Top Ten Things to Know for Today and This Week: William Shakespeare Turns 451

Here are ten things to know for today, April 23rd, 2015:

1) Today is National Children's Day in Turkey (pict. top)

2) Today is William Shakespeare's 451st birthday (pict. center)

3) Tampere is the third largest city in Finland

4) Serdar Kilic is the Turkish ambassador to the United States

5) Seville (Spain), Dnipro (Ukraine), Fiorentina and Napoli (Italy) advanced to the semi-finals of the Europa League.

6) Dynamo Kiev's Jeremain Lens (Netherlands, pict. bottom) got a red card in the team's 2-0 loss to Fiorentina today.

7) "Laverne and Shirley,"  an American sitcom, lasted 178 episodes over eight seasons (1976-83).

8) Nicholas Smith, 81, (Mr. Rumbold) is the surviving original cast member of "Are You Being Served?," a British sitcom that debuted in 1972, and lasted 10 seasons.

9) James Earl Ray, the accused murderer of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis, Tennessee, died on this date of natural causes at age 70 in 1998.

10) Chile's Calbuco Volcano erupted for the first time in 42 years yesterday.

Top 20 List: The Most Influencial People in the World

We read an excellent story in "The New Republic" (Dec. 9, 2013 issue) about who actually were the most influential people of all time. The story was an extended review of a new book entitled "Who's Bigger? Where Historical Figures Really Rank?"...........We will publish the list on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," but here we are going to compile our own slightly subjective list.

We will put parentheses around where the individuals stand on the "TNR" list in parentheses; we will also mark if the individual has a Little Hinkers doll in their image, as is the case with Charlie Chaplin, pictured bottom, with a star (*):


1.* Jesus Christ (pictured) (1)

2. Mohammed (the reason for the image of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey) (3)

3.* William Shakespeare (4)

4. *Gandhi

5. Aristotle (8)

6. Thomas Jefferson (10)

7. *Karl Marx (14)

8. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

9. * Albert Einstein (19)

10. *Socates

11. Martin Luther King, Jr.

12. *Abe Lincoln (5)

13. George Washington

14. Charles Darwin (12)

15. *Leonardo Da Vinci

16. *Sigmund Freud

17. *Eleanor Roosevelt

18. *Florence Nightingale

19. *Charlie Chaplin (pictured bottom)

20. *Mozart


http://www.newrepublic.com

http://www.philosophersguild.com

http://www.nationalcathedral.org/

http://www.visitistanbul.org

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare

Today is both William Shakespeare's 449th birthday, and it is National Talk Like Shakespeare Day here in America. Apparently, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel formally recognized the occasion at city hall today.

There are plenty of Shakespeare productions going on domestically (and, assuredly in England and other parts of the world as well).

The American Shakespeare Center (we still like to call them Shenandoah Shakespeare, their old name) in Staunton, Va.,  is performing both "Twelfth Night" and "Love's Labour Lost," right now.

Just down the road in High Point, NC, the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival is holding auditions for "MacBeth" or the Scottish Play from April 29-30th.

And, the Reduced Shakespeare Company will be performing throughout the United Kingdom as well as well as performances in Urbana, Ill., on April 27th and in Columbia, Md., on June 22nd.

We are told that they can do "Romeo and Juliet" in 14 and a half minutes!

http://www.talklikeshakespeare.org

http://www.amerianshakesperacecenter.com

http://www.ncshakes.org

http://www.reducedshakespeare.com

Friday Night Tweets, Contd_ The Bard is Back

Yes, it's a snowy night here in Coffin Gulch, Nebraska.....well, that is a fictional town in the tv version of Lucky Luke aka the French cowboy and we are pretty far from the Cornhusker State, but it is snowing here in the Mid-Atlantic part of America.

So, we thought it was a good time to post some new entries and look at tweets from the college gymnastics world, pro hockey and PBS, which we imagine Mitt Romney is watching right now with his grandchildren (forgive the political humor); here are the tweets:

1) Alabama Gymnastics @BamaGymnastics: Sophomore Kayla Williams just tied her career best on the balance beam with a a score of 9.9

2) IlliniGymnastics @IlliniGym: #Illini women vs. #spartans tomorrow at 4. #PinkMeet RT @ MSUGymnastics: We have arrived in Champaign.

