The play's the thing....

On Oct. 28 a film called "Anonymous" opens; it's premise is that someone other than William Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's plays. This notion has been aorund for three centuries, but scholars, such as retired La Salle professor Robert Fallon, believe it's nonsense. Yet, when he taught classes with older students, "It was the first thing they asked me." I hope to get Dr. Fallon interviewed by the media on this topic around the film's opening. He, of course, wants to see it first.

On a related matter, Actor Ralph Finnes stars in and directs a film based on Shakespeare's play, "Coriolanus." It's considered one of the Bard's lesser works, and is rarely performed. I hope to again get Dr. Fallon interviewed about why this play doesn't rank with Shakespeare's best; also, Shakespeare set his play in ancient Rome; Finnes has set his film in the present day; many productions and film versions of Shakespeare's plays have had their time and location changed; the results are usually mixed. Dr. Fallon doesn't think this is a particularly good idea, and I hope I can get him interviewed about that, too.

Overheard....

On 10/2, at La Salle's honors convocation, we presented an honorary degree to Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Insitute (he gave a great talk) and who does a weekly spot on WHYY. Before the ceremony, I overheard Pitts tell someone, "People tell me I sound shorter on the radio." Pitts is 6/4": I asked him if I could send that quote to Dan Gross, a columnist at the Philadephia Daily News, and he said, OK. Dan's column is pretty much about local celebrities or when famous people are in town, but he also likes the occasional quip or anecdote IF there's a good hook or angle to it. Dan published at item about Derrick's comment and his recieving an honorary degree from La Salle. (Before that, he wrote how a student responded to a tweet and shorter after that a crew from ABC News w/Diane Sawyer filmed her family having dinner.) In these two examples, there was a "name" involved, Derrick and Sawyer.

One a personal note, I was shocked to learn that this was Derrick's first honorary degree! He was really honored by the recognition and had a great time on campus. Following the convocation, there's a reception for the students and their families, and I took Derrick there, thinking we'd spend five minutes: well, a bunch of folks came up to said, I always hear your show on the radio, and my son wants to be a scientist and can we take your picture with him?" Derrick was very gracious and we stayed more than five minutes.