December 2016
For Shakespeare...Haters?
A seasoned (and quite amusing) Pittsburgh theater critic, Ted Hoover, cannot abide Shakespeare and his works. Among his pithier quotes on Studio 360: “If you had a lick of intelligence in your head , this play [Romeo and Juliet] wouldn’t happen. It only happens if you’re stupid.” Possibly... More. Oh, and NPR's Ira Glass also dislikes the bard…
What's in a Word(Play)?
December/20/2016 16:16 Politics and Orwell | Wordplay
Political stability, apparently. Interesting article from 2014 in The Guardian on China's clampdown on...wordplay. Coded language can be dangerous, according to the Chinese government. More.
It's Not Just Picard...
December/10/2016 15:45 Interpretation | Performance | Stars Playing Shakespeare | Shakespeare | Star Trek
The Limits of Technology
December/05/2016 15:42 Interpretation | Performance | Reviews | Shakespeare | Shared Light | The Tempest
A production photo of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s collaboration with Intel on “The Tempest.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY TOPHER MCGRILLIS / R.S.C.
Daniel Pollack-Pelzner reviews the RSC's production of the Tempest, and examines the limits of real-time computer effects blended with a live performance.
Cartoonish (New Mischief)
Starting next year, The RSC will display political cartoons influenced by Shakespeare. The influence runs deep, and long ("...an 1846 cartoon depicting the then prime minister Robert Peel's resignation as the fall of Caesar... [to]... Morten Morland's cartoon of David Cameron as Hamlet gazing at Boris Johnson's skull, from 2016"). More.
It's All Just Vector Space Mathematics to Me (Or Maybe Not...)
December/01/2016 15:39 Humor | Interpretation | Language | Scholarship | Shakespeare | Textual Analysis
Fascinating (and a little over our head) article in MIT Technology Review about how computers may one day be able to detect sarcasm, and other subtle linguistic tricks. More.