http://ils121.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/how-to-memorize-a-sonnet/ This professor from UW-Madison is apparently doing a unit on the Sonnets, as I just got a whole bunch of links from that site in my reader. I don’t agree with the “learn every meaning of every word” part, especially when it comes to memorization.  There’s a famous example known as The Great Panjandrum that demonstrates the words don’t even have to make sense for you to be able to memorize them.  I did challenge an actor friend of mine with that one once, and he did successfully memorize it. I do, however, agree with the “put it to music” thing.  I know three sonnets by heart – 17, 18, and 29.  17 because I recited it at my wedding, the other two because I have them as music. As a matter of fact, it’s so easy that even a three year old could do it. I also agree with the overall point of understanding the thing, and not just learning a sequence of words.  Technically you can memorize a sequence of random words, but I’m not your professor, and I’d much rather you actually walk away with an understanding of what the sonnet is about.  I have sonnet 29 pinned to my wall.  I like to think it means, “Sometimes I’ve having a really lousy day and thinking about how my life sucks, but then I think of [in this case, my wife] and realize that I’m the richest man in the world.  I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Hey, who linked me from TheNest.com?  I can see you in my logs but I can’t get in to their boards to see the actual post!  That drive me nuts :).  I’m familiar with The Nest, it’s a huge favorite of our company president, he’s pretty much patterned our company on what they do. However you got here, welcome!

http://beyond-school.org/2007/09/22/to-curse-or-not-to-curse-on-teaching-the-f-bomb-and-other-colorful-words/ I find this unit interesting its discussion of cursing in Shakespeare, most notably since he doesn’t go for the obvious Taming of the Shrew or Romeo and Juliet, but rather King Lear!  First he presents some Lear style “cursing” (whoreson, knave, etc…) and then gets into his students’ own “street” rewriting.  It’s personally not to my taste, I don’t think you have to sprinkle liberally with swears to get your point across, but who knows, maybe that’s exactly how his kids talk in their regular life?  There’s discussion at the end, too.  For instance in one Cordelia rewrite she drops an f-bomb while talking to her dad, and people question whether that’s realistic for her character.   Warning, if it wasn’t obvious – dirty words abound.

http://www.chasingthebard.com I may have mentioned this podcast/podiobook in passing when I first tripped over it. Let me now get back to it. I love it. I love it love it love it, I think it might well be my favorite podiobook yet (and that’s saying something, as I’ve gone through several dozen of them). Imagine a fantasy story that opens with the birth of one William Shakespeare. The event is attended by none other than Robin Goodfellow (aka Puck) himself, who witnesses it as a magical event of great significance. Thus begins this crossover story between the world of the “Fey” (the fairies), and the human world in which Shakespeare, gifted with “bardic” fairy powers, lives. If that’s not enough to hook you, I’ll say more. It’s not just good because it’s got Shakespeare in it (sounds like a Monty Python skit, “It’s all got Shakespeare in it!”) It’s good because it’s well written and well produced, too. There’s the appropriate amount of sound effects and music. The voice acting is appropriate. The narrator/author, with her New Zealand accent, is just exotic enough. She writes very well. The characters are excellent. She writes Elizabethan London well. She writes the fairies well. She even writes the battle scenes well. Perhaps the best thing of all, as far as I can tell, is that she hasn’t rewritten any of Shakespeare’s bio yet. She’s actually working inside the missing pieces. She still has him raised in Stratford, married to Anne Hathaway, and then heading off to London leaving behind her and the kids. She’s showing respect for the source material, she’s not just borrowing it where it suits her. Why are you still reading? Go get it, right now, so we can discuss it. Disclaimer! She’s up to chapter 14. It is a serialized work, so you cannot get the whole story yet (although I believe you can buy the completed print book if you like). Also note that there’s a sex scene in Chapter 13, which comes with a great deal of warning ahead of time, in case you like/loathe that sort of thing.