Shakespeare's Atoms

I go back and forth over whether “Shakespeare geek” means “I’m a geek about Shakespeare stuff” or it means “I’m a geek who’s into Shakespeare.”  In support of the latter argument we have this link about calculating how many of Shakespeare’s atoms we inhale. Sure, the science is silly, but it’s geeky and it’s Shakespeare. “Breathe in, hold it there, enjoy the Shakespeare, breathe out.  Aaaah.  Repeat!” BONUS:  “So there’s also a little Buddha in all of us.”  

Technorati tags: Shakeseare, science, geek

Shakespeare Dreams

So I had this weird Shakespeare dream this weekend.  This will probably make no sense :).  Apparently I had published some claim about  particular plot device of Shakespeare’s, claiming that Julius Caesar was the first time that he had used it.  However, an old college friend and I had just discovered that it was actually used in Hamlet as well, and we were trying to figure out how to reconcile the new discovery with our published conclusions.  What’s interesting, though, is that the plot device as best I could remember it had to do with one character seeking out another character’s killer (a whodunnit story, in other words), only to have it unveiled that he was the killer all along.  In the case of Hamlet, we were looking for the killer of Polonius.  But everybody knows that Hamlet killed Polonius, so it’s not really a mystery.  I have no idea how Julius Caesar played into it, since the dream seemed mostly to be about analyzing Hamlet.  Like I said, it basically makes no sense from the start because Shakespeare didn’t write detective stories. Once I woke up and this all dawned on me, I started wondering what Hamlet would have been like if it really was a mystery.  Perhaps Hamlet sees Polonius emerging from Gertrude’s bedroom.  Hamlet’s already pretty messed up in the head about what’s been going on in his mom’s bed, so he redirects some of his rage at Polonius (instead of Claudius) and ends up killing the old man in secret.  Now the play can go on quite differently.  Hamlet never has to be sent to England. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Aren’t Dead.  Ophelia doesn’t necessarily go crazy and kill herself.  Sure, her dad’s dead, but it’s not like her boyfriend is the one who did it (as far as she knows, at least).  Meanwhile Laertes probably returns to avenge his father, but with no one to challenge he’s at a bit of a loss as to what to do next.  Perhaps Hamlet is smart enough to twist events so that everybody believes Laertes killed Polonius?  Then poor Ophelia probably would kill herself after all. The girl’s a bit fragile.   Anyway, now I’m just babbling, and I’ve got work to do.  I wanted to document that dream, since it’s not often I dream about Shakespeare.  

Ooooo My Desdemona

Somebody by the name of “Old Cheeser” (who is apparently younger than me :-/) gets credit for finding this link of the kids from FAME doing Othello.  Yes, you heard that right . The kids from Fame.  Remember that show?  They’re gonna live forever, even if their tv show doesn’t?  Doing Othello.  Thank you television gods for not making it Romeo and Juliet or Midsummer yet again.  

Such Shakespeare Stuff is now ShakespeareGeek.com

Hi Everybody, I’ve had the domain ShakespeareGeek.com reserved for awhile now, but haven’t done anything with it.  I keep telling myself that the blog is just a blog, and the domain is where I’ll build some cool new wiki/blog/rss/podcast thingie the likes of which the world has never seen, but it’s been a year and that’s never come close to happening.  So, now that Google lets us point domains at blogspot addresses, it seems logical to do just that. Apologies in advance if you happen to hit the new domain while things are moving over.  I hope everybody likes the new name.  And hey, who knows, maybe I really will start coding up something original and putting a bit more emphasis on the “geek” part :).   -Duane