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Sunday, September 12, 2004
Reading restaurant descriptions is a great way to find new recipes. I read on a pizza flyer that this place made pizza very simply, with garlic-infused olive oil, tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. I'd made pizza before with just tomatoes and basil, but I'd never tried adding garlic-infused olive oil. I tried it tonight, and did it ever kick ass. Of course, it helped that tomatoes are in season now, but just adding that garlic oil made it tooooo good.
Reading stuff lately, I realised I missed reading Shakespeare. So over the past week I've read some ones I hadn't before: Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, and Henry IV part II. There are so many things to like in Shakespeare. One thing that stands out to me every time I read a play is how full of life the plays feel. Nothing in all of literature captures the sense of life that is found in Shakespeare. My favourite thing reading Shakespeare, though, is the moments which just smack you over the head. What do I mean by that? The end of Henry IV part II is a good example. All play, Falstaff, the proverbial barfly, is waiting for Prince Hal, his friend, to become King. When Hal becomes King, he reasons, he will be made, and all the justices and police that hound Falstaff will bother him no longer. Meanwhile, Hal is declaring to his father and other important personages that when he becomes King, he will give up his former bar-hopping ways. It's hard to believe, though, considering he seems to have an addiction to hanging out with Falstaff and his cronies. So, the last scene of the play comes, Hal is crowned King, and as he processes though the streets, here's the scene:
[King Hal and others enter]
Falstaff: God save thy grace, King Hal, my royal Hal!
Pistol: The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!
Falstaff: God save thee, my sweet boy!
King Harry: My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain main.
Friggin' cold. Reading it today, even though I knew it was coming, it just sent a chill through my spine. He barely responds to Falstaff, doesn't even address him, and tells the Chief Justice (Falstaff's nemesis) to speak to him in his stead. By the end of the scene, Falstaff and his friends are hauled off to jail, to "do reform yourselves".
Now, the scene is not improbable: after all, Hal has been saying he will do this for the past two plays. But to actually do it, and to be so cold about it, is harsh. Moreover, it makes you rethink everything that has happened before in both parts of Henry IV. Most plays have a superb moment like this: in Richard II, with Bolingbroke at his gate, Richard basically hands his crown to Bolingbroke, without even a fight. In Antony and Cleopatra, after Antony dies, Cleopatra changes: it's no longer about killing herself for love, suddenly the reason to kill herself is to defy Octavius, not be in solitude with Antony. Again, moments like this are superb in of themselves, but also change everything that's happened before. Great stuff.
Reading stuff lately, I realised I missed reading Shakespeare. So over the past week I've read some ones I hadn't before: Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, and Henry IV part II. There are so many things to like in Shakespeare. One thing that stands out to me every time I read a play is how full of life the plays feel. Nothing in all of literature captures the sense of life that is found in Shakespeare. My favourite thing reading Shakespeare, though, is the moments which just smack you over the head. What do I mean by that? The end of Henry IV part II is a good example. All play, Falstaff, the proverbial barfly, is waiting for Prince Hal, his friend, to become King. When Hal becomes King, he reasons, he will be made, and all the justices and police that hound Falstaff will bother him no longer. Meanwhile, Hal is declaring to his father and other important personages that when he becomes King, he will give up his former bar-hopping ways. It's hard to believe, though, considering he seems to have an addiction to hanging out with Falstaff and his cronies. So, the last scene of the play comes, Hal is crowned King, and as he processes though the streets, here's the scene:
[King Hal and others enter]
Falstaff: God save thy grace, King Hal, my royal Hal!
Pistol: The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!
Falstaff: God save thee, my sweet boy!
King Harry: My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain main.
Friggin' cold. Reading it today, even though I knew it was coming, it just sent a chill through my spine. He barely responds to Falstaff, doesn't even address him, and tells the Chief Justice (Falstaff's nemesis) to speak to him in his stead. By the end of the scene, Falstaff and his friends are hauled off to jail, to "do reform yourselves".
Now, the scene is not improbable: after all, Hal has been saying he will do this for the past two plays. But to actually do it, and to be so cold about it, is harsh. Moreover, it makes you rethink everything that has happened before in both parts of Henry IV. Most plays have a superb moment like this: in Richard II, with Bolingbroke at his gate, Richard basically hands his crown to Bolingbroke, without even a fight. In Antony and Cleopatra, after Antony dies, Cleopatra changes: it's no longer about killing herself for love, suddenly the reason to kill herself is to defy Octavius, not be in solitude with Antony. Again, moments like this are superb in of themselves, but also change everything that's happened before. Great stuff.
