tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-135295752009-11-25T12:36:09.549-05:00There are more Shakespeare references in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Welcome to the oldest Shakespeare blog on the net.Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.comBlogger1392125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-67009107165772847722009-11-25T07:59:00.001-05:002009-11-25T07:59:50.811-05:00

http://www.smdp.com/Articles-c-2009-11-24-65593.113116_Efron_comes_of_age_in_Me_and_Orson_Welles.html If you do a movie about Orson Welles, the logical question is going to come up whether you focus entirely on Citizen Kane and War of the Worlds, what he’s most famous for, or if his vast body of Shakespeare work will come into it.  In the new movie “Me and Orson Welles”, which is sure to get

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-46066685024173484262009-11-24T22:43:00.001-05:002009-11-24T22:43:46.398-05:00

I thought of this question while watching a collection of great movie monologues.  I thought, “Shakespeare fans may  not flock to classic literature in general, but they’ve probably got a higher appreciation for the classics than average.” So here’s my question : Not Shakespeare, what’s your favorite “classic”?  Book, or movie.  Or both.  Tis the season so I’ll put up some props for A

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-70240217762741285042009-11-23T22:27:00.001-05:002009-11-23T22:27:42.129-05:00

Hi everybody, It seems like I’ve been neglecting the blog a bit lately, and for that I apologize.  The day job got busy, and then my whole went and got sick (although technically I was the only one to test positive for flu) simultaneously, taking us out of action for over a week.  Between getting back ahead of the game, and the upcoming holidays, I’m finding very little time to get things posted

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-30090834167922569942009-11-17T14:49:00.001-05:002009-11-17T14:49:47.186-05:00

Everybody knows it’s the anniversary of Sesame Street this week, and I’d be late to the game if I broke out a bunch of “Shakespeare on Sesame Street” moments. Mostly since we’ve been down those roads before. Instead I’ll link to this story by Stefanie C. Peters (my Twitter pal) about the actual timeline of Shakespeare references across the lifetime of the muppets.  We all know about Patrick

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-32582414228216462562009-11-17T14:36:00.001-05:002009-11-17T14:36:58.716-05:00

www.quartos.org It’s funny when you say it over and over like that :).  The Folger this week announced their interactive online version to 32 rare, early editions of Hamlet.  Very cool.  I don’t think they are the first to do this, but I’m intrigued by the idea of an annotations layer.  Looking forward to what sorts of notes people make in the virtual margins, to so speak.

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-57159670168914052322009-11-15T20:21:00.001-05:002009-11-17T13:44:29.154-05:00

Ok, I’ve only got a couple left (2, to be specific), but I’d like to make sure some Shakespeare geeks get a shot. I’m not going to bother explaining what Google Wave is, because either you saw “invite” in the title and jumped at the chance, or you have no idea. If you’re interested, send me an email telling me how you’d use this new collaboration tool for a Shakespeare-related project.  (

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-21970489043062395252009-11-10T09:41:00.001-05:002009-11-10T09:41:49.741-05:00

I’m not going to bother linking the story that I saw, as I don’t think they care enough about Shakespeare to take their passing (albeit, titular) reference to Shakespeare any further (farther?) But you may see it floating around.  It’s from an environmental/green site arguing for the Luddite “tech is bad for us” point of view.   “Shakespeare had no Blackberry,” it argues, “And Aristotle managed

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-67380470970509799842009-11-07T21:44:00.001-05:002009-11-07T21:44:02.792-05:00

Got a request from a reader how she might go about finding the value of a very old book: The book is "The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare" First American Edition Vol. III. It is printed and sold by Bioren & Madan in MDCCXCV. It appears it is from a set of 8 books. It is worn with yellowed mottled pages and has some writing in pencil on the inside front & back covers

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-9515728240056405592009-11-06T22:11:00.001-05:002009-11-06T22:11:59.101-05:00

