What's your favorite "Shakespeare gets it" moment?

Today I found myself trying to explain the importance of Caliban's "Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises" speech and found myself reduced to some fairly base vocabulary (read, curse words) because I couldn't fully articulate the raw emotional connection that I was trying to get across.  It reminds me of a long time ago, of a girl that I went to high school with (and had a crush on), who died in a car accident. One night, years later, I had a dream with her in it.  Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, just a dream that she happened to be in, as if she were still alive.  I will always remember waking up and realizing, "Nope, she's not around anymore," and the ache that came with that, the desire to immediately climb back into that dream.  I even wrote a play of my own about it.

I feel as if I should include the text of that speech:

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.

I've often pointed to Hamlet's "Thrift, Horatio, thrift!" comment (about reusing the funeral leftovers at the wedding) as an example of something that comes straight out of Shakespeare, 400 years ago, but it still exactly the kind of thing that you could see someone saying and doing today.  But I think I may change that.

What's your favorite moment like that?  Amid all Shakespeare's talking about kings and ghosts and fairies, what's the moment you point to and say "See?  SEE? Shakespeare gets it!  That's the sort of thing that a person today would totally do!"

Choose Your Own Hamlet

Looks like somebody's been reading this blog?  Last month I wrote about "Choose Your Own Shakespeare" novelizations, and on November 21 we got To Be Or Not To Be : The Adventure which is exactly that.

I don't know how I feel when I see a project like this net $150k on Kickstarter.  Really?  It drives me a little nuts.  I've spoken to publishers about doing Shakespeare work and basically been told "Until you have 50k readers or a piece in the NY Times, your book isn't going to sell."  Somehow this project pulls in 4k backers and makes it happen?

Just jealous, I guess. :)  I do like and support the fact that he's publishing through the non-profit service Breadpig, and donating all the proceeds to cancer research.  I have to back that.  Good man.

ShakeTank

Friday nights on ABC (here in the US, sorry international audience!) I watch one of my favorite shows, Shark Tank. Very much like "Dragon's Den" (and some of the investors are the same), entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to venture capitals and try to leave with investment money.  All of the "sharks" are on Twitter, which encouraged me to do some live tweeting of my own.  At some point I was challenged to do a Shakespeare / Shark Tank mashup.

Challenge Accepted.

You Are Now Entering .... The Shake Tank.

"Good evening, sharks.  My name is Antonio, and I am seeking an investment in my shipping business of 3000 ducats in exchange for one pound of my flesh."

"So, Friar Laurence, help us to understand.  You've invented a potion that makes the consumer *appear* dead, and they're supposed to use this to escape uncomfortable situations.  You've got exactly one sale, and we know what happened there.  The liability on something like this is astronomical. I'm out."

"You come in here and you try to pull a fast one on me, Mr. Wonderful?  I had a bowl of muses of fire for breakfast this morning.  You think yours is the only invention that ascends the brightest heavens? Do you have any idea how many wanna-be entrepreneurs come in here telling us the same thing?"

"I have to tell you, I think this is a first here in the tank.  Some people want to work with us for connections, some want us to be a mentor and share our experience and wisdom.  And then there are the ones that just want us for our money.  But now here you come, offering us a third of your kingdom, to whichever one of us loves you the best?  I'll make you an offer.  Ready?  Nothing."

"All right, Richard.  I'll make you an offer.  I'll give you the horse you're looking for, but I'm gonna need 100% of your kingdom."