How about a haircut and some hipster clothes, Bill? Yeah, that's better.
And screw parchment! He's using an iPad these days.
And he's got a blog!
LL Shakey Bill is getting quite a reputation as a rapper on the World Wide Web, complete with parental advisory controls on his sites.
And he's on Twitter too!
Bill is also trying to update his writing style. He's gotta reach computer nerds now, after all.
Plus connect with the youth of the 21st century! That's why he's rewritten a few of his classics using texts, slang, emojis and hashtags.
Take his play Hamlet, for instance. Who the hell wants to plow through Hamlet's dull "Get thee to a nunnery" speech when they can read this instead?
And teens relate much better to his new style than a bunch of ye olde Englishe claptrap!
It's not like the update strips the original of its power or poetry or anything!
The new folios do, however, have their detractors.
[Note: These books are real and part of the recently published "OMG Shakespeare" series. They are available on Amazon and presumably at better bookstores everywhere, assuming that any such places still exist.]
oh lawdy YAS! the dude needs to relate to the modern world. reading his works in high school was DAMN boring!
ReplyDeleteLol. Shakespeare in the modern age. A great way to start the day!
ReplyDeleteI saw that OMG Shakespeare stuff. There's a special place in Hell, presumably next to Billy himself, for the people who came up with the idea. That stuff hurts more than that god awful Romeo + Juliet movie where they used the exact same script but "modernised" it.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! I'm a sap so Shakespeare is always in style with me. It is absolutely amazing how many day to day sayings we use that come from this works. I think many people don't realize the origin of what they are saying.
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious, but, the updated William to Hipster Bill looks like someone I know.
ReplyDeleteSadly.
OMG these are hilarious!!! YOLO Juliet! Srsly.....
ReplyDeleteLOL!
LMAO this is great. Thanks for posting :)
ReplyDeleteShakky Wills looks swell as a hipster! Wish I was a fly on an Elizabethan wall in the times when men wore tights!
ReplyDeleteKnock, Knock.
ReplyDeleteWho’s there?
Hamlet.
Hamlet who?
Hamlet the dogs out! (woof, woof woof woof…)
:)
Perfect way to start my Friday. Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post. You're gonna makes a lot of us smile and laugh today!
ReplyDeleteI still stay that thespians and English teachers are holding his works back. It needs to be in modern English, nobody can really understand the speech the way it is and they know it.
ReplyDeleteWould A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) done well if it was written like that? No, you got purists who resist any bit of change. I'm not talking urban American english, I'm talking simple modern English.
Billy Shakes irrelevant? Not to anyone with a working mind.
ReplyDeleteOMG I'm cringing Debra lol...
ReplyDeleteI love Shakespeare. Your post is great, but I don't want people LOL-ing at him.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Oh what fresh hell have you created! BWAAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAAA! This was so funny. I love it all.
ReplyDeleteWow and to think back in high school, I thought Cliff Notes were the shortest way to read Shakespeare.
ReplyDeletePardon me if you have seen this, but Professor Sparky Sweets has done wonders for the Bard in my classroom.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-qgVmsV3hM
ha! Love this, and Bill's new look - very hipster
ReplyDeleteYou need to teach English to high school students. This would get them interested!
ReplyDeleteHa! I love hipster Bill!
ReplyDeleteThis was hilarious! Bill the hipster...BAHAHAHA!
ReplyDeleteThis was fantastic. It would be hard to tweet in iambic pentameter.
ReplyDeleteThis is freaking hysterical.
ReplyDeleteNow, I will go to bed pretending that "YOLO Juliet" is just a bad dream.
I was reading, thinking, "yeah, okay, someone messed around with Photoshop, Shakespeare doesn't have enough hair in front to be a hipster," scroll, read, scroll. Then you hit us with reality. I am seriously stunned that those books are real. I'm with that dude. Let's burn it all down.
ReplyDeleteCall me cranky, but I hate cheap up dates ........in Presidents and Classic literature! Classics are beckons to measure how low humans are falling or progressing. In envolution. Yes I woke up missing Jane Austin
ReplyDeleteLOL..Love the tablet..great post !! Somehow, I don't think he'd make a good hipster but nice try!!
ReplyDeleteThat is hilarious. Love the Twitter feeds. Bill is laughing (and maybe rolling over) in his grave.
ReplyDeleteWhere was 'he'/Bill when I needed him?!!
ReplyDeleteThe Bard needs no updating.
ReplyDeleteWhat a hoot !
ReplyDeleteSHAME on you! Now when I see that silly YOLO, I will now think of YOLO Juliet and start giggling!
ReplyDeleteDebra I love visiting your Blog, you put so much effort into your posts and they are always interesting.
ReplyDeleteMore power to you my friend.
Peggy xxx
I can't believe that those books are real! Hilarious!!! LOL! Great post Debra!
ReplyDeletenow that's pretty funny stuff
ReplyDeleteHAHA.....love it. He is really sporting that awesome new look. Great job.
ReplyDeletei read lot about him during my masters and loved him for his empathy towards women .when once i heard Shakespeare was not real i was about to cry because i did not want the image to break that existed in my mind.i still am contented with his old version dear friend.
ReplyDeleteI think he would do very well in the modern age, especially on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteHilarious. I laughed uproariously at "Macbeth #killingit". Thank you!
ReplyDeleteUp dating Shakespeare is like eatable pot - it misses the whole experience.
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
Hahaha... That was so funny..Especially the one with the hipster version of Shakespeare!!!Loved , loved, loved it!!!
ReplyDeleteHa ha, this is interesting! Why was Shakespeare so boring in school?
ReplyDeleteLOL, Debra! I had the good fortune to spend a semester studying Shakespeare with my best university professor ever. That was back in the fall of 1979, and his biggest concern about Shakespeare was the challenge of making his writing understandable and relevant to young people studying Shakespeare in high school and university. Hard to believe that was almost 37 years ago! srsly! Thanks for the hilarious post! (And yes, I'm playing catch up again. I've got to get out of Groundhog Day Land!) Have a good one!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the to blog, or not to blog. That's a good question.
ReplyDeleteLove the bit about Ophelia. :)
ReplyDeleteLove hipster Shakespeare!
ReplyDelete