Modern College-Shakespeare Style

I have finally finished my repurposed project and here it is: Modern College
If you would like to have a look at the original paper take a look: A Cated Kate

It feels so refreshing to be finished. I have worked some long hours trying to get this as close to perfect as possible. I hope there aren't any major issues I will have to fix. I feel like it is in a good place.

Editing Thoughts

I feel like my video is in a good place as it is. It is effective and well produced. I got the bulk of what I wanted to say down, but there is room for improvement. I'm a perfectionist at heart and so I want my video to be well done. So here is the list of what I am going to improve this weekend:

-add in more Shakespeare
-show my progress as I was working on my paper
-use a couple Shakespeare quotes
-add in text over video
-clean up sound
-try and rerecord the soundtrack to match the shots
-shoot new out-of-ideas scenes
-explain Social Proof more explicitly
-use the website: bloggingshakespeare.com (shakespeare bites back)
-http://www.folger.edu/Content/Discover-Shakespeare/Shakespeare-Links.cfm (use this too)


We will work from there...

A Cate Kate

A Cated Kate

I had my interview with Professor Burton on Friday and I must admit it is nerve-wracking to sit there and know that he is grading your paper right in front of you. (Although it is never as bad as I think it will be.)

Here is a slice of what we chatted about. The social aspect of the paper. I thought that it was beneficial because my peers really helped me get excited about my paper. I was able to bounce my paper ideas with a friend who has his masters in English and is getting his PHD. It really helped me solidify what I wanted my paper to be about. I didn't like trying to find a connection through blogs and other sights. I looked around for hours and ended up just getting more frustrated with the fruitless efforts.

We also talked about the response my paper had with my husband. I actually went home and asked my husband specifically how he thought my paper applied our relationship. He said that he is definitely like Petruchio trying to tame me for my benefit. I am a little too stubborn and I have a really specific way I like things done so I can see where he is coming from...lol Anyway it was nice to know that my husband, who is not into reading or english at all found something beneficial out of my paper.

Doctor Burton and I also talked about the next step in the class and how I can put my paper into a new medium and a new avenue. We discussed looking at my paper in terms of new media and the digital age. How my paper about the benefit of taming or making use of new technology will be able to help students for the future. We can show them the appropriate way to use the internet. I think this idea is really great and if anyone has any ideas on it I'd really like to talk with them. The other idea I had was a forum for marriage counseling between couples with one really dominant spouse. I could make a series of "How to..." blogs on working out that kind of relationship or stage a counseling session or make a forum. It could prove interesting.

Anyway I look forward to exploring all the new avenues open for me at this point.

Free Shakespeare?

So I've been having an internal struggle with what to post on next. I've got a lot of ideas, most still in the works, but some are a little more fleshed out. ANYWAY, I realized I should at least just post a couple of my most recent Shakespearean encounters.

First I am reading "The Prairie: A Tale" by James Cooper in my American Lit class and he starts off every chapter with a very applicable quote from a variety of Shakespeare's plays. I even recognized a lot of them, a fact that I am a little proud of. I was not impressed when I began reading this book, but after awhile I started to see the influence that Shakespeare had in his writing. He has a sort of verbose and descriptive way of writing and I picked up a little of a Shakespearean vibe. In fact, there was one paragraph where I was dead certain that I had read something very similar in one of Shakespeare's plays. (Unfortunately I lost the spot where that was...I think I marked it in black ink and didn't bookmark the page as I should have...) I will definitely try to pin point some more, but just being able to recognize Shakespeare within his work made reading it much more enjoyable.

Second I was just doing some thinking about my favorite play write when out of the blue I remembered Utah's Shakespeare in the Park. Free performances of Shakespeare, and occasionally other play writes, that go on during the warm months of Utah. I know a lot of the people who have performed with this company and they all impress me, so the performances are something you don't want to miss if you love Shakespeare and Free together. They are a little different than a lot of Shakespeare because they don't wear elaborate costumes or have amazing sets, they are performed around BYU campus and like the name says in parks around Provo/Orem. The next one coming up this summer is Hamlet, I think.

Thirdly, I listened to the first half of the Merchant of Venice online and I really enjoyed it. It was very interesting to hear it and read along. I found myself even more involved as I listened to the actors inflections and vocal choices. It really enhanced what I was understanding and reading.


Fourthly, yes I know how random this is but I must share these little tidbits of joy. These are nothing more than Shakespeare reformed for the entertainment of the masses, but I do enjoy a good little Shakespeare inspired video. It still amazes me how many people like and use Shakespeare all the time. (cation there is a little language)

Shakespeare in Buffy?

So while watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I heard a surprising reference to Henry V. Buffy says, "You know that not everyone goes home alive, right?" followed by a somewhat awkward pause and then "Alright, let's go!" (go save the world from evil demons that is...) anyway Spike replies after that with, "well it was no Saint Crispin's Day speech, but it will do." I got so excited and my husband just thought I was weird.

Anyway I wanted to put out my research project ideas and see if anyone had any advice or suggestions for me. I want to research/write on class relations within Shakespeare. I think I want to focus specifically on good class relations because I feel it is one way that he gets both the royal and the peasants vote of approval. For example in Henry V there is the scene where Henry goes and takes a brief survey of the conditions and attitudes of the soldiers. I feel that is a way that Shakespeare tries to work on class relations.

If anyone has any suggestions for other great examples of class relations I would love to hear them.

Pinning Shakespeare

My Shakespearean Pinterest:

I know that all the girls reading this (and some of the boys too) have been on Pinterest. Well, it's been my little guilty pleasure as of late and I have discovered some of Shakespeare's influence within. First I'd like to start off by saying that I had a teacher last semester who would post videos and cool things related to his class on a pinterest board. It is really easy to access and trace everything that has been pinned and it made finding everything online for that class nice and easy. The coolest part is that if you click on a pin it takes you to the person's site who posted it and if they have other cool things that you like you can follow them. That way you have access to more cool stuff they find. Also you can click again on the picture and it will take you to the website that they found the picture on. So you can discover all sorts of new websites. That's what made me decide to look up what Shakespearean goodies I could find through that site. (I've read far too many blogs today...I'm starting to sound like I blog more frequently than I really do)




I found pictures of Shakespeare and random quotes stuck on walls, in picture frames, and on someone's skin. I also found all different Shakespeare plays made into movies that I didn't even know existed. Cool mugs that you can buy...

...and even artwork that has been created for his plays.

I just find that having on a "board" full of really interesting and related materials is a good way to keep information easily accessible...maybe I'll start a Shakespearean Pin Board...