The pile of props and artifacts from past Ig Nobel Prize Ceremonies has grown into a remarkable collection (several people have remarked on it). Some items sit on a shelf, but others must be worn and used, if they are to be meaningful. For instance, audiences who tuned in early to the 2016 ceremony, saw […]
Tag: Shakespeare
Totting up the deaths by this and that in Shakespeare’s plays
This pie chart shows the relative numbers of deaths — due to different causes — that happen on stage in William Shakespeare’s plays. In this tallying, death by being-baked-into-pie is as frequent as death-by-hanging. (The pie death occurs in Titus Andronicus.) The chart was, reportedly, assembled in connection with a new play in which all […]
Shakespearian delicious butchery terms
The Shakespeare’s England blog has a list of cooking/butchery words and phrases that involve certain animals. The list includes the following (and many others); I stumbled upon these rather charming 17th Century cooking terms today. To Carve is to Cut up a Dish of Meat, but according to the Meats, use these Terms for their […]
Towards the Complete Works of Shakespeare
For an extremely partial read, peruse this document (the complete PDF of which is online): NOTES TOWARDS THE COMPLETE WORKS OF S H A K E S P E A R E BY ELMO [pictured below],GUM,HEATHER,HOLLY, MISTLETOE & ROWAN SULAWESI CRESTED MACAQUES (MACACANIGRA) FROM PAIGNTON ZOO ENVIRONMENTAL PARK (UK) BONUS: Notes about the notes (Thanks […]
The more-than-seven ages of man (and woman)
William Shakespeare reduced the ages of man to a mere seven, in the play “As You Like It“. In this video, actor Benedict Cumberbatch presents that argument: In contrast, the maker of the video below went for a less literarily — but more mathematically — classical approach to age, assigning a different age for each year […]
In pursuit of Shakespeare’s pursuing bear
Tom Levenson pursues the parlous question of Shakespeare’s exiting bear. Levenson writes about the book Verdi’s Shakespeare, by Garry Wills: There, in the first chapter, Wills made mention of Winter’s Tale, and its alpha and omega of stage directions: “Exit, pursued by bear.” … Wills tells me — laconically, first, in the body of his text, writing […]
MacBeth and the flying Christmas tree
Thirty-two model-rocket engines power a Christmas tree. (Thanks to BoingBoing for bringing this to our attention.) It’s evocative, as so many things are, of MacBeth’s words in act 5, scene 5 of the Shakespeare play: ‘Fear not, till Birnam wood Do come to Dunsinane:’ and now a wood Comes toward Dunsinane. Arm, arm, and out! […]