...Such stuff... As dreams are made on

We are such stuff As dreams are made on and our little life Is rounded with a sleep...'
--From The Tempest (IV, i, 156-157)
[Jump to the quote in the text of the play]
Prospero has consented to the marriage of his daughter and Ferdinand in this whimsical play about reconciling with family, forgiveness, and faith in the future. Prospero lives on a magical island with his daughter, Miranda, and a host of spirits and sprites. He was banished by his brother over a decade ago, and has now used his magic to cause the ship on which his brother and King Alonso and his entourage were sailing to come under his influence. They have been shipwrecked on Prospero's island, and a series of magical events occur. When Miranda and Ferdinand are about to marry, Prospero speaks the famous line which celebrates that uniquely human blend of mind and matter.
Themes/Keywords: dreams, magic, spells"

Carly Simon put out a nice song called "The stuff that dreams are made of". Have you noticed how many song lyrics play off of well known phrases?

William Shakespeare | Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look

William Shakespeare | Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look: "'Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.'
--From Julius Caesar (I, ii, 194)
[Jump to the quote in the text of the play]
Caesar speaks these words to his devoted friend, Mark Antony, noticing that Cassius is lurking nearby. He tells him that he distrusts lean men, contrasting Cassius with Antony, the latter who loves plays, laughter and music, as opposed to Cassius who reads too much, is never entertained, watches men and their motives far too closely, and never smiles. He tells this to Antony as a way of educating him, not out of fear of Cassius. However, Cassius has just tried to convince Brutus that Caesar is a danger to the republic, and has begun to seek Brutus' help in removing the dictator who is on his way to becoming crowned monarch. Cassius is indeed dangerous, as Caesar himself has fortold.
Themes/keywords: Danger, conspiracy, mistrust"

The Paragon of Animals

Shakespeare Quotes - Find a Shakespeare Quote Here!More Shakespeare:

Pick up a newspaper and read the bad news and you may question whether the praise in the following quote is justified.

"What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? ..."

--From Hamlet (II, ii, 115-117)

Badges?

 
A trio of bandits confront a miner packing out his gold. They claim to be Federallys (police) but the miner is suspicious and asks to see their badges. “Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!” With those words Alfonso Bedoya achieved screen immortality in his role as the Mexican bandit “Gold Hat” in John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. 

Shakespeare belies his own words

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow...
Shakespeare may have reached a dusty death described in the pessimistic passage below but his work lives on and contradicts the "signifying nothing" phrase.

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

--From Macbeth (V, v, 19)

Democrats guilty of racism in Maryland politics

'Party trumps race' for Steele foes�-�Metropolitan�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
Maryland Democrats call black Senate candidate an "uncle Tom" and pelt him with Oreo cookies at rally.

Federal Budget is busted

E-mail sent to Senator Conrad, copy to Sen. Lugar:

Sir:
I watched your presentation on C-SPAN today (10/20/05) concerning the federal deficit and debt. Thank you for trying to wake up your colleagues and the public to this oncoming disaster. We have had a long run of (relatively) good economic times and still are running huge deficits and piling up the debt. What will we do if we have a run of poor economic performance?

While the Bush administration should be blamed for part of the situation I remind you that Congress must, by law, appropriate every dollar the government spends. When will the Congress bring spending in line with revenues?  Like many citizens, the Congress needs to cut up the credit cards and scale back on the (federal) high living.

William Combs

The OJ Simpson verdict is announced on TV at IU. 

People and animals respond to novelty

Put a new object into an animal’s cage. It will be investigated immediately. Some species, like apes, will play with it for a while. A new restaurant comes to town and everyone wants to go there. Sometimes a new car model that is very different, like the retro looking Chrysler PT Cruiser or the new Morris Minor will attract buyers due solely to their novelty. I call these novelty cars. Often, enthusiasm fades after a time and the car is pulled from the market. In what passes for pop culture, often driven by TV and magazines, novelty is king. The new pop stars, the new look, the new sound etc. draws people like moths to a light. Often, novelty is the only asset and the ‘buzz’ dies down and people move on to the next novelty.

Your own facts

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts," said the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. "Facts are what separate good political reporting and analysis from hot air.”