Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:59 PM

While listening to a discussion of zombies in pop culture -- and what human fears their popularity might reflect -- I realized that I've never seen any stories of Christopher Marlowe as a zombie, despite his untimely quick burial.

And that got me thinking of all the different portrayals of Christopher Marlowe that I have seen. I won't identify sources, and several of these occur in multiple works:

• a ghost,
• a vampire,
• a werewolf,
• a mage,
• a witch,
• damned,
• demon-summoner,
• under an enchantment,
• a skeptical mundane,
• a father,
• a pre-op FTM transsexual,
• extremely long-lived,
• travelling through time,
• in the present-day,
• in the distant future,
• expert swordsman,
• incompetent fighter,
• a bard,
• in the know,
• in the dark,
• scrounging for more information,
• regretting his lost innocence...

Lovers include boy actors, his patron, a queen, a king's minion, fairies, shapechangers, the devil, and Shakespeare.

Speaking of Shakespeare,

• Marlowe collaborates with Shakespeare,
• Marlowe bequeathed his unproduced scripts to Shakespeare,
• Marlowe's spirit haunts or inspires Shakespeare,
• Marlowe wrote the works attributed to Shakespeare,
• Marlowe wrote new original works since 1593

And I won't even touch upon all the various motives and machinations behind whatever happened at Deptford. Because those speculations would have to include both "nonfiction" and fiction.

PS: This reminds me of an old plotbunny I had for Tudor zombie saints.

PPS: Just to update my Thursday night entry, I thought I remembered reading that Frizer was pronounced "Freezer" but I can't recall which book that was in.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:05 PM

Lately, I've been feeling overcommitted, just in terms of things I want to do, and given the demands of the work which pays my bills. [Which is something I do enjoy.]

And earlier today, someone forwarded me this announcement:

A Call for Papers for a New Collection of Essays:

An Age for All Time seeks to extend and apply the methods of pop-Shakespeare scholarship beyond Shakespeare and into filmic and popular cultural confrontations with the history, thought, and figures of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including Shakespeare.

Rather than focusing on how particular literary texts or characters (Hamlet or Hamlet) are taken up in popular culture, this book will encourage readers to think about how the very concept of Renaissance is adapted, appropriated, perpetuated, or transformed by modern popular cultural texts of various kinds.

[B]ased on essays I have received so far, I am especially interested in essays that consider how major authors other than Shakespeare and Milton (such as Spenser and Marlowe) are taken up by popular and mass cultural media.

Please email detailed abstracts and a c.v. to Greg Semenza at _______@_____.___ by September 30, 2007.

On a personal front, tonight we saw the world premiere of The English Channel -- a new play by Robert Brustein focused on young Will Shakespeare and his friendship with Kit Marlowe. [Review forthcoming...]

And that marks the 38th work of modern Marlovian fiction that I have seen or read -- over half of all such works in the past thirty years (the numbers would be even higher if I excluded self-published print-on-demand works).

But I haven't the time to write a more detailed analysis.

Nor, for that matter, do I have much inclination to force myself to read some of the less appealing works for sake of completeness.

Still, as the friend who forwarded me the notice pointed out, it is "right up [my] alley."

Sigh...

If others exist with similar expertise on Marlowe portrayals, you'd think I'd've run across them in the three-and-a-half years I've been maintaining my list online... [If you're out there and see this, "Hi! Please, introduce yourself!"]

But for now, I'll keep reminding myself that I don't have a c.v. and am not an academic. I like being a dilettante, free to flit from subject to subject in a butterfly-like fashion, without the commitment of a dissertation or publish-or-perish pressure.

O, Faustus, lay that damned book aside,
And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:25 PM

Ingram Frizer, the man who murdered Marlowe.

How do you pronounce Frizer?

1. Rhymes with "freezer,"
2. Rhymes with "fry-zer,"
3. Or some other pronounciation?

I seem to remember some text saying it was one way (and I'm not saying which to avoid influencing the responses), but tonight I heard people (who I thought should know) saying it a different way.

Majority rules? And if you know any authorities which advocate one pronounciation or another, please include references if you got 'em.

Thanks!

PS: Posting has been light because I'm trying to swap out my hard drive to send the bad one in for repair before I lose data.

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:25 PM

Picked up Heroes Season One on DVD, and we've been watching it over the weekend.

As much as we loved the first episode when it debuted, the second conflicted with the High Holidays, and once we fell behind, Ian decided he'd rather wait for the DVD than try to pick up the story after missing a few episodes.

So, we're finally catching up with the series now and really loving it.

Speaking of DVDs, we've also been enjoying Muppet Show Season Two.

In many cases, I find myself much more aware of and impressed by the technical artistry than what's actually onscreen. Scenes with complex interactions between two characters of the same muppeteer. Realizing that a piano "duet" involves four carefully coordinated people.

I also experience a lot of regret that Henson isn't around to produce new material.

Anybody remember Garth Brooks' appearance on Muppets Tonight? He arrived prepared to flamenco; his promised musical number with a fiddle in the barnyard was "If I were a rich man," and he attempted a death-defying stunt with Gonzo.

When we saw this episode, Ian remarked that there was a man who had always dreamed of appearing on The Muppet Show and went into this with the appropriate image-puncturing spirit.

The band Weezer did something just as cool. With no more Muppet shows to showcase their talents, they went all Judy Garland/Micky Rooney and put on a Muppet show for their Keep Fishin' video.

But I keep thinking of other recent celebs that I wish I could see interacting with the muppets.

 • I want to see Animal drumming with Spinal Tap, wondering who would survive the experience. [I suspect Crazy Harry would somehow be involved.]

 • I want to see Hugh Laurie consulting at Veterinarian's Hospital.

I want to see Nathan Fillion hamming it up with Pigs in Space, and... oh, I don't know...

What modern stars do you dream of seeing on the Muppet Show, and in what contexts?

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:20 PM

The latest seasonal flavors at J.P. Licks ice cream are ones I tried and liked this time last year:

• Manischewitz Blackberry Wine Sorbet (lactose free), and
• Noodle Kugel Ice Cream

And I'm pretty sure they're certified kosher. I think I need to get me some of these...