ZOMG WANT TO GO TO THIS SO BAD:

I just finished watching the 4-part PBS documentary In Search of Shakespeare. It’s really in-depth and well-done, as host Michael Wood scours England for every instance of Shakespeare’s name popping up in the historical record. (If you have Netflix, it’s an instant download.)

Here’s one story from the movie: The Earl of Essex was hoping to overthrow and replace Queen Elizabeth. Theater was the popular entertainment of the day, and was heavily censored because of its power to incite the mob to violence. Essex paid Shakespeare’s company a large sum of money to resurrect Richard II and to add in a key scene making explicit that a bad ruler should be deposed. The plan was that at the end of the play Essex would march out on stage and call for an uprising. Unfortunately, when the time came, he spent too much time trying decide which shirt to wear, and by the time he finally appeared and made his rabble-rousing speech, the crowd had mostly dispersed, and Essex was promptly arrested and executed. Shakespeare’s company was hauled before Elizabeth’s inquisitors, and the players all took the line that they were just simple actors who had been hired to put on a play and they didn’t know anything about any plot. Elizabeth knew they were lying, but by that point — elderly, unpopular, and without an heir — she didn’t much care, but just to send a message and scare them straight she commanded that they perform their seditious play again — just for her. Talk about stage fright.

Wow, I was just reading the Wikipedia entry for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and there’s a whole lot of WTF going on here. A sampling:

Lucas initially suggested making the film “a haunted mansion movie.” Lucas first introduced the Holy Grail in an idea for the film’s prologue, which was to be set in Scotland. Spielberg did not care for the Grail idea, which he found too esoteric. Lucas completed an eight-page treatment entitled Indiana Jones and the Monkey King. The story saw Indiana battling a ghost in Scotland before finding the Fountain of Youth in Africa.

Spielberg hired Menno Meyjes to begin a new script. It depicted Indiana searching for his father in Montségur, where he meets a nun named Chantal. In the denouement, the Nazis touch the Grail and explode; when Henry touches it, he ascends a staircase into Heaven. Chantal chooses to stay on Earth and marries Indiana. In a revised draft the Nazi leader is a woman named Greta von Grimm, and Indiana battles a demon at the Grail site, which he defeats with a dagger inscribed with “God is King.”

ETA: I interviewed Dan Carlin for Episode 15 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

Avatar in 3D is a must-see spectacle for science fiction fans. The story is familiar, predictable, and unnuanced, but still solid and enjoyable, I thought, and the actors give appealing performances. But the visuals here are just stunning — $300 million worth of gunships vs. dragons vs. robomechs in a bioluminescent alien jungle in 3D. Wow. Be warned though, this is one LONG movie, so you might want to bring a meal — or two — into the theater with you.

At long last (and I mean, long, long, LONG last) Realms of Fantasy magazine has updated their website. It’s a completely new design and looks really spiffy. Check it out.

Peter Watts, author of Blindsight, reports on his blog that he has been assaulted by US Border Patrols agents and now faces felony charges and ruinous legal fees. More on boingboing.net.

Vera Nazarian, who has had some really hard times lately, largely due to the vile Bank of America corporation, has just released her latest book Mansfield Park and Mummies. “Our gentle yet indomitable heroine Fanny Price must hold steadfast not only against the seductive charms of Henry Crawford but also an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh!”

I even illustrated it, and basically did everything short of chewing up the pulp to make the paper it was printed on.”

Check it out.