3) Washington Capitals @WasCaps: Ilya Kovalchuk scores Devils goal in overtime: Final score: Devils 3 Caps 2 OT

4) AngelicaAlvarez_WTVD @Alvarez_wtvd: Car having trouble getting up a hill on Wade Ave in Raleigh.

5) UK Gymnastics @UK Gymnastics_ Kentucky is facing Alabama tonight on the road: Kenzie Hedges and Shannon Mitchell post solid scores for UK both earning 9.85

6) Pete Cashmore @mashable: Exxon Mobil Passes Apple to Become World's Most Valuable Company.

7) PBS @PBS: If you're watching Shakespeare Uncovered tonight let us know what you think please use hashtags #PBS


http://www.womenslacrosse.com

http://www.unc.edu

http://www.ncat.edu

http://www.wdbj7.com

http://www.gopack.com

http://www.cornellsun.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Jean Luc-Godard

We continue quoting people associated with the 16 countries represented in Euro 2012 with a quote from the great French film director Jean-Luc Godard, 81, who is best-known for his New Wave classic "Breathless" (1960). Many of his films are available on dvd through the Criterion Collection.

France tied England 1-1 in Euro 2012 play yesterday.

Here is Godard's quote, with his take on William Shakespeare:

"To be or not to be. That's not really a question."


http://www.criterion.com

Special Quote of the Week- William Shakespeare

We really, really like bobble-head dolls here at "The Daily Vampire," even though there is only one in the office, which is of Sylvester Stallone as Rambo; it has never been taken out of its box.

Since Monday was "Talk Like Shakespeare Day," we thought we'd borrow a quip from The Bard, who incidentally died on April 23rd, 1616, just three days before what would have been his 52nd birthday (he was born on April 26th, 1564, we hope we did the math right, which reminds us of a t-shirt that says 'English Major: You Do the Math.')

Before we get to our quote, which hope not to forget about, we want to remind folks in the Washington, DC-metro area, that Folger Theatre inhttp://www.folger.edu/theatrehttp://www.kateeastwoodnorris.com Washington, DC, which specializes in Shakespeare plays, will be bringing "The Taming of the Shrew" to the stage from May 1-June 10.

The production will be unique in that it will take place in the Wild West, circa 1880.

The Folger performances will be directed by Aaron Posner with original music from Cliff Eberhardt. The production will star real-life husband and wife Cody Nickell and Kate Eastwood Norris, who interestingly enough has two surnames of American action movie stars.

The 'Shrew' was the basis for the Broadway musical "Kiss Me Kate!"

Here is Shakespeare's quote:

"It is the stars; the stars above us, govern our conditions."

Quote of the Day/Week- Joe Frazier

Last month, we had hoped to quote the great boxer Joe Frazier (1944-2011) as one of the quips from famous people who died last year, but as it is, he also fits into our efforts this month to quote famous African-Americans in honor of Black History Month.

Next month, we are hoping to quote famous gold medalists. We learned while researching this piece that Frazier, who died at age 67 from cancer was a gold medalist at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He defeated Hans Huber from West Germany.

Frazier, whose nickname was Smokin' Joe, was known for his bitter rivalry with Muhammad Ali. The two ironically became close friends even though they said terrible things about it each other at several junctures during their careers.

The two boxers met three times. Frazier won the first bout at Madison Square Garden in New York for what was dubbed 'the fight of the century' on March 8, 1971. Frazier would win that fight which saw the likes of Woody Allen in attendance.

Ali won the subsequent meetings between the two, including the 1975 'Thrilla in Manila," which did indeed take place in The Philippines.

Here is Frazier's quote:

"Life doesn't run away from nobody. Life runs at people."

SIDEBAR ONE: Since we are huge admirers of William Shakespeare, we thought we'd mention that in the hamlet of Hamlet, NC (some 75 miles east of Charlotte) it is 51 degrees and rainy today.

SIDEBAR TWO: As a fellow progressive Turkish-American, I want to salute Cenk Uygur, who coincidentally is a mere 17 days younger than me, for standing up to a right-wing electronic media outlet which said that Uygur looked like the notorious Pakistani terrorist Khalid Sheik Muhammed.

The comments were made in response to Uygur's interview with right-wing commentator Andrew Breitbart, on the Feb. 14th broadcast of Uygur's Current TV show, which airs at 7:00 p.m., New York time. Breitbart apparently disclosed that his 'stop raping people' jeers that he made at Occupy DC protestors was a publicity stunt.

