Julie Taymor is about to bring us more Shakespeare. She’s finished filming her stage production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and hopes to show it off at the Toronto Film Festival (which is where we got our first look at Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, if you recall).

Thoughts? I hear the stage version was quite good. I guess this will be like Christopher Plummer’s Tempest or Sir Ian’s King Lear? She says that we’ll see the audience, all the special effects will be live as they were on stage, and so on.

I’ve only ever seen parts of her Titus. I think that her Tempest has grown on me over the years, even though I was initially quite disappointed in it.  I’m anxious to see what she does with Dream.

Is Shakespeare to blame for the negative connotations of skin disease?

No, of course not, it’s a silly pseudo-scientific question that doesn’t deserve a response. But that is apparently the quality of paper being presented to the British Association of Dermatologists these days.  The logic goes like this:  Shakespeare had characters insulting each other based on their complexion, therefore *his* success has led to the perpetuation of negativity toward skin disease.”

Luckily, the article takes this “research” about as seriously as I do:

“Has any writer in history ever suggested that the symptoms of skin disease are attractive? And have audiences for the last 400 years really been coming out of theatres saying ‘Ah yes – I’d nearly forgotten – pox is to be avoided. What a genius Shakespeare was!’ Next week: has the fairy tale of Snow White been creating a misleadingly favourable impression of dwarfism?”

In other news, Shakespeare’s popularity is also responsible for cross-dressing, bed-tricks and the occasional regicide.

I normally wouldn’t do much with a pictorial article about 100 Ways To Say I Love You just because it kicked off my Shakespeare keyword filters. But I’m on vacation in a hotel room and my family is asleep, so I’m bored.

4?! That’s it!? You found *4* Shakespeare quotes for saying I love you.  Seriously?

I think the writer had it in for Shakespeare. Nicholas Sparks is on the list. And the Hunger Games woman, whatever her name is. Oh, and the Fault in Our Stars dude, who is really just a more educated Nicholas Sparks. You could have knocked all of them off the list and given us 3 more Shakespeare.

Jane Austen also gets 4.

But you know who gets the most? Go ahead, guess. No, not Harry Potter lady, that would be too easy.
Guess who got *7* spots on the list?

Charles Frickin Dickens, that’s who.

Because when you read Oliver Twist and Bleak House and Nicholas Nickleby, what you remember most is thinking, “Wow, I have to remember to use that line on my girlfriend.”

And don’t anybody say “Please, may I have some more?”   🙂

(See, Ian Anderson is the flute-player from Jethro Tull, who’s big song was….ah, never mind.)

What does Ian Anderson have to say about Shakespeare, and why are we asking him in the first place? Apparently in his new album “Homo Erraticus” there’s a line that “Shakespeare rocks.”  So, explain?

…I suppose even though I’m not really a “fan” of the work, I enjoy elements of it that I have seen. Of course, I hugely admire those actors from all walks of acting life who take on Shakespeare because it’s a tough nut to crack. Rarely do artists and actors get great reviews. It is an area in which harsh criticism abounds, when you decide to do Shakespeare, especially if you’re a Yank, because with rare exceptions – it ends in tears. Kevin Spacey is probably one of those guys who can kind of get away with it because he’s sort of been adopted as a cultural asset of our country – where he has spent most of his time and very active in serious theatre.

I’m not sure that answered the question!

Do go and check out the entire interview, it’s quite lengthy. I’ve only snipped a bit of the Shakespeare out.