Day: January 21, 2015

Conspicuous Acts of Cultural Consumption

Lest We Forget That John Cleese is Awesome

Some friends were posting John Cleese quotes to my twitter feed this morning, which put me in mind of my trip to the UK at the end of 2013. One of the things I was really excited about was going to see the Globe theater – not the original, but a pretty awesome remake – ’cause I’m a moderately enthusiastic Shakespeare nerd and ’cause I knew, from family members gong there previously, that they made a pretty awesome range of Shakespeare related shirts. My favourite part of the tour, however, had nothing to do with the Bard and everything to do with Monty Python. To whit: When the Globe Theatre was rebuilt in London, a service was offered whereby you could have your name on a tile in the courtyard, for a donation to the project. Cleese and fellow python Michael Palin both signed up for tiles, but Palin’s was spelled wrong. Cleese paid extra to ensure it would be spelled “Pallin.