#tumblr's favorite shakespeare play

[withasideofshakespeare]

Alright, Shakespeare fans!

I am a robber and I have broken into your house and stolen your most precious belonging. I will not give it back unless you pick just one play from each genre (comedies, tragedies, histories, romances) to call your favorite. What do you say?

(If you haven’t read any plays in a certain genre, you can forgo answering for that one.)

(History lovers: the plays count individually. Ex: you cannot say your favorite is the entirety of the Henriad)

[im-still-watching-anime]

rip my mom casually asking me what the worst shakespeare take i’ve ever heard was and unlocking a two hour rant at 3 am

[phosphorus-noodles]

Last year in English my friend presented a speech on why Cassius from the hit Shakespearean play Julius Caesar was actually the good guy, and I thought tumblr might get a good kick outta it, so-

Why Cassius Was Actually Innocent (And Therefore Lame by Tumblr's Standards): A Persuasive Speech -

I believe that Cassius is the good guy in the tragedy of Julius Caesar.

From what I've seen personally, Cassius is a swell guy that only had the best for Rome (and his personal grudges) in mind when he approached Brutus with the idea of assassinating Caesar. A quote from [classmate] shows this in the way he says,

“Cassius is the good guy,”

thus further persuading my point.

I mean for all we know, Cassius was simply joking with Brutus, but when Brutus was like "ok let's do it" poor Cassius had to go along with it out of fear of what that maniac might do to him as well.

We all know Caesar was someone Cassius saw as a friend. Cassius was aware of Caesar's weaknesses and helped him overcome them. Caesar would have died during his stroke or when he almost drowned swimming across that river if not for Cassius. If Cassius wasn’t joking about Caesar's death then why didn't he kill him when he was at his most vulnerable? It is obvious that when Brutus took Cassius' joke too far, our poor boy Cassius, out of fear of what might happen to him if he didn’t comply, went along with it.

When they were stabbing Caesar, Cassius was

⚠️ PEER PRESSURED ⚠️

into stabbing him because if he didn’t he would have been next to die by the hands of those that killed Caesar. If he was to die here, then there would be none pizza with left beef that could challenge Brutus later on and make sure he was justly tried for his crimes.

Now you might be wondering how Brutus did all this when the story says Cassius was the one who sent letters encouraging him to do it and such. Well it was obviously just someone pretending to be Cassius--quite possibly the poet Cinna!

The poet wouldn't have been killed for only having the name Cinna, so there must have been some other reason. I believe that while posing as Cassius, Cinna sent these letters using his skill as a deadly poet to further persuade Brutus--who had been toying with the idea of killing Caesar already--and further persuaded him to do the deed. When Cassius informed Antony of these acts, he told the mob and they killed Cinna in a way fit for a traitor of Rome.

In closing, I would like to take another look at the fact that Cassius had many chances to kill Caesar in their years of friendship and not once did he lay a hand on him with the intent to harm him until the day he was forced to kill one of his best friends. The acts performed by the poet Cinna sowed more harm to Brutus in the name of Cassius, which tarnished his name in the book.

I ask you all to please not let these heinous acts go unpunished, so that we may avenge Cassius who was so overcome with what he did that he ordered his servant to kill him at the battle of Philippi--an act that shows how kind of a man he is.

Let us bring Brutus to the court of law so that we may have him stand trial and be justly tried for hurting our poor boy Cassius!!!

[callixton]

if i polaroid stories post more will u people read it

[ohbabydollie]

another teacher!schlatt idea: letting his class do “literary hot take” powerpoints, and they all go a little like this:

“why algernon is just oscar wilde’s fanfic insert”

“clueless is better than jane austen’s ‘emma’”

“even mr. schlatt has more rizz than shakespeare”

he let the underclass men that had a few weeks left to do a silly little project and present at the end of the school year, just for fun but also needing to be decently educational related, so they got their “literary hot takes” project, mostly a completion grade.

he was slightly nervous as he gave next to no requirements besides n 1. powerpoint, n 2. related to literature in some way and n 3. don’t make it boring (i have to sit through over 50 of these)

and the students had fun with this one, making the most out of pocket titles, the worst topics known to mankind, etc.

