Month: April 2012

My Visit With The Folger

~ duane ~ 2 Comments
And, here we go!  This is me, sitting outside the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. and I’m pretty sure that’s the first picture of me that’s graced this blog.  What you were expecting?
You’ll see I went with my Mercutio Drew First shirt.  This was the subject of much debate in the hotel room that morning, as I was torn between actually looking *nice*, or, well, looking like a Shakespeare Geek.  I figured that to wear such a shirt where I had the greatest possible opportunity for people to actually *get* it, was too good to pass up. I went with it.  This did not stop me from worrying about the decision for the rest of the afternoon, trying to decide whether I had time to get back to the hotel to the change, before finally there was no time left and the decision was made for me. 😉
I’ve got a bunch of pictures that I’m going through, so I’m going to try and spread the visit out of several posts so we can discuss the interesting bits separately.  I figure that this picture represented the kick off, the proof that I’d at last arrived.  
My trip continues….
This posting marathon, in celebration of Shakespeare Day, is brought to you by nothing but my time, my resources, and my love for the subject. While we’ll always be the original Shakespeare blog, it takes a significant amount of effort to make us the best in the digital universe.  If you’ve not yet seen how you can show your support, now’s a great opportunity.  If you’ve already done so, thanks very much!

A Shakespeare Marathon for Shakespeare’s Birthday

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Hello Everyone!

In celebration of William Shakespeare’s Birthday every year I like to do something special.  With the big day falling on a Monday just after school vacation, and me having just returned from the Folger Shakespeare Library, I knew that I’d either end up doing nothing (no time!) or something big.

May I present, something big.

For the remainder of the day I’m going on a Shakespeare Marathon.  I don’t know how many posts I’ll end up with, but I can promise that it will shatter my previous record (which, judging by April 2010, was 11 posts in a day. I know that I’ve already got more than double that queued up). Many of these posts will include pictures of my experience inside the Folger Vault, something that many people will simply never see in their lifetimes. If you want to talk about Shakespeare today, you’re going to have plenty of opportunities to do it.

For those coming late to the party and want to see all posts, keep checking this link to all posts for April 23, 2012.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare!

– Duane, aka Shakespeare Geek

When Shakespeare Does His Taxes (Guest Post)

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At this time of year, even Shakespeare’s thoughts turn to getting the income tax forms in on time. Bardfilm and Shakespeare Geek have compiled their resources to give us some insight into what’s going on in his mind:

  • My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun. I think that means I can claim her ophthalmologist visits as a deduction!
  • When I’m a lender, the interest income paperwork is ridiculous. But when I’m a borrower I’m paying interest and then still getting taxed on the income to boot! Note to self: Don’t be either one of those.
  • If I can only get rid of that second-best bed (Note: What if I will it to Anne?), I’ll be in a lower tax bracket.
  • Grief fills the room up of my absent child. That means I can still claim him as a dependent! Yay!
  • Three dollars to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund? No. I think I’d rather pop in between the election and their hopes.
  • If I drown my books, I wonder if I could deduct that as flood damage?
  • Oh, come on! We dismantle and move one little theatre and now I need to pay real estate tax on it twice?
  • What? That’s how much I owe? What do they want from me? A pound of flesh? Zounds!
  • O, for a muse of fire . . . or at least another week to get these forms together.
  • A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! Then I could claim it as a capital gains loss.
  • You know what? Next time I’m voting for Ron Paul.
  • Should I put Brutus down as a Capitol gain or a Capitol loss—or both?
  • The most frustrating thing about this whole process is that Marlowe pays less taxes than his secretary.
  • Is this a dagger that I see before me, the handle toward my hand? No, it’s just Form 8233: Exemption From Withholding on Compensation for Independent (and Certain Dependent) Personal Services of a Nonresident Alien Individual. [That’s a real form, by the way.]

Our thanks for his contributions to this guest post to kj, the author of Bardfilm. Bardfilm is a blog that comments on films, plays, and other matters related to Shakespeare.


. . . and we didn’t even have to resort to a “Do I need Form 2B or not?” joke! —SG


. . . at least not until now! —kj

A 1607 Spelling Lesson

~ duane ~ 9 Comments

Spotted this link today on Twitter, courtesy of Folger Research.  “When you ask a powerful woman to be your child’s godmother & the queen intervenes: a 1607 letter”.

What’s most fascinating to me is the very real example of spelling.  Sure, we have plenty of examples from Shakespeare’s work, but it would be easy to put him on a separate shelf and say, sure, that’s how *he* wrote.  For the stage.  That’s not how normal people wrote.

Want to bet?

I only wish that I could read more of it.  There are several spots where odd abbreviations are used (something that looks like La with a ps, an m with a tie above it, etc…) and plenty of places where I just can’t read the writing — there’s a word that looks like it could be “sefte” but given the giant descenders they used for S I thought maybe it was a”juste” when I first saw it, so who knows.

Anyway, neat stuff indeed.  I wonder if there’s anybody reading who does indeed study this stuff and can tell us what it says?  I get the general idea, mostly from the title — the person writing the letter had asked the recipient to be the godmother to his child, but the queen stepped in.  Whether she stepped in because she doesn’t like her countesses to do such things, I didn’t quite get.  It does seem to end along the lines of “If something happens to make the queen change her mind, we’ll let you know.”

Anybody got a better reading than that?

Mr. Geek Goes to Washington

~ duane ~ 1 Comment

For those folks that aren’t with us on Twitter, you may not have heard that I’m taking the family to Washington D.C. next week for April vacation.  For some that would mean the White House, the Washington Monument, and all that semi-cool, 200year old stuff.

You know what I’m going for.  I want to see me some 400 year old books.  Specifically of course I’m talking about the Folger Shakespeare Library, what I describe to people who ask as “The Shakespeare Smithsonian.  The Center of the American Shakespeare World.”  (Come on, I need to give the Stratford Birthplace people at least a little acknowledgement :)).  I don’t know if it’s the common way or not, but I just call it “The Folger” in the same way I’d say “The White House” or “The Smithsonian.”

Want to hear something funny?  In my house I have a bust of Shakespeare (a small one), from the Folger. The thing is, I don’t remember getting it.  It had to have been during college when we went to DC for a conference.  I do remember going into town with friends.  But whatever period that was in my life, it wasn’t the same as it is now, and I obviously wandered in picked up Mr. Shakespeare, and brought him home in a very unmemorable event.

I expect next week, with wife and geeklets in tow, to be just a wee bit different.  🙂  I’m actually hoping/planning to meet people that I know.  The funny thing is that the following week is my birthday, and my wife asked me what I wanted.  “We’re going to be at the Folger Shakespeare Library.  I’m pretty sure I can find a few things.”

So, watch this space because one of a number of possible things might happen:

* I am so busy running around to all the sites that I have no time to post.
* I am so impatient about my trip to the Folger (Thursday) that I post every day between now and then to talk about it.
* I post a small (or possibly not so small) novel of my experiences starting Thursday night.
* I show up on the national news after I am arrested for attempting to eat a First Folio.

Anybody need anything while I’m out?  Bardfilm asked me to grab him a quarto, he said they’ve got them just lying around and you’re supposed to help yourself.