I’ve been hearing so many lectures on SEO the past few weeks (definition: repeating the same words over and over to up Google hits) and since the only things I’ve been writing for the past few weeks are notes on these SEO lectures and my blog posts where I try to use SEO (apparently not very successfully, deep sigh) Shakespeare in the Park tonight was a refreshing depart from repetition. I remember statistics someone parroted at me in high school of how varied his language choices where. He only used some a handful of times across all of his works, let alone within a single play. I could feel my brain working as I fell into the poetic language of All’s Well That Ends Well. Such a nice change.
I’ve never encountered this “problem play” before and I must agree that I don’t feel comfortable fitting it in the classic polar categories: comedy or tragedy. Loved the first few acts where Helen empowers herself, takes on the doctoral profession while wearing pants (the actors were borrowing clothes out of a 1920s closet), and makes a daring bet with the king. Did not love that she gets rather conniving for the rest of the play, is blindly dedicated to a looser man, and tricks him into sleeping with her. I do not agree that All’s Well That Ends Well because I don’t think it ended well. Though the acting was fabulous. And I’m such a fan of outdoor theaters. There’s a magic in going to an outdoor summer show or concert. I saw Yo Yo Ma play at the Mann Center a few summers ago. [Closes eyes and remembers fondly]
Anywho. If you were interested in PANK magazine but didn’t feel like reading it, try reading this review of the latest issue by New Pages.
Hannah Karena Jones 
I have a mancrush on Shakespeare.
One reason that SEO advice is too narrow in scope to include Shakespeare is that while Shakespeare’s works have been available for hundreds of years, the internet is like 20 years old or something. So much SEO advice is geared toward providing value to google for hits in the short term (several years to decades), while Shakespeare’s works provided value to humanity in a bigger, long term sort of way. This allowed him to create a greater reputation, and reputation wins.
My favorite things by Shakespeare are his “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” sonnet, Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, and others. Also, I’m a sucker for Romeo and Juliet.
This was a fantastic post!
LikeLike
True story, vanderjohn. That’s why people love Shakespeare centuries later and blog posts are stale reading after a couple days. I think my favorites are The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing.
LikeLike