THE DAILY TELEGIRAFFE
From the Front Office: 2010 Holiday Message
The Copenhagen Accord: "A Hollow Victory"
In his speech before the plenary session at the Copenhagen Climate Conference,
U.S. President Obama changed a word of the text--and instead of being able to declare
that the pieces of an agreement are clear, he stated that they should be clear.
What is clear--to us--if not to the governments and corporations of the world, is that:
Without a binding agreement on carbon emissions reduction and a commitment to shifting to
sustainable and renewable energy models, we are failing to properly provide for the future
of our children, and our planet.
More people need to get more involved, to move more governments to act more responsibly,
for a more practical, more effective, more balanced way of living.
Let's get this party started.
Happy Holidays!
Happy birthday to Kenneth Branagh, born 10 December 1960. Some lips, for Christmas?
Happy 41st birthday to Thom Yorke, born 7 October 1968.
Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
12:32 P.M. CET
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good morning. It is an honor for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people. All of you would not be here unless you -- like me -- were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, it is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet. This much we know.
The question, then, before us is no longer the nature of the challenge -- the question is our capacity to meet it. For while the reality of climate change is not in doubt, I have to be honest, as the world watches us today, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now, and it hangs in the balance.
I believe we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of a common threat. That's why I come here today -- not to talk, but to act.
Now, as the world's largest economy and as the world's second largest emitter, America bears our responsibility to address climate change, and we intend to meet that responsibility. That's why we've renewed our leadership within international climate change negotiations. That's why we've worked with other nations to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. That's why we've taken bold action at home -- by making historic investments in renewable energy; by putting our people to work increasing efficiency in our homes and buildings; and by pursuing comprehensive legislation to transform to a clean energy economy.
These mitigation actions are ambitious, and we are taking them not simply to meet global responsibilities. We are convinced, as some of you may be convinced, that changing the way we produce and use energy is essential to America's economic future -- that it will create millions of new jobs, power new industries, keep us competitive, and spark new innovation. We're convinced, for our own self-interest, that the way we use energy, changing it to a more efficient fashion, is essential to our national security, because it helps to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and helps us deal with some of the dangers posed by climate change.
So I want this plenary session to understand, America is going to continue on this course of action to mitigate our emissions and to move towards a clean energy economy, no matter what happens here in Copenhagen. We think it is good for us, as well as good for the world. But we also believe that we will all be stronger, all be safer, all be more secure if we act together. That's why it is in our mutual interest to achieve a global accord in which we agree to certain steps, and to hold each other accountable to certain commitments.
After months of talk, after two weeks of negotiations, after innumerable side meetings, bilateral meetings, endless hours of discussion among negotiators, I believe that the pieces of that accord should now be clear.
First, all major economies must put forward decisive national actions that will reduce their emissions, and begin to turn the corner on climate change. I'm pleased that many of us have already done so. Almost all the major economies have put forward legitimate targets, significant targets, ambitious targets. And I'm confident that America will fulfill the commitments that we have made: cutting our emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020, and by more than 80 percent by 2050 in line with final legislation.
Second, we must have a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and exchange this information in a transparent manner. These measures need not be intrusive, or infringe upon sovereignty. They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible, and that we're living up to our obligations. Without such accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page.
I don't know how you have an international agreement where we all are not sharing information and ensuring that we are meeting our commitments. That doesn't make sense. It would be a hollow victory.
Number three, we must have financing that helps developing countries adapt, particularly the least developed and most vulnerable countries to climate change. America will be a part of fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10 billion by 2012. And yesterday, Secretary Hillary Clinton, my Secretary of State, made it clear that we will engage in a global effort to mobilize $100 billion in financing by 2020, if -- and only if -- it is part of a broader accord that I have just described.
Mitigation. Transparency. Financing. It's a clear formula -- one that embraces the principle of common but differentiated responses and respective capabilities. And it adds up to a significant accord -- one that takes us farther than we have ever gone before as an international community.
I just want to say to this plenary session that we are running short on time. And at this point, the question is whether we will move forward together or split apart, whether we prefer posturing to action. I'm sure that many consider this an imperfect framework that I just described. No country will get everything that it wants. There are those developing countries that want aid with no strings attached, and no obligations with respect to transparency. They think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price; I understand that. There are those advanced nations who think that developing countries either cannot absorb this assistance, or that will not be held accountable effectively, and that the world's fastest-growing emitters should bear a greater share of the burden.
We know the fault lines because we've been imprisoned by them for years. These international discussions have essentially taken place now for almost two decades, and we have very little to show for it other than an increased acceleration of the climate change phenomenon. The time for talk is over. This is the bottom line: We can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward, continue to refine it and build upon its foundation. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be part of a historic endeavor -- one that makes life better for our children and our grandchildren.
Or we can choose delay, falling back into the same divisions that have stood in the way of action for years. And we will be back having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year, perhaps decade after decade, all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is no time to waste. America has made our choice. We have charted our course. We have made our commitments. We will do what we say. Now I believe it's the time for the nations and the people of the world to come together behind a common purpose.
We are ready to get this done today -- but there has to be movement on all sides to recognize that it is better for us to act than to talk; it’s better for us to choose action over inaction; the future over the past -- and with courage and faith, I believe that we can meet our responsibility to our people, and the future of our planet. Thank you very much.
Michael Grandage directs Jude Law in the Broadway transfer of Hamlet.
New From Radiohead: "These Are My Twisted Words"
August 12 2009: No official word from the band, but it sounds like Thom's voice.
[Front Office Note: Don't miss the artwork "Twisted Woods" which was released by Donwood and tchock as well.}
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.
The continuing 2009 Radiohead tour. Forever forward.
"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.
Go to Page 2 of the Front Page
Go to Page 3 of the Front Page
Go to Page 4 of the Front Page
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
USING THE DAILY TELEGIRAFFE
Safari works best.
Bookmark us, or find us in .08 seconds under "Telegiraffe" using
Google
or just search the web.
© 1998--2010 Daily Telegiraffe
The Daily Telegiraffe is a non-daily non-dairy publication, where Mel Brooks meets Jane Austen,
WARNING!!!: Reading these articles has been known
This publication is for entertainment only. Pages which contain our Big Ben icon
All proprietary and legal rights reserved. On the other hand, you've read this far,
The Daily Telegiraffe also brings you "real deal" news and items, which can be found off of this front page.
Send e-mail, comments, additions
to reniept@hotmail.com or click here.
Reviewed in What's Up Stage.
So either someone was pretty tricky with some editing, or it's the real deal.
UPDATE August 17: Confirmed by the band, the new release is available for download at no charge here at the Radiohead W.A.S.T.E. site.
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. 
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. 
FRONT PAGE
News/
The Good BitsSHAKESPEARE in PERFORMANCE
THE HAMLET PAGE
links/LINKS
What's Up: STAGE
What's Up: BOOKS
What's Up: MUSIC
What's Up: FILM
Fictional Characters
What's Up:
ARTToday's Special
Sure We
Thank You
Woody Allen meets Thomas Hardy,and everybody loves Shakespeare.
to induce mild amusement and may become habit-forming.
contain parody and fabrications intended as humourous commentary and witty jocularity.
Such page(s) may also include irreverent sarcasm, elements of irony, and assume a level
of intelligence on the part of the reader. We apologize for any inconvenience.
and the Daily Telegiraffe believes that tenacity should be rewarded. Accordingly,
permission is hereby given to reprint, reproduce, and otherwise distribute any original
articles which appear herein, as long as the name of this publication is cited.
The copyright for those items remain with the original creator(s) and no infringement is intended.