If you like your Shakespeare blog posts on the long and deep side, Geek has never really been the place (though we do tend to go for quite awhile in the comments).  If you’re looking for some deeper reading material may I point you to newish Shakespeare blogger Gayle and her own bard blog? I’d spotted Gayle’s efforts a little while ago, and I don’t quite remember why I didn’t link her then. I think she was switching domains, and I’m never sure when that happens whether the author will continue the site.   Given that she later wrote me to say Hi, I’m taking that as a good sign that she’ll be sticking around. What does Gayle write about?  Looking at what’s on her home page right now I see mostly Authorship posts (including Mark Twain commentary and two separate posts on Delia Bacon). However there’s also a neat slice of history where she speaks of the Ireland forgeries, something I used to (I thought) great success this past April Fool’s Day. Welcome to the club, Gayle!

We all know by now that Kenneth Brannagh, he of Henry V, Much Ado and Hamlet, is directing the new Thor movie.  Odd?  Not to him.  He gave Comic-Con a Shakespeare lesson last week:

"We know that we’re interested in superheroes, kings, gods, because of their sort of human-like failings. So it seemed to me not as much of a stretch as some people might think," Branagh said at last week’s Comic-Con, where he presented footage from the film. "The stretch part of it is embracing the whole world of digital effects. That’s been something I’ve just loved because it’s — if you can think it, they can do it. And that’s exciting."

I think it’s fascinating that there are directors today who see all the CGI special effects stuff as their “go to” solution to everything, and here you have a classic Shakespearean who thinks that’s the hard part.