The Great Shakespeare Book Scavenger Hunt

~ duane ~ 4 Comments

So a funny thing happened on the way to the Folger Library this week.

As you may have seen on other social media channels, my family and I are in Washington D.C. for a couple of days and were lucky enough to visit the Folger Library again, having been there six years ago.  I knew that even if we did not manage to arrange a tour, I could at least take the kids back to get some pictures outside.  They were pretty young at the time and I’m not sure what they remember.

So I was quite surprised when we were cruising through the various museums of the Smithsonian and in one of the gift shops my middle daughter said, “Nope, I’m saving my souvenir for Folger, I know exactly what I want.”  I assumed that she just wanted a Shakespeare something, and hinted strongly to her that we have a lot of Shakespeare somethings already.

Turns out she actually remembers seeing a book in the gift shop the first time we were there.  Apparently, and I do slightly remember this, I told her that the book was too old for her. Well, it’s six years later and she’s making a beeline for that book.

Only problem?  Folger Library gift shop is closed on Monday.

So now the dad thing kicks in, and I’ve gotta get her that book.  I checked the online version of Folger’s shop and saw nothing obvious.  It’s quite possible that they no longer carry it, or even that it is no longer in print.  I asked my daughter for more details, and here’s what she told me:

“All his romance sonnets. Very nice cover no pictures sorta paintings. Maybe roses.”

Let the hunt begin.  Anybody able to find a volume of the sonnets (may or may not be all the sonnets or just a selection, may include other works) with a cover that, to a six year old memory, is “sorta paintings, maybe roses, very nice.”

 

So, Who’s This Guy?

~ duane ~ 3 Comments

Back in Washington D.C. after a six year absence (and looking forward to a swing by Folger Library!) we stopped off at the Spy Museum today.  When my kids started pointing and yelling “Shakespeare!” I was pleasantly surprised to see Kit Marlowe, and actual spy:

And I suppose it makes sense to include Sir Francis Bacon as well:

But who the heck is this guy?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The blurb underneath said “Was William Shakespeare A Spy?” but then just went on to talk about authorship theory and how Marlowe or Bacon might have written the works.  But then it went on to talk about the work of the William and Elizebeth Friedman who basically proved that looking for secret ciphers in Shakespeare’s work is a joke.

I just can’t figure out who that is in the picture, because it’s sure not Shakespeare!  I thought it was funny that so much of the exhibit was about taking on a secret identity and using disguises.  Looks to me like a dude pretending to be Shakespeare on school picture day.

Anybody able to identify that portrait?  I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.

 

Never Thought I’d Miss Tupac

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My son (along with most of the other neighborhood 12yr old boys) has become fascinated with the death of rapper XXXTentacion. I’d never heard of the guy until he was killed, but it doesn’t take much googling to realize that he was as infamous for his violence against women as he was for his music.

I’ve heard that Migos did it.  I’ve heard that he faked his own death.  And amid reminding my son whenever he pauses for breath that this 20 yr old was in jail what was it, three times? And abused his pregnant girlfriend?  So let’s not pretend that his music changed anybody’s life more than his actions did, I thought, “Is this guy going to be this generation’s Tupac?”  I don’t intend to compare their music (as I’m not terribly familiar with either’s body of work), I mean how their early deaths impacted a generation of fans who refuse to believe they’re gone so soon.

At least Tupac had Shakespeare.  That alone is going to make me sit up and take notice.  When you start with that kind of foundation, can you really produce something bad?

Let’s say I want to discover some new music.  Who’s out there right now that’s inspired by Shakespeare?  I’d love it if you can point me to some lyrics that are actually from Shakespeare, but I’ll take what I can get.  Who has some suggestions for me?

 

The Tempest Is A Bad Play

~ duane ~ 1 Comment

Got your attention?  Because it certainly got mine when I read it.

I didn’t write it — this guy did.

A friend cc’d me on a shared post, knowing that a clickbait headline like that was guaranteed to make me a little nuts.  It did.

His argument appears to be that Prospero is too powerful, and his enemies don’t stand a chance against him, therefore it’s boring to watch what we know will be his ultimate triumph over them.  I think this guy maybe thought he was going to see Infinity War or something. He’s describing Shakespeare like a superhero movie and he’s disappointed that there weren’t enough explosions.

He also seems bewildered at this idea that we know how the play is going to end, therefore it stinks:

We must root for him, and we know at every moment that he — yawn — will triumph.

…but you know in an instant how that’s going to end up; there’s no more suspense in it than in the Harlem Globetrotters taking on the Washington Generals.

I wonder how he feels about Romeo and Juliet?

At the end, though, he seems to actually get it:

There is a scene toward the end of the play in which Ariel expresses sympathy for Prospero’s enemies, laid low as they are from Prospero’s magic. Prospero marvels at the fact that the inhuman Ariel can experience empathy, where he, though human, cannot. And at that moment Prospero has his singular insight, which turns his life around: although he himself is at present incapable of empathy, he must act as though he has empathy for others, and, over time, learn to acquire it. And to do so, he must give up his god-like powers, and take his share in the human heart.

Like the kids say, and excuse my language, No Shit, Sherlock. That’s the story that’s in front of you the whole time.  Did you think that the director and actors put it there? I don’t follow how you get off calling the play terrible for half your word count, and then saying “But, this production was amazing.”  Were you scarred by a bad high school production when you were a child?

This guy’s bio suggests he’s actually seen Shakespeare more than once, so the only possible explanation I can find for this nonsense is that he’s trolling us.  He also takes a random slap at Coriolanus, which is apparently also terrible.  I’m surprised he didn’t say Hamlet is overrated and Falstaff’s not that difficult a role to play.

 

 

BardBots, Or, How Did I Miss This?!

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Though the “geek” in Shakespeare Geek refers primarily to our obsession with our favorite subject, I am still a lifelong computer geek by trade and have always kept a special eye on crossover projects that map Shakespeare onto the digital world, be in apps, video games…

Students study monologues from Shakespeare, annotate for characterization and blocking, then they are challenged to program robots to perform the scenes.

…or, sure, why not? Robots performing scenes.  Sounds awesome.

In honor of Shakespeare’s 454th birthday…

Wait, what?

April 23, 2018

This is over two months old?!  I’m slipping in my old age. Can’t believe this flew completely under my radar.

Note that this is a classroom project, not something out of Westworld.  The robots are basic, the environment is basic.  A long time ago, a professor named Terry Winograd made huge advances in natural language processing in a project called SHRDLU that did nothing but move colored blocks (“Put the red square on the yellow rectangle”, “Where is the blue pyramid?”, etc…)  This project reminds me a lot of that.

Just last week we were talking about Patrick Winston’s work in training an AI to understand Macbeth.  Over on this side, we’re training robots to act it out. Can’t wait to see how they meet in the middle.