Month: April 2016

Now Let’s Do Teen Movies

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Ok, so, fine, somebody managed to make a list of Shakespeare adaptations I’ve never seen.  We get back into the comfort zone with this list of Teen Shakespeare Adaptations, supposedly “ranked”, which really just means the arbitrary personal opinion of whoever made the list, based on which ones they’ve actually seen rather than just spotted a YouTube trailer.

All the standards are here – 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s The Man, Get Over It, etc…  They include Romeo+Juliet which always makes me on my soapbox about, “What did you mean by adaptation? Because some of these are original text and some of them are just storyline similar.”

Who knew that Nicholas Cage’s 1983 “Valley Girl” was a Shakespeare adaptation? I remember staying up late to watch that one on Cinemax back when cable television was new.  Now I may have to go back and watch it again since I never made the connection.  The wikipedia page tells me there’s at least some similarly beyond the “star-crossed lovers” bit, as Cage’s “R”andy meets “Julie” when he crashes a party at her house. Does that mean that “T”ommy is supposed to be the Tybalt character? Because somebody may need to read the play again, as he’s Juliet’s cousin, not her boyfriend.

Oh, and I also recall there being a reasonable amount of gratuitous nudity, which I now realize must have been an homage to Zeffirelli’s 1968 version.

Challenge Extended, @Bardfilm!

~ duane ~ 2 Comments

It’s rare that we see a list of “Shakespeare Stuff You Didn’t Know” and we don’t already actually know most of it.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find this list of Shakespeare Adaptations You Haven’t Seen and, honestly, I haven’t seen any of them.  I’ve *heard* of several of them – Ran being the most obvious example – but I can’t say I’ve ever watched that one through from start to finish, only seen clips.

But then again I’m not the one who runs a “Shakespeare and film microblog”.  Luckily, I know who does.

Putting you on the spot here Bardfilm!  How many have you seen?

Our Revels Now Are Ended

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

So, how was your day?

Looks like we wrap it up with 32 posts today, which I’m pretty sure is a new record.  It’s a little weird, especially on a weekend, because depending on the time of day there’s simply not enough exposure per post before they go flying by.  I can see my statistics and I see a couple of dozen hits on any individual post.  When you look at that in aggregate that’s not bad, I’ve got thousands of hits on the day. But I’m quite sure that some stories get lost in the shuffle. I’m going to try to “re-blog” some of them over the coming days when people have more time to browse and enjoy them.

With that I’m going to wrap it up for the day and we’ll see everybody again next time. I’m in the mood to wrap up the same way the Olympics did a few years back, with some Caliban…

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.

Words Shakespeare Used Differently Than We Do

~ duane ~ 1 Comment

Yeah yeah yeah, Shakespeare invented a bunch of words.

No, wait, he’s just the first documented use of those words.

No, wait, he was the first to use certain words in certain parts of speech.

Here’s another variation to add to the discussion : words that meant something entirely different to Shakespeare when he used them.

My favorite example is “bedroom.”  Hey, did you know Shakespeare invented the word bedroom?

“No, actually.  What Shakespeare meant by bedroom wasn’t the room where you keep the bed.  What he meant was actual room *in* the bed, like elbow room.  Lysander says it to Hermia.”

“Oh, and by the way, did you know Shakespeare invented the word elbow?”

🙂