Shakespeare Geek

Readers’ Choice

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:34:03 PDT

As I catch up from my weekend away I thought I’d take a trick out of Lifehacker’s book and see what sort of interest an open thread will generate. Consider this post wide open. What questions have you got? What topics would you like to see addressed? Not just to me or by me, but in general? What’s on your mind?

ADMIN : Comment Woes

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:05:40 PDT

Hi Everybody, Tough timing as I was out of town this weekend right when I was getting hit with some spambots. I switched over to comment moderation for a little while, which normally would only take effect on older, stale posts. But of course the series with Carl is doing so well that people are commenting on those posts for days, and thus moderation sets in right at a time when I was not able

A Guide to Quarrelling, by Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:51:20 PDT

http://emsworth.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/learning-to-quarrel-well-from-shakespeare-and-oscar-wilde/ From Emsworth comes this I suppose tongue-in-cheek guide to having a really good quarrel, using examples from Cassius/Brutus (Julius Caesar) but also Cecily and Gwendolyn (The Importance of Being Earnest): Play the guilt card for a winning hand Tired of being called names, Cassius resorts

Not So Fast, Sonnet 116!

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:55:16 PDT

Dr. Carl Atkins is the author of Shakespeare's Sonnets: With Three Hundred Years of Commentary as well as a prolific commenter here at ShakespeareGeek, both while holding down a day job as a medical doctor. Instead of a typical author interview with press blurbs and bio questions we decided to do something different – Carl’s going to guest blog a series for us based on *your* questions. Context

Empty Vessels

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:41:27 PDT

Time for another round of “Did Shakespeare really say that?” Today’s quote is: “Empty vessels make the loudest sound.” Turns out, he did! Henry V, Act 4, scene 4 (thanks Clusty!) Boy : Suivez-vous le grand capitaine. I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart: but the saying is true 'The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.' Bardolph and Nym had ten times more valour

Jonas Brothers … Shakespeare….. World…. Ending…

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:36:37 PDT

http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/07/camp-rock-2-jonas-brothers.html :) Relax – the new Camp Rock movie just looks like it’ll have some Romeo and Juliet thrown in, which I’m sure simply means “boy and girl can’t be together because parents are stupid.” And, like all good comedies, it’ll have a happy ending when everybody learns their lesson early enough so nobody has to die. Of course, now that

Iago : Anybody speak Italian?

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:27:32 PDT

When I saw what looks like a trailer for an Iago movie, I was all over that in a flash as you could well imagine. Problem is, it’s in Italian: Anybody know what they're saying? Good news is that IMDB tells us this is indeed a real movie. Bad news is that the reviews are awful. (Actually looking closer I see that there are only 2 reviews – a 2, and a 10. Wonder if they were

Hey Look! An Actual Michael Jackson / Shakespeare Reference!

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:31:19 PDT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/26/michael-jackson-death-in-la Go ahead and read the article – I couldn’t stomach it. I link it only for the Shakespeare connection. Spot it? The article’s written by Germaine Greer, who wrote a book about Shakespeare's wife (among other contributions to the field). Had to post that. I try so hard to stay on topic, but the rest of the world is busy

Expectation is the root of all heartache. Or is it?

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:01:36 PDT

Or so I saw quoted on Twitter today, attributed to one Mr. William Shakespeare. I was excited, as this almost directly reflects the First Noble Truth of Buddhism which, roughly paraphrased, says “Desire is the root of all suffering.” I’m thrilled when interests of mine cross like that. But…it doesn’t sound like Shakespeare. I don’t know if I’m developing the golden ear or what, but I’m finding

Guest Blog : Publication of The Sonnets, with Dr. Carl Atkins

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:19:06 PDT

Support Shakespeare At Your Local Library

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:49:14 PDT

Summer’s here, and my wife took the kids to the library to start stocking up on reading material. My 7yr old got her library card last year, my 5yr old excitedly got hers this year. Question : How’s the Shakespeare at your local library? Do they have more than just the complete works? In the last year or two look at all the Shakespeare related books that have crossed this one blog alone:

Guest Blog : Are The Sonnets Autobiographical? with Dr. Carl Atkins

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:29:21 PDT

An Anniversary I Should Have Remembered

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:47:54 PDT

Last night, while hanging out with the kids, my wife said, “Do you remember what anniversary tomorrow is?” I did not. I went through the whole list – first date? first kiss? first …? hope chest? Nope nope nope. She dangles her wrist. “A year ago you gave me my bracelet!” She’s right. The kids were even at the same circus this year. :)

