Best Of The MetaFilter

April 21, 2008 3:02 PM

Something amazing is happening on the Blue.

I'm just calling this out because I think the Pulp Shakespeare thread is one of the awesomest things I've ever seen on MetaFilter, and (most of) it isn't links to external content. It's straight from the talented minds that constitute this community.

posted by lostburner to MetaFilter-Related at 3:02 PM (57 comments total)

I'm waiting for the clerihew thread.
posted by mattbucher at 3:11 PM on April 21, 2008

Sorry, mistyped in the post. I meant to say:

A wond'rous page now grows on screens azure,
of words with brilliance composed and writ.
With Tarantino's script, what MeFites do
showcases our anachronistic wit.
posted by lostburner at 3:23 PM on April 21, 2008 [2 favorites]

It's single link to lj, but a great idea.

I'd love to see more of this, cause these threads are always awesome. It's probably best left spontaneous, but if there was a daily stream of these with different challenges and different topics, that would be fantastical.
posted by cashman at 3:25 PM on April 21, 2008

I never realized how fun it is to rewrite things in iambic pentameter.
posted by lostburner at 3:34 PM on April 21, 2008

I'm curious to see whether and how well the instigating ljer's wiki for the Pulp project comes together. Goofing around today looking for good things to riff off of, it occured to me how much of your average film would be torture to try and make happen like this; it really needs to be dialogue driven stuff, so Tarantino is a good call.

A riff off something Mamet could work, too, though I didn't get any good ideas glancing through imdb's Glengarry Glen Ross quotes.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:39 PM on April 21, 2008

Unfortunately lots of it is wrong;
It's not amount of syllables per line
(But rather where the emphasis is put)
That matters when you're dealing with iambs.

All nitpicking aside, though: This is great.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:57 PM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]

Indeed, Sys Rq - I have been schooled in that thread.
posted by never used baby shoes at 4:04 PM on April 21, 2008

I think this is a pretty great accomplishment, too.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:05 PM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]

The cocks! The cocks! A bucket for the cocks!
posted by Krrrlson at 4:11 PM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]

Can I favorite something twice?
posted by cowbellemoo at 4:31 PM on April 21, 2008

Wolfdog - care to enlighten me? I think i'm missing something.
posted by dismas at 4:41 PM on April 21, 2008

> I'm curious to see whether and how well the instigating ljer's wiki for the Pulp project comes together.

My guess is it's not going to come together well. The wiki is locked down and he's manually approving users.
posted by WCityMike at 4:43 PM on April 21, 2008

Well, when I posted that, MetaFilter was the first result.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:48 PM on April 21, 2008

It's going to be a shitty mishmash of styles and abilities, resulting in a long, barely-enjoyable, patchwork of a script that no more than three people will ever actually read, just like all of those "lol wouldn't it be funny if" ideas that get implemented on a wiki.

The thread here was still enjoyable, but I give the project a 99% chance to die quietly in a few weeks. That's just how these things go.

That being said, if someone put on a Shakespearian adaptation of Pulp Fiction (for which they would have to find an actual writer), I would probably go.
posted by blacklite at 4:50 PM on April 21, 2008

My guess is it's not going to come together well. The wiki is locked down and he's manually approving users.

Well vs. quickly is a valid question, though; if he wants to only get as much as he can get Really Good, staying away from unchecked crowdsourcing makes a kind of sense (even if it's less fun and free).
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:03 PM on April 21, 2008

This, right here, is one of the things that makes MetaFilter stand head and shoulders above other link-sharing sites.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 5:24 PM on April 21, 2008

Oh god no.
posted by unknowncommand at 5:25 PM on April 21, 2008

Hooray, my first MeTa callout and it's not even for being stupid! Or a jerk! Or a stupid jerk!

Wait, what? The sidebar? Oh man, I have to sit down...

Seriously, I can obviously take roughly zero credit for how awesomely that thread turned out. What I can take a little credit for, though, is brushing aside my concerns that the post would be shouted down in a rousing chorus of, "Don't post stuff from boingboing." My belief that it'd be worth the risk of getting a little Haterade® flung my way to see the crew of awesome weirdo smartypantses here rip into the subject at hand was confirmed, like, a bunch.

Let this be a lesson to us all: repost everything from boingboing always.

I really, really hope that the wiki thing can work out. It would be a minor internet miracle if we ended up with something performable. Think of the meetup! I'm considering gifting the original LJ'er with a membership here if it would help any.

YAY! /acceptance speech

on preview: IIIIIIINNNNN YYYYYYYYYRRRRRR FFFFFFFFFFFFAAAAAAACCCCEEE unknowncommand
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 5:34 PM on April 21, 2008

I agree with blacklite, there are really huge gaps in quality. Lots of unconscious incompetence on display there.

Hint: classic Tarantino dialogue rendered directly into cod-Shakespeare, with the repetitiveness intact, makes uncomfortable reading.

Shakespeare did not write:

HAMLET: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

HORATIO: More things?

HAMLET: Aye, more.

