Month: April 2007

http://digitalliving.cnet.co.uk/specials/0,39030785,49289872-1,00.htm Talk about pinging high on ye olde Shakespeare Geek meter!  Over on CNet UK we have a comparison of OS X (the Mac operating system, for those who are more Shakespeare and less geek :)) versus Vista, the latest offering from Microsoft.  The catch is that they’ve done it up as an “Elizabethan duel”, and by that they mean literally with actors and everything.  Their task is to “win the hand of the fair Maiden Mainstream, played as in olden times by the hairy bloke in the dress.” The comparison between the two is fairly light, focusing on security, performance and usability.  Who wins?  It doesn’t really matter, does it?  If you’re a fan of either operating system and your champion loses, you’ll cry foul.  But it’s still a fun, different way to do the review.  Especially for this crowd.  

When I heard about a Shakespeare video game, naturally my ears went up.  It seems that the fine folks at University of Guelph have created ‘Speare, a video game designed to teach Shakespeare’s work.  Here’s the hook, though – it’s a Space Invaders game, with a Shakespeare storyline.  The game itself is a 2D vertical scrolling shooter, and you get to blast things and collect things.  (Remember the rules:  If it moves, shoot it.  If it doesn’t move, shoot it anyway.  If it’s still there when the dust clears, pick it up, it’s treasure.)  The storyline is all about how the “Prosperean” universe is all about peace, love and poetry until the bad guys come around and, having something to do with the Montagues and Capulets, steal Romeo and Juliet?  I got lost somewhere laong the line because I’m at work and I was trying to get through as much as I could before I got caught. I’m actually quite intrigued.  It sounds like a dumb idea at first, but if you look at it the other way — “videogame with Shakespeare in it”, instead of “Shakespeare via videogame”, then why not?  All good shooters need a story.  If this story happens to teach you something about Shakespeare, all the better. You can play the demo online at the link above (you do have to register), and I’m anxious to get through it.  They want $20 for the full version, which I might do (they take PayPal, and I always keep a few bucks online for just such an occasion) to help support such projects.  

No, not Shakespeare’s pen.  A Shakespeare Pen.  Fancy pen created by someone I’m presuming is an artist named Conway Stewart.  It is hand painted with a scene of Romeo and Juliet on the barrel, and Shakespeare himself on the cap. It’s $2450, though.  Looks like I won’t be putting that on my Amazon Wishlist for my birthday :).  

Sometimes reading LiveJournal references to Shakespeare can be annoying.  More often than not they’re just trivial references from kids in school talking to each other and then saying “yeah, I should work on that Shakespeare paper tonight.”  Like you really needed to tag your post as Shakespeare for that. But every now and then you find gold.  Go read KPhoebe’s Shakespeare Summaries right now.  Funniest thing I’ve read in a long time, and actually very useful!  She’s not the first person to whittle down Shakespeare to his essence and try to be funny at it, but unlike other cruder attempts (where Romeo and Juliet is always reduced to “Hi, wanna do me?  Argh, I’m dying!  Me too!  The end.”), these summaries actually cover the entire play and leave you with the feeling that you pretty much got the plot and were entertained in the process:
A snippet from her Much Ado…. Claudio: Hero, you’re a whore!
Hero: I am not!
Prince: Are too! Wedding’s off. To me, my X-men Claudio!
Friar: Let’s pretend Hero is dead while we work to clear her name, and then Claudio will be sorry. But no pretend-death sleeping potions, because this is a comedy.
Benedick: Hey, Beatrice. I love you.
Beatrice: I love you too. Wanna kill Claudio?
Benedick: Oh, man! He’s my bank account best friend! Still, anything for the lady… Claudio, Hero’s dead, and I challenge you.
Claudio: O rly?
Benedick: Ys rly.
Claudio: No wai!
Benedick: But first I will try my hand at poetry.   And a little All’s Well… Countess: My husband has died and I’m sad.
Helena: My father has died, and I’m sad.
Bertram: I am the Countess’s son and I am also sad. But also WOO WAR. *goes to Marseilles*
… Countess: Do you love my son, girl-who-I-regard-as-a-daughter-even-though-she-is-lower-class?
Helena: Yes, though I am totally not worthy of his awesomeness because I am lower class.
Countess: Aw, but you are pretty awesome yourself. Even though you are lower class.
Helena: Thanks. Hey, you know how the King is really sick and my dad just happened to be a famous doctor? I have a recipe for a possible cure!
Countess: Well, move your ass, honey!
King: Woe, woe, I am dying. Oh, hey, who’s this lower class cutie?
Helena: I have a cure! And I am so confident that it’ll work that I will wager my life on it.
King: Iiiiinteresting. And what will you take if it works?
Helena: How about my choice of husband?   Yes, Karen, you are indeed funny.  Do Taming of the Shrew!  Do Taming of the Shrew!!  Actually I’m already pretty familiar with that one.  Do Winter’s Tale!  Do Winter’s Tale!!  

ShakespeareTeacher’s got a good post up about some writing assignments that he just handed out.  He’s looking for input on more ideas for such assignments.  I like the “write something in iambic pentameter” one, and think it could go even farther.  A while back I wrote an Elizabethan sonnet for my daughter’s first birthday, and it was fun to meet the structural requirements on all levels, not just the rhyme scheme but the overall theme as well.  I’m not a big fan of “translate Shakespeare’s words today’s language” because it always means “get the plot, lose the poetry”.  It’s like for someone to say that “I have of late but wherefore I know not lost all my mirth” really means “I’m bummed out and I don’t know why.”  True, but man, it loses something.