Wednesday, October 30, 2024

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

A good traveler is something at the latter end of a dinner; but one that lies three-thirds, and uses a known truth to pass a thousand nothings with, should be once heard and thrice beaten. –God save you, captain.

 

Lafeu

All’s Well That Ends Well      Act II, Scene v, Line 30

 

I’m not exactly sure that context has anything thing to do with being able to figure out what the heck Lafeu is talking about. Nor will familiarity with Will’s language be of any help, since there are no difficult words here. So I guess you'll just have to take a stab at it. Let me know how you make out. 

 

Since I have no Idea what Lafeu is talking about, I thought I'd just give you a completely unrelated picture. Actually, since I don't know what Lafeu is talking about, I guess this could be a completely relevant picture and I would never know. Think about that.

Anyway, here's a pic of Patrice doing her morning stretches. As you can see, Mojo likes to join in on the stretches. He claims to be something of an expert on the downward dog position. It's hard to argue with that. 


 

 

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,

Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

A great-sized monster of ingratitudes:

 

Ulysses

Troilus and Cressida     Act III, Scene iii, Line 145

 

Today’s lines are Ulysses answer to Achilles who is wondering why the generals walked by his tent without saying anything to him. The generals

                                       neither gave to me

Good word nor look: what, are my deeds forgot?

 

Actually, Ulysses told the generals to do that. It’s all a ploy to try to get Achilles back into the fight. The first part of Ulysses response it this:

        Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,

Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

A great-sized monster of ingratitudes:

Those scraps are good deeds past; which are devour’d

As fast as they are made, forgot as soon

As done

Short version: The good deeds you do are forgotten the next minute after you do them. Ulysses goes on and on with this theme for the next twenty or thirty lines. It’s all in a way of trying to coax Achilles back into action because he has been sitting the fight out.  If you want to be recognized, he tells Achilles, you’ve got to stay current. That Ulysses is a wily character. 

 

 Speaking of wily characters...  Here's one for you. I'm talking about that guy sitting on my shoulder. Just look at that shifty look in his eye. You can bet he's up to something, and I can't wait to find out what it is.


Monday, October 28, 2024

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

A proper squire! And who, and who? Which way looks he?

Don John

Much Ado About Nothing     Act I, Scene iii, Line 52

Don John has just been informed that Claudio is going to get married, and this is his reaction. And who, and who? Which way looks he is Don John’s way of asking who Claudio is going to marry. And who is he going to marry? Hero. That’s right, he’s going to marry a girl named Hero. There are four women in this play: Beatrice, Margaret, Ursula, and Hero. Claudio's going to marry the one named Hero.

I don’t know about you, but I think Hero is a pretty odd name for a woman. I mean, we don’t even use the word hero when we’re talking about a female hero; we use heroine. So I don’t know what’s up with that. I guess we just have to go with it. 

 

 

I can tell you one person who doesn't care who Claudio marries: it's our little hero named Mojo. He doesn't care at all. In fact, he slept right through Today's Totally Random Line, that's how much he doesn't give a hoot. 

I know,  you're saying he's the smart one, and you wish you could've slept through it too. Better luck next time.
 

  Today’s Totally Random Lines   What fashion, madam, shall I make your breeches?   Lucetta The Two Gentlemen of Verona      ...