http://www.mcelhearn.com Writings about more than just Macs, by Kirk McElhearn Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:48:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/02/03/get-free-additional-dropbox-space-by-testing-new-photo-and-video-upload-feature/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/02/03/get-free-additional-dropbox-space-by-testing-new-photo-and-video-upload-feature/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:36:53 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=2950 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/02/03/get-free-additional-dropbox-space-by-testing-new-photo-and-video-upload-feature/feed/ 0 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/01/08/my-new-years-resolution-buy-less/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/01/08/my-new-years-resolution-buy-less/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:47:21 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=2859 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/01/08/my-new-years-resolution-buy-less/feed/ 2 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/01/01/a-happy-new-year-to-all/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/01/01/a-happy-new-year-to-all/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:58:22 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=2847 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/01/01/a-happy-new-year-to-all/feed/ 0 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/09/21/welcome-to-my-new-sponsor-moom/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/09/21/welcome-to-my-new-sponsor-moom/#comments Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:53:38 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=2131 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/09/21/welcome-to-my-new-sponsor-moom/feed/ 0 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/09/20/why-im-selling-ads-on-kirkville/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/09/20/why-im-selling-ads-on-kirkville/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:42:48 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=2115 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/09/20/why-im-selling-ads-on-kirkville/feed/ 3 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/03/17/new-york-times-to-impose-paywall/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/03/17/new-york-times-to-impose-paywall/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:34:10 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=1761 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/03/17/new-york-times-to-impose-paywall/feed/ 4 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/02/15/why-the-economist-is-so-20th-century/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/02/15/why-the-economist-is-so-20th-century/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:19:01 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=1689 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/02/15/why-the-economist-is-so-20th-century/feed/ 3 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/02/13/twitter-thoughts-using-two-accounts-to-sort-tweets/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/02/13/twitter-thoughts-using-two-accounts-to-sort-tweets/#comments Sun, 13 Feb 2011 10:20:34 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=1685 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/02/13/twitter-thoughts-using-two-accounts-to-sort-tweets/feed/ 4 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/01/24/speech-events-and-e-mail-mailing-lists/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/01/24/speech-events-and-e-mail-mailing-lists/#comments Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:51:27 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=1634 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/01/24/speech-events-and-e-mail-mailing-lists/feed/ 0 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/01/05/dvd-notes-complete-bbc-shakespeare/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/01/05/dvd-notes-complete-bbc-shakespeare/#comments Wed, 05 Jan 2011 06:37:00 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/wordpress/?p=326

Buy from Amazon UK | Amazon FR

Last year, I bought this wonderful complete set of the BBC's productions of Shakespeare's plays. Recorded between 1978 and 1985, these recordings show their age, but feature a plethora of excellent actors and actresses, such as John Gielgud, Derek Jacobi, Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn, Anthony Hopkins and Clive Swift. No modern productions here - all of these are period pieces, and feature the BBC's minimalist sets and design. (This design can be annoying in some productions, but in most the words take precedence and one ignores the sets.

As yet, I have only watched a handful of the DVDs, but the ones I have watched (the first four Henrys, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors and King Lear) are all excellent. As I said, they show their age, but they do represent a fairly consistent approach to the works, in spite of featuring a number of different directors (notably Jonathan Miller) throughout the series.

For Shakespeare fans, this is a must-have set, especially considering it's relatively friendly price (GBP 135 at the time of this writing). Note, however, that the BBC is embarking on a new series of Shakespeare plays in the near future, with today's actors and actresses. I don't think that's any reason to avoid this set, however, as it shows a type of Shakespearean interpretation that is, in a way, for the ages. ]]> http://www.mcelhearn.com/2011/01/05/dvd-notes-complete-bbc-shakespeare/feed/ 1 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/12/18/watching-the-west-wing-again/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/12/18/watching-the-west-wing-again/#comments Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:33:28 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=1571 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/12/18/watching-the-west-wing-again/feed/ 2 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/12/14/24-for-christmas/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/12/14/24-for-christmas/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:01:45 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=1565 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/12/14/24-for-christmas/feed/ 0 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/09/19/here-me-talk-about-itunes-on-the-tech-night-owl/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/09/19/here-me-talk-about-itunes-on-the-tech-night-owl/#comments Sun, 19 Sep 2010 09:45:35 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=1356 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/09/19/here-me-talk-about-itunes-on-the-tech-night-owl/feed/ 0 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/04/08/dear-new-york-times-i-would-like-to-pay-for-your-news-please/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/04/08/dear-new-york-times-i-would-like-to-pay-for-your-news-please/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:14:48 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=1043 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/04/08/dear-new-york-times-i-would-like-to-pay-for-your-news-please/feed/ 8 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/02/25/i-discuss-google-on-the-tech-night-owl-live/ http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/02/25/i-discuss-google-on-the-tech-night-owl-live/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:07:40 +0000 kirk http://www.mcelhearn.com/?p=977 http://www.mcelhearn.com/2010/02/25/i-discuss-google-on-the-tech-night-owl-live/feed/ 1