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2009/11/6hilsabeck.html McSweeney’s was all over the map a few months ago with their Hamlet on Facebook, and now they’re at it again.  This time it’s the Shakespeare Police Blotter, and covers a number of favorites: John Macduff, 32, of Fife County, decapitated his long-time acquaintance and political rival, William Macbeth, of Cawdor County, last Sunday at the

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-26818329082225643512009-11-05T22:07:00.001-05:002009-11-05T22:07:34.818-05:00

In my head, the words and works of Shakespeare are … how can I explain this …. they exist outside of time.  They are timeless, and I mean that in all senses of the word.  I could not tell you off the top of my head whether Merchant of Venice is technically supposed to happen in 1275, 1623 or 1941.  It is part of what I love.  It is what enables people to go to the well over and over and over

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-34959507147909541512009-11-04T14:17:00.001-05:002009-11-04T14:17:05.932-05:00

http://arcanalogue.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-cynthia-von-buhler.html Have you ever seen the Shakespeare Oracle deck of Tarot cards?  It’s really quite beautiful, and I kick myself that I did not buy when I had the chance.  Whenever I stumble across a shop that deals in such a things I still browse through, in hopes of seeing another one. The linked article is an interview with Cynthia Von

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-19484232581860854842009-11-03T21:49:00.001-05:002009-11-03T21:49:15.014-05:00

My family is going through the classic Muppet Show (via Netflix) one episode disc at a time, and tonight we got to see Season 1, Episode 1 – the very first Muppet Show. They often did a “ballroom” segment, where various couples danced and told relatively standard jokes.  In this episode, two pigs are dancing. Pig #1:  Do you prefer Shakespeare to Bacon? Pig #2:  I prefer anything to

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-53654015798537294402009-11-02T22:27:00.001-05:002009-11-02T22:27:06.182-05:00

What do Shakespeare’s sonnets sound like?  There’s no end of discussion about performance of the plays, what iambic pentameter and punctuation mean to the motivation of the characters, and even the stage directions.  But what of the sonnets? Intended for publication (or perhaps not?), we’re not used to hearing them performed in quite the same way. Such is the challenge that Will Sutton over at I

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-15575528785495758862009-10-31T22:23:00.001-04:002009-10-31T22:23:53.690-04:00

http://www.lohud.com/article/20091021/NEWS02/910210324/Judge-orders-Kerik-jailed-for-violating-court-order Courtesy of our friend Carl Atkins comes this pointer to the case of Bernard Kerik, who if I understand it right is a former head of New York City corrections department, and is either in the midst of a corruption trial or appealing one, or something.  Anyway, it seems that Mr. Kerik’s

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-67532989967400767312009-10-30T09:05:00.001-04:002009-10-30T09:05:18.922-04:00

http://thescorecardreview.com/news/2009/10/30/anthony-hopkins-joins-kenneth-branaghs-thor/6235 Bonus points to the article’s writer who starts off with “Sounds more like a Shakespeare play than a superhero movie,” because yes, yes it does.  Kenneth Branagh going from Hamlet to Marvel is strange enough, but adding in Anthony Hopkins as Odin?  Anthony Hopkins who is set to play King Lear sometime

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-9625796529382506982009-10-29T10:02:00.001-04:002009-10-29T10:02:56.405-04:00

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2009/10/28/sir_ian_mckellen_reflects_on_his_recent_roles/ Just a little piece on Sir Ian McKellen from the Boston Globe this week, for those who are fans.  Thoughts on the popularity of his Shakespeare versus his Gandalf and Magneto, and what his next project will be (alas, though a “classic”, it’s not Shakespeare). If you’re at all sitting there and

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-8703855260445293142009-10-29T08:49:00.001-04:002009-10-29T08:49:39.903-04:00

http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/10/29/the_book_of_william_binds_first_folios_to_a_world_of_bibliophiles/ We have a gazillion (that’s a scientific term for “metric buttload”) of books about the publication of the sonnets, but how many do we have about the First Folio?  I mean, I’m sure like all things Shakespearean there are more than a few, but it’s not like I see them knocking down

