Van+Jones

Funny Post: Zach Galifianakis music video media type="youtube" key="N2bCc0EGP6U" height="315" width="560" align="center"

Welcome.
 * Hamlet Blog #4**
 * 2/20/12**

Personally, I thought that the Kenneth Branaugh version of the last scene was pretty epic. I guess it was kind of cheesy at times, but at least it was more exciting than the Mel Gibson version. And can we get a hand for good ol' Robbie Williams as Osric? *clap clap clap*

//It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain.// //No medicine in the world can do thee good.// //In thee there is not half an hour of life.// //The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,// //Unbated and envenomed. The foul practice// //Hath turned itself on me. Lo, here I lie,// //Never to rise again. Thy mother’s poisoned.// //I can no more. The king, the king’s to blame.//
 * LAERTES**

In this passage from Act 5 Scene 2, Laeretes is dying on the ground, well aware of the fact that he wont live much longer. The interesting part, I think, is that he sells out the king (although it's pretty obvious by this point that he did murder Hamlet Sr.) with his dying breath. I wonder that if Laertes had not been dying, he would not have had this sudden change of heart. Is it just/right to put on an innocent face just because you're about to die and you know it? Is that what Laertes did here?

Greetings.
 * Hamlet Blog #3**
 * 2/11/12**

Yoda says it perfectly in this picture. Hamlet needs to stop whining and just get the job done! He had multiple chances to kill Claudius, which he claims he wants to do, but came up with lame excuses to not follow through. I'm not saying I promote murder, but sheesh, if Hamlet says he's gonna do something, he should just do it already! In our reading this week, Hamlet has become crazier and crazier. Johann and I enacted the scene where Hamlet denies ever loving Ophelia:

As much fun as I had professing my love to Johann, this scene made me realize how illogical and nonsensical Hamlet has become. Hamlet denies ever loving Ophelia. In his own reality, he never loved her. This changes actual reality by making Ophelia really weirded out and everntually leads to her untimely demise. In our reading, Hamlet also kills Polonius without a second thought. This shows that when Hello, my people.
 * //HAMLET//**
 * //That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should//**
 * //admit no discourse to your beauty.//**
 * //OPHELIA//**
 * //Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty?//**
 * //HAMLET//**
 * //Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness: this was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once.//**
 * //OPHELIA//**
 * //Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.//**
 * //HAMLET//**
 * //You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not.//**
 * //OPHELIA//**
 * //I was the more deceived.//**
 * Hamlet Blog #2**
 * 2/5/2012**

It's pretty apparent so far in the play that Hamlet is flaky. He can't make up his mind about anything. The only he's sertain about is that he thinks he wants to kill his uncle. See what I did there? Ha. Ha.

But anyway, I think that the fact that Hamlet is so uncertain about things is what drives the play. He constantly is questioning himself and his motives as well as motives of others around him. Did Claudius kill his father? Did his father's ghost really make an apperance to him? Is Hamlet in love with his mother? We aren't the only ones asking these questions.

Let's take a look at this trailer for the new movie __Uncertainty__ starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

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 * Hamlet Blog #1**
 * 1/29/12**

Welcome to my blog.

Our class essential question is "how can our perception of reality change reality?" To understand this question, first we must understand reality. The definition of reality according to Webster is the quality or state of being real. But what the heck is real? Are thoughts real? If so, would that make everything reality? These are questions we must ask ourselves.

I think the answer to our question is simple: no. If my perception of the earth is that it is flat, it doesn't make it flat. If my perception of McDonald's is that they sell discount furniture, it doesn't mean McDonald's sells discount furniture.

We weren't the first to ponder such abstract concepts as reality. Sit back and relax as Richard Sanderson takes you on a journey through love, lust, betrayal, and of course, reality.

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Thank you, Richard.

Now, the question of reality rises in the opening Act of //Hamlet//. Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo claim to have seen an apparition of the late King Hamlet. As they all contemplate the meaning of the ghost and it's sudden appearance, I contemplate the sanity of and reliability of the characters. Did they really see a ghost? Are they all just crazy? I believe we need to take everything these characters claim with a grain, or maybe several grains, of salt.

Fun fact: Kenneth Branagh, who plays Hamlet in the 1996 version, directed //Mary Shelley's Frankenstein// in 1994. Coincidence? I think not. Well played, Mrs. Bear.