some of the worst include “how 9/11 is to be blamed for the downfall of literacy” “shakespeare if he was alpha male rizzlord gyatt level 100” “why i believe we should have the vamp kids and furries reenact twilight for next years autumn school play” “why fanfiction should be considered literature within school (unban a03, wattpad and tumblr)”

and more titles that he considered to be absolute brain rot that he enjoyed watching, but his favorite was from the kid who always turned in their assignments late, never bothering to turn them in on the exact day they’re do, always a day or two after. they had gotten their assignment done in class the day it was assigned, fixing and making it look nice within the next few classes.

schlatt was curious as to what they would create until he saw them putting up their presentation, “why mr. schlatt has more rizz than shakespeare”

schlatt just expected a bs sort of assignment, maybe half assed from them, but instead they presented a powerpoint so well written that he was almost in shock

he was intently listening and even clapped when it was done

it had everything from what was known about your meeting with him to being caught in public with you, with things he had said in quotes, dates and the comparison to shakespeare was absolutely magnificent. well written, well made, it was an 11/10, he absolutely loved it.

when the day was done he went to your room and showed you the powerpoint

yeah that kid definitely got extra credit

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Laurence Olivier (Hamlet, Rebecca, Pride and Prejudice)—Any reference article will tell you that he's one of the finest stage actors of the 20th century and (arguably) contributed to transforming the landscape of live theater in the Anglophone world. But this is the Tumblr hot men poll, where it is arguably more important to know that he was an incredibly charming bi disaster who eye-fucked Vivien Leigh so conspicuously that everyone talked about it, both before and after their marriage. I do not have words for how hot this man was. I once sat under a portrait of him in black velvet and tights in the NPG cafeteria, and let me tell you I remember that so much better than my sandwich. I listened to a recording of him as Coriolanus on stage and got full-body chills. I photographed his copy of Richard III in the Folger Shakespeare Library for the sake of seeing his handwriting and his thoughts. ...okay, so I may have a problem, but the point is. So hot. And delivered one of the iconic pre-1970 lines about bisexuality on film ("oysters *and* snails," Spartacus 1963.)

Harry Belafonte (Carmen Jones, Island in the Sun)—one of my favorite things in the world when I'm sad is kicking back and listening to him and Danny Kaye singing "Hava Nagila" together. Or who can forget this man singing the Banana Boat song with the Muppets?? immensely talented, a powerful fighter for civil rights and humanitarian causes his whole life, if you have any remaining doubts PLEASE look at the following pics [clips and pics attached below]

This is round 3 of the bracket. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage man.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Harry Belafonte propaganda:

"Now let me say this about the songs of the Caribbean - almost all black music is deeply rooted in metaphor. The only way that we could speak to the pain and anguish of our experiences was often through how we codified our stories in the songs that we sang. And when I sing the 'Banana Boat Song,' the song is a work song. It's about men who sweat all day long, and they are underpaid, and they're begging the tallyman to come and give them an honest count - counting the bananas that I've picked, so I can be paid. And sometimes, when they couldn't get money, they'll give them a drink of rum. There's a lyric in the song that says, 'Work all night on a drink of rum.' People sing and delight and dance and love it, but they don't really understand unless they study the song that they're singing a work song, a song of rebellion." -Harry Belafonte

Laurence Olivier propaganda:

"THEE actor man. You can't take theater classes and not know about this man. THEE Hamlet. Look at this lil blondie. VERY talented. (we are ignoring him also playing Othello, no he should not have done that) He was a pretty baby"

[agentravensong]

how do i enjoy rosencrantz & guildenstern are dead? is there a good way to experience it

IMO, if you're entirely new to the play, the best first impression you can have of it is the 2017 National Theater Live production, viewable here. That link also has a copy of the script, though I'd recommend waiting until after you've watched the play to read it. Because it's an absurdist work, if you're just reading the script as your first exposure to the story, it can be hard to follow or connect with. Watching a performance of it, watching two people embody Ros and Guil and seeing their chemistry, it's much more likely to hit emotionally. Even if you're just as lost as the protagonists, when you're watching and hearing it, you can latch onto the Vibe and get it on that level, you know?

If you end up enjoying the show, my next recommendation would be to check out the 1990 film version. I love that Ros and Guil just as much as NTL's, and it features my favorite version of the main player/tragedian. A lot of small things get changed because of the different medium and it's interesting to compare back to the play.