Uygur confronted the haters by juxtaposing his face over that of the terrorist's through computer animation, a technique made famous by comic talk show host Conan O'Brien, who is seemingly and surprisingly popular in Turkey. O'Brien's own show airs at 11:00 p.m., New York time, on TBS. Steve Martin is scheduled to appear on that show tonight.

SIDEBAR THREE: Lastly, kudos to the UNC-Greensboro men's basketball team as they upset College of Charleston (from Charleston, SC) 78-63 on the UNCG Spartans' home court last night. Derrell Armstrong paved the way for the home team with 30 points.

The UNCG Spartans (12-15) were profiled by North Carolina Public Radio (WUNC-FM, Chapel Hill) since the team's coach Wes Miller, 29, is the youngest head coach in Division One basketball. Miller has been serving as a temporary coach since then-coach Mike Dement resigned in December.

Ending the Year with Willy Shakespeare

This month, we have been quoting the great English playwright William Shakespeare who penned a play called "All's Well that Ends Well," which was written in 1603 and published in 1623. The play will be performed at the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London on May 23, 2012.

Closer to home, the Playmakers Rep Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, will be performing both "Henry IV" and "Henry V" on a rotating basis from Jan. 28 until March 4th. That production will be co-directed by Jospeh Haj and Mike Donahue.

Here is our quote, and Happy New Year to all of you, whether you be in Philadelphia, London, Budapest, Athens, Istanbul, Tokyo, Sydney or Buenos Aires:

"My crown is called content, a crown that seldom a king enjoys."

Yet Another Shakespeare Quote_ (Entry 4 of 5)

Today, we post our fourth of five quips from the great William Shakespeare, whom we believe to be dead.

In all seriousness, the Shakespare Theatre in Washington, D.C., is currently staging the Bard's beloved comedy "Much Ado About Nothing," as directed by Ethan McSweeny, until Jan. 7th.

Here is the quote:

"Be great in act, as you have been in thought."

SIDEBAR: Happy Birthday, mom!

Yet Another Weekly Quote from William Shakespeare

During the month of December, we are quoting William Shakespeare, and since we are literary historians we are not getting into the 'did he write his plays or not' debate.

Here is our latest quip from the Bard:

"As he was valiant, I honour him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him."

Casualties of Modern Technology_ Polaroid 600s (4 of 12)

Amazingly enough, we actually learn things while researhing entries that we were completely unaware of. We had presumed that Polaroid cameras were completely off the shelves, as we say here in America, but there are actually at least two new Polaroid cameras: the Polaroid 300, which is more economical, and the Polaroid Z340, which is more cool.

But, it still seems like a safe assumption that the Polaroid 600s, the ones that most of are familiar with (pictured) have gone the way of the dinosaurs (well, except for Barney).

According to Wikipedia, the first Polaroid instant cameras (the model 103s), which were quite bulky, were developed by American scientist Edwin Land (1909-1991).

Polaroid, a camera that both Andy Warhol and David Byrne* used in their art, actually discontinued making instant cameras altogether in 2008, but in October 2009, they were reintroduced in their current forms.

The Polaroid Z360 goes for circa $300, while Polaroid 300s go for about $70. Used Polaroid 300s can still be found on e-bay or amazon.com; prices vary.

*- The lead singer of Talking Heads, a band which has broken up, is also known for his art work and photography; he even directed a film!_ ("True Stories").

SIDEBAR ONE: While we intend for this blog to be an escape and refuge from everyday insanity, we did want to send our thoughts and condolences to the family of Deriek Crouse, the Virginia Tech campus police officer who was killed yesterday in Blacksburg, Va. So far, no motives for the homicide have been determined or reported to the media. The likely assailant was also killed or found dead on campus.

"The Collegiate Times," the student-run newspaper for Virginia Tech, has an article about the exam delays. Exams that were originally scheduled for today will now be made up on Saturday, and Monday exams will go on as scheduled. This has caused major inconveiences for some students. The source quoted a student from Iceland who said she had plane reservations to fly back home on Saturday, and she was working with her instructor to take the exam before her flight.

