tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-226577382026-02-14T03:53:11.911-05:00Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.comBlogger360125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-44381920082754943242017-03-28T11:50:00.003-04:002017-03-28T11:50:54.619-04:00

1500: Ants. 1501: Ants. 1502: Plague Rages But Not Black Yet; Looks Kind of Dark Brownish? 1503: Monks of St Swithinsgate Don Particolor Hoods in Best Jest of Century. 1504: Henry VII tells son Henry that he’ll never be King with that attitude... in LATIN. 1505: First Warm Ale Day Observed in Boundsmanshire Hollow. 1506: Howlets in the Jestbook (Re-)Invented 1507: Not A Year Until Gregorian

Greenwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02281775492712935997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-14859078374690370662011-11-05T09:50:00.002-04:002011-11-05T10:40:44.039-04:00

This, from today's New York Times: a story about "Lush Workers," as they're called in our day and age, who slice open the pants pockets of drunken subway riders to steal their wallets. I'm posting it here because it's such a nice revision of a canonical historical oddity -- The Cutpurse -- that sits so prominently in the ways we think about theatrical culture in Tudor and Stuart London. All of

Greenwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02281775492712935997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-5224476824453301002009-09-10T13:15:00.002-04:002009-09-10T13:21:02.005-04:00

It seems like, now that we have gone dark, or at least grey, we are getting more kudos than ever. Something calling itself the Accredited Online Universities has posted something calling itself the "100 Best Blogs and Websites for Innovative Academics." So if you are innovative, you really should be checking out these blogs and websites. Included among these best for the innovative is BtR:Whether

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-72321477636708236922009-04-06T13:55:00.011-04:002009-04-06T14:24:57.710-04:00

One of the good things about living in Old Europe is that there are plenty of abandoned sewers, and on Sunday I walked much of the route that the Fleet River once flowed. Still flows, in fact, although now it’s a subterranean waterway. The Fleet was a major river in Roman and Anglo-Saxon Britain, with wells and springs dotting its banks: hence Clerkenwell. But by the time we get to our period, it

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-23284682675479097022009-03-23T20:53:00.003-04:002009-03-23T20:59:39.028-04:00

This image is freaky as all get out (and completely off topic). Barbie has hip and leg "bones." And a skull. If only Richard Brome or A. S. were alive to make a joke about the flesh and the bones.More cool CT scans here.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-13683778995854309682009-03-18T20:47:00.002-04:002009-03-18T20:49:44.528-04:00

Is Cambria becoming the new Times New Roman? Would this be a good development?

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-74581988997926001212009-03-09T14:12:00.005-04:002009-03-09T14:18:15.421-04:00

Stanley Wells has the goods on the Cobbe portrait.I personally like to imagine Shakespeare having weight issues as the reason for the fluctuating rotundity of his face in various paintings and carvings.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-34126288351659938452009-03-09T13:34:00.002-04:002009-03-09T13:38:01.439-04:00

It appears Stephon Marbury is doing his best Iago on the Boston Celtics.Commented Kevin Garnett: "Weird thing is, he kept calling the other guys moors, which is just really messed up," the 12-time all-star said. "I mean, what is that, anyway? He didn't say it like it was a good thing. If he plays good basketball he can do what he wants, but I'm not going to listen to anyone call me or my guys

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-45140002483271456172009-02-04T11:13:00.003-05:002009-02-04T11:19:57.850-05:00

From a relative of mine in the midwest, not snow, but ice. Many places without power for a second week.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-74403525975853162572009-02-02T13:45:00.004-05:002009-02-02T14:04:41.353-05:00

'If snow be white,' wrote our immortal bard, 'why then her breasts are dun'. Whether this is a line about cooking chicken, or an odd, but early assessment of John Donne, it was doubtless ringing in the ears of the jubilant schoolchildren who covered the hill opposite my garret (pictured below). I could see hundreds of them: fighting, tobogganing, throwing snow balls. Lacking sleds, they

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-76573305799866025232009-01-23T12:28:00.003-05:002009-01-23T12:30:40.204-05:00

I recently stumbled upon this site and have been enjoying it ever since. I can't say I enjoy Last Question Class Extenders any more than my students do.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-15605662264547793402009-01-12T16:55:00.002-05:002009-01-12T17:09:35.880-05:00

I may be turning into the foolish gentleman of jest lore, but sometimes I wish more early modern jokes came with an explanation. To wit: anyone care to explain Bull #216 from the fine 1636 collection mentioned by Greenwit, A. S., Gent., The Booke of Bulls, Baited with two Centuries of bold Jests, and nimble-Lies (STC 4941.5)?One refusing to eat Chees-cakes, was askt his reason, hee told the[m]

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-64292868111145569052008-12-17T22:42:00.002-05:002008-12-17T23:27:43.949-05:00

Bardolph's post and Simplicius' comment got me wondering about early modern jokes that are funny not because of their anxious explanations of themselves or their stylistic quirks, but because we still get them and respond to them. They're out there, of course, but in jest books? Off I went to 1636's finest collection, The Booke of Bulls, Baited with two Centuries of bold Jests, and nimble-Lies.

Greenwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02281775492712935997noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-67850529859602502892008-12-10T13:01:00.002-05:002008-12-10T13:09:22.469-05:00

There's nothing I like more on a cold Thursday evening in December than to pour a large sherry, stoke up the fire, pluck down my copy of Pasquil's Jests (1604), and settle in for the evening. Pasquil's Jests is, as you might imagine, a jestbook: a gathering of prose comedy gems, in black letter. It's a book, the title-page declares, 'Pretty and pleasant, to driue away the tediousnesse of a

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-56864278457823765022008-11-30T11:31:00.002-05:002008-11-30T11:35:45.611-05:00

We interrupt this extended hiatus for an important announcement from Google Books:Three years ago, the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and a handful of authors and publishers filed a class action lawsuit against Google Book Search. Today we're delighted to announce that we've settled that lawsuit and will be working closely with these industry partners to bring even more

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-71538642507148955542008-11-23T12:57:00.002-05:002008-11-23T13:14:58.081-05:00

Surprisingly long article in Friday's NY Times about the possible death of irony. Do you think its author, Andy Newman, has a working definition of irony, or, more harshly, knows what it means and how to spot it? Reading it over, I find no firm evidence suggesting he has or does. The closest the article comes to a definition is in a quotation from Roger Rosenblatt, who said, "Irony is a

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-85968033207624359772008-11-19T13:06:00.003-05:002008-11-19T13:15:49.823-05:00

I missed this when it was first reported (I just heard about it on the radio), but a biologist working at the Grand Canyon recently died of the plague:One day last October, Eric York lugged the carcass of an adult mountain lion from his truck and laid it carefully on a tarp on the floor of his garage.The female mountain lion had a bloody nose, but her hide bore no other signs of trauma. York, a

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-66315945496766175122008-11-01T11:09:00.003-04:002008-11-01T11:12:02.269-04:00

In case anyone missed this a few weeks ago:I love the way Colbert one-ups his distinguished guest.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-89963935739566644472008-10-28T14:58:00.006-04:002008-11-23T13:17:43.568-05:00

I've never had a particularly good sense of the size of England.If you too have had this problem and you are more familiar with the states of the U.S., here are some comparisons you can use:England (50,346 sq mi) is roughly the same size as Louisiana (51,885 sq mi).Wales (8,022 sq mi) is roughly the same size as New Jersey (8,729 sq mi).Scotland (30,414 sq mi) is roughly the same size as South

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-79992572259522331822008-10-21T14:22:00.002-04:002008-10-21T14:32:23.012-04:00

Lee "Sprezzatura" Siegal writes about the classics. While I tend to agree with the idea that reading "great books" does not create "good people," I also find myself loathing him (once again). More enjoyable is the delicious irony of having this practitioner of sock puppetry make this particular argument. The short version: blame it on Bellow. It's tough to be human (like Siegal) with members

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-83423864526126533882008-10-19T12:10:00.001-04:002008-10-19T12:10:53.605-04:00

I'd just like to announce that BtR raised $150 million* in September. Thanks to all our contributors!* insert your own joke here.

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-78179878395446400002008-10-09T17:51:00.004-04:002008-10-09T22:48:42.236-04:00

I step away from my computer at around 2pm this afternoon, thinking the markets are going to be relatively calm today, and--boom--the stock markets plunge over 6%?!? What the f*ck?!?Update: And now Asia's markets are experiencing steep declines (8-10% as I type). I pass all this news along simply to note that here at BtR we're aware of the global financial meltdown. Flavia mentioned last week

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-19958580359513098262008-09-23T04:11:00.001-04:002008-09-23T04:12:38.177-04:00

... there's Cavalier poet Robert Herrick and 80s soft soul crooner Lionel Richie. Both men for the ladies, of course.What's going on?

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-4633187818324619592008-09-23T04:02:00.007-04:002008-09-23T04:11:09.345-04:00

Here's a thing. Have you ever noticed the similarity between our friend John Milton, and the coach of the Czech Republic football team, Karol Bruckner?

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-3182273288815075772008-08-27T13:26:00.002-04:002008-08-27T13:42:11.722-04:00

Well, it's been about a million years since I've posted here, and I know the blog has become pretty dormant. I guess that's the way things are going in our lives these days. And it seems a little self-indulgent to come back from my bloggy deadness to toot our own horn, but I have to say, this is pretty cool.In the new Blackwell's Companion to Digital Literary Studies, Matthew Steggle has a

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com5