Shakespeare Sonnets Podcast : Some Guy from New York

The other day I stumbled across Some Guy From New York, a podcast of Shakespeare's sonnets, but didn't want to post until I'd had a chance to listen. The setup is a little unusual, it looks like he's in some sort of sensitivity program (ordered to be?) and doing his time by brain dumping his thoughts on Shakespeare. Having listened to a few of them at this point, I have to say I like it. He goes through one sonnet at a time, line by line, and explains what's going on. Now, since the first 17 are all about the same thing - "Hey, young guy, here's a good reason to settle down and have a kid" -- it's going to get a little repetitive, but it'll be good practice to try new things. I already see by Sonnet 9 that he's experimenting with the structure of the program. I'm curious if we'll hear more about his whole story and why exactly he's reading sonnets like this, too. I like a podcast with some character.

I've said before, I don't listen to people do Shakespeare on MP3, it's kind of like experiencing a movie on television when you're in the other room and can see but can't hear it. But I do like to hear people talk about Shakespeare, and will eat that stuff up. One of these days I may even do my own. I swear. So, anyway, he's in my list.

If there's one thing I'd like to hear, it's for him to do a reading of the sonnet at the beginning, and then discuss it, and then read it again at the end. If you've never heard or read the given sonnet and he's breaking it down line by line, it's hard to get the whole picture. Sometimes you can't always tell when Shakespeare's line ended and when Some Guy's commentary begins. By reading it first you'd have the whole thing fresh in your brain and then as he breaks it down you won't lose the structure when he digs in.

He's also over annunciating quite a bit, which I assume he's doing on purpose, but maybe he'll settle into a rhythm over time.

Also, I figure that dear Shakespeare wouldn't be caught dead wearing the baseball cap of a team who is responsible for the worst playoff loss in the history of baseball, courtesy of my beloved, World Series-winning Boston Red Sox. Ha! :-P

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