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Showing posts with label lecture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lecture. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Bishop calls out Trump to his face; Gaza
Monday, April 3, 2023
Jesus gets evil in Revelation (Bart Ehrman)
Jesus in Revelation is evil | Dr. Ehrman
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| NRA was Right. Git yer gun. |
But whether we understand this book, which is included in the official Christian Bible, as
- a literal description of what will soon come to pass,
- interpret it as a metaphorical expression of hope for those suffering now,
- or only recognize its highlights from pop culture,
ONLINE COURSES
Check out MVP Courses: mvp-courses.com. Sign up for Dr. Bart D. Ehrman's course mythvisionpodcast.com/lef...
Monday, December 16, 2019
Newton's science: Corruption of Christianity
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| Isaac Newton worked on light and optics (wiki) |
- Talk: "Counterfeiting Science: The Uses of Evidence in the Newton-Leibniz Priority Dispute"
- Date: Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, 7:30–8:30 p.m.
- Location: Rothenberg Hall, The Huntington Library
- Event: Free but reservations required
Monday, November 11, 2019
To be or not to be: Shakespeare's "Hamlet"?
Bliss Bowen (pasadenaweekly.com, 11/7/19); Huntington.org; U Penn Prof. Zachary Lesser; Kennedy Center on Hamlet's "Bad Quarto"; Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Shakespeare's "Bad Quarto" on stage
The ‘bad quarto’ of ‘Hamlet,’ only discovered 200 years after Shakespeare’s death, is the lecture subject Wednesday and a special performance by Independent Shakespeare LA Thursday at the Huntington
The ‘bad quarto’ of ‘Hamlet,’ only discovered 200 years after Shakespeare’s death, is the lecture subject Wednesday and a special performance by Independent Shakespeare LA Thursday at the Huntington
“To be, or not to be—that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep—
No more—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ’Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep—
To sleep—perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil…”
— Soliloquy from William Shakespeare’s 1604/5 “Hamlet”
These poetic lines, not even half of Hamlet’s immortal soliloquy, contain phrases that still pepper the English language more than 400 years after they were composed. Yet our perception of the brooding Dane — and of Shakespeare’s insights into human nature — would be drastically different if only the play’s First Quarto (Q1), published in 1603, had survived.
Also known as the "Bad Quarto," only two copies of it are known to exist; one is housed at the British Library in London, and the other lives at the Huntington Library in the San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles.
Under the umbrella of its new president’s series, and as part of the Huntington’s recently launched centennial celebration, University of Pennsylvania English Professor Zachary Lesser will discuss the differences between the two quartos as well as the Bad Quarto’s journey to the Huntington in a lecture at Rothenberg Hall Wednesday, “Hamlet and Other Ghost Stories.”
.
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| O, Hamlet! Why for art thou so crazy? |
On Thursday, the Independent Shakespeare Co. of Los Angeles (iscla.org) will illuminate these differences in performance. (The performance is FREE but reservations are required).
“You could argue it’s the most important piece of literature in the English language; many people think it’s the greatest work in the English language,” says Lesser, who dislikes the term “Bad Quarto” because it implies the writing isn’t Shakespeare’s.
Theories regarding its origin still rage; some contend it was reconstructed from memory by actors, others say it was faultily transcribed by audience members, and another school of thought maintains that it’s Shakespeare’s first rough draft. There’s plenty there to feed the enduring human hunger for mystery.
Regardless, Lesser’s fascination with Q1 was triggered when he learned how it was discovered in 1823, over 200 years after Shakespeare’s death: by a baronet, Henry Bunbury, who had just inherited his title and was inspecting his new country house library and possessions. By that point in time, “Hamlet” was commonly acknowledged as Shakespeare’s masterpiece and was widely known and quoted.
“The reception of this text (Q1) is colored by that,” Lesser says. “The fact that it’s not discovered until 200 years afterward has everything to do with the way we’ve understood it.”
“The reception of this text (Q1) is colored by that,” Lesser says. “The fact that it’s not discovered until 200 years afterward has everything to do with the way we’ve understood it.”
The core difference between Q1 and the more famous version is length; the Q1 “Hamlet” is approximately half as long, making it faster and more focused on revenge. There’s less debate, more action. Lesser puts a finer point on it: “It’s been said the First Quarto of ‘Hamlet’ is a revenge tragedy, and the famous version of the play is a tragedy about revenge. Which makes some sense, because in the famous version it’s a lot of meditative, philosophical thinking about whether to revenge or not.”
Those differences are not inconsequential considering the play’s lofty position, not just as a hallowed piece of canonical literature but also as an instantly recognized signifier in speech and philosophical rhetoric. Some of those differences will be grist for debate between historical characters portrayed by actors from the Independent Shakespeare Co. during their performance Thursday.
“The famous version of ‘To be or not to be’ is a very existentialist kind of speech; it’s completely skeptical about the afterlife, there’s no mention of God or Christ,” observes Lesser, who plans to identify “interesting patterns” in certain key differences during his lecture.
“Hamlet is completely mystified by what will happen after death. He says that it’s this ‘dread of something after death’ that makes people not commit suicide, because maybe what comes after death is worse than the miseries of life. It’s a powerful line because ‘something’ is this nameless unknown. It’s a very un-Christian speech.”
“Hamlet is completely mystified by what will happen after death. He says that it’s this ‘dread of something after death’ that makes people not commit suicide, because maybe what comes after death is worse than the miseries of life. It’s a powerful line because ‘something’ is this nameless unknown. It’s a very un-Christian speech.”
In contrast, the Q1 version is downright conventional, as Hamlet claims that after death we are “taken before the everlasting judge” and the “something after death” is hope of reaching heaven. That is what frightens people away from suicide, which traditional Christian theology defines as a mortal sin that would condemn them to hell.
“The famous ‘Hamlet’ is famous partly because of Shakespeare’s kind of skeptical, philosophical vision of the afterlife that refuses to take for granted what everyone in Shakespeare’s audience would have heard in church on Sunday. It’s a big part of what makes the play feel very modern to us and still timely. We see Hamlet grappling with this mystery of life and death,” Lesser says.
“The famous ‘Hamlet’ is famous partly because of Shakespeare’s kind of skeptical, philosophical vision of the afterlife that refuses to take for granted what everyone in Shakespeare’s audience would have heard in church on Sunday. It’s a big part of what makes the play feel very modern to us and still timely. We see Hamlet grappling with this mystery of life and death,” Lesser says.
“Whereas the Q1 version can feel to us almost like a transcription of what a preacher would say on a Sunday.”
Since the objective of the Independent Shakespeare Co. performance is to entertain, Thursday’s event will be structured around a short original play incorporating certain scenes — including “To be or not to be” and Hamlet’s death scene — from Q1 “Hamlet.” Lesser will hold a Q&A afterward.
“I’ve been at a performance of the whole play, and done a talkback kind of thing, but never like this, where it won’t be that long as performing the whole play,” he says. “I’m excited. It will give you a taste for the play itself.”
Since the objective of the Independent Shakespeare Co. performance is to entertain, Thursday’s event will be structured around a short original play incorporating certain scenes — including “To be or not to be” and Hamlet’s death scene — from Q1 “Hamlet.” Lesser will hold a Q&A afterward.
“I’ve been at a performance of the whole play, and done a talkback kind of thing, but never like this, where it won’t be that long as performing the whole play,” he says. “I’m excited. It will give you a taste for the play itself.”
- Zachary Lesser discusses “Hamlet and Other Ghost Stories” in Rothenberg Hall at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 13; free but advance reservations required.
- Independent Shakespeare Co. performs selections from Q1 “Hamlet” at the Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 14; free but advance reservations required.
- Information: (626) 405-2100. Huntington.org
Friday, March 14, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Contemplate Pussy Riot (Masha Gessen in L.A.)
CC Liu, Irma Quintero, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; LFLA; Johnny Whiteside (laweekly.com)
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| Balaclava-clad Pussy Riot portraiture (theguardian.com) |
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| Pussy Rioting at Mark Taper (C.D. Sinyakov) |
When rebel collective Pussy Riot took its court-banned "Punk Prayer"* into Moscow's
Cathedral of Christ the Savior two years ago, it was not a gimmicky
stunt but a legitimate act of revolution.
Prompted by Pres. Vladimir Putin's
cynical, ongoing, and deeply manipulative embrace of the church and its
national congregation -- essentially and outrageously reducing the
culture of Eastern Orthodox Christianity to a propaganda wing for his oppressive
regime -- Pussy Riot was compelled to protest.
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| Nadezhda Nadia Tolokonnikova, the young mother who became the face of Pussy Riot |
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| American Pussy Riot supporters (P.J. Richards) |
Rarely have art and
agitation collided so memorably. This visit from Russian-born
journalist-author Masha Gessen, discussing her new book, Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot,
should be a profoundly, mmm, arresting affair. The Pussy Riot phenom is
far more complex and genuinely radical than the facile carnival of
DayGlo balaclavas and whip-wielding Cossacks that the mainstream media gleefully
serve up.
- The feminists of Pussy Riot and Femen stand up to Putin
- FEMEN: Topless protesting for attention and change!
