THE DAILY TELEGIRAFFE
Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer has set a new Grand Slam record of 15 tournement championship wins. Congratulations Roger!
Q. What are going to be your next priorities?
ROGER FEDERER: The next priorities?
Q. From here.
ROGER FEDERER: What do you think? Not tennis.
Q. Do you feel like you're the happiest person right now?
ROGER FEDERER: I don't know. I mean, I'm very happy. I don't know if I'm the happiest person in the world. I don't think so. I think there's many happy people out there. Tennis doesn't make you ‑‑ tennis doesn't do it all for me. There's more to life than just tennis. But I feel great.
Q. What does it say on your T‑shirt?
ROGER FEDERER: "There is no finish line. Far from done."
Roger Federer and Andre Agassi celebrate Roger's first championship at the French Open. Federer has won all four tennis grand slam tournements, and won a total of 15 slam titles. With his 2009 win at Wimbledon, Roger Federer has broken Pete Sampras' previous record of 14 slam titles in the open era.
Kenneth Branagh stars as detective Kurt Wallander, in the BBC produced series Masterpiece Mystery!.
"The best days of your life are now, whenever "now" is." --- Kenneth Branagh
For the Kenneth Branagh interview with Charlie Rose on May 12, 2009, click here.
As in previous years, supporters of Kenneth Branagh and his work showed their admiration and encouragement by donating $4,500 to the William and Frances Branagh Memorial Bursary fund for students from Northern Ireland at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The Ken-Friends charitable donation for 2008 marks the 48th birthday of the actor/director/producer.
To all Ken Friends,
I'm sorry that it's taken me a while to respond to a birthday present that
I never assume will arrive, never take for granted, and am continually
astonished by. As usual, the imagination, and the AMOUNT were equally
inspiring. There was a particularly personal quality to this gift in each
of its dimensions. The arrival of the Ken Friends at "Ivanov" was a real
marker of that rare experience, and as I slowly unfurled wrapping paper on
December 10th, I found myself seeing many of the smiling faces of the
Friends who were able to make the trip to London on that night (or nights)
at Wyndhams. I remember the occasion with great fondness.
Amongst the many interesting questions that I was asked that evening were
various ones related to the impact on one's own life of playing a depressed
character. One of my protections and insurances was quite simple. I read
poetry, in my dressing room each evening, and much perused across the whole
of the run, were poets whose work would provide an antidote or contrast to
the world of our troubled protagonist. So to find the range of poets known,
unknown, and Ken Friendian, in the magnificent tome was an absolute joy.
Truly.
Thank you for all of these very personal outpourings, direct and indirect,
and thank you for the immense contribution to the fund at RADA which I know
makes my parents hearts swell with pride, as it does mine.
May I wish you all a happy New Year, full of health and happiness for you
and yours, in these trying times. I am so grateful and proud to be your
Friend,
The Bard's New Profile Pic - March 9, 2009
Forget the Chandos portrait, and get ready to welcome instead "The Cobbe oil painting of William Shakespeare". According to Professor Stanley Wells, whose scholarly books related to Shakespeare are perhaps in their 524th editions, this newly-identified portrait (below) is as genuine as it gets. Visual and scientific dating evidence appear to affirm that Shakespeare had a handsome and intelligent face, and looked younger than his 46 years.
On March 9, 2009, at the unveiling at Dartmouth House, in London's Mayfair, Professor Wells (on the right, above), the chairman of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, declared himself 90% certain the portrait is authentic as "the only lifetime portrait of Shakespeare".
Investigations were carried out by Professor Rupert Featherstone, director of the Hamilton Kerr Institute at Cambridge University which focuses on conservation of easel paintings, Hamburg University where they dated the oak panelling of the painting and Tager Stonor Richardson, which carried out infrared imaging. Mark Broch, curator of the Cobbe Collection also carried out painstaking research.
The painting will go on display at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, Shakespeare's birthday.
Compare this rendering, proven to have been contemporaneously created during Shakespeare's lifetime.
Thom Yorke in a Rag & Bone Cleveland Jacket In Black Leather. Those snap pockets. With one on the arm.
"The first time I met Thom," says Jonny Greenwood, "he was in the drum room at school, drumming. Or rather, I was - and he came in to take over. He told me to play the double bass. I said, 'I can't.' He said, 'Just do this' - he showed me something. 'It'll be fine, just attack it.' He had that attitude that you can just go for it."
Anthony Minghella--A brief tribute.
Excerpt from an interview with Kenneth Branagh in the Mainichi Weekly Online
Q: According to your biography, you left Belfast when you were 9 to
escape the Troubles. Do you think your experience of the conflict there
influences your battle scenes?
A: I think it makes me aware of how easy it is for people to hate,
rather than to love. I think it's a very exciting time in Northern
Ireland right now. Politically, a massive, massive shift has occurred,
and ancient hatreds have been put aside. I think an awareness of conflict
and the need to resolve, the need for peace was very much part of my
background. And this film [The Magic Flute, directed by Branagh] certainly
is about the need for peace.
Q: What is your motto in life?
A: A good question. A hard question. It sounds like a cliche, but there
is a line from Hamlet, at the end, where he says, "The readiness is all."
In that context, it's probably about being ready for death, but I think
it's a motto for me and it's about trying to be open in life, be open to
experience, be open to situations and to people. And be ready, be ready to
be surprised, sometimes be ready to be disappointed, be ready to be excited
and be ready for anything. But be ready for things to change. Be active and
positive. I suppose another way of saying the same thing would be: 'Anything
can happen, enjoy it.'"