SIDEBAR TWO: Last week, we asked: "What do William Shakespeare, Che Guevara and Jesus Christ have in common?" Our answer at the time was they each had bobblehead dolls in their image. That is actually correct, but there is another thing these three seemingly radically different individuals have in common.

Yes, they all have active Twitter accounts?! For some reason, pretending to be a person who is no longer alive is trendy both on Facebook and on Twitter.

The man pretending to be Che Guevara (well, there are actually several others on Twitter) is a man in Turkey, which now means we can all jokingly say: "Che Guevara Turkce konustugunu hic bilmiyordum," which translates to 'I didn't know Che spoke Turkish,' which sounds much funnier in Turkish.

All three have considerably more followers on Twitter than the average person or entity. Of course, as one might expect, Jesus leads the pack with an astonishing 379,976 followers, that is as of yesterday. William Shakespeare has 7,582, and the Turkish Che Guevara has 2,236 people digging his tweets.

Quote from Shakespeare: Keeping It Short

Alas, we tried to find a real stage scene from "Romeo and Juliet," but we had to settle for this image of a very young Claire Danes playing the ill-fated Juliet on film (whatever happened to her co-star; yes that is a joke!).

The Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC, will be performing another William Shakespeare classic "The Taming of the Shrew" starting on May. 7, 2012.

Here is the quote:

"Brevity is the soul of wit."

Wow, we were able to keep this one short!

SIDEBAR: Our thoughts go out to the Virginia Tech campus and community in the wake of a fatal shooting of a campus police officer earlier today. For more updates on the school where I once hosted a Turkish music show from WUVT-FM, I suggest another student-run media, "The Collegiate Times," which is Virginia Tech's newspaper (www.collegiatetimes.com). This is obviously a chilling reminder of many fairly recent campus tragedies at Virginia, including the April 2007 mass shooting.

Also, we want to send our kudos to the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., which decided to screen "Anonymous" tonight in spite of the tragedy. Of course, I should point out, that I may very well disagree with the point that someone besides Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare, which is the thesis of the film "Anonymous." Starting tomorrow, the Lyric will screen the acclaimed film "Narrow Margin."

Quoting William Shakespeare (1 of 5)

What do Che Guevara, Jesus Christ and William Shakespeare all have in common?

Well, they've all had bobblehead dolls made after them, of course!

Here is our quip from the Bard:

"Ambition should be made of sterner stuff."

If you are looking for a refuge from Christmas play season, we highly recommend a production of the American Shakespeare Center's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" if you happen to be in the Staunton, Va., area where the stage company is based.

SIDEBAR: I happy to report that my doppelganger, and yes we checked Google to make sure this term was spelled correctly, Cenk Uygur will be back on television with a new daily show airing on Current TV at 7:00 p.m.

Uygur and I have many things in common. We are both politically progressive. We are both Turkish-Americans. And, amazingly enough we were born on a mere 16 days a part in March of 1970 (I was the one who was born first, not that that matters really).

Up until George W. Bush's now dubious decision to go to war over Iraq, Uygur was actually a Republican so I presume he did not vote for Michael Dukakis, a Greek-American, as I did, which did NOT quite go over well with the relatives in Istanbul.

And, I supported Hillary Clinton at the primary stage though Uygur endorsed Barack Obama. Ironically, it seems that I am considerably less critical of Obama than Uygur. But, all things considered, I agree with Uygur about 90 percent of the time, and I know he will be a great counter to the dittoheads on Fox News, and a strong complement to Keith Olbermann's show which airs at 8:00 p.m. on Current.

Both Olbermann and Uygur were previously talk show hosts on MSNBC.

SIDEBAR TWO: The answer to our Rabbit Ears Quiz on "H.R. Pufnstuf" (not spelled correctly on our tags) was C) $325. Yes, that is how much someone on e-bay is offering for an H.R. Pufnstuf lunch box. The products were made in limited quantity in 1971. We sure hope it has the thermos.

Special Quote of the Week_ Giuseppe Verdi

Today, we conclude our quips from famous Italians in honor of the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification with a quote from opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) who wrote many of my favorite operas, including "Rigoletto" (1851), "La traviata"
(1853) and "Aida" (1871).

