bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
[personal profile] bironic
I have not been watching the Oscars because I trekked (ha) over to Arlington with [livejournal.com profile] deelaundry, [personal profile] ellen_fremedon and [livejournal.com profile] greenygal to attend By Any Other Name: An Evening of Shakespeare in Klingon. This included Washington Shakespeare Company board president, linguist and Klingon inventor Mark Okrand giving an introductory talk about the origins and grammar of Klingon, followed by scenes from Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet in Elizabethan English and in "the original Klingon" (assisted by a literal translation), and Stephen Fry doing the whole Q&A in a Klingon headpiece.

Yes, I said Stephen Fry! Though not advertised on the original Groupon announcement or I would have mentioned it at the time, he was the guest of honor as part of a BBC series he's producing about language. Great fun to hear him deliver his two Klingon lines ("A hit! A palpable hit!"), although he hammed it up a bit too much, and he was eloquent as usual when people asked questions afterwards. He did fun caricatures of McCoy, Kirk, Picard and someone else I've already forgotten,* and mentioned a uni essay he'd done comparing Trek ethics to Nietzsche's argument that tragedy is a tension between the Apollonian and Dionysian ideals, with Spock and various planets the essence of logic in too pure a form and McCoy and various other planets the embodiment of emotion or violence taken too far, and Kirk as the perfect being, balancing between them.

*Mark Okrand's blink-and-you'll-miss-it impression of Christopher Lloyd beat them out, though.

Also I now have a bright red t-shirt with the Klingon empire sigil on the front and "Klingon Security" written across the back. I shall wear it to dance class, since I have been cultivating a reputation for having unusual t-shirts (see also: squid and Dark Mark).

And now, for bed.

Date: Feb. 28th, 2011 04:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] l-eremita.livejournal.com
That sounds like SUCH FUN! What a treat for you! And you deserve it too. <3

Date: Mar. 2nd, 2011 03:03 am (UTC)
ext_2047: (cassiel comfort)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
It was a good time for sure. And yes, a nice change of pace from the last few months. ♥

Date: Feb. 28th, 2011 01:06 pm (UTC)
ext_2027: (Default)
From: [identity profile] astridv.livejournal.com
That sounds like an awesome event all around! The trekkie in me is thrilled to even read about it. :)

Date: Mar. 2nd, 2011 03:05 am (UTC)
ext_2047: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
Yes yes. As a Trekkie, I absolutely found Okrand's brief explanation of some of the grammatical rules of the language and his anecdotes about working with the film crew and cast more enjoyable than the performance and Q&A.

Date: Feb. 28th, 2011 02:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sarcarmic.livejournal.com
My inner geek is drooling all over me! Lucky you :)

Date: Mar. 2nd, 2011 03:05 am (UTC)
ext_2047: (geek willow)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
'Twas fun, for sure. It'll be interesting to see how long a clip of the performance they use on the BBC special.

Date: Feb. 28th, 2011 03:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cincodemaygirl.livejournal.com
Okay, it is kind of killing me that I missed STEPHEN FRY. alkj[aa;lskd;;.!

Date: Mar. 2nd, 2011 03:06 am (UTC)
ext_2047: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
Yeah, [livejournal.com profile] alpheratz said something similar. Sorry. :( I can only guess that they didn't want to overwhelm the smallish theater by advertising him on Groupon. Either that, or it was an error/oversight, because he was named on the WSC site.

Date: Feb. 28th, 2011 04:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
He's Klingon, not French.

Thank you for an awesome evening. I liked the lecture and Q&A better than the performances. We'll have to find some more to go to.

Date: Mar. 2nd, 2011 03:08 am (UTC)
ext_2047: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
Agree - the Hamlet one fell flat. Though I very much enjoyed seeing Okrand work his way through lines in his own language.

Date: Feb. 28th, 2011 06:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rubynye.livejournal.com
What a splendid evening!

Date: Mar. 2nd, 2011 03:07 am (UTC)

Date: Mar. 1st, 2011 06:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com
got any video of Stephen in Klingon headgear?

Date: Mar. 2nd, 2011 03:07 am (UTC)
ext_2047: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bironic.livejournal.com
Not personally, but I hear he posted a picture to his Twitter feed.

ETA: Ah, indeed:

http://www.stephenfry.com/2011/02/27/4d6ae04f2b734/
http://www.stephenfry.com/2011/02/27/4d6ae0a0466df/
http://www.stephenfry.com/2011/02/28/4d6b2eb4c0593/
Edited Date: Mar. 2nd, 2011 03:10 am (UTC)

Date: Mar. 2nd, 2011 05:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com
LOLOLOL priceless!

Date: Mar. 12th, 2011 04:29 am (UTC)
ext_471285: (Default)
From: [identity profile] flywoman.livejournal.com
So cool, especially the Stephen Fry appearance. I wish I could have made it down there, but I wasn't ready to visit my collaborator yet after all. I think that will happen at the end of this month.

Tags

Style Credit