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.

The Immortal Bard, by Isaac Asimov

~ duane ~ 1 Comment

I saw a reference to this Isaac Asimov short story and thought, “Ooo, it sounds like I would like that!”  Then I googled for it, found it available for reading online, and the link was already purple – meaning that I’d been there before.  Go figure! 🙂

It’s a short and easy read, and the plot is familiar enough – Shakespeare + time travel.  What does Mr. Shakespeare think of how we’ve elevated him in the past few centuries?  Of course, much like Mr. Shakespeare, Mr. Asimov had the same talent of taking a story that’s been told countless times and putting his own personal spin on it.
Isaac Asimov is famous among Shakespeare geeks for other reasons as well, most notably his own guide to Shakespeare, with which I’ve had something of a love/hate relationship.

Coming Soon : Shakespeare’s Daughter

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

I noticed a new movie in IMDB today called Shakespeare’s Daughter. The cast is a number of big names – Eric Roberts, Chevy Chase, Tom Sizemore, Bonnie Wright…

The plot so far is only the short synopsis, “Eugen Devlin, a once famous, and now reclusive poet searches through his past looking for redemption and peace.”

I don’t expect that it’s got much if any Shakespeare material in it (other than the almost obligatory references to Shakespeare’s literary genius, like something out of Good Will Hunting), but who knows?  Does anybody know the material?  I’m wondering if it’s perhaps based on a book or something that might tell us what to expect.

The Delighted Beauty Project

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Back in May I mentioned the “Shakespearean Rosetta Stone” project where a line was taken from Othello:

If virtue no delighted beauty lack,
Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.

And the world was asked, “Translate this line into your language.”  The idea was to take a culturally sensitive line and look at how that aspect plays into the translation.”

Anyway, I’ve learned that the Delighted Beauty site is up and running, and you are invited to participate.   They are inviting full multimedia contribution of any translation along with its back-translated English version.
The best I could offer is Esperanto, but I don’t know it nearly well enough to do translation.  Anybody going to participate?  Let us know in the comments!

So, Who Wants To Teach Me About Mumford & Sons?

~ duane ~ 8 Comments

I don’t believe that the band Mumford & Sons is new, but I do know that I’ve been hearing them a lot more on the radio lately, and they’re going to be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live next week, so something’s definitely happening in their story arc.

The name of their debut album?  Sigh No More, which is a quote from Much Ado About Nothing. Honestly I’m not loving that particular song, but maybe it will grow on me.

Rather than do some quick Wikipedia searches and pretend like I know something about the band, I figure the reference in the subject line will be enough to attract the fans who can come and school me.  This is why the blog has been successful  – I just open up the conversation and let you folks do the talking.

So, somebody enlighten me – what’s up with Shakespeare and Mumford and Sons?  Are there lots of references?  Have they spoken about this in interviews, and is there a specific connection they’re working from (I’m reminded of the stories about Sting being an English teacher, for instance).  If a new fan stumbles across the band almost entirely because of the Shakespeare thing, what’s the best song to point them to?

Once Again, Geeklets Knock Me For A Loop

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So tonight it’s bath night and I’m pouring water over my son’s head in the tub.  “Look, a double bubble!” he says.

“Double bubble toil and trouble,” says I.  “Fire burn and cauldron bubble!”
“Fillet of a fenny snake,” I hear out of the 8year old.
“Holy sh*t!” says I, who did not realize that they knew the speech.  (Ok, I didn’t really say that, but I certainly thought it :))  It’s not like any of those are commonly used words, after all.  “Ok, you caught Daddy by surprise, I did not know that you guys knew that speech.”
“Oh sure,” says the 10year old, “Everybody knows that speech.  Fillet of a fenny snake, in the cauldron boil and bake.”
Seriously, the only time I know of that they would have heard that speech (other than the opening line) was when I taught the 8yr old’s Brownie troop.   Either it just stuck somehow, or they’ve been exposed to it in other ways.
Pretty soon they’re going to come at me with Shakespeare knowledge that they picked up independently of me.  I can’t wait.