MackenzieRowe

*Comedy* *My Top Five* media type="youtube" key="kNn6GebMlk8" height="315" width="560" align="center"
 * 1) Kristen Wiig and "Surprise!"(Marty Boughton)-- I absolutely love SNL and almost everything Kristen Wiig touches. It's just so exaggerated and quirky and I would never have thought a sketch could be made out of a concept like this. I think that's why it's one of the funniest.
 * 2) "David after the Dentist" (Megan Morrell)-- I loved this little boy. He was so adorable and I felt so bad for him and I laughed out loud. Who would have thought that a little kid under the influence of strong PKs would be so funny?
 * 3) "eTrade Baby" (Taylor Hendricks)-- I remember watching this commercial during the Superbowl. The eTrade baby is the best. The deep, man voice on a baby body is just a strange enough combo to make it hilarious.
 * 4) "Frog Plays iPad Any Crusher" (Shell-Bee Mallory)-- I think the funniest part of this video has to be the end when the frog bites his owner on the hand and he drops the camera. Didn't see that coming, and it made me laugh. Animals are sometimes very strange, and it's always entertaining to watch them do things only a human normally does.
 * 5) "Xtremers" (Hannah Elzinga)-- This boy's awkwardness is uncomfortable and so, so funny. Uncomfortable situations (as long as they're not happening to us) are always funny. You tend to laugh even harder when you know you're not supposed to.


 * I'm sorry, but every time Bill Hader breaks as "Stefon" I pretty much lose it. Weekend Update is always a favorite of mine, and Stefon is becoming one of my favorite characters.

"To be, or not to be, that is the question..."

Saturday, February 18, 2012 3:47 P.M. Blog Entry #4
 * I can't believe we've finally finished //Hamlet//! This second semester is moving ridiculously fast....
 * Once again, we had a full week in A.P. Lit. My group and I presented our scene (below) and it turned out pretty well....I have to say, despite the somewhat difficult task of memorizing my lines, acting out scenes really helped my understanding of the play. My scene in particular (Hamlet and Laertes fighting in Ophelia's grave) seemed even more outrageous when we had to brainstorm costumes/props/stage directions/modern interpretations etc...

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*For your enjoyment, Hamlet Act V Scene 1 Part C*
 * So, remember how I posted last time that I was fairly certain that Hamlet had gone off the deep end? That he was really, truly crazy and not acting anymore? Well...I'm back to being confused again. And I think that's okay. What sent me back again to believing that Hamlet was sane was his discussion with the Clowns in the graveyard. He seems calm, level-headed, and contemplative . Although he speaks of death and morbidly stares into the eye sockets of a skull that once was his friend Yorick, he seems relatively normal. If Hamlet is suffering from anything, it may just be a moderate case of depression.
 * As soon as the King, Queen, and Laertes arrive to bury his "dear" Ophelia (whom I never believe Hamlet truly loved in the first place...) he suddenly flips into crazy mode again. I think I've learned that it's not easy to determine the line between sanity or insanity. I've also learned that it doesn't matter if one is sane or insane, trust is earned and one proves his or her loyalty through their actions (Cladius was deemed "sane" by everyone and even held on a royal pedestal, but he certainly wasn't the most trustworthy man in the kingdom...)


 * One passage that I found stylistically interesting (and just plain funny) was in Act V Scene 2. Hamlet and Horatio meet Osric and have a little fun with him and his cap...
 * I'm so glad we also watched this scene from Kenneth Branagh's //Hamlet// in class. Robin Williams makes the perfect Osric; a little nervous, a bit gullible and naive, an oddball.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I love when Shakespeare includes these little funny quips between characters. I've found that it helps break up the heavy, formal dialogues and monologues and an attentive reader will catch this exchange and smile a bit.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Wednesday, February 8, 2012 6:30 P.M. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Blog Entry #3
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">First off, I'd just like to give a big shout out to all those groups that presented their scenes this week; they've all been so great and creative and I'm now I'm getting pretty nervous for my presentation...
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">This was a pretty HUGE week in //Hamlet//. We dissected the famous "To be, or not to be..." soliloquy, we commanded Ophelia to get to a nunnery, we viewed the play within a play "The Mousetrap", and finally, we witnessed the confession of Claudius and Hamlet's slaying of Polonius.

