Confess, fellow Shakespeare Geeks, what did you do for Shakespeare’s Birthday / Talk Like Shakespeare Day this year? Though I found it a bit silly, I did some of my Twittering in my best Elizabethan. Gave away some books to the winners of my Sourcebooks Shakespeare contest. Got a new book, “Bardisms”, in the mail. Tried very hard to make as many posts to the blog as I could (8, counting this one, and the day’s not done yet). Snuck into my coworkers’ offices and put Shakespeare quotes on their whiteboards like a Shakespeare ninja: (misquotes on purpose for context)

For the military boss who never gives up, no matter how bleak the prospects:  “Yet I will try the last.  Before the ground I throw my warlike shield.  Lay on, MacDuff, and damn’d be he who first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’” For the founder of the company, recently bitten by a strange dog in the middle of the office (trust me, a funny story):  “Cry Havoc!  and let slip the dogs of war!” For the young do-it-all programmer who could own the place if he really tried (who also happens to be the sort of skinny young guy who can down 9 pieces of pizza in a sitting and never gain any weight):  “Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look…” For the programmer who never says much, but always manages to deliver twice as much as you asked, in half the time you thought it would take:  “How far the little candle throws its beams!  So shines a good deed in a weary world.” For the “technician” whose just is slowly being replaced by automatic scripts, who sees his role evolving into something new:  “We know what we are, but not what we might become.” In the break room, where we just had a catered lunch complete with cookies, cake…and beer and wine:  “If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked!’

Came home, played Midsummer Paper Dolls with my daughters. Tonight, going to a “Shakespeare Open Mic” night.  No idea how that’ll turn out, but it should be fun! [UPDATE: Typo fix, I did not write “so shines a good dead” on her whiteboard!]

http://www.masterofverona.com Here’s a story I bet not everybody can post :).  Hope he doesn’t kill me(*), but David Blixt, author of The Master Of Verona and regular contributor to my humble little blog, celebrates his wedding anniversary today, on Shakespeare’s birthday.  How cool is that?  The man’s a professional Shakespearean actor, a published author on the subject (historical novel, to be specific), and he even gets to live a life where he does things like getting married on Shakespeare’s birthday.  So I think that’s quite a nice story for a blog called Shakespeare Geek. :)  He did not, however, name his child Fleance. Congratulations David!
(*) Trained in stage combat as he is, I expect he could only pretend to kill me.  Very convincingly, but still.

http://www.google.co.uk/ Google UK gets in on the act with a multi-purpose doodle today showing St. George and the Dragon…acting out the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet.  Nice!

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=FolgerLibrary&view=videos Who knew that the Folger had a YouTube channel?  This will take much of my time, I’m quite sure.  I wonder if anybody’s considered something more downloadable, like a video podcast?  I much prefer those.  Wherefore makest me stream thy content, fair Folger?