And if you're still hungry for more after that, a) congrats on getting bit by the RAGAD bug, b) sorry, c) check out this post for more tumblr peer-reviewed productions!

One extra note: Because the play is about two side characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, knowing at least the basic outline of what happens in Hamlet will fill in some gaps and make the show easier to follow. If you don't have that knowledge already, I wouldn't say you're required to look it up before watching this show; like I implied earlier, it is a kind of special experience to watch it while being just as out of the loop as the protagonists. But for further delving into the play, the more you know about Hamlet, the more allusions and such you'll find in RAGAD that make it all the deeper. Maybe look into it in between watching the NTL and movie versions? Up to you.

[sparkliest-bard-bracket]

Congratulations to ✨FREDDIE MERCURY✨ for being crowned the ✨SPARKLIEST BARD✨ in all the land!!!!

🎶HE. IS. THE CHAMPION. 🎶

Over the course of this bracket, he has faced off against many worthy bards, including an inter-dimensional storyteller, multiple irl musical artists, an immortal musically talented war criminal, and a muppet, and he proved himself to be the most sparkliest of them all.

Excellent singing, excellent piano playing, excellent songwriting, excellent fashion sense, and overall ~glamour~, Freddie Mercury has it all. Here are some of my favorite of Freddie's bardly moments, and feel free to reblog and add your own to celebrate our Bardly Champion!:

And to honor Freddie Mercury's wonderful legacy, I present my favorite Bohemian Rhapsody video ever -- he didn't even need to be alive to have a concert!:

And while we celebrate and throw a Queen-themed party for our Champion of Bards, do not forget to give a round of applause to all of the incredible bards who participated in this bardly showdown!! You can find all of their names and fandoms, along with the full completed bracket under the cut :D

That's all from me for now, folks!! I may make a poll for 3rd place if people are interested, and if people are very enthusiastic, I might make a round 2: fictional characters only! Lemme know if you'd be interested in either of those things, and thank you oh so much for your support through this whole bracket, and have a wonderful day all you fantastic bards and bard fans!!!

Complete Bracket in image format:

And the names and fandoms of all of our bards from the whole bracket!:

Jareth the Goblin King (Labyrinth)

David Bowie (Real Life)

Thom Merrilin (Wheel of Time)

Gurney Halleck (Dune)

The Bard/Kiwi (Wandersong)

Daeron (The Silmarillion)

Callie Cuttlefish (Splatoon)

Finrod (The Silmarillion)

Apollo/Lester Papadopoulos (The Trials of Apollo)

Apollo (Greek Mythology)

Bill Cypher (Gravity Falls)

Chong (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Max Rebo (Star Wars)

Edgin Darvis (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves)

Dimentio (Super Paper Mario)

Will Scarlet (Robin Hood)

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (The Muppets)

Link (The Legend of Zelda)

Katalina (Tabletop Time)

Starling Birdsong (Realm of the Elderlings)

Orpheus (Greek Mythology)

“Weird Al” Yankovic (Real Life)

Dave BruBot/The Major Player (Toontown: Corporate Clash)

Carrie Wilson (Julie and the Phantoms)

Kvothe (The Kingkiller Chronicle)

Elan (Order of the Stick)

Raz'ul, Son of Daz'ul (BomBARDed)

Edward Chris von Muir (Final Fantasy IV)

Binary Bard (Poptropica)

Christian (Moulin Rouge)

The Bard (Shovel Knight)

Fflewddur Fflam (The Chronicles of Prydain)

Man with the Harmonica (Once Upon a Time in the West)

Kyoami/The Fool (Ran/King Lear)

Diedrich Knickerbocker (Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story)

Hannah Montana (Hannah Montana)

Bard the Bowman (The Hobbit)

Leliana (Dragon Age)

Sprig Plantar (Amphibia)

Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer)

Neil Banging Out the Tunes (Tumblr)

The Muses (Disney Hercules)

Robinton (Pern)

Thistle/Sissel (Delicious in Dungeon)

Loquatius Seelie (Critical Role)

Cicero (Skyrim)

Michael Jackson (Real Life)

Oli/TheOrionSound (Empires SMP)

Megamind (Megamind)

The Onceler (The Lorax)

Mettaton (Undertale)

Gamzee Makara (Homestuck)

William Shakespeare (Real Life)

William Shakespeare (Something Rotten)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Classicaloid)

