It's pretty clear Captain Oats that you're not Captain Oates. Unless of course you've been outside for a very long time (which might explain why I haven't seen a post by you before).

Keith, "A 'piddling pee's puddle ripple' now thats' good. I'm still giggling. Shakespeare would have been proud to have composed that." It's fortunate Shakespeare's dead Keith, else he might have died of apoplexy. Either that or strangled you with your small intestine.

And for all you smarty-pants with your Latin quotes, I can only say "Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure."

That we shall die, we know;
'tis but the time and drawing days out,
that men stand upon.

ave atque vale

Mercurius,

Quite the opposite.
I drink XXXX bitter from a can or stubbie, drink Australian Verdello's from long stemmed glasses, go to movies, play Poker with my mates, share my daughter's music and my son's maths and engineering, work hard with lots of contact with hardworking others, eat homecooked meals including pasta, stirfry, roast, steak and veges, rice and olives, read widely - classics as well as a little contempory, walk and swim regularly, love watching all football and international sports events, don't believe in God, am on the public record as verment in my opposition to fundamentist Islamists, as protesting loudly against terrorism, the death penality and Israel's suppression of the Palestinians. I support George Bush and John Howard. I despise the self-seeking shallowness of Kevin Rudd and laugh at his inability to think on his feet. I involve myself in the political process.
My heroes include Louisa Lawson, Ronnie Reagan, Lachlan Macquarie, Henry Lawson, Francis Chichester, Jules Francios Archibald, John Stuart Mill, Caroline Chisholm, Weary Dunlop, Arthur Roden Cutler, Colin Meads, Edmund Hillary, Scott of the Antartic, both Marie Bashir and her husband ...

Oh the only thing I do you would no doubt view as a vice is: I sail a 35 foot yacht.

Yep I'm sadly out of touch with contemperory Australia.

Johnj

Really is Shakespeare dead? Not in my house he isn't.

It's the comparison it invokes, with other more common similes. Much better than saying as contempory Australians might; 'P...... into the wind'. Have you ever learned his sonnets? Or read A lovers Complaint? They are full of such uncommon comparisons.
Hmmm I shouldn't have to explain such ideas.

Strangling me with my small intestine is a job best being left to my colorectal surgeon.

Keith,

It's ads, not "adds".

Most are from ads, "D'oh" is from The Simpsons, a quite popular cartoon which resonantes with most Australians. A bit like Shakespeare appealed to commoners in his day.

I have no objections to classical literature but I do object to the notion that people who engage with it are somehow superior to people who don't.

In my apparently very humble opinion, your argument is elitist. As you very well know, Shakespeare was keenly aware of the tastes and values of the lumpenproletariat masses of his time. They were his audience. You could at least do him the honour of respecting that in your own historical setting.

Thank you for treating us all to the detailed description of your lifestyle. Much appreciated. Perhaps you'd care to read Veblen?

Keith, heh. Shakespeare is alive and well at my house, and has pride of place on my bookshelf, next to the DVDs of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (she's also one of my heroes, along with John Stuart Mill.)

However, like Buffy, Shakespeare is much more compelling in performance than reading the script. I will never understand why we make schoolchildren read the bloody scripts. If we gave them a red-blooded Bell production, they might stay awake until the end of it.

But to paraphrase cultural studies maven Prof. Alan Mckee, if Shakespeare has such a character-building improving influence on young minds, then why are many Shakespeare scholars so maladroit, boorish, slovenly and irascible?

As for the sonnets - obsessive and creepy, much? As much as you may not wish to taint yourself with anything so base, you really should read the lyrics of the average r'n'b singer mooning over the latest object of his "love", with all the extravagent and anatomically implausible protestations they contain. Take a Pepsi challenge and compare the mental images of the average Shakespearean (or Petrarchan) sonnet, and then watch the film clips for Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me A River" or "What Goes Around" - there's nothing between them.

PS - enjoy the sailing. Conditions over the Easter break look reasonable.

PPS - In honour of this thread, I shall place my bus tickets next to William's collected works, and Buffy. Like Prospero's books, they are not tranferable or redeemable for cash.

Ah Merurius,

We indeed are brothers.

Though Buffy sits like a lifeless empty Yorrick's skull and like 'rosy lips and checks' will within Will's 'bending sickle's compass come', but those bus tickets will admit only 'an impediment to the marriage of true minds,' for I feel sure a tempest might rage over our preference.

I for one would gladly swap fair weather for an admission to Will's original and final lament. Me thinks you'd gladly swap the entry to Justin's latest crude crooning for the same.

Then we as cousins could both sit and ponder the absence of a homily on the reverse of Will's admission ticket?

Your humour and your wit is inspirational. Will would love you ... like a brother.