Everybody knows that I’m a software developer by trade.  Over the years we’ve periodically discussed how Shakespeare can crossover with technology to produce new and exciting ways of teaching, learning, and performing.  They’re actually coming so fast and furious at me now that I can’t even keep up – I had to turn down an offer to be part of a test group for a new app because I only have Android devices, and everybody insists on developing for iPad first :(.

Is anybody else getting excited at the thought of Shakespeare playing a role in the upcoming Olympics?

My kids are old enough to understand the idea of the Olympics, and they’ve been preparing – watching the qualifying events for swimming and gymnastics, etc..  Tonight my daughter asks me, “When is the opening ceremony?”

“Friday night,” I tell her.  We’re going to be away in a hotel, but I plan to be riveted to a television. “And at some point during the ceremony, Kenneth Branagh is going to read some Shakespeare, and Daddy is going to lose his mind.”

“Why?” she asked.

…How do you explain it?  For starters it might not even be true, the replacement of Mark Rylance with Kenneth Branagh was just a rumor, and I have no idea what part he will play.  But I can dream.  So how do I explain to my 10yr old geeklet that what I’m excited about is that, for a brief period of time, one of *our* representatives is going to have the attention of the *entire world*.  How often do Shakespeareans get that?  It’s not as if President Obama dropped a Henry V quote into a speech and then all the talking heads on CNN rushed to discuss the context of how he used it and what it could mean.  Pretty soon the whole world is going to look at London and say, “What have you got for us, London?  What makes you so special?”  And at least to some extent, what they’re going to do is trot out Shakespeare.  I couldn’t be more excited.  How many of us dream for such a captive audience?

In honor of the Olympics I’d like to point people to a post I made four years ago on the subject of sports in Shakespeare.  This particular post holds a very special place in the history of this site, and you’ll see it play out in the comments.  Dr. Carl Atkins literally wrote the book (ok, well, *a* book) on the sonnets.  I have it.  Yet during the conversation, former contributor(*) Alan Farrar drops in a comment that the “master mistress” in Sonnet 20 is actually a reference to the sport of bowls (is that the same as bowling?) Dr. Atkins has never heard such a thing, so he researches it … and *confirms* it, noting reference to the fact in a 1971 article and pointing out that at least eight editors missed it.  Only through a chance meeting on this blog is the record set straight.

(*) I say former because I have not heard from Mr. Farrar in years.  It is my belief that he has passed away. I know from watching his other blogs that he had significant health difficulties.  I never did find any sort of confirmation of his passing, I just know that he disappeared from the yet a good number of years ago.  RIP, Alan.  I can only hope that those flights of angels have long since sung thee to thy rest.

I’m not surprised I missed this amid all the Avengers hype over the last few months, mostly because it’s very tiny and buried at the far end of a long video clip with no fast forward button.

BUT!  If you’re patient, and you really really want a glimpse of what Joss Whedon’s got cooking for his upcoming Much Ado movie, there’s a couple of seconds of footage tucked away in this Avengers story from May.

When I saw the name Kim Cattrall pop up in my inbox I assumed it was one of those social network digests I get periodically (“Kim Cattrall and Sean Combs have joined Pinterest!”), but I was pleasantly mistaken.  It was a press release for an upcoming event where the Sex In The City star is going to be talking about Cleopatra along with Janet Suzman:

In an event called Cleopatra: Not the Usual Passion Assigned to a Woman the two will discuss their experiences of playing Shakespeare’s iconic character, described by Suzman as “the most interesting role for a woman ever written”. Along with Jude Kelly they will discuss the complexity of the role, and explore why Cleopatra has the independence that allows her to speak to modern women.

Cattrall’s Shakespeare interest appears relatively new – all the links I can find associating her with out favorite topic seem to come from this month :).  Here’s video of her performing Sonnet 103.

And, here’s her in a musical number with Andrew McCarthy from 1987’s Mannequin 🙂

A few years back (2008, specifically) I posted the question Why Do You Hate Shakespeare? What Do You Hate About Shakespeare? with the intent that people googling for related subjects would possibly land there, offer up their thoughts, and start a conversation where perhaps we could turn some folks around.   That post still gets traffic and comments.

Sometimes it’s fun though to revisit the archives and get some new opinions.

I don’t expect that most of my regular readers hate Shakespeare, obviously, otherwise they’re going to be ridiculously frustrated reading a blog like this one.  But surely many of us have had conversation with someone offline who has launched into the “I hate Shakespeare because….” diatribe.  Feel free to share such stories.