William Shamspeare (Ace Attorney)

Marceline the Vampire Queen (Adventure Time)

Brook (One Piece)

Gerard Way (Real Life)

Sea Hawk (She-Ra and the Princess of Power)

Snufkin (Moomin)

Frank Sinatra (Real Life)

Lias "Cliff" Bluestone (Discworld)

Rick Astley (Real Life)

Alan-a-Dale (Robin Hood)

Essi Daven (The Witcher)

Lúthien Tinúviel (The Silmarillion)

Stefen (The Heralds of Valdemar)

Roman Sanders (Sanders Sides)

Remus Sanders (Sanders Sides)

Bard (Crypt of the Necrodancer)

Kass (Legend of Zelda/Breath of the Wild)

Steven Universe (Steven Universe)

Glenn Close (Dungeons & Daddies)

Miss Piggy (The Muppets)

Nydas Okiro (Critical Role)

Charlie Pace (Lost)

Dob the Half-Orc Bard (Oxventure)

Kitagra (Kings of the Wyld)

Kaylie Shorthalt (Critical Role)

Father Gabriel (The Mission)

Gabrielle the Battling Bard (Xena: The Warrior Princess)

Haer'Dalis (Baldur's Gate)

Tsukasa Tenma (Project Sekai: Colorful Stage!)

Tom Bombadil (The Lord of the Rings)

Sylvando (Dragon Quest 11)

Steve McKenzie/Jester (Galavant)

Gieve (The Heroic Legend of Arslan)

Jaskier/Dandelion (The Witcher)

Kubo (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Guiliastes/Gui (1/2 Prince)

Rocky (Lackadaisy)

Asmodean (Wheel of Time)

Neil Cicierega/Lemon Demon (Real Life)

Kermit the Bard (Tales of Tinkerdee)

The Pied Piper (The Pied Piper of Hamelin)

Venti (Genshin Impact)

Sir Robin's Minstrels (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

Oscar Wilde (Rusty Quill Gaming)

Franz Liszt (Classicaloid)

Eddie Munson (Stranger Things)

Puss in Boots (Shrek)

Freddie Mercury (Real Life)

Hoid/Wit (Cosmere)

Noise (Roleslaying with Roman)

The Amazing Devil (Real Life)

Klavier Gavin (Ace Attorney)

Rickety Stitch (Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo)

Ron Stampler (Dungeons & Daddies)

Thancred Waters (Final Fantasy XIV)

Raine Whispers (The Owl House)

Jack Black (Real Life)

Scanlan Shorthalt (Critical Role)

Éile (The Witcher: Blood Origin)

Hap Gladheart (Realm of the Elderlings)

Alastair Nobledrifter (Saving Throw - DnD Podcast)

Maglor (The Silmarillion)

Bill & Ted (Bill & Ted)

DJ Cadence (Club Penguin)

Imp Y Celyn (Discworld)

Bard Otter (The Last Dragonlord)

Yara of Nowhere, the Wandering Bard (A Practical Guide to Evil)

Dorian Storm (Critical Role)

Maria von Trapp (The Sound of Music)

Demyx (Kingdom Hearts)

Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan (Tales of Arcadia: Wizards)

Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit)

BMO (Adventure Time)

[loveinhawkins]

Hi! I've never messaged you before, but your writing is some of my very favorite on Tumblr! I love that you have Steve as a poetry fan, and a fan of Simon and Garfunkel! I was reading the poem Richard Cory, and it made me think of a young Steve, the one people only see as a King, as a spoiled rich boy, not seeing his pain and trauma. Even his friends seem to gloss over it. And I can imagine him and Eddie in English class, and Eddie barely paying attention, but seeing how Steve subtly reacts to the poem when they read it, and Eddie wondering if maybe there's more to him than he'd previously thought! I found out that Simon and Garfunkel made it into a song, too, and that really sent it home! I hope you have a wonderful day, thank you for sharing your wonderful stories with us!

you are so kind, thank you so much. i hope you have a wonderful day too ❤️

oh, this has so many things i love. the poem & simon & garfunkel references (cw for references to suicide in both the poem & song lyrics), how Steve views himself and his high school persona vs how Eddie sees him—like, I could quote the whole poem but:

he fluttered pulses when he said, “Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.