>>>> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-Viewing Kenneth Branagh's interpretation of the play within a play, <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"The Mousetrap". Branagh as Hamlet has this <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">crazed look in his eye, he's <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">babbling at a million miles a minute , and he's jumping to all kinds of conclusions (turns out, they're the right ones). >>>> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When Hamlet murders Polonius ; on one hand, this act finally proves Hamlet is capable of some action, however, he <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">snaps so quickly and so recklessly that is suggests he's really starting to lose it. In this same scene, the <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">ghost of Hamlet Sr. appears once again to his son, but <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Gertrude insists she sees/hears nothing... suspicious. What is the "ghost" was simply some sort of psychological defense mechanism that Hamlet created to deal with his grief? >>>> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-Finally, Hamlet <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">inability to strike kill his Uncle when he had the chance; <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">he cannot force himself to act one way or another. This does not suggest he is in a stable mental condition.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">I'd also like to say that our pink Essential Question tracking sheet has been a really valuable tool for me when it comes to keeping everything straight and weeding out what I want to post on this blog, I don't know about you guys.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">In relation to our <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Essential Question, I have finally reached a conclusion that Hamlet <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//has// crossed the line between sane and insane; <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">he's no longer acting crazy . What lead me to this conclusion?
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Stylistically, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I have to give Shakespeare credit for his love poem from Hamlet to Ophelia..." <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Doubt thou the stars are fire..." <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">this passage is simple, surprisingly easy to understand (for Shakespeare) and beautiful. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Maybe it's because Valentines' Day is coming up, but this passage is what every girl wants to hear.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Saturday, February 4, 2012 11:31 A.M. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Blog Entry #2
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Act I down, three more to go! I don't think I'm alone in saying that the prospect of reading Shakespeare's //Hamlet// is a bit daunting.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Before I started reading, I thought this unit would definitely be one of the longer ones...However, I have to say that Act I really flew by. Once again, I think it's the combo of reading/viewing/discussing in class. It's so helpful.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Additionally, my sister is preparing for the Drama Department's spring production of //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A Midsummer's Night Dream. //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> She's researching Shakespearean theater and besides learning about //Midsummer's//, she's taken an interest in //Hamlet// //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium;">. //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">We may not discuss specific Scenes, but talking about Billy S. a little bit every day has really helped sparked my interest in all things Shakespeare.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This week, Act I Scenes IV and V intrigued me. A few major things happen in the last part of Act I. Young Hamlet finally meets the same apparition that Horatio and Marcellus have encountered. We learn, for a fact, that this ghost is indeed Hamlet Sr. He calls upon his son to avenge his murder. We finally hear the suspicious story of the King's death.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">At this point, I believe Shakespeare wants us to believe that young Hamlet <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">has truly seen his father's ghost, and that the vengeful path he is about to travel down is <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">justified . I feel that Shakespeare <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">hasn't given us enough in the story yet <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">to judge whether or not this young man is <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">insane . However, it is possible that his grief is still plaguing him and that this "ghost" of his father was just <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">wishful thinking , an attempt to see him one last time. Hamlet's greif could certain push him to <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">insanity , but right now I don't think he's <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">crossed that line yet.


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Stylistically, <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I loved the ghost King's description of his death by poison. It adds to the eerie, creepy, ghostly atmosphere of Act I Scene V. "..whose effect [the poison] holds such an enmity with blood of man that <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">swift as quicksilver it courses through the <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">natural gates and alleys of the body. .." I <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">can see this king's quick death, and if I was directing a version of //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Hamlet, //I would want to include an animation here where viewers see this silvery liquid streaming through the vessels and tissues of the sleeping Hamlet Sr. "...<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">like eager droppings into milk, the thin and wholesome blood". This description adds to the mood and even <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">inspires a feeling of malice towards Hamlet's incestuous Uncle for (supposedly) having committed such a deed.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Thursday, January 26, 2012 2:17 P.M. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Blog Entry #1 <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Opened Shakespeare's //Hamlet// for the first time yesterday. I have to say, I'm glad we're reading it out loud as a class. It's definitely the easiest way to tackle Shakespeare. Initially, I was a little surprised that the ghost of Hamlet Sr. was introduced in the very first scene. I felt like there should have been more of a build up. Also, I'm leaning towards watching the Kenneth Branagh version after viewing Act I Scene II in class....four hours of Branagh is a lot, but I just don't think I can handle the cheesiness that is Mel Gibson and Glenn Close.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but the character Gertrude across all three film versions acts almost like a love-sick teenage girl absolutely head over heels in "lust" with her brother-in-law/husband...She doesn't seem like a very mature mother.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">My perception may change as we read, but I'm interested to see how her character develops.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Our class has decided on an __//**Essential Question**//__//**:***// Where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity? To what extent can we trust the insane?
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Act I Scene I is where we can first start to consider this question, especially "to what extent can we trust the insane?"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I found this passage interesting for a few reasons...
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">How do we know that the guards have seen a true "apparition"? These men have been on watch all night, they're probably tired and groggy and their minds may be playing tricks on them. Their encounter with the ghost of Hamlet Sr. is a keystone event; it sets young Hamlet off on his quest to avenge his father. **//"Is this something more than fantasy?"//** is truly the question we're asking throughout Scene I Act I and really, throughout the rest of the novel.
 * 2) <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Stylistically, the end of this particular passage from Act I Scene I is interesting. Horatio's description of the Hamlet ghost (**//"Such was the <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">very armor he had on when he the <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">ambitious Norway combated . So frowned he once when, in an<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> angry parle , he smote the <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">sledded the Polacks on the ice ..")//** is descriptive and specific, like he was <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">providing evidence the Ghost Hunters could if they were hunting Hamlet Sr. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Such vivid description sway us towards believing the guards' tale.