Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:40 PM

From the Author's Note in Peter Lamont's The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick:

History will always be a matter of opinion, but it is an opinion based on evidence. So trust nobody, demand the evidence (the so-called historical facts), and draw your own conclusions.

This, of course, is a bit much to ask, since few of us have the time to beaver away in archives, checking evidence and pondering upon it, but that is not necessary in practice. You can simply check whether you are being offered any evidence in the first place, and whether the historian is making it possible for you to check it, even if you don't actually bother to. And this is where notes come in. George Matlock, the Oxford medieval historian, wrote:

every time you encounter evidence taken from a primary source, ensure you have the necessary information to check it for yourself. You need not check it, of course, but the knowledge that somebody might is sufficient incentive for the historian to check his or her own facts, and in itself raises the reader's confidence in the point being made, and in the validity of the evidence that supports it.

This is one of the basic rules of history, and the fact that you cannot check this quote may (given the topic being discussed) lead you to doubt its authenticity. You would, of course, be absolutely right, since the quotation and the historian are entirely made up. And that, paradoxically, makes the point valid.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:42 PM

Been a while since I posted one of these, but just caught this week's Free Will Astrology horoscope:

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive," wrote Mark Twain. "But it is the lightning that does the work." According to my analysis of the omens, Cancerian, your job right now is to be like the lightning, even if other people's thunder is temporarily hogging the credit and the attention. It may take a while, but your bolts of pure energy, not their noisy hype, will ultimately be appreciated as the most important factor in the group success.

I've been feeling awfully... crotchety... lately.

Grumpy about missed opportunities and old proposals of mine that never went anywhere, particularly when I see others retread ground I already covered.

I need to let these things go, or I'm in danger of making myself annoyingly unpopular. Not a good strategy.

Meanwhile, Ian's working a late night bartending gig, and I'm waiting up for when he needs a ride home. I want ice cream, but there's none in the house.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:58 PM

As captured by my crappy cell-phone camera:

Tastes good, too!

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:45 AM

     Bush: "[W]e will help ensure that decisions about your medical care are made in the privacy of your doctor's office -- not in the halls of Congress."

Vastleft: "I'll respond with four words: Terri Schiavo, Jane Roe."
 

    Bush: "[T]here has not been another attack on our soil since 9/11."

Matthew Yglesias: "[A]nthrax! Anthrax! Oh well. For some reason that whole episode has been officially erased from the historical record or something."

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:05 PM

Reading theatrical histories (such as Nigel Cliff's The Shakespeare riots), one often hears how acting styles have changed over the centuries. The great actors of each generation are lauded for playing roles more naturally than their predecessors.

But reviews and descriptions can only go so far in conveying what that means. Furthermore, most of this discussion focuses on the male actors: David Garrick, John Kemble, Edmund Kean, William Macready, Edwin Forrest... It's a never-ending chain of dominance; even Kenneth Branagh seemed compelled to take on all Lawrence Olivier's best-known roles.

The actresses generally get far less attention, even though they often earned equal acclaim in their day.

“There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses -- and then there is Sarah Bernhardt.”

— Mark Twain

In her seventy-minute one-woman show, Rebekah Maggor portrays sixteen actresses in eight roles from seven of Shakespeare's plays, re-enacting performances in three languages from over a century of stage and screen.

According to the program, Ms. Maggor is a voice coach and "associate editor of the International Dialects of English Archive." She used historical voice recordings and prompt books to recreate the roles in this show.

Of the few actresses whom I've seen perform (Claire Danes, Elizabeth Taylor, and Kathleen Turner), Ms. Maggor's renditions seemed spot on.

Most of the play is narrated in the persona of actress and director Margaret Webster (1905-1972). You don't need to know much Shakespeare to enjoy the production, because she provides context for all the speeches.

Boston trivia aside: Paul Robeson was the first black actor to play Othello in the United States. Fearful of the controversy, no Broadway theater wanted to stage the play. So the American premiere took place at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. Reaction was so positive that the New York theaters which initially refused the show were soon clamoring to bring it to their stages.

I actually would've liked more of history. Listening to some of the more affected styles of 19th century acting (such as the rrrolled R-r-r's), I can't help wonder what role they played in projecting unamplified voices to audiences of thousands.[Contrast the early crooners, who relied upon microphones, to someone like Al Jolson.]

This is a show that can be enjoyed in at least three levels: hear some of Shakespeare's greatest soliloquys, learn a lesson in theater history, and marvel at a virtuouso one-woman performance.

PS: On the subject of minimalist Shakespeare, Actors' Shakespeare Project's five-person Henry V closes February 3rd. More info @ Bard in Boston.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:05 PM

At Arisia, I bought a cute beaded chain with regularly-spaced magnets (right), which allow it to be worn as a bracelet or choker or long necklace, depending on my mood.

I like it, but it's not quite perfect.

The spacing between the magnetic beads doesn't quite map right to my wrist-size, meaning the tightest bracelet feels a shade too loose for my tastes.

So, this weekend I've been looking at bead stores -- physical and online.

And, although I haven't bought anything yet, I think I'm about to get into beading.

Make myself a couple more of these magnetic bracelets, a little better fitting and in colors that will coordinate better with my wardrobe. And then, I started thinking of a few other things I've wanted -- for example, a nicer tallis clip (two actually -- an everyday version and one in all-white for the High Holidays).

I don't wear much jewelry, and I definitely don't want valuable jewelry (I'll stick to inexpensive items for which my expected loss or breakage won't be too tragic), but maybe with just the right pieces, I'll start wearing them more often.

So, all you more experienced beaders, how doomed am I?

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:00 PM

Hm. Finally sending my ailing Seagate drive for warranty replacement^*, and noticed the following little detail in the shipping instructions:

Replacement products are factory repaired units.

Does that mean it's possible that my damaged drive is going to wind up in somebody else's unsuspecting hands?

The possibility tempted me to pencil a quick note on the drive casing so the next owner can contact me so I could tell them what warning signs to look for.

But, the fine print continues:

Warranty is void if the SeaShield cover or top cover, or any seal or label is removed or damaged...

And, unfortunately, all surfaces of the drive I might consider safely writeable are covered with labels.

Well, in case the future owner decides to search the web for any further info on hir "new" refurbished Seagate drive, with the following identifying info:

Leave me a message and I'll get back to you with the tale of the rapidly decaying drive.

^* I was told that laptop drives invariably go bad because the machines run hotter than the drives can handle. Seagate drives are high-quality and come with 3-year warranties, so I've now got a second (lower-memory and thus cheaper) drive in my computer, and thus can trade off between them; as one starts to go, I can send in the other.
And yes, I've also got a very good cooling pad now.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:15 PM

Quiz meme with relatively unsurprising results:

Who is Your Ideal TV Boyfriend?

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:11 PM

Where there's a whole product line of

"Vitamin Enhanced Water Beverage"s

They're not water. They're not beverages. They're "water beverages".