Steve glittering as he walks! Eddie in denial that his pulse is also fluttering! ❤️

and them fleetingly crossing paths in high school is one of my absolute favourite things to think about, as well as them sharing the same English class at some point.

And when they read that poem… Eddie silently notices things. How Steve’s reaction stands out amidst the typically bored, glazed-eyes expression of other students. Eddie can see out of the corner of his eye how Steve reads the poem over and over, the subtle swallow, the shift in his jaw. The crease in the middle of his forehead that somehow seems more than just straightforward confusion.

But then he puts it out of his head—until, that is, an English period when the teacher says the whole lesson is just for silent reading. And Eddie hears a, “Psst,” coming from his left.

He doesn’t realise that it’s Steve Harrington trying to catch his attention, assumes it’s just someone trying to piss him off, so he snaps, “What?” a little harsher than warranted.

He almost does a double take at the way Steve shrinks back in his seat—not obviously so, but just enough for Eddie to notice.

“… Nothing. I’ll leave you alone,” Steve says shortly.

Eddie feels a flash of guilt. Sighs. “What?”

“Just… you’ve done this class before, right?”

“Fucking astute observation, Harrington.”

“Shut up. I just…” And Steve hands Eddie his photocopy of the poem, points at the top of the page. “Do you get this stuff?”

There’s a pause where Eddie scans the poem—and, Jesus, there’s a lot of annotations. Like, a lot. There’s even parts where Steve’s writing gets all cramped in between the stanzas, because he’s got a helluva lot to say, apparently.

Then he sees the part Steve’s pointing at, where there’s a scrawl of: Metre???

“Uh, yeah,” Eddie says. “I get what… it’s, like, the rhythm of it. Where the emphasis is on each word and stuff.”

Steve actually has the audacity to roll his eyes at Eddie’s, in his opinion, very generous explanation. “Yeah, I get all that in theory, but I can’t, like, hear it, y’know?”

And well, Eddie’s in a band. He knows a thing or two about rhythm. So he leans over and taps the rhythm out with his finger on Steve’s desk. He can’t remember the proper term for it, but he rambles, “It’s the same rhythm in Shakespeare plays? Kinda like a heartbeat.”

It must click for Steve, because sometime during Eddie talking, he starts tapping out the beat, too. Their knuckles almost touch. Not quite.

“Thanks, Eddie,” Steve says distractedly, as he takes his paper back and starts writing again.

And for the rest of the lesson, Eddie has to consider the fact that Steve Harrington truly knows his name, like he didn’t even have to think about it; like the freak moniker didn’t even occur to him.

[the-lincyclopedia]

This post is part plug, part nostalgic celebration. See, back in 2014, I was a senior in high school, and I was completely unaware of web series adaptations of classic literature (like the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Emma Approved, the March Family Letters, etc.). My first year of college, my roommates introduced me to the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which I fell in love with (if you're logged into AO3, you can see my LBD fics), and I deeply enjoyed multiple other Pemberley Digital productions and loved the 2022-2023 experience of watching the Look Back Diaries as the star of LBD reminisced and spilled a LOT of tea.

But I didn't really look for classic lit web series outside of Pemberley Digital, which meant I didn't watch Nothing Much to Do. Until now.

See, @thecandlewasters (the folks who made Nothing Much to Do, the web series adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing) are serializing all of the videos and transmedia content from Nothing Much to Do via email this year for the ten-year anniversary. It's like Dracula Daily meets the Look Back Diaries (no commentary from the actors, crew, or creators, but an email with a link to each part of the Nothing Much to Do experience on the ten-year anniversary of each video, tweet, Instagram/Tumblr post dropping).

And y'all. Okay, Much Ado about Nothing is my favorite Shakespeare play and I love it a possibly unreasonable amount, so I'm biased, but this adaptation is so good. I was worried it would be, like, loosely "inspired" by the Shakespeare original, but it is SPOT ON, both in terms of the plot and even in terms of a surprising amount of the smaller stuff. Like, when Ben is explaining that Claudio thinks Pedro was trying to get with Hero himself instead of wingmanning like he'd promised, Ben uses that clumsy little bird nest analogy that Benedick uses in the play. It's such a faithful adaptation! I'm so interested to see where they're going to go with this, particularly the Claudio/Hero of it all (please no spoilers; I want to be surprised!).

