it. After all you've said, I may well have to read it!

In English we saw the movie before reading the play, and I loved it. It is, as you say, amazing, and the themes are much easier to see when it's acted that just when it's read. And Elizabeth Taylor was perfectly cast.

So, in your opinion, it's worth a look anyway? I've been kind of debating whether or not to see it; on one hand, I may not get a chance to see it as a play, on the other hand, I may just get annoyed at the changes.

Mmm, Elizabeth Taylor. Mmm, Paul Newman. That is tempting ;)

[hjordis.livejournal.com]

Mmm, Tennessee Williams is <3.

[vampirespider.livejournal.com]

He is!

And icon love.

[nutmeg4077.livejournal.com]

I read Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? because of my love of Virginia Woolf's novels...but I was really blown away, and only wish I could *see* it someday.

Oh, and, psst...I found you through the mash-slash community. Saw you were a BJ girl and had to friend you.

[vampirespider.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's just amazing, isn't it? I really want to see it on stage (I've seen the movie, which is definitely worth a look or two)

Aw, icon love. And hee! Thank you. I'll friend back.

[lattara.livejournal.com]

omg, I adore those coming out stories. <3

Should I read Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I guess I should. Hmmm.

omg yaye i'm coming i'm very nearly on my way!! (er. How will I know when to get off? Do they say? I can't remember from last time, because I was too busy enjoying your and Tess' presence)

And I wanna read that book you ordered when you're done with it.

[vampirespider.livejournal.com]

I know!

yesyoushould. rightnow.

Just get off where you see a crazy blond girl squeeing and flapping her arms (that'll be Valby, by the by)

*grin*

[lattara.livejournal.com]

Especially the first one, although I've heard it before.

Hee! Well, my library's closed, and won't open until Monday. So no, not right now. But soonish. *g*

Ah. All is clear. :-) You do know when I'll be arriving, right?

[vampirespider.livejournal.com]

Good girl! *pats you*

12.40 pm, right?

[lattara.livejournal.com]

*beams*

Got it in one.