Screenwriting, Sonnets, Blogs

Today Dr. Burton explained that when it comes to blogs, sometimes quantity is more valuable than quantity, simply because not every post is great, and the more you write the greater chance you have that some posts will be great.  Such is the case with Dr. Burton's sonnets (according to his evaluation, not mine).  This post is an attempt to follow his advice, and, by way of my self-directed learning, offer additional insight to his advice.  I've been reading a book called Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, by well-known screenwriting instructor Robert Mckee, whose students have included Peter Jackson, John Gleese, and 26 Academy award winners.

Here is what Mckee had to say about creative inspiration: "Creativity is five to one, perhaps ten or twenty to one.  The craft demands the invention of far more material than you can possibly use."

Mckee echoes the same idea, that we can't sit around and wait for inspiration and creativity to hit; we have to wade through the mediocre to get to the good stuff, which is exactly the case when blogging about Shakespeare.

Looking Back on Hal

I wanted to take a quick look at this week in review to make some notes about the play I read, Henry the Fifth.  In case you're short on time, here's a brief list of what I'll include in this post:

• My overall impression of the play
• A critical look at one of the scenes in comparison to the Ewe lamb parable in 2nd book of Samuel in the Bible
• A list of activities that I completed during my study of the play this week.

My Overall Impression
With that as a roadmap, I'll begin with my overall impression of the play: I really enjoyed it.  It seemed to me that this would be an action/adventure type play from the time period.  King Henry is the hero, he's honest, brave, intelligent, respects his people--the ideal leader.  His army is stuck in a tight spot, outnumbered 5 to 1, and he gives a classic pre-game pep talk to boost morale and lead them to victory.  (Sorry for the spoiler.)  And, like any good action/adventure film, there was some good comedy as well.  For my first reading of one of Shakespeare's histories, this was definitely a success.

Flash Scene Shakespeare

Class, this is the post where I detail some of my ideas regarding the Flash Scene Shakespeare.  First, I'll give Chris due credit because his idea originally led to the flash mob Shakespeare idea.  For those of you who haven't seen any flash mob events, check out Improv Everywhere's YouTube channel.  Basically we all get together and do some type of Shakespeare performance in a public area, to the surprise of the complete strangers walking by.  (The photo included here is of a famous annual no-pants flash mob--ours will be more conservative.)  At any rate, to this we'll need to brainstorm ideas for a performance that the the whole class can take part in.  Ideally, we would choose something that wouldn't single out anyone person, so that we can all be in this together (i.e. everyone gets to feel like an idiot).  We'll need to select a place and time, and everyone needs to come and be prepared.  So on with the brainstorming!  Please comment below.  I'll start with my ideas:

• We need to choose a public place--I'm thinking on campus or maybe at the University mall, or Walmart on a Saturday.  Something like that.
• Performance ideas: We all memorize the same monologue an simultaneously perform it

Signs of the Times

Galileo

Little did I know that Galileo Galielei--philosopher, astronomer, scientist--was, as my philosophy textbook puts it, "An exact contemporary of Shakespeare."  While studying philosophy, I serendipitously found myself learning about the life and times of Shakespeare.  Maybe a more appropriate title for this post would be, "Things I learned about Shakespeare by learning about Galileo."

Galileo's story is fascinating, and there are two characteristics of the time period that I gleaned from reading his history:

A Plea for Podcasts

While I am experienced in the art of downloading free podcasts from iTunes, I have to admit that I only ever search for sports-related entertainment.  (If you're interested, my personal favorite is ESPN's Bill Simmons, who does weekly shows about the NFL and NBA--he also writes a killer column.)  Podcasts are ideal for someone like me, because I find myself walking between 20 and 30 minutes every day from my car to campus and back.  So, Shakespeare enthusiasts, where do I go for the best of Shakespeare podcasts?  I'm not looking for theatrical performances of his actually plays--I'd prefer some color commentary/analysis, maybe some humor, something to shed light on my learning.  I've done some searching on iTunes already but I'd rather not fill up my queue with hundreds of pitiful podcasts so I am eagerly open to suggestions.

Donde esta la bibiloteca, Pedro?

Just got back from the library, where I spent an hour browsing through the Shakespeare shelves--nonfiction, young adult nonfiction, books on tape, DVDs, juvenile fiction--you name it.  I was willing to try anything that might promote my personal Shakespeare literacy campaign.  Truthfully, I wanted a Shakespeare "craft" book more than anything.  I was really hoping for ideas like how to make quills, how to make a Hamlet costume out of paper grocery bags, suggestions for using fake blood in at-home theatrical performances--that sort of thing.  The closest I came was a Children's book that the library catalog listed as "on order."  Maybe I'll suck it up and buy the book online myself.  In any case, I came home with two DVDs (The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth, which I hope to watch over the 3-day weekend), a Modern Scholar lecture series of Shakespeare's comedies on CD, and four great books.

I'm mostly excited about the books, so I'll give you a quick rundown of their titles and what I expect from them.

Hamlet, not Ham Melt

Of all the Shakespeare plays, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark seems a logical choice to kick-off my "Shakespeare Literacy" campaign.  All of Shakespeare's works are famous, but I think Hamlet  is the most inescapable.  By my own observation, only Romeo and Juliet is more rampant in American culture.  I suppose the "romance with a bitter family rival" plot reaches a wider audience than "murder your family member and then commit incest."  If anything, I'm jaded by Romeo and Juliet because it's become so commonplace.  So if I'm going to start off with a bang, and I don't want to read Romeo and Juliet because pop culture has watered it down to almost romantic comedy status, Hamlet it is.

I managed to find a great, short, animated version of Hamlet on Youtube.  While the animation doesn't quite hold up to the standards of the bleached-blonde Kenneth Branagh production of Hamlet, it's a quick-hitter for all the famous quotes.  

You can watch the video on your own (the second and third parts are separate videos), but I'll give you a quick taste of my personal favorite quotes.  

And the top three are: