Comments on: Something Wicked This Way Come

By: Archie Lukas

Archie Lukas — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:19:31 +0000

Quote:
In a sum-up of the 20008 Second Life Community Convention

Only another 18,000 years to wait then…..?

By: Fred Levitt

Fred Levitt — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:16:58 +0000

I love Agatha Christie. Way better then stuffy Shakespeare.

By: Fiend Ludwig

Fiend Ludwig — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:08:15 +0000

@ GreenLantern Excelsior – want to be my copy editor? Good catch. Of course this should read 2008. FL

By: GreenLantern Excelsior

GreenLantern Excelsior — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:38:11 +0000

“In a sum-up of the 20008 Second Life Community Convention (SLCC)…”

Although Second Life is somewhat popular, I doubt they will be holding the SLCC that far in the future. Besides, it’s a leap year.

By: Hiro Pendragon

Hiro Pendragon — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:06:44 +0000

This appears better than Arden, and probably at a fraction of the cost.

By: Razrcut Brooks

Razrcut Brooks — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:57:18 +0000

Alyx concisely iterated the thoughts of many.

Most (not all) people who like Shakespeare like the IDEA of being “cultured”. They want their inner circle of friends to be impressed.

Comments that CUT,
Razrcut.

By: Darien Caldwell

Darien Caldwell — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:07:22 +0000

Educators like Shakespeare because his works are Free and Open Source. More modern works are not, so they don’t want to use them.

By: Sigmund Leominster

Sigmund Leominster — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:39:32 +0000

Shakespeare? Bah humbug! I left school many many years ago and for some peculiar reason Shakespeare is still being churned out to students as both a fetishized example of “real” literature and a rite of passage. He’s hard to read, long winded, and wrote his stuff hundreds of years ago in a variation of English that is painfully archaic. Why in God’s name do schools continue with this policy of trying to teach uninterested students to read someone whose style will never be seen outside of… well, Shakespeare!

His greatest contribution – other than demonstrating that being prolific can pay off eventually – is that he articulated, all be it obscurely to modern ears, many of the basic themes and challenges of human existence. Harold Bloom once wrote that even Freud’s entire school of psychoanalysis was a retelling of Shakespeare, which is why Freud was wont to write about Shakespearean themes.

Now, if you really want to force some old stuff on kids, grab a copy of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” that’s translated into English and written in an almost-prose manner. My personal fave is Horace Gregory’s translation but that’s just me.

If anyone wants to create a sim full of lust, violence, gore, duplicity, beastiality, incest, rape, and murder, forget Billy Shakes and just go for Ovid! Hell, I’m surprised Ovid isn’t higher on the list of Christian Fundamentalists’ “Books written by Satan” list. Now here’s a guy who not only had a big nose (Publius Ovidius Naso – the “naso” is right) but was happy to poke it into every aspect of human behavior, deviant or otherwise. Shakespeare was happy to dig into Ovid for his plays: “Romeo and Juliet” is just a re-working of the “Pyramus and Thisbe” story, and the Pyramus and Thisbe story pops up in “Twelfth Night.” Oh, and Prospero sounds like Ovid’s Medea when he says “this rough magic I now abjure.”

I say leave Shakespeare to the academics, bring Ovid to the kids, and build Ovidean sims to showcase the highs and lows of the human condition! And what would be a more apposite place to retell Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” than Second Life!!

By: Jahar Aabye

Jahar Aabye — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:39:04 +0000

As for “Why Shakespeare?” The answer is because his plays cover such a wide range of human thought and emotions, not to mention all the deadly sins. His use of language was unique and unmatched by any other since. And of course, most people fail to realize how many “modern” movies and TV shows and books and such are written that base their plots essentially from his works.

The only other literary comparison, in terms of being widely read, would be Agatha Christie. I can’t think of any film or TV comparisons, though.

I’m glad to see the Herald actually reporting on adult, mature topics that don’t include the term “yiff” or “poseball.”

By: Witness X

Witness X — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:22:31 +0000

I was going to post some scathing remark about Alyx’s amazing lack of culture, depth, emotional maturity or intelligence, but – well, when he keeps standing up like that and demonstrating how good he is at peeing his pants ..

.. it just takes all the fun out of it.