Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

BBC News:

Microsoft has admitted that speech recognition features in Vista could be hijacked so that a PC tells itself to delete files or folders.

I remember the old canard about a speech recognition demo gone awry when a wag in the audience shouts:

Format C Colon Backslash Enter Y Enter!

So, what would the modern equivalent be?

Speaking of my reviews, I seem to be cultivating a tropism towards John Kuntz.

He's only appeared in five of ASP's eight productions to date, but it seems like every time I see one, I can't avoid including his picture in my review.

So, may I now present the many faces of John Kuntz, Shakespeare-style:

Richard III in Richard III	Lucio in Measure for Measure	Sebastian in Twelfth Night	Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well	Autolycus in Winter's Tale
All photos © Carolle Photography

Given the practice of doubling roles, this is hardly all the parts he's played for ASP. For example, in All's Well, he also played the prominent Clown (as seen in The Phoenix review).

Next up, he'll be appearing in Titus...

More reviewers are weighing in on ASP's Winter's Tale:

• The Winter's Tale, by Larry Stark, TheaterMirror
• Half-told Tale, by Thomas Garvey, The Hub Review
• A Winter's Tale, by Will Stackman, Aisle Say
• The Winter's Tale, by Sandy MacDonald, EDGE Boston
• Rambles Reviews: Winter's Tale, by Lis Riba, Riba Rambles
• Tyrants' tales, by Carolyn Clay, Boston Phoenix
• Wacky delights scattered in 'Winter's Tale', by Louise Kennedy, Boston Globe

If I were smart, I'd read them all and try to take lessons in how better to write reviews...

Although (I note with some pride) ASP chose my review as one of the two to pull quotes from on their blog. :D

Yesterday's Globe also included an article about Boston Theatre Works' Midsummer Night's Dream, but I'm going to defer reading it until after I see it, which will hopefully happen tomorrow.
[Had the Patriots won the playoffs, I'd probably watch the SuperBowl, but without a local team to root for, I have little interest. Besides, the theater's likely to be less-than-crowded for a Superbowl Sunday matinee.]

Okay, just discovered the positive of Macy's takeover and homogenization of all the local department store chains.

Stopped into a Macy's tonight for the first time in ages and discovered they sell Frango Mints!

I can now get them locally!

Mmm.... Frango Mints...

And once again we return to the continuing saga of Elisabeth's laptop...

1) A few weeks ago, I started having problems regarding a loose wire in my AC adapter. (Details here and here) My laptop would generally run off AC power (though sometimes the cord needed a little jiggling) but it wouldn't recharge.

Well, I've since replaced the cord, and my system boots up fine.

Unfortunately, during that week I drained my batteries to ~93% and they don't seem to want to recharge.

Did the bad cord do permanent damage to my laptop batteries?

I'm tempted to let them drain a little further and see whether they'll recharge back up to 100% or only as far as 93%.

The only reason I haven't done this yet is that I'm worried that it may not recharge at all...

Suggestions?

2) I still cannot access Firedoglake.com and Crooksandliars.com from Opera on my home machine. I can reach those pages from Firefox on my home machine, and from Opera at work (just as a test), but for some reason ever since they were hit by the DDOS attack, I just get errors when trying to open them.

Both sites share the same IP address (38.98.18.100). When I try accessing that from Opera, the page loads but without any of the images (which all have absolute references to ZiaSpace.com, which I gives the same error as the other domains I've mentioned if I try to load it directly).

Last summer I had a similar problem with a different domain, but that one's working now and I don't recall how I fixed it.

Any ideas?

3) I'm also still experiencing the system slowdown and Opera problems I described last week.

 

For comparison's sake, here's the task manager screencap from my last week's post.

As several people suggested, I've disabled Microsoft's Content Indexing Service, but the issue is still ongoing.

I can't remember precisely when I started having these problems, but I've charted up a comparison of differences in installed programs (according to Belarc) between a date I'm pretty sure everything was working to a date after the slowdown began.

