Hey! Pssst! Want to see a 14yr old girl naked?
That’s the underlying message in news stories like this one about the new Romeo and Juliet movie, starring 14yr old Hailee Steinfeld, and it’s inclusion of nudity / sex scenes.

I’m well aware that Olivia Hussey was underage (15, was it?) when she played Juliet in Zeffirelli’s 1968 version. What bothers me here, and maybe this was true back then as well, is this idea of leading with the press release, so that everybody knows the real story of this movie is a chance to see a naked underage girl.
I may have cut the director a little slack if I didn’t see this quote in the article:

Director Julian Fellowes said he needs an age-appropriate actress for the role, because that’s how Shakespeare did it.

And then he caps it off thusly:

“My version is a romantic story – one that keeps pretty true to Shakespeare but is, I hope, more accessible.”

I love people who are creative enough to come up with stuff like these Magic cards in an Othello edition. I always have a million ideas for games, but lack the attention span to make a complete and consistent set of rules for them, as well as the resources to make the necessary materials. (I usually get stuck in that limbo of “I’ll make a video game – no, a card game! No, a video game! No, a board game….”)
Not this guy — visit the link to check out his Othello card (he is a Hero/Villain card, depending on what other character cards are in play), or maybe his Desdemona (power 1 / defense 1, not a strong character…) And this is only one of a number of sets! Very impressive.
The question has come up before, but it’s always fun to ask again – does anybody know any Shakespeare card games? Stuff like this – where players could use their knowledge of the subject as well as learning more about the subject during the game – is the best. Not just talking about some other game’s rules where the cards have been decorated with Shakespeare images.

I’m trying to figure out what exactly this is. There’s going to be movie versions of Shakespeare plays shown nationwide? At a movie theatre near me? That could be cool. I wonder what movies …
“…the series will kick off in June with The Merry Wives of Windsor followed by Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2 in August and closing in September with Henry VIII. “
…Oh. Not really sure how this is going to play to a nationwide US audience. Why those in that combination? They couldn’t squeeze in a tragedy, or a better known comedy?
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110602006410/en/Shakespeare%E2%80%99s-Classic-Works-U.S.-Movie-Theaters-Nationwide

I know that Roland Emmerich’s new movie Anonymous is coming soon and will tell us that Oxford wrote Shakespeare.
But save a little bit of your scorn, oh ye Geeks, because apparently that’s not the only authorship movie in town. Be on the lookout in 2012 for a *Marlowe* movie?!
This information comes from a press release by the author of The Shakespeare Conspiracy, Ted Bacino:

The second movie, based on his book, The Shakespeare Conspiracy, by Ted Bacino, is scheduled for release in early 2012 and credits Marlowe with the writings. It is being produced by the Motion Picture Hall of Fame and Borone Films.

I don’t know much else we’ll hear about what could be a vanity/indie project, but I figured it was worth a mention. ‘Tis the season for Authorship debate, I guess.

A long time ago we had a great discussion over that classic quote about how Shakespeare “never blotted a line,” and the follow-up “Would he had blotted a thousand!” Did that imply that he made 1000 mistakes that should have been erased … or that he could possibly have made room for 1000 more moments of genius?
Tell me your least favorite line(s) in Shakespeare. The one that makes you cringe, and which he’d never written it. Makes you want to just take your red pen and strike it from existence, because it just doesn’t *feel* right.
I’m not talking about snipping of entire characters and speeches because you need to cut down on time and/or people. I’m talking specifically about lines that rub you the wrong way because they don’t flow like they should, or they sound out of character, stuff like that. As if you were a modern editor and were sending notes back to the author with whatever the mark is that’s the editor’s equivalent of “WTF were you thinking here, Will?”
I ask because I’m wondering whether people will accept the challenge, or whether I’ll get a lot of “Every word Shakespeare wrote was perfect” debate.