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-26303221501477189392009-10-28T11:14:00.001-04:002009-10-28T11:14:25.581-04:00

So this morning on the way out the door to school, my oldest daughter showed me a Halloween poem that was pinned to the school-stuff wall.  As she read it in the sing-songy poem voice that little kids are so good at, I noticed it is very similar to the obvious, from Macbeth.  I told her that I’d get that one for her to bring to school. Problem #1: Round about the cauldron go; In the

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-49093819752673558842009-10-27T10:50:00.001-04:002009-10-27T10:50:49.601-04:00

http://playingshakespeare.org/ What caught my eye was not the Playing Shakespeare, but rather the sponsor – DeutscheBank.  The title of the project is actually “Playing Shakespeare with DeutscheBank.” It helps the story to know that I was employed by DeutscheBank in the 1998-2002 era.  More specifically I was employed by Scudder Stevens and Clark, oldest mutual fund house in the US I believe,

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-56697263056935340022009-10-26T21:25:00.001-04:002009-10-26T21:25:38.319-04:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6434582/Agincourt-was-an-even-fight-claim-historians.html This one caught me off guard. Henry V’s “happy few” were not outnumbered five to one by the French at the Battle of Agincourt, as traditionally believed, but were in a much more even fight, according to new research. I don’t think it’ll change my opinion of the speech at all,

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-82764598240385827812009-10-26T21:16:00.001-04:002009-10-26T21:16:19.592-04:00

http://www.freep.com/article/20091025/COL36/910250322/1037/ENT02/Lions-coach-has-a-thing-for-the-arts I suppose this is a nice article about a particularly well rounded football coach who is happy to share with you his favorite kids’ shows, heavy metal band, and even Shakespeare plays – he’s partial to Henry IV Part II, an interesting choice. Here’s the thing, though.  We’re talking about Jim

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-72621284541353655932009-10-26T21:05:00.001-04:002009-10-26T21:05:49.159-04:00

I’m not quite sure what I just watched, but I like it.  Narrated by Christopher Walken, this little movie tells the story of Romeo and Juliet from Cupid’s point of view.  Of course, Cupid is voiced by John Madden, Romeo is Nicholas Cage, and a few other surprise “guest” voices.  Neat.  

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-30092291157277062972009-10-22T12:45:00.001-04:002009-10-22T12:45:04.994-04:00

http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=542&CFID=10093650&CFTOKEN=eb7b337932dff79c-7D20A232-0C57-5164-C75FA98846868D39 Folger’s reporting on a call for papers for a special issue of the Shakespeare Quarterly called “Shakespeare and New Media”: Shakespeare's works have provided launch content for new media technologies since the seventeenth century, as Peter Donaldson has observed. At the turn

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-67254357547211247172009-10-22T12:40:00.001-04:002009-10-22T13:54:06.706-04:00

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/10/22/gerard-butler-goes-shakespearean-in-coriolanus/ Ok, that meme is long dead, but it’s true that Gerard Butler is still pretty much known as “the screamy guy from 300, the Sparta movie.”  Well pretty soon he can add Coriolanus to the list, which when you think of it is probably not that much of a stretch.  I expect Coriolanus to wear more clothing.  And I

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-50341239836315203602009-10-20T16:13:00.001-04:002009-10-20T16:50:38.074-04:00

http://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/2009/10/20/shakespeare-goes-gardening-in-gnomeo-juliet/ [Thanks, Twitter!] If we go all the way back to April, 2006 we find our first mention of Gnome and Juliet, the Disney animated version of Romeo and Juliet, in the world of garden gnomes. Looks like it is actually happening, as you’ve got Eugene Levy on video talking about doing voice work for it. 

Duanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16569611828708601563noreply@blogger.com5