http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2008/03/visual-versus-v.html This one is only borderline Shakespeare, but I liked it.  Specifically it’s a branding article talking about the power of your words, and in particular how the name of a product is the most important thing.  The author says, simply, “Shakespeare was wrong – a rose by any other name would not smell as sweet.” What I’m interested in is how you react to that sentence, particularly the first bit.  I’ll admit that my first reaction was to see if I could argue that Shakespeare was not wrong.  I’m pleased to be able to point out that their article is actually about the difference between visual and audio, and the rose comment is the only reference to smell, so maybe Shakespeare wasn’t so wrong after all.  Yes, if all you ever did was a radio spot where you told people “Wouldn’t it be nice to come home after a long day at the office and discover that your husband has brought you a dozen long-stemmed BabyDiapers?”  then yes, they have a point.  And if you’d seen, but never smelled, a rose, now called a “baby’s diaper”, then perhaps you wouldn’t be so keen on hunting them down and paying $5/stem.   But what if you smelled it first, without knowing the name of it?  And you said, “Hey, I like it.”  And somebody said, “It’s called a Baby’s Diaper.”  You’d say, “Funny name.  Doesn’t smell like that.  Smells good.” Slow news day in the world of Shakespeare, I guess.  You folks come here for the offbeat references, right? 🙂

I can’t say I know much about Paul Scofield, who appears to have been a noted Shakespearean actor.  Somebody tell us about him?  Anybody ever get to see him perform?

http://pixeltheatre.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/sl-shakespeare-company-open-auditions-march-3008/ Missed it the first time?  Second Life Shakespeare Company is holding auditions on Sunday, March 30.  Looks like fun, if you’re into that sort of thing.

http://www.bardblog.com/have-you-read-all-of-shakespeare/ Gedaly over at The Bard Blog’s got the question up.  What’s your answer, and why?  Answer over there, not here, I’m trying to share some traffic, not steal it :).  I already put my answer up.

Last night my parents are over for dinner.  My 3yr old, Elizabeth, holds her hand up and says, “Everybody listen!  I’m a Capulet, and you have to be quiet, because we’ve having a party.”  She then turns to everybody at the table and says, “You’re a Capulet, and you’re a Capulet, and you’re a Capulet too.” Cue my mother to ask, “What’s a capulet?” I love moments like this.  “That’s from Romeo and Juliet,” I tell her.  “Capulet is Juliet’s last name.  Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.” Elizabeth catches our attention again because of the face she is making.  “You have to do this,” she tells us, and I realize that she has covered her upper lip in grated cheese.  And then I get it.  In the movie we just watched, Sealed With A Kiss, the Capulets are having a party on board a ship.  The Capulets are the white seals, the Montagues are the brown seals.  So the way that Mercutio, Benvolio and Romeo get into the party is to roll themselves around in the white sand until they look like the Capulet seals.  My daughter has figured out how to use the grated cheese to camouflage herself. “Are any of us Montagues?” I ask.  “If there are Capulets, there should be Montagues.” She thinks about this, then turns to her little brother.  “Brendan can be a Montague.” “So is he Romeo?  Do you marry him?” “No, Daddy, I marry you.  You can be Romeo.  The Prince wants to marry me but you come to the party and take me away.”   And so on.  That’s what dinner at my house is like :).