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Sep. 15th, 2004 11:08 amRoy loaned me five graphic-novel books of Sandman. Dreams of a thousand cats stuck in my mind, as (unfortunately) did the convention of parts collectors. I'm kind of disappointed that I can't credit Sandman with the same superglue-like attraction that I had for Preacher, though. Even so, it's interesting, complex, and rewarding for the not-stupid audience.
It should hardly need to be said that I enjoyed the Midsummer Night's Dream stuff, which (for me) riffed on Pratchett's Lords and Ladies, on the original, and on the several hundred lines that sprang forth from an unholy marriage between the original and Gundam Wing... that last being entirely my fault and comprised of some of the worst couplets I've ever seen in my life. :)
How bad were the couplets? (I knew you'd ask.) They were pretty damned bad.
Original:
BOTTOM
Why, then may you leave a casement of the great
chamber window, where we play, open, and the moon
may shine in at the casement.
QUINCE
Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns
and a lanthorn, and say he comes to disfigure, or to
present, the person of Moonshine. Then, there is
another thing: we must have a wall in the great
chamber; for Pyramus and Thisby says the story, did
talk through the chink of a wall.
Revised version:
WuFei: The window in the chamber, open'd wide
will let the moonlight shine on us inside.
Sally Po: We could do that, or let an actor stand
with bush and lantern held up in his hand.
Moonshine would then be an actor's station --
Anthropomorphic representation!
With that solved, there's a second thing we lack:
We need to locate a wall with a crack.
The story says Pyramus and Thisby
whispered through a wall, so a wall must be!
Yes, yes, any more fond of my own writing and I'd go blind. There's more of this... a lot more... available here for the masochistic.
I'll probably give Sandman another whirl before handing 'em back to Roy, just in case it didn't hit me on the opportune moment. Sometimes I like stuff in the second go-round better than I did in the first.
It should hardly need to be said that I enjoyed the Midsummer Night's Dream stuff, which (for me) riffed on Pratchett's Lords and Ladies, on the original, and on the several hundred lines that sprang forth from an unholy marriage between the original and Gundam Wing... that last being entirely my fault and comprised of some of the worst couplets I've ever seen in my life. :)
How bad were the couplets? (I knew you'd ask.) They were pretty damned bad.
Original:
BOTTOM
Why, then may you leave a casement of the great
chamber window, where we play, open, and the moon
may shine in at the casement.
QUINCE
Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns
and a lanthorn, and say he comes to disfigure, or to
present, the person of Moonshine. Then, there is
another thing: we must have a wall in the great
chamber; for Pyramus and Thisby says the story, did
talk through the chink of a wall.
Revised version:
WuFei: The window in the chamber, open'd wide
will let the moonlight shine on us inside.
Sally Po: We could do that, or let an actor stand
with bush and lantern held up in his hand.
Moonshine would then be an actor's station --
Anthropomorphic representation!
With that solved, there's a second thing we lack:
We need to locate a wall with a crack.
The story says Pyramus and Thisby
whispered through a wall, so a wall must be!
Yes, yes, any more fond of my own writing and I'd go blind. There's more of this... a lot more... available here for the masochistic.
I'll probably give Sandman another whirl before handing 'em back to Roy, just in case it didn't hit me on the opportune moment. Sometimes I like stuff in the second go-round better than I did in the first.
