Iago the Devil?

After much thinking, I have decided that if i were to produce the play Othello, I would adapt the play so that Iago would be the devil. He is a unique villain in Shakespeare's plays. He does not have any real reason for his diabolical actions. It's pure evil. In addition, Iago does not do any direct actions of evil. He merely uses others around him as his pawns, to do his evil work for him by means of inducing temptation and suggestive speeches. This is historically accurate to traits the devil has shown both in the Bible and other works. I think that this would be an interesting take on the play.

Racism Towards Othello

Again, I am coming back to the theme of racism as it is portrayed. I wondered, what type of racial tendancies the audiences of Shakespeare's time, maybe this would give insight to racism in Othello. After doing some research, I saw that William Shakespeare was raised Catholic. Although this religion was looked down upon by English, it was practiced in private amongst devout worshipers. During Shakespeare's time, their was a huge Anti-Islam movement throughout Europe, specifically from the Catholic rulings of Spain and France. I am trying to reason whether this is why Shakespeare chose for Othello to be a Moor, a Muslim. Anyways, if this is not the reason, I still find it to be an interesting coincidence.

How to Read Othello.

In class on monday we discussed how to read Shakespeare's plays. They should be spoken and performed, not merely read from a page in the library at 1 in the morning. In high school i always found it helpful to get the CD of the play and listen to the CD as i read along with the dialogue. This has proven to be a rather effective way for me to better comprehend Shakespeare's writing and makes it a whole lot more enjoyable. When I was in high school, the first Shakespeare play that i read was Macbeth, which happens to be my favorite. We were reading it over one of our school breaks. During the break my family decided to visit my sister at college. I brought my book and CD with me just in case i had some downtime to read. Of course I had great luck and my flight was delayed 4 hours getting back to NJ. So as i sat there at the gate, i tuned out the crying babies and the complaining passengers and listened to Macbeth straight through. Made my waiting experience actually rather enjoyable. More recently with Othello, I simply got the audiobook of the play on iTunes and transfered it to my iPod. It makes reading Othello alot more conveinient,

Racism as a secondary factor in Othello

In class on monday, we had a brief discussion on whether race was the primary reason for why people disapproved of Othello. Our guest on monday, whose name i have unfortunately forgotten, thought his Moor background as a secondary reason for why people looked on Othello with such hatred. After taking a closer look, I disagree. I believe it is the primary reason for their hatred. If it was not for Othello's background, I do not believe that the tragic events of this play would have occured. Surely some might look upon Othello with disapproval, but it is the race driven hatred that is at the heart of this tragedy.

Digital Story Telling

There are a variety of challenges throughout this project. Editing your script, choosing what pictures you want, and recording your voice can be difficult tasks. However, the part that is giving me the most challenge is the background music. This might seem like a small detail to many of the projects, however for mine, it is a crucial aspect. My digital story is about my journey through music, any what better way to tell my journey than with actual music that i have created. I am trying to edit, splice, and adapt a few songs that i have in my iTunes to fit my script. This is proving to be more difficult than i thought but the more i play with garage band the the better i think it is becoming. Hopefully the final layout with flow harmoniously with my story and its message.

Trying to Recreate

I used to write a lot of poems back in high school. Only recently did I start this up again. I took a break from writing my paper and decided to write this. I tried to recreate Rives' style and fuse it with my own. I haven't thought up of a title for it yet, and I don' think it's quite finished. Questions and comments are welcome.

You’re walking down the steps after finishing the day’s afternoon class,
And you see Her there.
Her soft dark hair flowing with that crisp breeze as it shimmers to set off a smiling red.
The red you see at a quarter to five on that fall afternoon as the sun begins to set.
Yeah, a sunset. The one thing no author ever fully explains or conveys the meaning of but let me try. I want to try to understand that sunset. Maybe it’s a mere feeling that just consumes oneself with total awe and wonder. The same feeling when her spontaneous smile strikes your eyes when she passes by.
No words exchanged, no words to exchange. You don’t want to say hello cause you’re afraid of goodbye. But you’re telling yourself that it’s better than a turn away and a sigh. A sigh a relief is not going to come unless you return that smile. For the time has come to return that smile, that awe inspiring action. The thing that makes your day, and you don’t know it. The thing that makes you crazy, and you’re afraid to show it. Show it. Scream it. Yell it. Dream it. No matter how you tell it, know that you mean it. You smile. You just made her day, but what about tomorrow?

What is Rives?

As i was brainstorming about my paper I found myself rewatching the videos of Rives on our classes blackboard. As is typical, I found myself laughing hysterically at some points and deeply moved at others. After watching "Mockingbird" for the seventh time, I asked myself, "What is Rives?". Is he a poet, a comedien, an entertainer, a social comentator, what? What can the medium on which he creates his art be classified as? I had no clue. More and questions jumped into my mind: questions such as if I were to introduce Rives to an audience or attempt to describe who Rives is and what he does to someone, what would I say? I guess you just have to witness Rives to have an understanding of who he is and what he does.