And also, you know how I said I was a senior in high school in 2014? Well, Nothing Much to Do is about high schoolers (made by teenagers and very young adults), and it's set in 2014. It is EXACTLY my era. Beatrice watches Sherlock. Hero reads John Green. A lot of the boys listen to Mumford and Sons. Like, these are my people. I would have fit right into this frenemy group. And it's just so incredibly nostalgic to see teenagers dressing in 2014 teen fashion and listening to 2014 music and reading 2014 YA books and watching 2014 shows and having 2014 discussions about social issues and using social media in 2014 kinds of ways. Stuff has changed in the intervening years--some for better, some for worse--but I hadn't realized how much love was stored in 2014 nerdy teenage pop culture, for me in particular.

If you want to join me in following Nothing Much to Daily, you can subscribe here: https://thecandlewasters.substack.com/about. (This is not a paid plug or anything; I'm just a really excited fan!)

[withasideofshakespeare]

Part 1: Graphs for Tumblr's Favorite Shakespeare Play

In celebration of getting 69 (nice) responses on my Google Form (see below if you'd like to add your opinion), I will be sharing the first round of graphs!

Comedies: Much Ado is in the lead!

Much Ado is the clear winner so far with 53% of the vote (that's 35 votes!) Coming in second place is Twelfth Night with 14 votes; for bronze, we've got Midsummer with 8 votes.

The "robber's" pick for best commentary is... "It's like a drag show but with plot." (Twelfth Night) Tragedies: Hamlet is winning!

Hamlet has a nearly Much Ado-sized lead with 34 votes! Coming in second is Macbeth with 18 votes (including mine)! Third place goes to another one of the four "great tragedies", Othello, with 5 votes.

Best commentary: "I could write an entire book on why I love hamlet. In fact I am writing a book on why I love hamlet." (Hamlet)

Histories: Richard III has a narrow lead!

Richard III is winning with 14 votes, just one more than Richard II with 13! Henry V (and the St. Crispin's Day speech in all its glory) is catching up with 9 votes.

Best commentary: "i saw a version of it where they brough a 10 foot penis on stage. they rolled henry out on a giant golden toilet, wanking, it was amazing," (Henry VIII) (I feel like I need more info on that one...)

Second best commentary goes to the multiple responses that say something along the lines of "Hotspur is gay"

Romances: The Tempest takes the lead!

The Tempest is winning by a large margin with 29 votes! The Winter's Tale takes more than a quarter of the remaining votes with 16 and Cymbeline takes a distant third place with just 4 votes.

Best commentary: "most unfortunate genre"

OVERALL FAVORITE PLAY: Hamlet

Best commentary (the duality of man): "I have no regrets." and "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry"

Rather than an image description, I'll list off the data here: FIRST PLACE: Hamlet: 18 votes SECOND PLACE: Much Ado About Nothing: 13 votes THIRD PLACE: Macbeth: 9 votes More under the cut (and some bonus content!)

7 people decided to forgo their $100 reward rather than choose a favorite Twelfth Night: 6 votes Midsummer Night's Dream and Othello: 2 votes each The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 3 Henry VI, Richard III, Winter's Tale, and the Tempest: 1 vote each Bonus: Tumblr's LEAST favorite plays (no votes in any category): Comedies: -Measure for Measure -All's Well That Ends Well -Troilus and Cressida -Taming of the Shrew Tragedies: -Timon of Athens Histories: -1 Henry VI -2 Henry VI

[tzipporahs-well]

Hey it’s @flangstynerd AKA @scinerdwrites but on a new blog. There’s been a lot of changes in my life in the past couple years, and as a result I wanted to make a new blog for jumblr. Several of my friends are on here and I got inspired just to reblog their stuff :D

What’s Changed:

I converted to Reform Judaism from Catholicism in May of this year. I’ve been doing this conversion journey since November 2021, but I didn’t want to announce it to the internet until everything was done and finalized. After 2.5 years, everything is finally official.

I plan to be slightly more active on tumblr than I have been previously. I named my blog based on my Hebrew name (Tzipporah), and how I wish to provide a treasure trove of info.

I would say my ideals of practice are some kind of cross between Conservative and Reform Judaism.

I’ve acquired some chronic illnesses and disabilities over the years. My body has been tough to me for the last couple years.

I have a Jewish podcast that has several eps already now. Our podcast has a tumblr blog, but please dm me for more info for safety reasons.

