Last Day To Enter! Free Poster Giveaway!

January 31, 2015July 22, 2024 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

[Originally posted January 15, 2015. DEADLINE TODAY January 31, 2015!]

Hello my geeks! It’s been awhile since I’ve given something away. Let’s change that.

Shortly before the holidays I was contacted by Clifford from ExaTextPosters.com who sent me a copy of their Utterly Complete Works of William Shakespeare for review. It’s really the kind of thing you have to see to appreciate, so for the first time I decided to do a video. Check it out!

Sorry about the shaky cam, I did it on my cell phone. And yes you can see my reflection in the glass. Hi!

Pretty neat, huh? I really wasn’t sure what to expect when Clifford first wrote me, and we talked briefly about other similar products like One Page Books (of which I have several) and Spineless Classics (which I’d not yet heard of). This is different. Those are more about turning literature into a work of art. Anybody can walk up to one and recognize what it is.

This is different. From a distance, the ExaText poster just looks like a regular image. I’ve asked guests to take a look at it and see if they can figure out the secret. They can’t. That’s when I fire up the magnifying loupe that came with the poster, and that’s when they agree that this is indeed very cool and geeky. The value in this product is not when your guests spot it from across the room and come over to admire it like a work of art, the value is in knowing the secret it holds.

There’s two things I wish were different about the product. This is a review, after all. I was at first thinking that it might be something more along the lines of what we old timers used to call ASCII art, where the actual arrangement of the letters and appropriate choice of font, face and style are used to create the image itself (like this example spotted on qarchive). That’s not this. The image is just a regular black and white print, on top of which they’ve put the words. So you’re either looking at the words on white background or dark background, but at no point does the arrangement of the words go into creating the image of Shakespeare. Does that make sense? They could just as easily printed the complete works on top of an image of the Mona Lisa. So what we end up with is a fairly generic picture of Shakespeare hung up on the wall.

I don’t expect they can change that, as it’s a complete different way to layout the text. What I do think they can change, though, is the arrangement of the works. Right now they’re in alphabetical order. Which I suppose is as rational a choice as any other. But imagine if they weren’t. Imagine if they were random. Suddenly the poster becomes a huge treasure hunt. We all have our favorite plays and quotes, right? You get an opportunity like this and you’re immediately going to look for a particular line. Alphabetically, it’s pretty easy. I wanted The Tempest, I just moved down until I spotted Twelfth Night, then worked backwards through Troilus and Cressida until I found it. If the plays were randomly laid out? I’d probably still be looking … and that would be awesome.

Ok, now for the fun part … who wants one?

Win Your Own Utterly Complete Works of William Shakespeare from ExaTextPosters

If this sounds like something you simply must add to your collection, here’s what you have to do.

Visit the Shakespeare Geek Facebook page.
Share this post.
Leave a comment telling us what quote you’ll look up first.
Contest ends midnight EST on January 31, 2015. Winner will be notified by Facebook message.

Good luck!

Why does Hamlet call Polonius “Jephthah”?

January 30, 2015July 22, 2024 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

A stained glass image of Polonius. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Jephthah is not a word you hear every day. How often does phth show up in the middle of a word? Sounds onomatopoetic, like blowing someone a raspberry every time you say it. With words like that scattered around the play, of course it’s got a reputation for being difficult to read and understand.

Before we look at who Jephthah was, let’s first look at the scene where Hamlet uses the term (in Act 2 Scene 2). Hamlet has already visited with the ghost of his father, learned of his father’s murder, and has enacted his plan to “put an antic disposition on,” in the hopes of gathering evidence against his uncle Claudius. So basically he can say whatever he wants to whoever (whomever?) he wants. Part of the fun for Hamlet is in saying seemingly random things that actually have a deeper meaning.

Polonius, meanwhile, is convinced that Hamlet’s madness is love sickness, because he can no longer see Ophelia. Polonius even offers to prove his theory by putting out Ophelia as bait while they hide and watch how Hamlet reacts to seeing her, but Hamlet figures out their plan.

Hamlet. O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou!

Polonius. What treasure had he, my lord?

Hamlet. Why,
‘One fair daughter, and no more,
The which he loved passing well.’

Polonius. [aside] Still on my daughter.

The story of Jephthah is recounted in Judges 11:31, where Jepthah is about to go into battle with the Ammonites and makes a vow to God, offering as a sacrifice, “whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

Well, his daughter is the first to come out and meet him. So he inadvertently sacrifices his own daughter.

Polonius is so caught up in his own “love sick” theory that as soon as he sees a daughter reference he sees it as proof of his own theory (“He’s still obsessed with my daughter!”) He doesn’t appear to get the “sacrificed his own daughter” connection.

Irony : The expression “There’s a method to his madness” comes earlier in this scene, spoken by Polonius. So he does recognize that there’s a deeper, relevant meaning in the seeming gibberish that Hamlet is spouting. He just doesn’t realize it’s anything more than coincidence.

What lie does Iago tell Montano about Cassio?

January 30, 2015July 22, 2024 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Governor Montano falls for Iago’s lies.

Othello has appointed Cassio to the job that Iago wanted. It is Iago’s ultimate plan to bring about the downfall of Othello, but he’s not above ruining Cassio’s career at the same time. In Act 2 Scene 3, Iago gets Cassio drunk and then plants the idea in Governor Montano’s head that Cassio is an alcoholic, and that he worries about the trust Othello has put in him:

Iago You see this fellow that is gone before;
He is a soldier fit to stand by Caesar
And give direction: and do but see his vice;
‘Tis to his virtue a just equinox,
The one as long as the other: ’tis pity of him.
I fear the trust Othello puts him in.
On some odd time of his infirmity,
Will shake this island.

Montano But is he often thus?

Iago ‘Tis evermore the prologue to his sleep:
He’ll watch the horologe a double set,
If drink rock not his cradle.

(Literally, Iago is saying “You’ve seen the virtues the man has to offer, but now you realize he’s got just as many vices.” He then goes on to suggest that Cassio drinks himself to sleep every night.)

The truth of the situation is that Cassio is a lightweight drinker and he knows it. When Iago first offers him wine he responds , “I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking” and “I have drunk but one cup to-night, and…
dare not task my weakness with any more.” What Cassio does not realize is that you can’t tell Iago something like that. He’s going to use it against you.

That is the Question (A Geeklet Morning Story)

January 26, 2015February 20, 2017 ~ duane ~ 1 Comment

Today over breakfast my 8yr son asked me, “What would rather watch, Hamlet or Midsummer Night’s Dream?”

Good question.

In theory I’d like to say Hamlet, I think Hamlet is the better play with more depth to explore. But honestly Hamlet can also be incredibly boring if it’s done poorly. Many times I find myself playing closer attention entirely in an attempt to find something about the secondary cast to interest me.

Midsummer, on the other hand, has that light and entertaining layer on top of its depth, so even a mediocre production is still likely going to be good for some laughs.

So my answer was, “Depends on who is playing Hamlet. If it’s just another Hamlet with nobody special, well, I’ve seen that a bunch. But if it’s a big actor of today, like say Daniel Day Lewis, then I’m totally picking the Hamlet. Otherwise I’ll go Midsummer.”

What do you think?

Sweep Streets Like Shakespeare Wrote Poetry

January 19, 2015February 7, 2017 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Happy Martin Luther King Day, everyone. It’s not quite as famous as the “Dream” speech, but here’s the good Dr. King name dropping our favorite playwright to make his point:

What I’m saying to you this morning my friends, even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”