Ambition Should Be Made of Sterner Stuff

I don't remember how old I was, but I remember at the time we were doing something in class where we were supposed to assign one of ten attributes to each of our classmates. At the end the results were compiled, and we could all see which (almost all positive) attributes best described us.

The overwhelming response to which attribute best described me was, "Ambitious."

I was young enough that although I had a pretty good idea of what ambition was, I decided since it's the attribute that apparently described me the best according to my classmates, I would look up the official definition. I'm sure I found something not far removed from this:

am·bi·tion/amˈbiSHən/

Noun:

A strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. Desire and determination to achieve success

Yeah! I'm a hard worker who is determined. Take that, mom!

Yet ambition also can have a negative connotation (or denotation), depending on the context in which it is used. (Interestingly enough if you do a Google search for "ambition negative connotation" the first result quotes Julius Caesar).

"Ambition makes you look pretty ugly." - Radiohead -- Paranoid Android.

Ambition is one of those few words in the English language that can be used just as easily when complimenting someone as when criticizing someone.

"Look at how ambitious that little boy is. He'll go on to great things."
"What an ambitious little #@$%!"

This modern day connotation of the word makes the funeral speech of Antony that much more amazing. Antony is placed in an odd position where he is supposed to praise Caesar, yet praise those who murdered him. Undoubtedly the word "ambition" in this context is used in the negative sense, but Antony's words make "ambitious" seem like the least likely word to describe Caesar.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me.
But Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honourable man.
...
When the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept.
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
...
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honourable man.
...
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And sure he is an honourable man.

And he ends it with a bang. How can you call a man who denied a crown three times, "Ambitious?" Was he really striving for fame and glory, or was he just great enough that he was destined for it? This theme ran throughout the play. Is it our fate, or our cunning?

Semester Project

I'm trying to control myself.

You see, I tend to get excited about things, and then when the rubber meets the road I realize I don't have as much time to put into things as I would like. It's a classic problem in business -- you talk a lot, but you never get stuff done. I could tell you of countless companies that fail this way.

So for this semester project, as much as I can see a vision of something earth-shattering and awesome, reality is we will be coming up on finals, and we will be busy.

But I would like to see a wide variety of people coming together, each using his or her various skills (as discussed in class) to contribute something unique to one project. Maybe the whole class won't join in, but I love the diversity that the class showed. so...

The big idea


(It hurts me to say it like that... I'm an entrepreneur who doesn't pitch ideas without traction and loads of research, but...)

We could create either a trailer for a documentary or a very short documentary -- a "the making of" a fictional Shakespeare film (that would be the project had we infinite resources). You can show how x produced a song, or y producing the storyboard (yes, I just reduced names to mathematical variables).

Simple, could go a lot of different ways, room for creativity, feasible.

How's My Blogging?

Yeeeah, I'm way late on this one, and I'm slow on my blogging. I'll pick it up, promise.

So as far as evaluating my blogging so far, we have the following. My notes will

• 1. Gain Shakespeare Literacy
  
  
  
  
  Demonstrate mastery over fundamental information about Shakespeare’s works, life, and legacy

  a. Breadth (knowledge of a range of Shakespeare’s works)

  b. Depth (more thorough knowledge of a single work)

  c. Performance (stage and screen)

  d. Legacy (history, scholarship, popular culture)

Well, I'm reading a lot of Shakespeare, and I do understand it, but my blogs certainly don't convey this. I need to work on #1.

• 2. Analyze Shakespeare Critically
  
  
  Interpret Shakespeare’s works critically in their written form, in performance (stage or screen) and in digitally mediated transformations. This includes 
  a. Textual analysis (theme, language, formal devices)
  b. Contextual analysis (historical, contemporary, cultural)
  c. Application of literary theories 
  d. Analysis of digital mediations

I also need to work on this one, turns out.

• 3. Engage Shakespeare Creatively
  
  
  
  
  a. Performance (memorization, recitation, scene on stage or video)

  b. Individual creative work (literary imitation, art, music)

  c. Collaborative creative project

I've done better with this one. I have a creative work coming (see next blog post), and have been working on a bit of a collaborative shakespeare project (that didn't get too far off the ground, but I made an attempt).

• 4. Share Shakespeare Meaningfully
  
  
  
  
  This includes engaging in the following:

  a. Formal Writing. Develop and communicate your ideas about Shakespeare clearly in formal and researched writing and through a format and medium that puts your ideas into public circulation.

  b. Informal Writing. This mainly means through regular online writing

  c. Connecting. Share one’s learning and creative work with others both in and outside of class.

I've made a little bit of an effort to share Shakespeare stuff on Facebook and Twitter, but I could do better. I also haven't been participating in the classroom blogosphere as much as I should have been.

• 5. Gain Digital Literacy
  
  
  Students use their study of Shakespeare as a way of understanding and developing fluency in 21st century learning skills and computer-mediated modes of communication. Those skills are grouped under the following categories.

  a. Consume - Effective and independent selecting, searching, researching, 

  b. Create - Producing content that demonstrates learning and which can be shared for others to profit from. 

• c. Connect - Engage with other learners within and outside of the class to develop thinking and share more formal work.

I'm not sure how much digital literacy I needed to gain, but I consider myself "perfectly adequate" as far as this is concerned. If this means going into the HTML of my blog posts and editing, I've been doing that.  I've been enough of an Internet/computer nerd for long enough that this has never truly been an issue.

So here's to more/better/more analytical blogging going forward. Cheers,

Austen

Clint Eastwood vs. Shakespeare vs. Ronald Reagan

In a previous post we discussed the great inspirational speeches of film and their similarity to what Shakespeare wrote in Henry V.

The Super Bowl has the most expensive commercials per minute in the world (at $3.5 Million per 30 second spot), and all of them are geared to alter our emotions.

Advertisers often argue over which commercial was the best, but this year the seeming winner was Chrysler's "Halftime in America" ad as seen below.





Watching this ad, advertisers cannot help but notice the resemblance of this commercial to another famous commercial run by Ronald Reagan, entitled, "It's Morning in America."




Do you notice the similarities? Do you think they're coincidental?