Who wrote the works of Shakespeare?
Actor Keir Cutler, Ph.D., tells what changed his mind about Shakespeare’s authorship, and why he signed the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare (DoubtAboutWill.org/declaration).
The “Declaration of Reasonable Doubt” provides a brief, but definitive overview of the evidence and arguments for and against William Shakespeare of Stratford as the author. Nearly three dozen Shakespeare scholars helped write it, and even some well-known supporters of the traditional attribution of the works have praised it. The Declaration is needed because most Shakespeare scholars say there’s no doubt who wrote the works.
Among the many prominent people who have signed the Declaration are actors Sir Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Irons, Michael York and Mark Rylance, founding Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, and former U.S. Supreme Court Justices John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day O’Connor. More than 660 people with advanced degrees, and over 330 current or former college and university faculty members, have also signed.
The Declaration can be read and signed online at the website of the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition (SAC) at: DoubtAboutWill.org. Please read and consider it, and if you agree, go to the signing page and add your name. Then, help spread the word!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Edward Woodward (1930-2009)
by Michael Burgess for Cinemalogue.com
Edward Woodward’s career impressed three generations throughout the English-speaking world. Of course, he was best known to American audiences as Robert McCall in “The Equalizer,” but he was so much more than that.
He distinguished himself as a singer (12 albums), as an actor on the Shakespearean stage (“Hamlet”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Pericles”, “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Measure for Measure”) and on the Broadway stage in “High Spirits” (1964).
His name was mocked by many. Sir Noel Coward said it sounded like farting in the bath. One newspaper journalist called him, “Edward Woodward, would-be winner of the wooden words award.” It was a jingle. It was a schoolyard game.
What about the soaps: “EastEnders” (2009)? What about the sitcoms: “Common as Muck” (1994-1997)?
What about the feature films? Horror buffs revere him as the virgin policeman sacrificed by Sir Christopher Lee’s witches in the original The Wicker Man (1973). Fans of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost remember Woodward as Tom Weaver, a different kind of cop in the comedy Hot Fuzz (2007).
In between was Breaker Morant (1980), a historical drama in which a squad of Australian soldiers serving in the Boer War unjustly face a death sentence at the hands of a corrupt British high command. During its theater release, Australians leaving the cinema at the end of the film seemed so stirred up with righteous anger, they shot daggers looks at my friend and me when they heard our English accents.
Such was the extraordinary ability of Woodward (an Associate Member of RADA) to play the stoical warrior downtrodden by circumstances and betrayed by his bosses. And, of his more than 2,000 television performances, his portrayal of the ex-SIS undercover man Callan created an icon, if not a genre.
Callan was the ultimate outsider called upon by unscrupulous civil servants to carry out the dirtiest jobs. His digs were squalid and his only sidekick, a disgusting snitch known as “Lonely,” had a body-odor problem: a running joke throughout the series, which ran from 1967 to 1972.
Aside from his tendency to beat people up and to be beaten, the coolest thing about the Callan series was the opening credit sequence in which a naked light bulb swung slowly to and fro until shattered by a pistol shot. And no baby boomer will forget the show’s chillingly simple bass guitar and piano theme tune.
Life seemed almost to imitate art when the inept mercenary Costas Georgiou (ultimately executed in Luanda in 1976 for war crimes during the Angolan War of Independence) adopted the nom de guerre “Colonel Callan.”
For my generation, it’s Callan who died of pneumonia on Nov. 16, 2009. And, for us, the sweetest thing about “The Equalizer” (87 episodes, 1985-1989) was the way Woodward’s Robert McCall, appeared to be an older Callan living out a long and prosperous retirement in a swanky Manhattan apartment, making wistful references to the terrible things the agency used to make him do when he was an undercover operative.
by Michael Burgess for Cinemalogue.com
Edward Woodward’s career impressed three generations throughout the English-speaking world. Of course, he was best known to American audiences as Robert McCall in “The Equalizer,” but he was so much more than that.
He distinguished himself as a singer (12 albums), as an actor on the Shakespearean stage (“Hamlet”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Pericles”, “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Measure for Measure”) and on the Broadway stage in “High Spirits” (1964).
His name was mocked by many. Sir Noel Coward said it sounded like farting in the bath. One newspaper journalist called him, “Edward Woodward, would-be winner of the wooden words award.” It was a jingle. It was a schoolyard game.
What about the soaps: “EastEnders” (2009)? What about the sitcoms: “Common as Muck” (1994-1997)?
What about the feature films? Horror buffs revere him as the virgin policeman sacrificed by Sir Christopher Lee’s witches in the original The Wicker Man (1973). Fans of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost remember Woodward as Tom Weaver, a different kind of cop in the comedy Hot Fuzz (2007).
In between was Breaker Morant (1980), a historical drama in which a squad of Australian soldiers serving in the Boer War unjustly face a death sentence at the hands of a corrupt British high command. During its theater release, Australians leaving the cinema at the end of the film seemed so stirred up with righteous anger, they shot daggers looks at my friend and me when they heard our English accents.
Such was the extraordinary ability of Woodward (an Associate Member of RADA) to play the stoical warrior downtrodden by circumstances and betrayed by his bosses. And, of his more than 2,000 television performances, his portrayal of the ex-SIS undercover man Callan created an icon, if not a genre.