What is the same?

I’m still Chinese, Hmong, and queer (pronouns: they/she). I’m still culturally Italian as an adoptee. Those are not going anywhere lol.

Still have several varieties of neurodivergence (autism, PTSD, anxiety, psychosis, some kind of unclear mood disorder). My brain likes playing it rough. I have healed a lot of trauma, but the other stuff is still a wild ride.

Still don’t plan to be super duper active as I have a scientist day job. But if I ever see a great jumblr post from one of my friends or otherwise, I’d be happy to reblog.

Still hold a lot of nerdy interests: Disney fandoms (Tangled the Series, Encanto, etc.), classic literature (Shakespeare, 19th century European literature), certain manga/anime (Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note)

Still can be quite critical of the things I enjoy.

About Me (Jumblr Edition):

Favorite Torah character (first 5 books of Moshe only): Tzipporah (I relate to her so much as someone who came into the tribe and a nontraditional wife; the bridegroom of blood scene is iconic)

Favorite Tanakh character: King Shaul (very relatable for me as I feel like I struggle from similar challenges as him: mental health issues, low self esteem, and paranoia) followed close behind by Esther (she’s a role model for me, and Purim is my favorite holiday)

Favorite Jewish Holiday: Purim (relatable message especially for these dangerous times; also a lot of fun while still being a relatively low stress holiday)

Hamantaschen vs. Latke: hard choice but I have to go with traditional poppyseed hamantaschen. They’re older (~1500s) than the potato latke (late 18th to 19th century) and store better.

Areas of interest: Jewish history, Tanakh discussion, Jewish culture (food especially; I love cooking and baking), Jewish learning (especially more about Jewish life in Israel)

What Jewish value can I improve on? Chesed; I find it hard to always express loving-kindness, and my impatience and temper can get the better of me. I’ve been trying to improve on these for the past two years but 5784 has been especially trying.

What Jewish value is very important to me: Ahavat Yisrael; it is important that we as a people stay united. United we rise, divided we fall. I admire all legitimate Jewish streams (side note: Messianic Judaism is not a Jewish stream)

Important note: If something says #goyim don’t touch, listen and obey! Don’t even try with the antisemitism.

[g-n-c-quoi]

oh yeah this was supposed to be an art blog. so, with @sparkbirdmusic returning to tumblr it feels only appropriate to put this here- my entry for the art contest surrounding their upcoming single mayday!, which i have only heard in bits and pieces and have already been blown away by

there is like, a very esoteric and poetic inspiration for this drawing beyond just the song itself, but if i’m being honest with myself the explanation of that would just be incomprehensible rambling, so i’m gonna put it under the cut so y’all can just appreciate the art and witness my nonsense at your own discretion

those who know me will be no doubt familiar with my fascination with symbolic language and imagery in art, especially my tendency toward the more macabre instances of it. i cannot help but find myself represented in expressions of the horror of the flesh, of having a human body, a body that cannot be saved from its own mortality. i spend what some would call an unsettling or unhealthy amount of time preoccupied with the ideas of suffering and death, and those concepts are, as a result, very present in my art.

for this piece in particular, i found myself very interested in the concept of martyrdom. lyrically, “mayday!” evokes the image of perhaps a pirate, a spy, a rogue, some adventurer going out in a blaze of glory, making a legend of their own demise:

the captain lives by the sword

and the captain loves by the sword

when the captain dies by the sword

he’ll leave you trapped in the cockpit

crying out “mayday!”

the instrumentation only serves to solidify this, with bold, sweeping orchestration and thunderous percussion building the tension of each and every line until the last gasp of the chorus. (i wax poetic about sparkbird’s music often. be grateful i haven’t yet made a habit of it on this blog.)

while i’m drawing, i often have a youtube video playing as background noise, and for much of the process of this piece, i was absently listening to a video essay by final girl studios (who i highly recommend looking into, if you’re unfamiliar) entitled “beautiful dead girls: the romanticized death of the teenage girl”. in it, she describes a platonic ideal of femininity, an archetype that we see in no small number of stories about young women: a white, frail, suffering girl, often no older than 25, whose despair is commodified for the sake of art until we no longer recognize her as human, instead choosing to interpret her as some vague “other”, alienated from all personification so that we feel no guilt or grief when she dies, because how else could her story have ended?

