http://www.cartoonbank.com/product_details.asp?mscssid=SNN5MX4S73VT9GVSAGW6HX9QXSC346X1&sitetype=1&did=4&sid=47412&pid=&keyword=romeo§ion=all&title=undefined&whichpage=1&sortBy=popular I grabbed this right away, as I’m a sucker for Shakespeare cartoons.  Romeo and Juliet as told by instant messages has been done a million times, but hey. Does anybody see the glaring problem with the above link?  It’s a shopping cart link for a poster sized print of a New Yorker cartoon that originally appeared in 2002.  Fine.  But…you can’t read the image.  So, if you never saw the original, you have no idea what you’re supposed to be buying. Or am I missing something?

http://www.onenightcastle.com/img/crossword.pdf Not really too much to say.  A crossword puzzle where almost all of the clues are Shakespeare references.  Sponsored by One Night Castle for their new performance “Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet”, there are several clues about the director of the play (and the playhouse) as well. Fun!

http://bnjammin.blogspot.com/2007/12/shakespeare-as-consultant-would-tell-it.html I like it.  I agree with the commenter that a true consultant’s presentation would be crammed with bullet points.  The emphasis on visuals is actually fairly easy to understand (at least the first few, it starts reaching at the end).

http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2007/11/two-releases-ar.html Wow, cool!  After hearing that Arden, the Shakespeare virtual world, was “taking a break”, I didn’t expect to hear from them.  I certainly didn’t expect this release, where they’ve opened it to the public.  I would have blogged this sooner, but I had to get my order for Neverwinter Nights (the game engine required) first :). Castronova’s comments on the failure of the project are interesting.  Basically, the game wasn’t fun.  No monsters.  Too much text, too linear.  He seems pretty down on the project, the blog entry has several comments that sound like a sarcastic “Ha!  Good luck!’ to the next guy to try it. Rest assured I *will* be playing this. 🙂

“Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet” has an article up about the Folger getting Esperanto editions of the works that caught my eye.  Why?  Because I know Esperanto (well, I did, long ago) and it so happens that I own a copy of Hamlet, translated into Esperanto by L.L Zamenhoff himself. Unfamiliar with Esperanto?  It was (is?) a very interesting experiment in breaking down cultural barriers by attempting to create a universal second language.  Simple enough idea – keep your own language and culture, but also have this second language so that no matter where you go in the world, you can communicate with the people there.  When I was studying the language I used to read fairy tales from China, for example.  I had a penpal in the Netherlands, with whom I played chess by email.  Once, in a playwrighting course, I had written a scene that involved a troubled genius, one of these “Good Will Hunting” kids, who had been committed involuntarily to a mental ward.  He was refusing to cooperate with doctors by speaking in his own language.  Which, of course, was actually a recitation of Hamlet in Esperanto (the character unveils this in the play, to his favorite doctor).   After the class one of the readers caught up to me and said, “What was that, that the kid was saying?” “Hamlet in Esperanto, just like he said.”  I said.  “Really.” 🙂 Esti aux ne esti!