Any further ideas would be most welcome, both specific suspects and techniques to see what's going on with my system.

And thanks for your patience. These probably haven't been the most entertaining of entries, but writing them out in this manner also helps *me* organize my thoughts and keep track of things.

Seems to be the week for multi-point plans around the blogosphere:

For no good reason, I found myself thinking about tablet/wafer candies today.

Specifically, I began to wonder about the color-flavor associations, so I did a little digging, and here's what I turned up:

	Smarties:	Necco Wafers:	Sweethearts:	SweetTarts:
Purple:	Grape	Clove	Grape	Grape
Pink:	Cherry	Wintergreen	Cherry	Cherry
Orange:	Orange	Orange	Orange	Orange
Yellow:	Pineapple	Lemon	Banana	Lemon
Green:	Strawberry	Lime	Lemon	Apple (was Lime)
Blue:	—	—	—	Raspberry
White:	Orange Cream	Cinnamon	Wintergreen	—
Brown:	—	Chocolate	—	—
Black:	—	Licorice	—	—
Calories:	25 per 15-tablet roll	6 per wafer	3 per small heart	50 per pouch
Ingredients:	Dextrose, Citric Acid, Calcium Stearate, Artificial Flavors and Colors (Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake).	Sugar, Corn Syrup, Corn Starch, Gelatin, Modified Food Starch, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Gum Arabic, Xanthan Gum, FD&C Colors (Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1).	Sugar, Corn Syrup, Corn Starch, Gelatin, Modified Food Starch, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Gum Arabic, Xanthan Gum, FD&C Colors (Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1).	Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Malic Acid, and less than 2% of Calcium Stearate, Artificial Flavors, Blue 1 Lake, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake.

Happy snacking!

I just heard: Harry Potter Book 7 will be released on July 21st

Update, with further information from The Leaky Cauldron:

Scholastic, the US publishers, will sell the book for $34.99; it will be illustrated by Mary GrandPre, the artist who illustrated all six previous books. They will also release a $39.99 reinforced library edition and a $65 special edition at the same time. British publishers Bloomsbury said via press release that it will sell the hardcover for 17.99 GBP, and will also release a special gift edition and a joint audio book.

Damn.

I suppose a moment of silence in memory of the wordsmith?

So, anybody care to try predicting tomorrow's Herald headline?

The Reason Magazine article on fanfiction, which I blogged a few weeks ago, is now available online.

Getting curious to hear more about Branagh's As You Like It, which was originally scheduled for "Fall 2006" and then deferred to "Spring 2007"

Well, I just found a recent blog post which states:

Just a quick update on Branagh's As You Like It, which some of you may have noticed was listed in the SAA bulletin with an August theatrical release date. A few months ago, the plan had been for an April HBO broadcast with subsequent DVD release. Apparently, HBO and Mr. B are now talking about a theatrical release, and August is currently the favoured time frame, but nothing has been confirmed. I'll post data on this release as it comes in.

This is getting ridiculous.

It's already played in several foreign countries, but they're still delaying it in the English-speaking world?

Just release the damn thing already!

no sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason, no sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy

PS: What are the rules on Oscar eligibility, given 2006 releases in Italy and Greece?

John Dickerson reporting on the Libby trial:

I was at the Scooter Libby trial to cover it, and all of a sudden, I found myself in the middle of the case.
 <snip>
So, what to do now that I'd heard Ari's testimony? Should I stand? Should I shout a question at Ari? Should I walk from the press section into the witness box? Call a press conference? Get a lawyer?
Then, my picture was displayed on the big screen in the courtroom. The defense attorneys had put it up there to identify (and, apparently, punish) me. "I believe that's Mr. Dickerson in the second row from the back of the courtroom," said someone. Mr. Dickerson didn't know who said it, because Mr. Dickerson was trying to make sense of a world suddenly turned upside down.
 <snip>
Only moments before Ari's surprise disclosure, I had been trying to figure out what my lede would be for today. I was luxuriating in seeing Ari have to answer questions under oath, which he never had to do in the White House briefing room. As a reporter, I'd always tried to put him in the witness box, and he always climbed out. Now he may have put me in there.