Callan was the ultimate outsider called upon by unscrupulous civil servants to carry out the dirtiest jobs. His digs were squalid and his only sidekick, a disgusting snitch known as “Lonely,” had a body-odor problem: a running joke throughout the series, which ran from 1967 to 1972.
Aside from his tendency to beat people up and to be beaten, the coolest thing about the Callan series was the opening credit sequence in which a naked light bulb swung slowly to and fro until shattered by a pistol shot. And no baby boomer will forget the show’s chillingly simple bass guitar and piano theme tune.
Life seemed almost to imitate art when the inept mercenary Costas Georgiou (ultimately executed in Luanda in 1976 for war crimes during the Angolan War of Independence) adopted the nom de guerre “Colonel Callan.”
For my generation, it’s Callan who died of pneumonia on Nov. 16, 2009. And, for us, the sweetest thing about “The Equalizer” (87 episodes, 1985-1989) was the way Woodward’s Robert McCall, appeared to be an older Callan living out a long and prosperous retirement in a swanky Manhattan apartment, making wistful references to the terrible things the agency used to make him do when he was an undercover operative.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Converge on US Southern Command
Take action in solidarity with the people of Honduras
Gather on Sat., July 25 at 10:30 am at NW 87th Ave & NW 36th St in Miami
As you are surely aware, on June 28, SOA-trained Honduran generals overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Manuel Zelaya in a military coup. The Honduran social movements are resisting the coup regime and engage in daily pro-democracy protests, strikes and civil disobedience.
On Saturday, July 25, you can join human rights activists in Florida taking action in solidarity with the people of Honduras by converging on the headquarters of the US Southern Command (US SouthCom) in Miami.
SouthCom coordinates all US military activities in Latin America and the Caribbean — and is in charge of the SOA/ WHINSEC (School of the Americas, renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation).
This notorious military school trained some of the worst human rights abusers, death squad and coup leaders in the Western Hemisphere, including General Romeo Orlando Vásquez Velásquez, who attended the SOA twice before ordering the kidnapping and forced deportation of President Zelaya on June 28.
When Your Only Tool is a Hammer, Every Problem Looks Like a Nail
SOA/ WHINSEC & SouthCom’s military-solutions-mindset is sowing the seeds for further repression of Latin American social movements with their rhetoric about “radical populism” overtaking the hemisphere. Over the last few years, military aid to Latin America has skyrocketed, and SouthCom definitions of terrorist threats expanded from “traditional terrorists” like gangs, paramilitaries and guerrilla groups to include “radical populists” whose only crimes include listening to their people and challenging the failed neoliberal model of development.
Evidently President Zelaya’s social reforms have put him in league with the “emerging terrorist” threat that is defined by SouthCom as radical populists. Following that logic, the Honduran army (which is still led by an SOA graduate and still being trained at the SOA/ WHINSEC) removed him from power. But the people of Honduras continue resisting, and are calling for you to join them in solidarity!
Obama’s military policy in Latin America is not an improvement after the Bush Era — though the US air base in Manta, Ecuador will close this year, the US will replace it with five new bases in Colombia with expanded missions. You have an important chance to join our brothers and sisters resisting militarization throughout the Americas. Please join us this Saturday at SouthCom!
The protest is sponsored by SOA Watch South Florida, Miami for Peace, and CODEPINK Miami. For more information call Ray Del Papa at 754-423-0051 or Linda at 305-801-0245. If your group would like to endorse the action, please email Ray at mrrratpp@aol.com
Yours in struggle,
Linda and Ray
http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=1740
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Support the vigil for Ian Tomlinson
The location of the vigil for Ian Tomlinson is inspiring and beautiful with candles and flowers arranged around the fountain by the Royal Exchange in the passage off Cornhill. It is a bridgehead in the city of London.
Activists plan to keep it going as long as possible. The site is fully respected by the police and even the City of London corporation roadworks have been held up out of respect.
Those who stayed over last night need a rest. Chris Knight is 66 he can't stay out every night. Two or three people are urgently needed to stay overnight. All you need is a bed roll, sleeping bag, a little food and water. Further support will arrive early in the morning.
If you can visit, take along extra candles, tea lights, flowers, bottles, vases, and if you could make it through the night there are nice comfortable doorways to spread a bed roll and sleeping bag.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
R.I.P. Jim Lane, Feb. 21, 2009
On his way home from a bike ride, Wednesday Feb. 18, 2009, Jim Lane stopped at Kensington coffee on Adams Avenue, San Diego. He had hardly spoken the words “It sure is cold out there today,” when he collapsed on the floor.
Paramedics had to defibrillate him eight times before rushing him to Scripps Mercy hospital ICU where he had another heart attack. He came round from the sedatives long enough for him to shake his head in response to being asked if he was in pain and then went into a deep sleep for two more days until he finally died of kidney failure.
It could very well have been that he forgot to take his daily meds; but he had done that before without problems. He was at his goal weight of 205 lbs. He was on an upswing with new work coming up for him at the university, and he had just acquired two used doors to replace on his car, which he planned to repaint.
Family and friends will gather to celebrate his life on Sunday March 22, 2009 from 2 till 6 p.m. Details available.
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