http://shakespiracy.blogspot.com/ The folks making “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead” are working the viral angle.  They’ve got some videos up, if you’re into the whole vampire thing.

Twice over the past few weeks, publishers have asked if I run contests and if I want free stuff to giveaway.  My first response is “Of course I want free stuff to give away,” but I don’t want to keep doing the “Link to me someplace” thing, either . That gets boring. If anybody’s got some contest ideas they’ve seen on other blogs, that they’d participate in (and think others would, too!), I’m all ears.  Who knows, maybe that’ll be my first contest — best contest idea gets a book :).

http://blog.figmentengine.com/2008/10/hamlet-using-markov-chain.html You probably have to be pretty heavy on the computer-geek side of geeky to appreciate this, but luckily, I am :).  “Markov chains” are a way to statistically look at a data set and then try to reproduce likely combinations of the elements that could have matched the similar pattern.  It’s also useful for doing things like name generation. Here, the programmer starts with the text to Hamlet and then rearranges it jigsaw puzzle style to see what comes out.  Most of it is nonsense, but if you know how to spot the seemingly random bits from the “wow he almost got it” bits, it’s fun stuff.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/10/07/one_killed_three_injured_in_shootings/ The headline is horrible – but the post is actually an aggregate of brief local news stories, including the “Shakespeare And Pie Club” at Hampshire College.  Hey, whatever gets ’em in the door!

http://jfargo.livejournal.com/512603.html I’d never considered that “line reader” was a job unto itself, but it seems pretty darned important when you think about it.  I wonder if the line reader is charged with monitoring proper pronunciation and timing as well, or just missing words?