a man for all seasons

The British Library, as the Guardian reports, will be digitising the only known surviving script written by William Shakespeare in his own hand. The piece, on the subject of Sir Thomas More, Catholic martyr, who managed to rise to the rank of Lord Chancellor in the court of Henry XIII. Focused on More’s divided allegiance by the king’s schism with the pope in Rome and witness to the persecution of the Huguenots who had sheltered in London—having fled violence of France who considered them heretical, the play was not authored by the Bard himself, but rather re-worked by a committee of playwrights in hopes of bringing this anonymous work finally to the stage.
Though feeling audiences were ready for a less than favourable portrayal of king and country, the play remained unscreened for fear it would incite a riot, much like those limned in the manuscript. The lines that Shakespeare form powerful soliloquy for the protagonist, which speak to current tensions over the refugee crisis:

You’ll put down strangers,
 Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses,
And lead the majesty of law in lyam [by a leash]
To slip him like a hound. Alas, alas!
Say now the King
As he is clement if th’offender mourn,
Should so much come too short of your great trespass
As but to banish you: whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,
To any German province, Spain or Portugal,
Nay, anywhere that not adhere to England:
Why, you must needs be strangers.

lingual emancipation or english as she is spoke

Thanks to an informative article from Weird Universe, we learn that from 1923 to 1969, the official language of the State of Illinois was designated as “American” before “English” was finally restored. A congressman from Montana originally championed this movement on a national level—citing the defining vernacular that writers like Mark Twain and James Fennimore Cooper crafted to distinguish America’s literary canon from its British roots:
“Let our writers drop their top-coats, spats and swagger-sticks, and assume occasionally their buckskin, moccasins, and tomahawks”—but the measure was voted down, except in Illinois. Though some may argue that Americans don’t speak the Queen’s English, I doubt this point of contention was ever as patriotic or harboured royalist sympathies as it was made out to be. The US constitutional framers intentional failed to specify an official, national language, because if the matter had been put to a vote, German might have won out over English, but later adherence to this policy was to ensure that no language was privileged over another. Illinois quietly retracted this amendment almost five decades later, realizing English was still being taught and spoken either in ignorance or in defiance of this law.

postcards from the edge

Boing Boing shares a gallery of lobby cards on offer from the brain-trust behind Liartown, USA, Sean Tejaratchi. My favourites are still the falconry-paraphernalia from the Falcon Hive but there’s quite a bit of spindled brilliance besides to uncover.

the dubliners

In anticipation of Saint Patrick’s Day, Kuriositas treats us to a fine whistle-stop tour through Dublin to visit the statues and public monuments that people the capital. As fond and committed city commissioners are for honouring local sons and daughters, residents are just as keen to bestow affectionate monikers on these silent neighbours. Read more about the “Tart with the Cart” or the “Hags with Bags” and other choice nicknames for the street urchins of Dublin and sight-see during your next visit with native knowledge.

tycho magnetic anomaly-1

Having just written about another, older film that helped inspired some of Kubrick’s most memorable montages, I thought it was a nice coincidence that the always brilliant Dangerous Minds served up this engrossing appreciation of the development and divergence of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The article, with more to explore, discusses the difference between the storytelling devices of the director and the writer, Arthur C. Clark, and how the different media access the imagination, mystery and a cosmos fraught with either enfeeblement or indifference, but it also reveals another homage, influence Kubrick had in Russian film-maker Pavel Klushantsev’s 1957 The Road to the Stars that debuted a decade earlier—which is far too full of artistry and vision to be labelled as propaganda but did coincide with the launch of Sputnik.

slipping the surly bonds

Via the esteemed Everlasting Blört comes the latest work of information design from Pop Chart Labs that reveals nearly six decades of space exploration on one dashboard, that cleverly organizes the missions—from Luna II to the climate survey missions of last year. The trajectory of every exploratory craft is featured on this vast astronomical orrery with further details about each satellite, probe and rover.

bread-line or maître d'hôtel

A soup kitchen in Kansas City is fighting the usual stigmatisation associated with such charitable operations by having all the trappings of a formal dining experience, as Bad Ethnography reports. Volunteers act as hosts and servers and patrons are seated and given menus of the day’s offerings to consult. These small dignities are surely rare for the homeless and destitute and the chance to be treated instead of just handled probably returns in spades for the community. A local culinary institute has also joined with this project to give diners who also want to help out in the restaurant training that might lead to gainful employment at some of the city’s other fine establishments. I suspect the measure of satisfied customers—taking pictures of one’s meal—have already been surpassed.  Everything’s up-to-date in Kansas City and I hope that this model spreads.