But, since my name is actually Attila Gokbudak (I go by Tilly Gokbudak) and I was in fact named after Attila the Hun, I have to quote Verdi since he penned the opera "Attila" (1846). My late father Mehmet Gokbudak was, in fact, a serious history buff and yes, he actually admired Attila the Hun. He also admired Suleyman the Magnificient, but I'm thankful he didn't choose that option (going through school being named Magilla Gorilla Attila after the famous cartoon character Magilla Gorilla was torture enough).

Earlier this year, the Utah Symphony produced Verdi's last opera "Falstaff" (1893) earlier this year. Verdi also composed two operas that were based on William Shakespeare plays, including his version of "Macbeth" (1847) and "Otello" (1887), based on "Othello."

An interesting thing I found out regarding Attila the Hun and pop culture is that he was played by two different actors, Anthony Quinn and Jack Palance, in two different films in 1954.

And, ironically enough my first name is often misspelled whenever I'm in Turkey as it is spelled Atilla over there, but it is spelled Attila in Hungary where Attila the Hun reigned.

In other opera news, NPR's "The World" reported yesterday that Antonio Vivaldi's 'lost opera' "L'Unione della Pace e di Marte" will be performed this week in the Czech Republic for the first time in 284 years.

Here is the quote from Verdi:

"You may have the universe if I have Italy."

SIDEBAR: The NPR show "Marketplace" which was broadcasting from the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo., reported that the local newspaper "The Aspen Times" mentioned that the city's tap water won a blind taste test over Dasani and Fiji.

There is also an annual International Bottle Water Tasting Festival in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, each year. In February, the winner of the contest was the Canadian bottle water Muskoka Springs.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Bullying the White House

As a center-left blog, which gets no federal funding by the way, I am not sure the original image of William Shakespeare we had (where he was looking like Chuck Norris, we removed the image due to a major tech glitch, not for political reasons) reflects the sentiments of our blog, but then again the liberal bookstore The Internationalist Bookstore in Chapel Hill, NC, does actually sell the ultra right-wing magazine "Guns and Ammo" (true story!).

Tonight at The Internationalist, there will be a screening of the documentary film "Infamy" about graffiti artists at 7:00 p.m. Those artists who many view as criminals (and, there is definitely a thin line between vandalism and art) have become more news-worthy lately because the street artist/vandal Banksy was actually nominated for an Oscar for his own documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop."

But, today's main agenda item for our blog has to do with this brilliant tweet from the Reduced Shakespeare Company, which now touring Holland as they perform in the Dutch city of Eindhoven tonight.

It is in regards to a talk/forum that President Barack Obama is reportedly giving at the White House today:

"The Obamas are holding discussions today on bullying. Have they invited the Republicans?"

SIDEBAR: We also want to express our outrage that the likes of Cong. Eric Cantor (R-Va) are moving to cut federal funding for NPR because of some underground manuevering done by a GOP supporter who seems like a right-wing Banksy revealed that an NPR executive has negative views regarding Tea Partiers.

But, many support NPR for its content, including a Republican blogger who today said that he listens to NPR even though he feels their news is biased (which is not our view) because it goes into more detail than typical evening news stories on tv.

And, it should be pointed out that irregardless if some people in places like Harlan, Kentucky,which may well have intellectuals who appreciate the arts like anywhere else, think NPR has a strong liberal bias, many NPR stations, including WETA (90.9-FM) in the District of Columbia itself (well, they are technically based in Arlington, Va.) plays mostly classical music throughout the day. And, we all know that Mozart is not a Maoist!

PS- Whether you are a Republican or a Marxist, neither of which I am, please feel free to tell your friends about this entry. For reasons I am not completely sure of, it was very difficult to post.

Quoting Romeo and Juliet for V-Day

Yes, there is considerable irony here dear reader as I hate and despise Valentine's Day pretty much as much as you do, but I couldn't help think that this was a good opportunity to shamelessly quip the one Shakespeare play that may have influenced those hot Mexican soap operas one might come across on Telemundo_ that is of course "Romeo and Juliet."

So, here is a quote from the story who's ending has been given out via spoiler alerts since I was in the eighth grade in 1985:

"Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow."

The American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va., is not currently performing "Romeo and Juliet," but they are staging another Shakespeare play "The Comedy of Errors," with one the impressive Sarah Fallon as Adriana.