one such tale mentioned in the video that particularly struck a chord with me was ophelia of shakespeare’s hamlet. ophelia in particular is an especially damning example of this, because when you read her name just now, was it not her death in your mind’s eye? the picture millais paints, both literally and figuratively, is a very pretty one, but it serves only to emphasize that she is gone. in love, then heartbroken, then mad, then gone.

the tragedy of the martyr, i think, is not simply that they are dead- it is that that is all they are, and all that they must be. the sympathy, the admiration, the idolization, these are all afforded in death and death alone. why do we make legends of the ones who are lost, if only to forget the ones they leave behind who are still lucky enough to be breathing?

the sword in this painting is a gravestone, left behind in the water like ophelia. the captain is dead, but there is no glory in his demise. all that remains of him is his sword, his memory, and the despair and destruction in his wake- “trapped in the cockpit, crying out mayday!”

of course, this connection is likely just a coincidence between the drawing, the song, and the video. but it did create one of my favorite drawings i’ve made in a long time, so i suppose it can’t be all nonsense.

[aliteraryprincess]

September 2024 Wrap Up

Thank god it's finally fall! I'm so excited for cooler weather. I finished drafting another dissertation chapter, which means I'm halfway through. Unfortunately, now I have to deal with job applications...

Books Read: 16

Check me out! To be fair, a lot of these are short since I was participating in Shorty September over on YouTube. But 16 is still pretty impressive! My favorite is Wylding Hall, closely followed by Fairy Tale. My least favorite was Life Studies, which I found quite disappointing. Titles marked with ® are rereads.

New Grub Street by George Gissing - 4.5 stars

Snow Drifts by Deven Philbrick - 4 stars

To Bedlam and Part Way Back by Anne Sexton - 4 stars

Fairy Tale by Stephen King - 5 stars

White as Snow by Tanith Lee - 4 stars

Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse by Mary Oliver - 4 stars

Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong - 4 stars

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo - 3.5 stars

The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare - 4 stars

Passing by Nella Larsen - 4.5 stars

Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E. K. Johnston - 5 stars ®

The Lady's Mile by Mary Elizabeth Braddon - 3 stars

Antigone by Sophocles - 3.5 stars

The Uninhabited House by Charlotte Riddell - 5 stars

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand - 5 stars

Life Studies by Robert Lowell - 2 stars

On Tumblr:

And look at all these photos! I'm having a great time getting back into book photography, especially now that I have a nice camera. I also participated in a readathon hosted by @thereadingchallengechallenge, which was tons of fun!

August 2024 Wrap Up

Book Photography: Red Comet by Heather Clark

Book Photography: White as Snow by Tanith Lee

Book Photography: Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Book Photography: The Norton Shakespeare

Book Photography: Passing by Nella Larsen

Book Photography: Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

Book Photography: The Uninhabited House by Charlotte Riddell

Book Photography: Mini Book Haul

Book Photography: Life Studies by Robert Lowell

Tagged: People I want to get to know better!

TRCC Readathon

On YouTube:

This is the first time in a long time there are less things in this section than in the On tumblr section. I guess I just need a little break from filming.

August Wrap Up | 9 books!

Currently Reading 9/4/24

My Favorite Books Under 250 Pages | Shorty September

Ranking All the Shakespeare Plays I've Read | #shaketember

My Annual Overly Ambitious Victober TBR!

[you-know-i-get-itt]

pardon my pestering you during your tumblr break, but i must rant to you!!!

1) my professor absolutely shat the bed about ‘teaching’ us Hamlet yet she had the nerve to claim it’s her favorite Shakespeare play since the beginning of term

2) random ass PhD student auditor in the class shit all over the Ophelia film because “I’m a Hamlet expert and I’m telling you it’s bad. Like it’s my doctorate subject.” 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

it’s all about misogyny in Hamlet until someone creates a different interpretation in a feminist retelling, then your classicism comes running back 🙄

(don’t get me wrong, if you ever watch it, you can hate it all you want!! i know you love Hamlet more than these 2 wenches could ever claim <3 still hoping you’ll love Horatio though!!)

please continue pestering me it gets me through life

oh my god yeah no exactly. i’m mentally telling that phd student to shut up and also i don’t think they realise that media is subjective which is really embarrassing for them

(i will watch it as soon as my exams are over and tell you everything)