There are a few posts I have written that I felt didn’t do as well as they should, and this is one of them. It’s probably because it was one of the hardest for me to write, Shakespeare I am not.
In lighting, and writing, the phrase, “be sure to save often!” comes up. In the case of this post I had gone about an hour and a half (told you this was a hard one) on To Buy without saving. Then my computer crashed and I couldn’t find where the last autosave was hiding. After much cursing at myself and some pecking around I found it. I never go for more than 30 minutes without saving now.
This post was written around the time when Martin was ending their run with the 2K line of fixtures so I decided to do a special shout out to them in Ode to a 2K. Martin didn’t run with it like I thought they might. Maybe they will this time. Hint Hint.
If you so desire, here is the original 'To be or Not to be' soliloquy.
Ode to a 2k: is based off of this:
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times, and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. —Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now to mock your own grinning? Quite chapfallen? Now get you to my lady’s chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come. Make her laugh at that.—Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.
Without much ado (about nothing) ….
100
It doesn't seem that long ago that I wrote the first post of Bandit Dimmer Beach. And yet, here we are on Number 100.
I promised I would not do any recap, or look back, or greatest hits, or any of that nonsense. But what to write about as BDB hits the century mark?
I wasn't actually sure I could give this special post its due justice, so I looked for someone to assist this week. I turned to The Bard himself for guidance, and of course he did not disappoint.
Without further ado, BDB presents a look at lighting through William Shakespeare:
TO BUY
To buy, or not to buy: that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The creaks and groans as the gear wastes away,
Or to take arms against their cries of despair,
And by purchasing, end them? To de-loom: to re-loom;
No more; and by a re-loom to say we end
The heartache and the thousand rolls of e-tape
That empty away, ‘tis a wonderous dream
Devoutly to be wished. To wonder, to think;
To think: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that wonder of thought what dreams may come
When the lights begin to dim for the last time,
Must give us pause: there’s the comfort
That makes the life of gear so long;
For who would bear the barbs and jests of time,
The worker’s insolence, the bosses wronged,
The pangs of lights lost, desire for them to stay,
The audacity of employee, and the spurns
That endured merit that goodly gear takes,
When he himself might this repair make
With torch of solder? Wouldst thou leave this gear,
To wheeze and pass on under silver truss,
But that the dread of something put to rest,
The undiscover’d country from whose lights
Designers desire, give us pause,
And makes us rather restore those faults they have
Than fly to others we know not of?
Thus apprehension does make cowards of us all;
And thus the stand of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pastel cast of memory,
And opportunity of great pitch and moment
With observation their currents turn away
And lose form and action – calm you now!
The Proprietor comes! Sir, in your assessment
Be all my words remember’d.
ODE TO A 2K
Alas, poor 2K! I knew him, Martin, a light of infinite shows, of most excellent quality. It hath been upon my rig a thousand times, and now, how cherished in my imagination it is! Here hung the fixture that I have programmed I know not how oft. Where be your lamp now? Your gobos? Your colors? Your strobes that were wont to set the crowd a roar? There is not one to mock your beam now snuffed. Quite dejected. Now get you to the shop and tell them, let them morn as I have, to this realization they must come. Make them remember, make them laugh. Prithee, Martin, make them.
Until next time, “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.” William Shakespeare
Mark