SIDEBAR: Though there initially appeared to be a major conflict, it looks like if (and that's a big if) I'm willing and able, I might just be able to head down the road to Raleigh, NC, to see speed metal band GWAR perform at the Lincoln theatre on Thurs., Feb. 17. Alas, my soon-to-be 41-year-old ears have been pretty messed up ever since I listened to a concert by The Kinks on the now-defunct "King Biscuit Flour Hour" on the also now-defunct Rock 105 out of Blacksburg, Va., in 1987 (I think singing "Lola" at the top of my lungs that very same night almost made me a homeless teenager).

GWAR will also perform in Alletown, Pa., on Feb. 18 and in Brooklyn, NY, on Feb. 20

But, don't presume one can not enjoy both speed metal and the works of history's greatest composers (I should host a "Mozart and Metallica Hour" on some indy or college radio station, but there may only be three listeners even if you pick up the live stream in Kuwait), as we will also mention here that the Louisville Symphony is performing the works of Haydn, Ravel and Stravinsky on Feb. 24 at 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 24. The concert will feature a Paris-theme. We take it that wearing Van Halen t-shirts to the event might be a very bad idea.

Thanksgiving Day Blog-a-Thon Starts with Shakespeare Quote

Since there is not too much going on during Thanksgiving Day here at my mom's house in gorgeous Galax, Va. (not really where I am, nor is it where mom lives), I thought I would have Thanksgiving Day Blog-a-Thon, which means that in the next 24 hours, I will attempt to have three posts up on both of my blogs.

We start with The Bard, aka William Shakespeare, because a newly remodeled version of the original Shakespeare Theatre is supposedly getting set to open in Stratford-on-Avon, England, but our intern Javier went home to Honduras for Thanksgiving so we don't have time to actually verify this.

However, we can somewhat confirm that the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va., which has been renamed at least 14 times (well, not really, but at least three times for certain) is staging the last performances of three Shakespeare plays this weekend, including "Henry IV, Part 2" (ends Nov. 26), "Taming of the Shrew" (ends Nov. 28) and "Othello" (ends Nov. 27).

The ever-gorgeous and very talented Shakespearean actress Ginna Hoben from the company is getting set to perform her one-woman show called "The Twelve Dates of Christmas," starting on Nov. 30. Hobben wrote the play as well, and it supposedly makes fun of my gender (which is male), dating and Christmas.

Due north of Staunton, in Washington, DC, The Folger Library will be performing Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors" starting on Jan.25, 2011. It will run through March 6.

And, my Facebook friend Andrew Neal may well have a comic book version of "Hamlet" or "Romeo and Juliet" at Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC, which is having a Black Friday sale on Black Friday. Featured items will include Scott Pilgrim t-shirts, Giant Microbes and Pokemon cards. They also have plenty of Archie's Comics (the above cover is an obvious satire of "Macbeth" with Jughead) on-hand. As it turns out, there is an English company called Shakespeare Comics which actually puts Shakespeare's works into comic book versions for young readers.

Here is our quote from Willy himself:

"Everyone ought to bear patiently the kindness of his own conduct."

Lastly, for those keeping track today's trending topics include Cookie Monster, Freddie Mercury, North Korea and Ugly Betty. Please, don't bother asking us why!

Top 10 Shakespeare Plays

We beg to differ, but listserve.com thinks "Hamlet" is William Shakespeare's best play (it would number 3 behind "Othello" and "Macbeth" on my list). For those who adore "Merchant of Venice," we should warn you in advance that it has been snubbed!

While researching this post, we came across a nifty blog called blogshakespearegeek.com which makes me wonder how people can focus on just one thing!

For those who reside in Virginia, The American Shakespeare Center in the Shenandoah Valley town of Staunton, Va., is currently performing "Henry V, Part 2," "Othello" and "Taming of the Shrew."

Cast members include James Keegan, Sarah Fallons and the adorable Ginna Hoben, who was great in "Othello" (I saw it when it first opened).

Here is the list, which all of you should memorize for your English quiz on Monday:

1) Hamlet (pictured above-Laurence Olivier)
2) Romeo and Juliet (is this the one with the unhappy ending?)
3) Henry V
4) Midsummer Night's Dream (we prefer the Woody Allen movie)
5) Macbeth (aka The Scotish Play)
6) Richard III
7) Julius Caesar (the man behind the salad)
8) 12th Night
9) Taming of the Shrew
10) Othello
8)

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Sea Turtles Go Free!

