Italian Cookies

For all the Italians out there or those who are lucky enough to be married to an Italian, or even to be friends of Italians.

An elderly Italian man lay dying in his bed. While suffering the agonies of impending death, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite Italian anisette sprinkle cookies wafting up the stairs. Gathering his remaining strength, he lifted himself from the bed. Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled downstairs.

With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven, for there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite anisette sprinkled cookies.
Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted Italian wife of sixty years, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man? Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself towards the table, landing on his knees in a crumpled posture. His parched lips parted, the wondrous taste of the cookie was already in his mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.

The aged and withered hand trembled on its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.....“Don’t touch!” she said, “They’re for the funeral!"

State of the Union speech 2006

When the President mentioned his failed initiative to fix social security the Democrats drowned him out with their gloating applause. The Democrats refuse to make counterproposals because they know there is no painless solution. So all we hear from them is partisan criticism. What a spineless, self-serving party they are!

...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.