Month: October 2008

Twice over the past few weeks, publishers have asked if I run contests and if I want free stuff to giveaway.  My first response is “Of course I want free stuff to give away,” but I don’t want to keep doing the “Link to me someplace” thing, either . That gets boring. If anybody’s got some contest ideas they’ve seen on other blogs, that they’d participate in (and think others would, too!), I’m all ears.  Who knows, maybe that’ll be my first contest — best contest idea gets a book :).

http://blog.figmentengine.com/2008/10/hamlet-using-markov-chain.html You probably have to be pretty heavy on the computer-geek side of geeky to appreciate this, but luckily, I am :).  “Markov chains” are a way to statistically look at a data set and then try to reproduce likely combinations of the elements that could have matched the similar pattern.  It’s also useful for doing things like name generation. Here, the programmer starts with the text to Hamlet and then rearranges it jigsaw puzzle style to see what comes out.  Most of it is nonsense, but if you know how to spot the seemingly random bits from the “wow he almost got it” bits, it’s fun stuff.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/10/07/one_killed_three_injured_in_shootings/ The headline is horrible – but the post is actually an aggregate of brief local news stories, including the “Shakespeare And Pie Club” at Hampshire College.  Hey, whatever gets ’em in the door!

http://jfargo.livejournal.com/512603.html I’d never considered that “line reader” was a job unto itself, but it seems pretty darned important when you think about it.  I wonder if the line reader is charged with monitoring proper pronunciation and timing as well, or just missing words?

http://www.readertravels.com/2008/10/o-high-school/ So I marked the above link, thinking it to be some reference or discussion of “O”, the high school version of Othello.  What I found was a new reference – to the Quentin Tarantino favorite Switchblade Sisters, a cheesy 1970s exploitation flick that also happens to be a retelling of Othello. Huh? I’m still trying to make the connection, but apparently it’s not without merit.  From one of the Amazon reviews; Believe it or not, Switchblade Sisters is a neo-futuristic retelling of Shakespeare’s “Othello.” And it is so much cooler than the Josh Hartnett vehicle, “O.” The movie opens with a girl gang called The Dagger Debs, the counterparts to the male gang, The Silver Daggers. The Debs’ leader, Lace, (the “Othello” character, for those of you paying attention) is brilliantly played with much gusto by Robbie Lee. Her boyfriend is the leader of the Silver Daggers, Dominic.
The Daggers and their Debs are chillin’ in a fast food joint when they notice a blond babe who won’t leave “their” table. They hassle her, but to their surprise, she impressively defends herself. Her name is Maggie, and after they do a little jail time together, she and Lace forge a fast friendship.
Lace isn’t the only one Maggie has impressed, however. Lace’s boyfriend Dom is after her. Maggie admits that she has feelings for Dom, but would never betray Lace. This is just enough for Patch (aka Yago) to use to manipulate Lace into believing that Maggie is her enemy. I particularly like the spelling of “Iago” as “Yago.”  Sounds very Clockwork Orange.  “Come and get one in the yagos, if you have any yagos, you eunuch jelly thou!”