Happy Halloween...

There are some holidays I love, and some I don't, and Halloween is one of the good ones. Not the kid's Halloween, with trick or treating and candies, but the idea of Halloween - costuming and exploring and celebrating the spooky dark side of things.

I'm not in costume today, but I am in black, wearing the enamel pin depicting Neil Gaiman's character Death.

And for the jack'o'lantern of the season, let me show you the Tenth Doctor jack'o'lantern whose picture was posted by bexxy_bexx in 10thdoctor:



Thank you, bexxy_bexx! Very impressive.

Happy Halloween to everyone!

And thank you, squashed, for the wonderful Halloween card. May your candles burn bright!

Crime art...

In the grocery store this morning, the front page of The Ottawa Citizen caught my eye. It had a courtroom drawing of a woman who had been charged with locking up children she was taking care of. I looked carefully as I always do when I see courtroom drawings in the paper, to see if it was by my friend dewline, who sometimes draws for the Citizen.

Well, it wasn't - it was by another local artist who's a friend of mine, Ronn Sutton! Woo! Way to go, Ronn, and what a treat to see a friend's drawing on the centre of the front page.

Slings and Arrows...

I was reading the links auriaephiala sent me regarding the Gemini Awards given to Slings and Arrows, and was doing some browsing, and found, to my delight, a site with a good review of the show, and the lyrics to Cheer Up, Hamlet:

Cheer up Hamlet,
Chin up Hamlet,
Buck up you melancholy Dane.
So, your uncle is a cad,
Who murdered Dad and married Mum,
That's really no excuse to be as glum as you've become.
So, wise up Hamlet,
Rise up Hamlet,
Perk up and sing a new refrain.
Your incessant monologizing fills the castle with ennui,
Your antic disposition is embarrassing to see,
And by the way you sulky brat, the answer is To Be!
You're driving poor Ophelia insane!
So, shut up, you rogue and peasant!
Grow up, it's most unpleasant!
Cheer up you melancholy Dane.

I can't find the actual song on YouTube, though it seems that most of the rest of Slings and Arrows is there in bits and pieces. I wonder if it's anywhere online.

I liked this line from the abovementioned review: "...it takes some work to allow two people to sit around in a room for five minutes talking about theatrical politics or literature and still make it exciting and here its managed seemingly effortlessly."

And really, it's so very, very Canadian.

More about Slings and Arrows...

Since I have been thinking about Slings and Arrows, I tracked down the theme songs on YouTube - by going to the beginning of the first episode of each season - and copied down the lyrics. The first theme song, the one for season one, is Cheer Up, Hamlet, and I posted the lyrics this morning. You can hear it on YouTube at minute 1:19 here.

The theme for season 2 is I Don't Play Mackers. The lyrics:

Call me superstitious or cowardly or weak
But I'll never play a character
Whose name one dare not speak

I'll play Hamlet
In doublet and hose
Or either of the Dromeos
But sorry, I won't play Mackers

I'll play Richard the Third
With a hump and a wig
Or Henry the Eighth
That selfish pig
But sorry, I don't do Mackers

Every soul who plays this role
Risks injury or death
I'd rather sweep the bloody stage
Then ever do
Mac-you-know-who

So gimme King Lear, Cleopatra,
Romeo or Juliet, doesn't mattra,
I'll play them all for free
But I'd be crackers
To take on Mackers
You see, I's skittish about the Scottish tragedy, och aye.

You can here it on YouTube here starting at about minute 1:15.

I can't find the theme for season 3. Will continue to look at a future date.