R&P... Why art thou afraid of thy Shakespeare?

I loved playing Mercutio, not only did I get my revenge on the fruity Drama teacher, I had half the senior class roaring with laughter as well. After I "died" in our production of Romeo & Juliet I kinda refused to stay dead...every so often I'd rise half up and go "URGGGHHH THOU HAST SLAIN ME BASE VILLAIN!", or "WHY HAST THOU PUNCTURED ME WITH THY SHARP OBJECT OF IMPALEMENT!!", or just "ARGHHHHHHH" and then fall back real theatrically with my arm over my face. The nimrod Drama teacher was so mad he just sputtered. Totally failed me, and well worth it too, guy was a tyrannical jerk.

BA: To be or not to be, that is the question...

BBA: I love reading but some of those books suck like hell. Dante's work was boss. Hated Dickens.

BBBA: SERIOUSLY?? You should have kicked her ***, then had your Mom fire her.

A) If I did a beatdown would have occured

B) Forty Five

C) 17?

Hey Indian Dotter

This is the easiest question I have answered all day. Bob Dylan is without question (In my opinion) the master poet of rock n roll or any music for that matter, no one writes lyrics like him.

My favorite part of the song Hurricane.

BQ..

Rubin Carter was falsely tried

The crime was murder 'one' guess who testified

Bello and Bradley and they both boldly lied

And the newspapers they all went along for the ride

How can the life of such a man

Be in the palm of some fool's hand ?

To see him obviously framed

Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land

Where justice is a game.

Or these lyrics from Subterranean Homesick Blues

Johny's in the basement

Mixing up the medicine

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government

The man in the trench coat

Badge out, laid off

Says he's got a bad cough

Wants to get it paid off

Look out kid

It's somethin' you did

God knows when

But you're doin' it again

You better duck down the alley way

Lookin' for a new friend

The man in the coon-skip cap

In the big pen

Wants eleven dollar bills

You only got ten.

BBQ:I hate reading books, I will leave it at that lol.

BBBQ:

a)No I can't say I have :)

b) turned 21 a few days ago

I am putting on my Early Modern English master's degree hat for this question, haha.

We know my vote for greatest lyricist (Elvis Costello), but I would also like to recognize some others that may not get mentioned: David Byrne, Patti Smith (previously mentioned by Johnny!), Billy Bragg, Michael Stipe (despite loopiness, there's some great stuff in there), Sam Cooke, Woody Guthrie, Warren Zevon, etc. To pick someone I haven't mentioned a bajillion times, I'd also like to promote the Indigo Girls, in particular songs like Secure Yourself, which is a fantastically written song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1IWN3wjEEg

BQ: Best Costello line off the top of my head that's not 'Shipbuilding' or 'Beyond Belief,' as I've talked about those before: From God's Comic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7dzTCvLfN0

...

So there He was on a water-bed, drinking a cola of a mystery brand

Readin' an airport novelette

Listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Requiem"

He said, before it had really begun, "I prefer the one about My Son

I've been wading through all this unbelievable junk

And wondering if I should have given the world to the monkeys"

...

I'm gonna take a little trip, down paradise's endless shores

They say that travel broadens the mind 'til you can't get your head out of doors

...

Sometimes you confuse Me with Santa Claus

It's the big white beard, I suppose.

BBQ: It depends upon the reading and the frequency thereof. Having read To Kill a Mockingbird five (5) times from fourth grade through law school, I never want to see that book again, which is sad as it's a great book -- I just had too much chapter-by-chapter. I don't agree with the way Shakespeare is taught in high school, because students are given the plays but no help with the grammar and etymology, when technically Early Modern English (or EME, which Shakespeare wrote in) is a different language than Modern English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Modern_English if you care at all! (Maybe not.)

BBBQ:

a) Never -- I get mistaken for under 21 nowadays. I don't look 30-in-a-week at _all_.

b) 30-in-a-week. I want presents!

c) I know already.

I remember in English, everyone dreaded the section where all we did was study poetry. I quite love it. Same with Shakespeare. Genius.

I'm not sure, I'd say Brandon Flowers probably. He's one of my most favourite lyricists. His lyrics are so touching.

BQ:

"Don't you wanna come with me? Don't you wanna feel my bones, on your bones. It's only natural."

-Bones by The Killers

BBQ: I honestly don't remember. I've had a weird reading past. I got awards for being the best reader in my grade when I was younger. Then for the longest time, I never even touched a book. And now I'm reading non-stop again!

My favourite book though, that I read over and over is "Into The Wild".

BBBQ: That sounds annoying.

a) Yeah, I get mistaken for a senior in high school. I guess I look older than I am.

b) 15

c) 14?

I actually love poetry. And Shakespeare is badass.

Elliott Smith wrote beautiful lyrics.

BQ: "All spit and spite, you're up all night,

And down every day.

A tired man with only hours to go,

Just waiting to be taken away."

BBQ: Depends on the book. I don't mind reading if I like the material.

Favorite: Fahrenheit 451 was awesome.

Least favorite: I didn't like either of the books I had to read this year (A Hope in the Unseen and another book that I can't remember the name of).

BBBQ: No.

17.

15?

Bob Dylan would be the default choice but I'd have to pick Leonard Cohen. He wrote some of my favourite songs ever.

BQ: The whole Hallelujah song, honestly I've never heard a song paint such a poetic picture with words.

BBQ: I don't recall much of my school reading (and I'm only 19, haven't been out long.. bad memory I guess).