On a more personal note, this weekend marked the first time I've ever seen Winter's Tale.

I'm still hoping to catch F. Murray Abraham's Merchant of Venice by TFANA in NYC, along with Coriolanus and the disputed Edward III in Washington DC.

Assuming I manage those, here are the Shakespeare plays I haven't seen performed:

Therefore, I'd like to encourage local theater companies to consider these for your performance schedules.

It may not mean much, since I'm not financially positioned to make a generous donation for the arts, but any local company which does stage one of these can guarantee my attendance during the run.

The same promise holds for anything by (or about) Christopher Marlowe.

On the other side of the fence, Midsummer Night's Dream holds my personal record for having seen six versions. [With a seventh planned for next weekend by Boston Theatre Works.]

As You Like It comes in second at four viewings, but Love's Labor's Lost is close behind with three. [Forthcoming versions of both LLL (by ASP) and AYLI (Branagh's film) will increment the numbers without changing their positions in the list.]

While I do love these plays, I'm also beginning to feel a bit burnt out on them.

There are seven plays I've seen twice, and all the rest I've only caught once.

If anyone's interested, here's where I maintain the full list, with links to reviews where available.

The Actors' Shakespeare Project mission is to make Shakespeare accessible and relevant to modern audiences. They're known for innovative use of performance spaces and crosscasting (racially and genders). But on-the-whole, performances themselves have been fairly straightforward.

It looks like that's about to change with the next two (yes, two) plays scheduled for this season.

Next up, opening the end of March, is Titus Andronicus.

When Ian and I saw Titus at Wellesley College, we wondered what ASP could bring to their forthcoming production that Wellesley didn't.

And ASP found the one element Wellesley couldn't emulate: an all-male cast.

After that, ASP has added a fourth show to the season: Love's Labour's Lost. They're taking a "no frills" approach to the play, using only six actors to play 18 roles

"It's got three evenly matched sets of characters - the young men, the young women, and the townsfolk," said Benjamin Evett, ASP Artistic Director who will also be directing this play, "so each actor can easily jump from one to another without its getting too confusing. It will give the actors a chance to really show their skills, and the audience a chance to watch the actors transform before their eyes. For most of the play the men will woo the women, but we'll also have women-playing-men wooing men-playing-women. We'll be able to find interesting and funny insights in love and courtship, honesty and disguise, gender and sex."

"After a season of very intense plays, it will be nice for us and for our audience to relax with such a sweet and delightfully comic story."

The production will preview on May 31, open on June 2 and run through June 24 at a venue to be named.

So far, four of the six castmembers have been announced:

• Sarah Newhouse (Viola in Twelfth Night; Cordelia in King Lear) as Lord Longueville, the Princess of France, and Jacquenetta
• Michael Walker (Aguecheek in Twelfth Night; Pompey in Measure for Measure) as the King of Navarre, Maria, and Nathaniel
• Marianna Bassham (Ophelia in Hamlet) as Lord Dumaine, Rosaline, and Costard
• Jason Bowen (Marcellus/Fortinbras in Hamlet) as Lord Berowne, Katherine, and Holofernes

Bobbie Steinbach, who announced this at the end of Winter's Tale; called it a stripped-down no-costumes approach -- then clarified that this didn't mean an all-nude revue.

In college, I saw the Actors from the London Stage put on a five-person Midsummer Night's Dream and it's still one of the most amazing Shakespeare experiences I've ever had. Such a limited cast throws a spotlight on the actors in a way that really allows them to shine. You might think that the amount of doubling would add to the confusion, but that hasn't been my experience.

