Category: Uncategorized

Most of the posts in this category are simply leftovers from a previous era before the site had categories. Over time I plan to reduce that number to zero and remove this category. Until then, here they are. I had to put something in the box.

Temptation is a fire that brings up the scum of the heart.

~ duane ~ 2 Comments

I saw this one go by and thought, “Are you kidding me? Do we really want to think that the best Shakespeare could come up with is something like ‘scum of the heart’?”  It didn’t help that there’s even places on the net where people asked “What play is this from?” and were told “Merchant of Venice.”  Not true.  Shakespeare does use the word “scum” four times in his work, but never in this context.

This one took me awhile to find. It is quoted often in the history books, and always with the word “Boston” next to it.  For awhile I thought that had something to do with a collection of papers or a particular essay that was being cited.  Then it dawned on me that this is an actual person — Thomas Boston, a Scottish church leader born in 1676 (so, not too long after Shakespeare).  Here, from Google Books, is the man’s own words:

Observe your hearts all times but especially under temptation. Temptation is a fire that brings up the scum of the vile heart: Do you carefully mark the first risings of corruption.

The greatest risk in life is not taking one.

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Alternate: The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.

Another one of these random attributions, with no good evidence for it being Shakespeare.  However some searching turns up the alternate version, which to my eye looks very close — “being too cautious” equals “not taking risks”, doesn’t it?

The alternate version does have a source – it comes from Indian politician Jawaharlal Nehru.

Shakespeare Reading Challenge 2011 : Sign Up Now!

~ duane ~ 5 Comments

Reader Elena let me know that she’s running her Shakespeare Reading Challenge again for the coming year and asked me to get the word out to Shakespeare Geeks. How many of the plays you think you can read during the year? Challenge Extended!

First off, the Levels:

1. Puck: Read 4 plays over the year, 1 of which may be replaced by a performance

2. Desdemona: Read 6 plays, 2 of which may be replaced by a performance

3. Henry V: Read 12 plays, 3 of which may be replaced by a performance

Now, the Rules:

1. All plays must be read between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Anything begun before that cannot be included.

2. Audio versions are also acceptable but all plays must be unabridged.

3. You don’t need to list your plays ahead of time but you may, if you’d like.

4. Review pages for each month will be created but are optional.

On your mark ….. get set…….

Beta Geeks Needed

~ duane ~ 1 Comment
As I may have mentioned, I’ve been in the mood lately to take this site to another level.  I know that many of the regulars here have been very supportive and helped make Shakespeare Geek what it has become. Now I need your help.
I’m looking for a core group of fans of the site who’d be willing to join my contact list ( by email and ideally IM and Skype as well ) and listen to me talk about ideas from time to time. This is not a mass-marketing list and I don’t want hundreds of people on it. This is a personal invitation for the handful or so of dedicated site followers who want to help shape what it becomes.

Here’s what I’m asking:
  • Your email address, obviously. Most of what I send will be hand written and not mass-blasted, so you have very little to worry about in the spam department. I can’t promise never to automate, depending on how successful this project is, but I’d hope by now that you trust me enough to know that selling email addresses wouldn’t be one of my business ideas.
  • Ideally your AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) name, if you have one and want to share it. Sometime conversation works better in real time than over email.
  • Speaking of realtime communication, you could also share your Skype contact info if you like to work that way. I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to any Shakespeare Geek followers, that’d be fun. Though I never call anybody unsolicited that way, any use of Skype would be strictly after an email or AIM “Hey should we move this to Skype?” dialogue. One excellent advantage to Skype is that you can easily do conference calling, so there’s potential for several geeks to get in on a single conversation. Hard to do that with AIM or Email.
  • I only want a small, manageable list – so I will cap this request off at 10 people. If you want in, act fast.
  • I will contact you for the purposes of conversation. This is not a mailing list where you can lurk – if I write you and you don’t write me back, I’ll stop writing you.

What you get:

  • Early access to any new ideas in development, as they become available. This could include preview copies of books, credentials to web sites…who knows
  • Discussion about the business of putting more Shakespeare out in the universe. Note that this is not a group to discuss Shakespeare – that’s what the blog is for. This is to talk very specifically about the “Shakespeare industry”, for lack of a better term – products and services that could revolutionize how we teach it, how we learn it, and how people appreciate and understand it.

Still interested? Excellent. Send me an email with the information above, as well as a brief bio/intro if you think I’d don’t already know you (i.e. are you a parent, a student? Are you in the Shakespeare profession already? That sort of thing.) You may note that I’m not including a link here, and that is on purpose. Not only do I already have enough spam, but I figure you all know my name – duane – and you know what website you’re on, shakespearegeek.com. You need to be able to exhibit at least a little effort :), so go write me an email.