BBBQ:

a) I have no idea!

b) 19

c) Ned flanders avatar is my only clue, but a smiley face might knock off a few years. If your a guy I'd say 22, if you're a girl I'll say 26.

I liked Shakespeare 'cause I learned lots of ways to call people whores.

and...lyricist..

I love Richard's Hell's lyrics/poetry/novels, so I might go with him.' But The Kinks and XTC are close, if not tied. I should note that I find a tonne of other musicians to be great lyricists, but I personally prefer these three.

BA:

"The day goes by, I nod at it, another comes again.

I'm asking you for guidance now, I hope my ways to mend.

In the secret history of time we're all alone and dead

And only suffering is sure is what the best book said."

-Richard Hell

or

"Arm in arm we sang our patriotic songs of love and sentiment.

Tears of joy to hide the sorrow,

New tomorrows till we meet again,

With a new world to build we'll say auf weidersein.

What did they do for us?

What did it prove to us?

As we stand beside the silent grave

The unknown soldier can't be saved."

-The Kinks (Ray Davies)

or

"I am the audience

There's no doubt, no consequence

I could make the morning papers

If I use my capers

Let's be the Audience

I might lose my patience

Polite applause excepted

To the ones selected, as the audience..."

-XTC (Andy Partridge)

yum: Never worked too well for me, because I might find a book fascinating but refuse to read on principle (that...we're being forced to do so). Then I read the book long after we were supposed to, though, and understand the academic value, and sometimes even fall in love with it. Doesn't mean I like being forced to read something any better, but..eh. I understand the need for it in English classes.

Favourite is tied between 1984: George Orwell, The Stranger:Camus, Into the Wild:Jon Krakauer, and The Great Gatsby:F. Scott Fitzgerald. and so far I really enjoy Metamorphasis: Kafka.

Least favourites are A Separate Peace:John Knowles or Scarlet Letter:Nathaniel Hawthorne.

B yum: well, that sounds terrifying. D:

a) some adults I hadn't seen since I was 7 recently saw me and were like "there's no way you're only 17, honey! no, you're lying! you're at least 19!" Bit weird. similar to yours, i guess, except without the slapping or ostensible anger..

Looking older works to my advantage if I want to get into shows or hang around in a casino, though. They offer to sell me drinks, too. o.o

Doesn't work to my advantage at night in downtown waiting for a bus. then it just gets creepy.

b) 17 (and almost a half-ish!)

c) 15? 16?

Oh, I have so many favorites... :(

Well, I guess Ryan Ross... Spencer Krug is so close though... ah and Michael Angelakos.

BQ:

"When the moon fell in love with the sun, all was golden in the sky."

"Come save me from walking off a windowsill or I'll sleep in the rain."

"Talk to the mirror, oh, choke back tears

And keep telling yourself that "I'm a diva"

The album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out is the work of a total genius, my sweet Ryan.

BBQ: I'm taking a class where geography and english is combined and they don't make us read anything.

BBBQ: She slapped you!? Holy smokes... I would have slapped her back. Ugh!

A) Well once me and my best friend were in radioshack and we were looking at cellphones and this worker came up to us and started asking us grown up questions about stuff I can't remember right now, but we just stood there like, "what"? Then he was like "you guys are over 18 right"? We were like "No!" It was funny. He was like, "Oh, okay", and walked off.

B) 15! I think I look younger but obviously other people don't think so....

C) I know! Hehe. Before I knew how old you were, I had the impression that you were much older... 20s or 30's even. :P

:]

{{{Poetry}}}

I love poems, though not so much Shakespeare!

Well, I guess most people will be thinking Bob Dylan, but I'm going with...

Ian Anderson

{close behind are Sandy Denny and Nick Drake}

BQ: Where to begin?!

"Lend me your ear while I call you a fool. You were kissed by a witch one night in the wood, and later insisted your feelings were true."

"Now I may tell you that it's love and not just lust. And if we live the lie, let's lie in trust on golden daffodils, to catch the silver stream that washes out the wild oat seed on velvet green."

"The leaded window opened to move the dancing candle flame. And the first Moths of summer suicidal came, suicidal came."

'Alive and Well and Living In'

"Nobody sees her here, her eyes are slowly closing. If she should want some peace she sits there, without moving, and puts a pillow over the phone. And if she feels like dancing, no one will know it. Giving herself a chance there's no need to show her how it should be.

She can't remember now when she was all in pieces, she's quite content to sit there listening to what he says, how he didn't like to be alone. And if he feels like crying she's there to hear him, no reason to complain and nothing to fear, they always will be."

BBQ: It was great when I was reading my own choices, but I wasn't really into some of the set texts, and I've forgotten most of what we read {I left over 10 years ago!}.

Enjoyed: "Beowulf".

Least enjoyed: "Romeo & Juliet" - I wanted "Macbeth"!

BBBQ:

a) When I was 14, many people thought I was 18.

b) Almost 29.

c) ? 16 ?

Bob Dylan is undeniably the greatest lyricist ever to grace the music we so simply refer to as rock.

BQ: There must be some way out of here" said the joker to the thief

"There's too much confusion", I can't get no relief

Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth

None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.

"No reason to get excited", the thief he kindly spoke

"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke

But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate

So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late".

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view

While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl

Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.

BBQ(hungry!!!!): I think that it is good for some and bad for others. I appreciate that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is required in at least one state, but I hated having to read Lord of the Flies. It's just so grim.

BBBQ: Yes. I'm 14. Probably 16.