“I wonder if the ‘canned laughter’ canard is used, knowingly, as bitchy shorthand – surely no one really believes it is artificial? It’s been half a century since actual machinery was regularly used.” And by the way: “Studio audiences aren’t forced to laugh with cattle prods. They give it up willingly.”
Tag: 08.13.13
Wayne Koestenbaum Majestically Overthinks Debbie Harry
“By singing the words ‘I’m not the kind of girl,’ Harry – or her persona – admits that there exist many varieties of girl, as many as there are shades of lipstick, or verses in the Bible, or varieties of rock on the path to Lourdes. There are many kinds of girl, and Debbie has the right to pick exactly which kind she is. But she is also fated to be a specific kind – and maybe this kind of girl falls prey to dejection and wants a listener’s sympathy.”
Can We Add (Part Of) Another Play To The Shakespeare Canon?
“For nearly two centuries, scholars have debated whether some 325 lines in the 1602 quarto edition of Thomas Kyd’s play The Spanish Tragedy were, in fact, written by Shakespeare. … But now, a professor at the University of Texas says he has found something closer to definitive proof using a more old-fashioned method: analyzing Shakespeare’s messy handwriting.”