I've grumbled in the past about missing AFTLS's return engagements, so I'm delighted by this development. Based on their previous productions, ASP certainly seems capable of pulling it off -- with or without the rest of their clothes. ;)

With this addition, LLL will make the tenth play ASP has staged after only three seasons in existence -- over a quarter of Shakespeare's oeuvre.

Here's wishing them another decade or more in which to complete the whole set.

Paula Langton as Hermione, with Oliver Stickney playing Mamillius: Photo: Carolle Photography

Exit, pursued by a bear.

Winter's Tale is probably better known for two pieces of trivia -- the stage direction above, and the character name borrowed by J.K. Rowling -- than any element of the story itself.

The Actors' Shakespeare Project acknowledged these familiarities by opening with them: Hermione, pregnant queen of Sicilia, and her son playfully chase one another about the stage with a teddy bear.

The first half of the story focuses on her husband, King Leontes, who works himself up into an Othelloesque case of unjustified jealousy, without even an Iago to egg him on. The second half jumps forward sixteen years (and overseas to Bohemia) to deal with the aftermath. Yes, this play takes quite the long view to provide a lesson about impetuosity.

John Kuntz as Autolycus: Photo: Carolle Photography

The first half, set in the Sicilian court, is anchored by strong performances all around.

Ricardo Pitts-Wiley is a commanding King Leontes, privately fearful but publically one to be feared. Paula Langton as Hermione was everything I could've wanted from the character, while Bobbie Steinbach made Paulina a force to be reckoned with.

Special kudos to Oliver Stickney as Prince Mamillius. Shakespeare's language can be challenging at any age, so his poise was quite impressive for one so young. Whenever he interacted with the cast, he evoked a parental warmth in those around him.

In the more rustic second half, newcomers Cristi Miles and James Ryan were charming as the young lovers. Kudos to Ms. Miles in particular, for finding the humor in the role. With artful inflection, she turns what could have been an insipid recitation of flowers and herbs into witty snark. ("Violets... dim.")

Richard Snee took a nice doubled role, intially the stiff and formal Antigonus, and then as the relaxed and rustic shepherd.

Doug Lockwood and John Kuntz provide most of the comic relief, the former as the yokel-like son of a shepherd, the latter playing the colorful con-artist Autolycus.

The staging was typically simple, the room arranged as theatre in the round. The Sicilian court was dressed in icy blues, while Bohemia was suffused with a palpable pastoral warmth.

The play itself suffers somewhat from some odd auctorial decisions made by Shakespeare. For example, the grand reunion the play seems to be building towards (highlight to read spoilers for Act V) is never shown, merely described to the audience. Likewise, I expected a greater comeuppance for Autolycus. These are the way Shakespeare wrote it -- something the company has to work with -- but it definitely plays with audience expectations and gives you something to discuss on your way home.

Wild bears couldn't keep me away. And I encourage you to catch this classic romance to warm these cold winter nights.

For further insight into the production, check out this Boston Globe article on the rehearsal process and/or the resident scholar's comments in the company blog.

[More information on the rest of ASP's season will be posted shortly. Don't forget Bard in Boston for other upcoming listings of regional Shakespeare productions.]

People who mostly know me offline seem to consider me some kind of Harry Potter expert.

Mind you, I get much of my information from more-knowledgeable folks I know online, but I guess that still makes me a conduit.

Therefore, I'll provide some community service by passing along something I think everyone in fandom already knows.

Dan Radcliffe, who plays Harry Potter in the films, is trying to show he's a Serious Actor by starring in a production of Equus -- in a role with a nude scene. And the first publicity photos have just been released to the British press.

They're not X-rated -- all shots are cropped above the waist -- but he is getting a lot more exposure than ever before.

I have friends whose kids are fans of the series. If they suddenly start talking about downloading pics, you may want to look closely first.

And, for those of you who want to see for yourself, The Leaky Cauldron has the full set. The number of views per picture seems to correlate with how prurient the image is.

Ian and I, this morning in the car:

Charles Xavier accepts vegetable-based student!

X-Tree! X-Tree! Read all about it!