Sonnet Drive-By

http://nannygoathill.wordpress.com/2009/05/29/the-sonnets/

Having now read all 154 of the sonnets, I can confidently say that you have probably already heard the good ones. You know, ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’ (18) or ‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds’ (116) or ‘Being your slave, what should I do but tend’ (57). Not, for example, 143, wherein the Dark Lady is represented as running after the Fair Youth like a farmer’s wife chasing a goose around a yard:  

… I thought this crowd might find something amusing in that post. 🙂

The Mathematics of Love

http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/guest-column-loves-me-loves-me-not-do-the-math/

…suppose Romeo is in love with Juliet, but in our version of the story, Juliet is a fickle lover. The more Romeo loves her, the more she wants to run away and hide. But when he takes the hint and backs off, she begins to find him strangely attractive. He, on the other hand, tends to echo her: he warms up when she loves him and cools down when she hates him.

So begins this guest article on mathematical modelling of relationships.  I got an extra kick out of it because of the reference to work done at Worcester Polytechnic Institute – my own alma mater, class of 1991 thankyouverymuch. I do think it oversimplifies things, although I have to admit that as as computer programmer and a fan of drama, artificial intelligence and natural language processing, I have long daydreamed about programs that could accurately model and answer questions such as “Why does Juliet love Romeo?” and have it give a half decent response.  Or even better, give it a few key plot points relevant to the relationship, and then have the program sketch out the rest of the story.   (I could go into detail about work done by Roger Schank on story generation, if people are interested… :)) It’s articles like this that suggest one day that might actually be possible.

The Winter Of Our Discontent

http://thereformedbroker.com/2009/05/28/quick-shakespeare-lesson-for-the-troglodytes/ I’d prefer not to lump myself in with the “troglodytes”, but this post does make me curious.  I think most of the regular readers here recognize the problem with the quote – people take “winter of our discontent” out of context, and never follow up with the “made glorious summer” bit. What I just learned, I think, is that “winter of our discontent” is not a standalone phrase that generically means “period of time when we are generally gloomy and unhappy with how things are going.”  I realize that in order to understand what’s being said in the play itself you have to put them together, but I guess I always kind of figured that it was two separate things – this period of our life is coming to a close because this new, happier day is dawning. What the blog poster argues, which is new to me, is that “winter” itself implies the transition, so it is not appropriate to just use it by itself.  It’s not translated as “This dark time for us is coming toa a close because of this new dude…” but more accurately, “This transition out of  our dark time has been brought about…”  If you look at it that way, it doesn’t make sense to use it by itself. Did I understand that correctly?  Do you use “winter of our discontent” as a period of time, or as the ending of one?

Shakespeare Musicals

Ok, it seems that Shakespeare Musicals are now coming out of the woodwork.  Shall we make a list? Rockabye Hamlet The Two Gentlemen of Verona by Galt McDermott (cowriter of HAIR) The Boys From Syracuse (Comedy of Errors) Kiss Me Kate (Taming Of The Shrew)   What else?  I’m not terribly interested in just coming up with a Google list, I’m sure that already exists.  I’d like to hear people’s personal experiences with shows they’ve seen, or maybe even been a part of.  What’s good?  What’s ridiculous? Oh, and let’s not forget Gilligan’s Island…