Bardbox. Ed. Luke McKernan. 2 November 2008. 5 November 2008What Hamlet says without much elaboration about his encounter with the ghost I say with deep conviction about Bardbox, a stunning blog that has compiled an enormous, well-catalogued, well-annotated, and well-organized collection of (in its own words) "the best and most interesting examples of original Shakespeare videos online."
Truly, it is a marvel. I feel quite jealous. But I rejoice at the resource and at all that it provides. Dr. McKernan must have watched many lame parodies and middle school soliloquies—the "infinite deal of nothing" Bassiano says Gratiano gives us in Merchant of Venice, I.i.114—to show us the very best original Shakespeare-related material on YouTube.
For example, without Dr. McKernan's fine work, I would not have known that a version of Mercutio's "Queen Mab" speech that has been dubbed over with the "Watney's Red Barrell" sketch from Monty Python: Live at the Hollywood Bowl exists. And here it is! [Note: The sketch contains at least one obscenity (in addition to all the Bloodys) and one ethnic slur.]
Links: Bardbox.
3 comments:
Thank you - I'm glad you approve, and there are two of your own fine productions included in the 'canon' collected so far. I wouldn't say it was huge as yet - just sixty titles, though I'll be adding several more over the coming weekend, and one or two a week thereafter (I've got many listed ready for inclusion). I have waded through a fair bit of garbage, it must be said, but I'm also getting an eye (I think) for spotting a work that's out of the ordinary.
One other point - McKernan, not MacKernan.
Best wishes
Luke
I suppose we could debate how many titles a collection needs to be "huge"—perhaps it's more huge in its impact and in its potential than in sheer numbers. But we can't really debate the spelling of your name. Sorry, Dr. McKernan; the necessary changes have been made!
kj
Well, my other project in the field (now managed by others since I moved jobs) is the International Database of Shakespeare of Film, Television and Radio, http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/shakespeare, which when published in its complete form (soon, soon) will have over 6,000 records. Which seems huger to me. But it's all a question of definition, as you say.
Luke
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