Kenneth's Branagh's Hamlet on DVD, complete with a commentary by the director and long-time consultant and Shakespeare scholar Russell Jackson. With a never better Kate Winslet, and oh, the flashbacks.
For more background on Branagh's film version of Hamlet, try The Readiness is All -- The Filming of Hamlet.
Kenneth Branagh, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes and others on the compact disc of Shakespeare's Sonnets
Offsite Offerings
Need Shakespeare? Check here for outside Shakespeare links.
Need a Shax monologue? Try the Monologue Archive.
Read Shakespeare here, at the Literature Network online.
Voices and Verses in Film: What are those poems and who wrote them?
Recent Theatre Highlights: Kenneth Branagh and Alan Rickman on Stage
California Shakespeare Theatre's 2003 season included Julius Caesar and The Winter's Tale.
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Features of the Daily Telegiraffe
What's Up: BOOKS Sarah Hatchuel, "Branagh and The Bard: A Companion to the
Shakespearean Films of Kenneth Branagh"
What's Up: FILM Waking Will Divinely: Shakespeare in Love
What's Up: STAGE Ralph Fiennes Finds Richard II and Coriolanus
Back Issues:
What's Up STAGE Rufus Sewell Takes on Macbeth
__________________________________________________________________________________
NEW YORK - "Hamlet" was chosen as the greatest poem
of the millenium in the New York Times Magazine millenium review!
LONDON (Reuters) - William Shakespeare was picked as Britain's "Man of the
Millennium" by a poll of BBC radio listeners!
ENJOY . . . Chosen as the greatest poem of the millenium, Hamlet endures.
ENJOY . . . Who is the "Greatest Fictional Character in World Literature and Legend" - - one guess.
ENJOY . . . Back issues of our features, indexed by subject on the front page, and on current feature pages.
ENJOY . . . Programme notes from the NFT's Branagh Retrospective, now added off of the Hamlet page.
ENJOY . . . Gertrude and Claudius,
a book by John Updike, explores the new King and Queen.
ENJOY . . .
Shakespeare in Less Than 10 Minutes Review of a video of restorations of the
earliest surviving silent Shakespeare films from 1899-1911. Also, can you
choose your five favourite Shakespeare films? Check your picks against Kenneth Branagh's
choices.
ENJOY . . . Director Michael Almereyda's film "collage" of a knit-hatted Ethan Hawke as a Gen-X slacker. Our review of his Hamlet is here.
Almereyda does Denmark as a corporate prison.
From the New York Times: Two Fortinbrases and the Ghosts of Hamlets Past. The last
stage Hamlet of 1999 in New York becomes a photo album of Hamlets past, including
Branagh, Olivier, and Gibson.
Added: The New York Post muses
on performing Hamlet.
ENJOY . . . Woody Allen, C'est Moi A
French interview with Kenneth Branagh about working with Woody Allen.
ENJOY . . . ABC: Woody Allen, Kenneth Branagh, and Celebrity
ENJOY . . . Behind Celebrity's Curtain:
An unabashedly editorial film review from the front office.
ENJOY . . . Glimpses of genius. In praise of HAMLET: Kenneth Branagh's film version captures the soul of Hamlet.
Also find on the Hamlet Page an interview with Kenneth Branagh (now with photograph)
and an account of the London benefit screening of Hamlet, at which Branagh appeared.
ENJOY . . . The New York Times review of "Discovering Hamlet" a short film which documents Branagh's
early take on the stage role under the direction of Sir Derek Jacobi.
ENJOY . . . Kenneth Branagh's interview at his NFT Retrospective, as conducted by the Guardian newspaper. Complete text, and complete
Questions and Answers now available.
ENJOY . . .
Billy Crystal does DeNiro working on Branagh's Hamlet, and
a bit of his version of the Woodman doing the Dane. All we need now is the audioclip!
ENJOY . . . Alan Rickman plays A. Dane in a science-fiction comedy/parody
of the Star Trek universe, in Galaxy Quest.
Click here for a transcription of Rickman's appearance on "Late Night
with Conan O'Brien" promoting the film.
ENJOY . . . The films "
Onegin" and
"The End of the Affair" open with reviews, interviews, and photographs. Fiennes has been
searching for Pushkin's anti-hero for some time now. His article, with a link to Empire Magazine's review
of Onegin
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The first episode aired in the US on May 10, 2009. Two more episodes follow.
Ken Branagh.
William Shakespeare, at 46, in a portrait painted in his lifetime. The latest in the search to discover the true likeness of the greatest Western writer in history. Shakespeare died in 1616, only 6 years after the portrait was completed. 
You can buy one like it at forward by revolve. For $1, 749. Just. And that photo on the left of Thom in LA is just scary.
Radiohead go to Poland and Prague later in 2009.
20 July 2007
For extensive links on Branagh's Hamlet, check Virginia's
Kenneth Branagh in David Mamet's "Edmond". Reviews and photos of Branagh at the National Theatre. 
Young new actors thank Ken-Friends and their generous support. 
"When Love Speaks". Produced by the late Michael Kamen.
Escape 
Kenneth Branagh as Richard III was both revelation and reminder.
Alan Rickman as Elyot in a true-to-life Private Lives.
What's Up: BOOKS Harold Bloom, "Shakespeare: The Invention
of the Human"
With the Austen lover's link. 
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Woody Allen meets Thomas Hardy,and everybody loves Shakespeare.
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