The Island of Misfit Shakespeare

How was everybody's Christmas?  Man it's feeling pretty neglected here lately.  Ye Olde Blogge is starting to look old.  I think it's going to be time for a change in the new year.

But!  Tradition does have it that I share my Shakespeare christmas with everybody and I'm not about to let that stop.

Let's start out with the twins.  I've actually had Shakespeare stickers on my work laptop since last year (I posted about a year ago during my "decorating your life" phase). But I've got another identical machine for personal use, that has to date been naked.  No longer!

Twins!

Ah, that's better. Now they match.   If you can't quite read it, the new one is the one on the left and has the "Some are born great..." quote from Twelfth Night.  It actually came as a big white sheet sticker as if they wanted me to cover the whole front with it, but I didn't like that so I carefully cut the good bits out and just used those. You can't quite see it in the picture but my son pointed out that the Apple logo behind it glows right through, and looks very cool.

Last year I got some Shakespeare pajamas that I wear every night, so as Christmas approached I told my wife directly, "This, I like this.  More like this.  You know, in case you need ideas."

This year I got two, and I love them both for how wacky they are. First is a colored shirt with a Merchant of Venice image and quote:

So far so good!  The quote is on the back:

I laughed out loud at the obvious mistake. Everybody sees it, right?  For a second I wanted to double check the text to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious (good tip for arguing politics on the internet - always be willing to entertain the possibility that you might be mistaken), but I was not.  "villains's".  It's as if the creator got halfway through the shirt and said, "Wait, is it s-apostrophe or apostrophe-s?  I can't be arsed to go look, just do both!"

My daughter said, "We should return it."

I said, "Are you kidding?  It's stuff like this that makes these conversation pieces! I love it."

The second one is even better, and it's all visual:

Man, Shakespeare does not look like he's having a good day.  I pondered aloud, "Why is he cross-eyed?" and our neighbor offered, "Because he's trying to look at the things he's juggling?"  Good idea.

"Is he wearing Chuck Taylors?" another asked.  I didn't even realize.  He is indeed.

What I noticed is what he's juggling. There's the comedy / tragedy masks, that makes sense. And a sword, fine, lots of Shakespeare scenes have swords.  The skull, that's gotta by Yorick.

But ... a lizard?  For the life of me I still cannot figure out why he is juggling a lizard.  He looks like Quincy, Jason's pet lizard in the comic Foxtrot.

I know it's a week+ late, but how was everybody else's Christmas?  I also got a gift certificate to Newbury Comics and am looking to grab the Deadpool/Shakespeare crossover whenever I can find it.  Anybody get anything cool?

The Satirical Rogue Says That Old Men Have Grey Beards #NoShaveNovember

Well I didn't write a novel, but I can say I reached the end of No Shave November!  Sometimes it's nice to just set yourself a personal motivational reminder that I can actually set my mind to do something for 30 days (or in this case, not do something) and actually follow all the way through with it.  Maybe for next month I'll try taking the stairs every day? :)

Thinking about shaving it down into something Shakespeare style, but I've never managed to make that work in the past and I end up getting rid of it.  Droeshout style has almost no beard, while Chandos when you look close goes all the way up the jaw line, which isn't a great modern look either.  I guess we'll have to see!

Seriously, though, go check out No Shave November and maybe share some links or donate some money. If you already did, thanks!

Your Loss, Beatrice.

"Lord, I could not endure a husband with a
beard on his face: I had rather lie in the woollen. " - Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing

Every year around this time I like to take part in "No Shave November," otherwise known as "Woohoo I don't have to shave for two weeks!" followed by "Oh my god is it December yet this itching is going to drive me crazy!"

Seriously, though, sometimes it's nice to have a cause and try to do something meaningful:

The goal of No-Shave November is to grow awareness by embracing our hair, which many cancer patients lose, and letting it grow wild and free. Donate the money you typically spend on shaving and grooming to educate about cancer prevention, save lives, and aid those fighting the battle.

If I count Facebook and Twitter I've potentially got over ten thousand people that might see this post.  Maybe some of you might find it a cause worth supporting.  I don't really register and create my own page and that sort of thing, because it's not really about me. If you're in a position to donate and would like to do so, that's awesome. If you're not, then maybe you can share this post so more people see it. There's lots of ways to help.

Thanks for your support!  I'll update again later in the month!