dictionary

B is reading out from a new dictionary he bought.  OALD is a longtime friend of English learners.  We love to use it.  What he is trying to do now is to get to know how to use the new Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English.   It does not help you to find a suitable word.  Instead you should know the word when you look the word in this dictionary.  If you know the word, you can read in the dictionary good examples and better ways to use the word.  The adademic iWriter seems to be very helpful just as the iWriter at the end of OALD 8the edition was.  My tentative conclusion is: it is nice to read it when you have time to stop and think what you can do to improve your English,  The 'notes' are helpful.  The blue thesaurus columns are the best source of contentment, though there are not many.   It is best to read the entries as B does with great pleasure.  

We talked about Ninagawa Hamlet.  We completely agree that it was a sheer pleasure to see Fujiwara as Hamlet.  Difficulty lies in Ophelia.  She sang well.  She was a good singer and her sorrowful beautiful tunes did good to represent Ophelia who slipped off from the sober everyday way of speaking.  I wish Hamlet were a musical for her.  She made us think that the part of Ophelia is too difficult.   

A minor defect was also in a female part.  The feet of the queen climing down from the top of the tiers were too big.  It is a nonsense to point to such a minor awkwardness and the male actor was otherwise doing well but it reminded me how artful Kabuki actors can behave.  I suppose they have as big feet but they can make themselves look like female from head to toe.  The queen in the threatre company gave me a reason to appreciate Kabuki actors.