Earlier today, Stanley Wells wrote on Twitter:

Also I never ever refer to Shakespeare as ‘the bard’. So don’t let me see any of you doing so either.

This set off quite the tweetstorm from his followers, many of whom (myself included) chimed in with admissions of guilt. I plead innocent on the grounds of technological limitation, though!  I’m only talking about times when I use the word bard in a typed form, such as web sites that won’t let me use “ShakespeareGeek”.   Or, of course, if there’s a pun to be made.  I can never resist a good pun. Spoken, though? I honestly don’t think I ever refer to Shakespeare as anything but Shakespeare when speaking of him. Thoughts?

Hi Gang,
This question just came up on Twitter.  I’ve got an iPhone, not an Android-based phone, so I can’t say much about what’s available for those devices.
Anybody out there know what the Shakespeare situation is for Droid-style phones?  I would hope that somebody’s done a Complete Works browser, but even that I’m not so sure about.
Who can help us out here?

UPDATE APRIL 2, 2012 Funny how things change!  Now not only do I have an Android phone, but my first app “Insults for Shakespeare Geeks” is now available in the Google Play Store!

Earlier this year we were pleased to give away some copies of Shakespeare In Bits’ interactive Romeo and Juliet application, that time for the PC.
They then turned around and cranked out an iPad edition, which has been going very well for them (Apple has chosen to feature them multiple times).  To mark the Back to School season we’re offering 3 promotional codes for those who want to give it a try!
Rules
* This is specifically for the iPad version.  Don’t enter if you don’t have one, or know someone who you’ll be giving the code to.
* Contest runs between now and Tuesday, September 7.  I pick that day because my kids go back to school on Wednesday.
* Leave a comment on this post answering this question: What play would you like to see get the interactive iPad treatment next?
* I will need a way to contact you if you win, but I don’t expect people to include their email addresses in posts, so I’ll publicly post the chosen winners when the time comes.  It’s up to you to come back and look for your name.

Got that?  As always, blah blah blah, I have to write in here that I reserve the write to modify or extend the rules, or otherwise scrap this contest and start over, if any unforeseen circumstances would compromise the integrity and fairness for everybody involved.  Fair enough? I haven’t had to do that yet, though, but I always worry that I’ll leave a loophole that makes it possible for somebody to cheat.
Ok, go!

UPDATE Wednesday, September 8 :  I see new entries coming in, but I’m sorry, I have to abide by the rules that I set up – contest is over as of the end of day Tuesday. Winners will be announced as soon as I can connect up with the guy supplying me the prizes :).

Here’s another one of our thought exercises; let’s see if it goes anywhere. The issue of racism is an interesting one in Othello. People think that it’s going to be a racist play, what with its black hero and all. But really, other than some fairly blatant racist commentary in the beginning, it’s not really about race at all, is it? We’re not led to believe that Othello killed his wife because he’s a black guy. Now, here’s my spin.  Imagine if Othello was white … and Iago was the black guy.  Keep everything else, plot-wise, as identical as you can.  Naturally, a bunch of the early, cruder commentary directed at Othello would have to be altered.  But the story could remain much the same. Except that now, Iago’s a black guy who was passed over for promotion by a white guy for a white guy.  How does that change him as a character? Is he still a villain? I know that Patrick Stewart was involved in a completely race-reversed Othello, where he played a white Othello to an otherwise all-black cast.  That tells a different story.  I’m wondering what would happen if race played a role in the development of the villain rather than the hero.