- Defending Putin's Propagandists [on the RT media outlet]
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| Anti-Putin protest (blog.foreignpolicy.com) |
And the outspoken, openly gay Gessen (author of 2012's
scorching The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin)
is the ideal voice to place the subject in its proper sociopolitical
context [with the American losses in Sochi, the liberation of Ukraine, and the tug-of-war over Crimea].
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| Pussy Riot supporters, Germany (AFP) |
Gessen is joined in conversation by St. Mary's College Professor Suzi Weissman. Expect a thorough and illuminating dissection
of this ardent, fearless, and endlessly admirable gang of stink stirrers.
[Remember anyone with a balaclava -- a colorful knitted ski mask -- can be a Pussy Riot activist. "Riot," according to Nadia, means an uprising, "upstart," a putsch as seen in Ukraine.]
TONIGHT: Los Angeles Central Library, Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth St.,
downtown.; Wed., March 12, 2014, 7:15 p.m.; free, reservation required. (213)
228-7025, lfla.org.
*PUNK PRAYER: Saint Maria, Virg Yin, drive away Putin/Drive away! Drive away Putin!//Black robe,
golden epaulets/All parishioners are crawling and bowing/The ghost of
freedom is in heaven/Gay pride sent to Siberia in chains//The head of
the KGB is their chief saint/Leads protesters to prison under escort/In
order not to offend the Holy/Women have to give birth and to love//Holy
shit, shit, Lord's shit!/Holy shit, shit, Lord's shit!//Saint Maria,
Virgin, become a feminist/Become a feminist, Become a feminist//Church
praises the rotten dictators/The cross-bearer procession of black
limousines/In school you are going to meet with a teacher-preacher/Go to
class -- bring him money!//Patriarch Gundyaev believes in Putin/Bitch, you better believe in God/Belt of the Virgin is no substitute for mass-meetings/In protest of our Ever-Virgin Mary!//Saint Maria, Virgin, drive away Putin!
- When Hollywood advocates, should people listen?
- VIDEO: the books of the New World Library.com
- Water crisis — Survival of the wettest?
- KPCC report spurs Chacon resignation from Central Basin
- High-paid school superintendent offers pay cut to $295K
- HerbaLife investigated by the Federal Trade Comm (FTC)
- Childcare subsidy bill seeks to increase provider training
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Lama lectures Justin Bieber (video)
Wisdom Quarterly
Michael the Monk (Ven. Lobsang Yeshe), a teacher and translator at the Tara Institute in East Brighton, has a message for pop idol and child actor Justin Bieber. I love your music and charisma. You have great potential. So please set a good example and steer clear of drugs. And watch out when you turn 18 because that's the time of greatest temptation.
T
hank goodness cherub has separated from his adult girlfriend, Selena Gomez. It always seemed like a stunt -- public displays of affection, just like his releasing a song with a rapper or trying to wrap himself. The public image has to generate controversy if the Bieber brand is to make money.
Avril Lavigne's strange shape-shifting teeth
Michael the Monk (Ven. Lobsang Yeshe), a teacher and translator at the Tara Institute in East Brighton, has a message for pop idol and child actor Justin Bieber. I love your music and charisma. You have great potential. So please set a good example and steer clear of drugs. And watch out when you turn 18 because that's the time of greatest temptation. T
hank goodness cherub has separated from his adult girlfriend, Selena Gomez. It always seemed like a stunt -- public displays of affection, just like his releasing a song with a rapper or trying to wrap himself. The public image has to generate controversy if the Bieber brand is to make money.
Avril Lavigne's strange shape-shifting teeth
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Shangri-La Found by Mountaineer
Secrets of Shangri-La lectures (Benaroya Hall, Seattle)
(Seattle Times) Did Shangri-La — the mythical, Himalayan city first mentioned by a 5th century Chinese poet as a utopia for Buddhists — actually exist? Peter Athans, a much-respected, Bainbridge Island-based moun-taineer who has reached the summit of Mt. Everest seven times, may know the answer. In 2007, Athans explored the hidden, ancient kingdom of Mustang, in Nepal. His "National Geographic Live!" presentation, "Secrets of Shangri-La," takes place at Benaroya Hall [on April 13-14, 2009]. Q&A and more>>
"I'll be speaking about three expeditions I led over the last two years into Nepal's remote and exotic Kingdom of Mustang. Mustang was for many years closed to foreigners, earning it the moniker 'the highest and most forbidden kingdom in the world.' The current monarch is the 25th in a lineage that has existed for more than 600 years. It is one of the remaining few Himalayan Buddhist kingdoms.".
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