Just heard on NPR’s Wait Wait show that George Carlin’s grandfather wrote out the complete works of Shakespeare, just because he liked it. If true, that’s kind of cool.  People talk about a life goal of reading the complete works, try writing them out! There’s a bit for somebody to do – find the Shakespearean equivalent to all of Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words”.

While I google for references, somebody refresh my memory – how new (or, at least, little known) was the concept of infinity while Shakespeare was writing?  I know I saw someplace some references to just when it was first written about and by whom, but I can’t seem to put my finger on them.  I’d like to learn more about just how big of a deal it was that Shakespeare “jumped on the bandwagon early”, so to speak.  That he “got” the concept of infinity pretty quickly. That is, of course, if that’s true.  I could be completely misunderstanding the timing and it could have been a concept every groundling understood, too.  But I don’t think so. I’m looking now, but every combination of googling for “Shakespeare” and “infinity” just turns up damned monkey typing references.   P.S. – My Mobius “infinity bracelet” has apparently arrived, so presentation to wife coming soon.  I say apparently because it arrived while I was on vacation over the weekend and all I got was a note in the mail saying I had to sign for it.   A note that arrived AT MY HOUSE INSTEAD OF MY BUSINESS ADDRESS so my wife is all “What’s this?”  I’m not thrilled with this development, especially since I was planning to hide it until September for our anniversary.  Oh, well.  I’ll let everybody know how it came out and how she likes it.

http://www.bardblog.com/animaniacsummer-nights-dream/ Straight from The Bard Blog.  I had not seen that (shame on me), though I’d heard references.  Cute! What is the “plot hole so big you could drive a truck through”, I wonder?

http://filmexperience.blogspot.com/2008/06/2009-sneak-king-lear.html Over at Film Experience Blog they’re having a lengthy discussion on the pros and cons of casting for the upcoming Lear, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins (most of the comments scream “Why not Ian McKellen?”), Gwynneth Paltrow, Keira Knightey and Naomi Watts. If I understand it correctly, McKellen’s version is in fact coming to DVD as well.    So short answer, I’ll see them both :).

So this weekend we’re on vacation at a little touristy bookstore, browsing around for easy reading (I’ve finally finished Shakespeare Wars, and though I brought it with me, Asimov’s is just too much a brick to bring to the beach).  So we walk in and this little old lady greets us.  “The great this about history,” she says, noting that we are standing next to the history section, “Is that today it’s being written to be readable.”  Great.  We’ve shown no interest in history, it’s just where she cornered us. Having announced that, she then spots one of our group who has moved to the next section, which is actually Mathematics.  “The other day,” she tells my friend, “Someone came in and purchased one of our math books.  He said it was for the beach.  So now I never question it when somebody wants something for the beach.” And on it went, with this woman spouting random things about random sections of her store.  Well, I find the Shakespeare section, and a book I don’t have – something like “Everything I Need To Know I Learned From William Shakespeare.”  It’s in hardcover and appears to be $19.95, but you never know about markdowns so I go up to the desk and ask about the price.  “I love Bill Bryson!” she says, and begins flipping through the book. “I do too,” I say. “But that’s not Bill Bryson’s book. Though I have read that one, it was very good.” “The one that just came out?” she asks. “It came out last year, I got it for Christmas,” I say. “Wonderful,” she says, and hands back the book. I don’t take it from her.  “Could you tell me how much this one costs?” “Oh!” she says, “You did ask me that.  Let’s see….$19.95.” I thank her and put the book back, then take my other purchases up to the desk.  My friend calls out, “You’re not going to get that one?” “Nah,” I call back.  “I like reading about the man, but you can only read so much, especially when it’s the same biographical stuff over and over again.” “Who?” asks the lady behind the counter. “William Shakespeare,” I say, and wait for my amusing anecdote. “Do you know who the man is who’s been more written about than any one else?  Lincoln.  When Doris Kearns Goodwin wanted to write about Lincoln she didn’t know what to do, so she wrote about all the men who had campaigned against him….” And that’s what I got for my Shakespeare references, a story about a Lincoln biographer (whose name I may have messed up).  As we left I leaned over and told my friend, “You know, Lincoln had a secretary named Shakespeare, and Shakespeare had a secretary named Lincoln…..” 🙂 We decided that a) she was clearly a retired librarian, given her desire to teach about books without anybody asking her too, and b) she was a robot who was trained to spot people in front of section X and then tell a story relevant to section X.