To Me, Fair Friend, You Never Can Be Old

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:32:01 PDT

Lot of people died last couple of weeks. Big deal, lot of people die every week. Maybe you’re upset over what you’re seeing on the evening news, maybe you don’t care. Maybe it’s simply made you think about the passage of time, getting older, losing things that mean something to you… who knows. In my usual cruising around for Shakespeare material I tripped across something that struck a

Tube Drivers Reciting Shakespeare

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:38:52 PDT

http://www.thedailydust.co.uk/2009/06/30/tube-drivers-to-read-out-shakespeare/ A new initiative will see tube drivers reading out classical quotes with their announcements. The drivers are to be given a book of quotations that will include Shakespeare, Goethe and Friedrich Engels and are expected to read out quotes with their daily announcements to passengers. I like it. The closest I

Lighting Up Shakespeare

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:00:51 PDT

http://lightingupshakespeare.wordpress.com/ All right, purists, you’re gonna love this one. Just how close to “original” Shakespeare performance can you get? Scene breaks? Stage directions? Accent? How about lighting? The linked project attempts to mimic tallow candles using modern LED technology. The project is broken down in to a few sub-projects: The colour temperature of the

Fan of Shakespeare Tavern ?

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:59:46 PDT

http://www.shakespearetavern.com/donate_TXT.htm Looks like they’re a little short on funds this year. We’ve written about the Tavern’s style of Shakespeare performance on a number of occasions, and Ann is a regular contributor here at Shakespeare Geek. So if you like the work they do down there and want to help em out, maybe throw them a few bucks on ye olde paypal link?

1 Thing I’ll Hate About 10 Things I Hate About You

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:58:40 PDT

http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2009/06/29/10-things-i-hate-about-you’-coming-to-a-small-screen-near-you-july-7/ We’ve covered this before, but “10 Things I Hate About You”, the series, starts next week. I was interested, or at least curious, until I got to this quote from executive producer Cameron Covington: “I decided in the beginning that there’s enough distance between Shakespeare and

Shakespeare Events Calendar Filling Up Nicely

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:55:53 PDT

Shakespeare Events Calendar (Subscribe to the feed here) Well, my little side project seems to be coming along quite nicely, thank you very much. What’s going on this summer for Shakespeare in your part of town? Get it on the calendar! Subscribe to the feed. Show it to your friends. Make sure that every Shakespeare event you know about is well attended.

More Adored Than Shakespeare?

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:31:28 PDT

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ahmed-rehab/michael-jackson-why-hes-m_b_221652.html Over the last couple days I’ve heard my fair share of “Michael Jackson was the Shakespeare of our generation” comparisons on Twitter, trust me. But I found this article particularly moronic in its adulation. I hate the opening premise – that while Dickens and Mozart and others may have been stars in their time,

Ph DUH

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:24:30 PDT

http://www.astafun.com/stupid-videos/stupid-game-show-answers-ph-duhs/ Cute compilation video about people giving strange answers to game show questions. Linked because there’s a Shakespeare question in the middle – but for bonus points see who can spot the even better Shakespeare joke?

Google Lit Trips

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:08:50 PDT

http://www.googlelittrips.org/ I don’t have Google Earth installed, but I can see where this would be a very creative addition to the study of classic literature. How does geography play out in Macbeth? When Macduff says “I’ll to Fife” where is that? Where exactly is Birnam Wood? You get the idea. You have to dig a little bit for the Shakespeare, but I found a Macbeth in the 9-12 section.

King Lear and Copyright

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:18:02 PDT

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20090621124054133 Any story that opens up with “So I was goofing off….” will either be interesting or really pointless. This one is somewhere in between, and argues that well known point that since Shakespeare borrowed liberally from existing known works, that under current copyright law he would have been sued out of existence. First and foremost it’s

The Monty Python of His Day?

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:15:55 PDT

http://myfivebest.com/five-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-shakespeare/ I’m obligated to click on any link that promises a list of stuff we may or may not have known about Shakespeare. Typically I either knew it already, or it’s a list that just spouts out some typical urban legends that nobody really knows for sure about. So I’m happy with this list that starts out with Venus and Adonis

A Midsummer Night’s Lorax

noreply@blogger.com (Duane) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:09:15 PDT

I won’t be the first person to compare Shakespeare and Dr. Seuss. I just wanted to point out something that clicked in my head the other day and freaked me out a little bit: I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine