Can I just say how excited I am at how many people have finally started calling it Shakespeare Day, rather than having to split between Shakespeare’s Birthday and The Anniversary of Shakespeare’s Death? I’ve been saying that for years. Nice that it’s finally starting to catch on!
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.
Our Revels Now Are Ended
So, how was your day?
Looks like we wrap it up with 32 posts today, which I’m pretty sure is a new record. It’s a little weird, especially on a weekend, because depending on the time of day there’s simply not enough exposure per post before they go flying by. I can see my statistics and I see a couple of dozen hits on any individual post. When you look at that in aggregate that’s not bad, I’ve got thousands of hits on the day. But I’m quite sure that some stories get lost in the shuffle. I’m going to try to “re-blog” some of them over the coming days when people have more time to browse and enjoy them.
With that I’m going to wrap it up for the day and we’ll see everybody again next time. I’m in the mood to wrap up the same way the Olympics did a few years back, with some Caliban…
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
Words Shakespeare Used Differently Than We Do
Yeah yeah yeah, Shakespeare invented a bunch of words.
No, wait, he’s just the first documented use of those words.
No, wait, he was the first to use certain words in certain parts of speech.
Here’s another variation to add to the discussion : words that meant something entirely different to Shakespeare when he used them.
My favorite example is “bedroom.” Hey, did you know Shakespeare invented the word bedroom?
“No, actually. What Shakespeare meant by bedroom wasn’t the room where you keep the bed. What he meant was actual room *in* the bed, like elbow room. Lysander says it to Hermia.”
“Oh, and by the way, did you know Shakespeare invented the word elbow?”
🙂
Small Insults for Small People
My birthday is next week, so it often falls that I get to see my family and celebrate my birthday on Shakespeare’s. My mother doesn’t always understand everything that goes on in my life, but she knows two things for certain. One is that I “do computers” – or at least, that’s what she’s told all of her friends since I was about ten years old. The second is that I’m “into Shakespeare.”
So, since it’s hard to just stumble across random but interesting computer things, she always tries to make it a point to find me something Shakespearey to add to my collection. Check out this year’s treasure!
Shakespeare insults have always been easy pickings, since there’s so many of them. That’s always the first thing to look for – are we talking about actual quotes from the plays, or something out of an “insult generator” that only sounds Shakespearean?
Here we’ve got a tiny (maybe 3″ high?) little edition of the former, with a single quote per page. Perfect for keeping on one’s desk at work for random flipping through and hurling at one’s coworkers. I have insult mug and once made an insult generator app, but I did not yet have this little guy.
Thanks Mom!
Weird (But Mostly Well-Known) Shakespeare Productions
I’ve seen most of these “weird” Shakespeare productions … except one. You know that Forbidden Planet is going to be on the list, and Klingon Hamlet (though I did not realize video productions exist). But Popeye doing Romeo and Juliet is a new one on me! I probably saw this as a kid forty years ago and never thought about it again. I’m pretty sure, though, that in the 10+ years I’ve been doing the blog, this hasn’t come up:
For something of more historical value, don’t miss the 1909 silent Midsummer Night’s Dream they’ve included. I’ve got other posts up today looking at films of that era, so it was cool to see another one come up over here as well. Seems like they always had budget for costumes!