Skip to main content

Posts

Say It Like Shakespeare: No Make-Up Day

Ada saat-saat di mana kita sebagai perempuan malas banget pakai make-up. Buat saya, itu mood sehari-hari. Mungkin ada lah beberapa hari dalam setahun di mana jiwa perempuan normal dalam diri saya ingin menunjukkan sisi femininnya, tapi selain itu.. Karena itu hari ini saya ingin berbagi beberapa quote Shakespeare yang sering muncul di kepala saya kalau saya sudah mulai disuruh dandan. Henry IV, Part I Waktu mikirin soal bagaimana bayak orang mengkritik gaya hidup dia yang sama sekali nggak kaya pangeran yang bakal memimpin kerajaan suatu hari nanti. If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work; But when they seldom come, they wished-for come, And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. Yang artinya, Kalau sepanjang tahun libur terus, libur bakal sama ngeboseninnya kaya hari kerja. Tapi ketika kita jarang libur, liburan jadi hal yang ditunggu-tunggu. Nggak ada yang lebih menyenangkan daripada hal yang jarang terjadi.  Yang buat saya arti...
Recent posts

I Missed Shakespeare's Day

Anggap saja ini postingan permohonan maaf karena melewatkan hari Shakespeare tanggal 23 lalu. Hari Shakespeare yang jatuh pada hari Minggu atau hari Sabtu memang selalu mudah terlewatkan. (Alasan,) Karena itu saya mau memberikan beberapa pengumuman. Posting blog ini mungkin akan semakin jarang Kehidupan di dunia nyata memang ternyata sangat merepotkan. Pada akhirnya, saya tidak bisa menyediakan terlalu banyak waktu untuk blogging , karena jadwal yang semakin padat. Kalau Shakespeare bilang, "My salad days, when I was keen for merriment." #misquote Post mungkin akan semakin sering dalam bahasa Indonesia Yang satu ini sama sekali bykan karena saya nyaman menulis dalam bahasa Indonesia, tapi karena saya rasa blog Shakespeare dalam bahasa Indonesia akan lebih menarik daripada dalam bahasa Inggris, yang tentu sudah banyak bertebaran di mana-mana. Fitur-fitur seperti Bad Translation juga rasa-rasanya lebih "kena" dalam bahasa Indonesia dan jelas akan lebih mudah d...

Shakespeare Week - Shakespeare 400th Death Anniversary

Hi, everybody! It's been a long long while. (Sorry.) Busy as I am nowadays, I would feel more than guilty if I miss Shakespeare's 400th Death Anniversary. (Do we celebrate the deaths of people now?) Day of death is a perfect time to reflect on life. Not for the dead person, of course, but for us the living. We get to think about our lives this far, about what we have achieved and what impression we would leave on people. As for Shakespeare, we know what he had achieved, and what impression he left on people. Nothing can sum it up better than his own prophetic (or, depends on the interpretation that you prefer, narcissistic) sonnets. Take Sonnet 55 , for example. Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory. 'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity That wear this world out to the ending doom. That is what we call self-description. Howev...

Battle of Agincourt Commemoration

Hi. I think by now you have guessed how little I have time to blog. But I suppose it would be a great mistake not to mention the 600th Commemoration of the legendary Battle of Agincourt. There's a whole website dedicated to it , if you want to know more about people's seriousness when it comes to this event. Tho only reason why I remember the date, why I care about it, seeing that I am no Englishman nor Frenchman, is Shakespeare. I believe that I'm not the only person in the world who spends a slot in his memory for Julius Caesar's death-day and the Battle of Agincourt/Crispin Day just because Shakespeare mentioned them. So, let's get straight to Shakespeare and his half-deified King Henry V. When I think of Agincourt, the first thing that comes to mind is the Crispin Day Speech. Naturally. It's hard to choose a favourite among all the actors that have played Henry V. As many other Shakespeare's characters and speeches, this can be highly personalised by...

Citing Scriptures: Everything That Is, Has Been Before

I was reading Ecclesiastes the other day, and found the verse that I was looking for - the one that I was reminded of when I read Sonnet 59.  It's Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10 (KJV). The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.  But Shakespeare's Sonnet 59 is a (not so) subtle refutation to the verses' argument that the world repeats itself. Here's what the Bard says about his friend. If there be nothing new, but that which is Hath been before, how are our brains beguil'd, Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss The second burthen of a former child! O, that record could with a backward look, Even of five hundred courses of the sun, Show me your image in some antique book, Since mind at first in character was done! That I might see what the old world ...

Say It Like Shakespeare: Motivational Quotes

Do you feel bad today? Do you feel like your problems are Everest-like, so tall and unconquerable? Or even worse, Pompei-like, dark and deadly? Do you need a boost of motivation to help you through the day? Let's do it Shakespeare's way. There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. - Hamlet Even the emotional-sometimes-homicidal-sometimes-suicidal Hamlet knows this. Be positive. It's not that bad. It's just our paranoia. We'll get through it. Extremities are the trier of spirits. Common chances common men could bear. - Coriolanus Despite being a bad mother, Volumnia gives Martius a good advice. Don't be a common man! Prove ourselves better than what they think. Stretch the boundaries, try the extremes, be amazing. All things are ready if our minds be so. - Henry V King Hal was going to war when he said this line. We're probably not going to any mortal combat today. However, the words still stand. Prepare your mind, and go. There ...

Will Power - Shakespeare Triumphs in a Musical

If Tom Hiddleston has made girls learning St Crispin's Day speech by heart, Christian Borle has just sung Sonnet 18 into their minds. I am talking about one of the latest musical sensations - Something Rotten! The plot basically involves two brothers who really want to make a hit in Renaissance theatre world. It won't be easy for them, because at he very top of that same world reigns William Shakespeare. One of the brother, Nigel, is definitely okay with being his fan, but the older brother, Nick, has some issue about it. He makes it really clear that he hates Shakespeare. I definitely side with his younger brother, especially after the performance of these two of the musical numbers: Interpretation of Shakespeare as a narcissistic rock star idol of his age, although probably exaggerated, works really fine with me. As too turning Sonnet 18 and Richard III 's opening lines into a rock song. Christian Borle makes it really hard not to sing along. Some Shakespear...