It occurs to me that running has become, to me, what Fight Club is to Edward Norton. So I guess the world is safe from my split personality and anarchist group he would have started. But…for how long?

I read an article today about character motivations and how not to let your oh so carefully laid plot hamstring the actions that they want to do (and when you flesh a character out…they start to think on their own). At one point it was talking about tragedy and how the best tragedies are tragic because they are situations that any other character might have done alright in (but not the tragic hero).

So…for example, Othello would have no problem in Hamlet’s position and vice versa. I thought OH YEAH…that is very true, and the scenarios played out in my head. Othello is straight forward, an ass kicker, to the point. But he was in a web of deceit woven by a clever and subtle villain. Hamlet is brilliant, his mind has many layers…but he has to think through all those layers and he fucks up a straightforward problem and, instead of a swift justice, it’s a messy cluster-fuck (I’ve used the word twice in one sentence, purely to demonstrate its versatility and vicissitude) and many people die (a metaphor for a messy break-up…I think so).

But switch. Othello, in Hamlet’s place, would be one quick play. Dad killed by uncle? He’d bust the doors down and shove a sword down Claudius’s throat. Polonius, Laeretes, and Ophelia survive – and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not dead (unfortunately, destroying an awesome comedy before it is even born).

Hamlet, in Othello’s place, would be longer…but very interesting. He would not jump to conclusions about his wife, Desdemona (always loved that name)…in fact, Hamlet is the ever loving king of NOT jumping to conclusions, but of pontificating on them eloquently, and tirelessly…only, in this situation, it would save him rather than damn him. Iago is one of the best, nastiest, craftiest villains…so how sweet it would be that his trap would be disarmed by someone smarter still. I venture that Hamlet would not only figure out the skullduggery, but counter with his own intellectual trap, beeting Iago at his own game; the later ending the play with his melodramatic screams of, “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Oh…I think…uh…yes…maybe…yes…I think there’s a play there. Both would be shorter than the original and so both could be combined to form one play. Maybe one follows the other…maybe scenes switch back and forth…maybe Hamlet and Othello meet in Purgatory and agree to switch places and try again. I don’t know…it’s just barely a thought…but it’s gestating…

Yesturday I was solicited for cyber sex by a total stranger (with the hint of phone sex to follow). The afterschool specials of my youth failed to cover this…

AND NOW FOR NOCTURNAL LIVING TIP #629:
Phytochemicals present in blueberries, cranberries, bilberries, and purple grapes provide purple pigment to the retina. This aids night vision as well as improves ocular blood circulation. Combined with vitamin C (strengthening collagen in your eyes), the effects are increased. Antioxidants further the effect even more. All the above can be found in Welch’s Grape juice. It’s night vision in a glass.