Since we had a hard-as-heck time downloading an image of an actual sea turtle, we had to settle for this stuffed toy instead. And, oh yes, for those of you wondering why I am posting this on Tueday instead of Wednesday, which is our designated Twitter day, it is because life is getting busy and hectic lately. Did I just say that?!

We did learn on Twitter today that the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is releasing several sea turtles into the waters of Georgia as they tweeted earlier this afternoon:

"We're all on site preparing to attach the satellite tags for our sea turtles so they're ready for our release in Jekyll Island tomorrow!"

The Georgia Shakespeare Company, also in Atlanta, tweeted that they were performing "King Lear" this week. That's the one with the unhappy ending, right? (Forgive the English lit humour).

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Zoo will have a concert with Joan Baez tomorrow night. (No, she's not the one who sang "Sweet Child of Mine" silly---she's a '60s folk singer).

Alas, some news today through Twitterville as many people, including Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct) who probably roots for both the New York Yankees and the Boston RedSox, expressed their condolences for the passing of Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner who is perhaps best known for his feuds with the late Billy Martin.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office tweeted that all flags at the City Plaza will be lowered for him, and the Bronx Zoo had this great message of sympathy:

"From one Bronx Zoo to another RIP George Steinbrenner. Our condolences to his friends, family, and fans."

PS_ Believe it or not, this is our 600th entry!

Shakespeare Over Soccer?!

The United State men's national soccer team hosted Turkey yesterday afternoon in a 'friendly' game in Philadelphia, which resulted in a 2-1 victory for the home team.

A few hours prior to learning about the game, I brought tickets to see a matinee performance of William Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well" at the American Shakespeare Theatre in Staunton, Va., some four and a half hours south of Philly.

The soccer game was airing on ESPN-2 at 1:30 p.m., just a half hour before the curtain was to rise, so I phoned a friend in North Carolina to see if by chance he would tivo the game for me. As it turned out, Osman Bey (not his real name) was taking the whole extended family, a party of 11 people including his toddler grandchildren, to Philly for the game!

The game was apparently an exciting one as Turkey scored first on a goal from Arda Turdan, who plays for Istanbul powerhouse GalataSaray, in the 27th minute. But, the second half completely belonged to the home squad as Team America scored an equalizer in the 58th minute as Robbie Findley, who plays for the current MLS champ Real Salt Lake (Salt Lake City, Utah) lofted a pass to American star Landon Donovan of the L.A. Galaxy who in turned passed the ball to teammate Jozy Altidore who scored the goal.

Then, Clint Dempsey, on another Donovan assist, snuck the ball past Turkish goalie Volkan Demirel, who plays for another Istanbul powerhouse FenerBahce, in the 75th minute to give Team America a 2-1 lead which they held on to until game's end.

The match was played in front of 55,047 people at Lincoln Field. Afterward, Donovan told reporters that: "We're going to be good as we want to be." Team American next faces England in the World Cup in South Africa in June. Vice President Joe Biden will be attending the game in person.

As for the Turkish side, the newspaper "Today's Zaman" speculated that partisan Turkish soccer fans might be hostile towards new team coach Guus Hiddink (a Dutch citizen) if play doesn't improve. Turkey did not qualify for this year's World Cup though their arch rivals Greece did.

The Turkey-USA game put me in a bit of a political quandary as I am a Turkish-American, and though I grew up in Roanoke, Va., I felt compelled to root for my late father's country.

But, apparently, my situation was not as awkward as the one that Guiseppe Rossi, 23, an Italian-American soccer player who grew up in Clifton, NJ, faced as he chose not only to play for Italy, but he scored two goals for his team in a win over the United States earlier this year! Hence, some partisan American soccer fans have taken to calling him 'Judas.'

As for "All's Well That Ends Well," the production was simply delightful though I was glad I didn't have a Blackberry which might have forced me to check the score of the game during the play's intermission.

The ever-gorgeous actress Kelly McKinnon was delightful as The Countess and the barefoot pilgrim Mariana as was African-American actress Brandi Rhome who played the roles of Diana and Steward in the production. She plays Juliet in one of the troupe's other current plays "Romeo and Juliet." Rick Blunt also stood out as Parolles as did Josh Carpenter who played The Duke and (interestingly enough!) the widow.

For more information about tickets and performances, log on to www.ASCstaunton.com or call 1-877-MUCH-ADO.