HORATIO: In heaven and earth?

etc.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 5:50 PM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]

Sidebar? Awesome. I thought it belonged there, but I wasn't sure if it would be unseemly to suggest it.
posted by lostburner at 6:03 PM on April 21, 2008

I vote for amazing. And what's surprising to me is not that it's an amusing little novelty but that, when done right, it's fantastically engaging and alive. Yeah, I would love to see Pulp Shakespeare done live. I'll volunteer to do the lights and sew the costumes.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:07 PM on April 21, 2008

And I wonder what Miserlou would sound like on harpsichord?
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:11 PM on April 21, 2008

So happy this made it to MeTa, because I wouldn't have found it otherwise. I'm having a blast.
posted by Navelgazer at 6:23 PM on April 21, 2008

Shakespearian Pulp Fiction made me laugh.

Shakespearian 2001 has ENSLAVED MY MIND.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 7:04 PM on April 21, 2008

It's a really great thread, and definitely one to revisit. No, it's not technically perfect, but part of the joy is in seeing people, seriously or not, attempt to Bard it up. Well done, all.
posted by cosmonik at 7:17 PM on April 21, 2008

nice idea, but Pulp Fiction doesn't really have enough explosions to make for a good Shakespearean adaptation.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:08 PM on April 21, 2008

I agree with blacklite, there are really huge gaps in quality. Lots of unconscious incompetence on display there.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 8:50 PM on April 21

Only on Metafilter would you find users complaining about a thread because the spontaneous, improvised rewriting of classic film dialogue into iambic pentameter is executed inelegantly.
posted by Pastabagel at 8:11 PM on April 21, 2008 [23 favorites]

And I wonder what Miserlou would sound like on harpsichord?

Ooh.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:28 PM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]

i thought it had more notes than that.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:34 PM on April 21, 2008 [2 favorites]

The bard has been raised.

Seriously, the quality is so impressive that it makes me feel totally outshined. I believe I shall slink away, perhaps even venturing outside...
posted by Tube at 10:10 PM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]

Am even now talking to a tame actor of my acquaintance. Let's do the show right here!
posted by Jofus at 12:50 AM on April 22, 2008

Misirlou is already a traditional folk song, you know. No, I'm not joking.
posted by O9scar at 1:26 AM on April 22, 2008 [2 favorites]

I always used to describe Titus Andronicus as Shakespeare in his Quentin Tarantino phase.
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:29 AM on April 22, 2008

Also, True Romance has a character (or two?) saying: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark".
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:31 AM on April 22, 2008

Awesome. Thanks for the heads up, I would have missed this due to the long weekend.

(one iambic trick I learned was to match the cadence of the opening to Gilligan's Island as a quick da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM beat)
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:53 AM on April 22, 2008

funny - i remember watching Gilligan's Island & thinking "hey - the theme song's in Iambic metre!"
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:01 AM on April 22, 2008

O9scar, I knew about the pre-MonsourDale provenance, but not in anything like the kind of detail your link provides, and that roundup of recordings is awesome.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:38 AM on April 22, 2008

Looking through the links off of the original thread, this seems to be turning into a bona fide internet meme, like the "Song Chart Meme."

I know that my brain's locked onto this, and I can't stop writing these stupid things in my head.

Given that the originator has locked down the wiki, is there some way that we MeFi's who are interested in this can proceed? Could we build our own wiki, prominently give credit to the original LiveJournal poster, and go off on our own?
posted by PlusDistance at 8:43 AM on April 22, 2008

I want to hear jessamyn and matt read one of these on the podcast :)
posted by pjern at 9:00 AM on April 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

As a completely weird coincidence, I just noticed that someone is making a movie called Hamlet 2.

They are also making Crank 2, the idea of which is so absurd that I'm literally giddy thinking about the awesomeness of it.
posted by quin at 9:16 AM on April 22, 2008

Metafilter: spontaneous, improvised rewriting of classic film dialogue into iambic pentameter executed inelegantly.
posted by cereselle at 9:20 AM on April 22, 2008

Also: http://barditup.wikispaces.com/index
posted by cereselle at 9:27 AM on April 22, 2008

Only on Metafilter would you find users complaining about a thread because the spontaneous, improvised rewriting of classic film dialogue into iambic pentameter is executed inelegantly.

Yeah, um, I think there's (a very small amount of) point missing going on.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:35 AM on April 22, 2008

I agree with the naysayers -- our amateur writing is SO unprofessional!!
posted by Koko at 10:43 AM on April 22, 2008

It's a mootable question who's missing the point, though, whether it's those who are valiantly writing "Shakesperean" lines that sound nothing like Shakespeare, or whether it's those who think the aforementioned "those" are missing the point. Opinions, as they so often and rightly do, differ.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:42 AM on April 22, 2008

I am valiantly writing "Metafilter" comments that sound nothing like real Metafilter comments.
posted by mattbucher at 12:11 PM on April 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

It's a mootable question who's missing the point, though, whether it's those who are valiantly writing "Shakesperean" lines that sound nothing like Shakespeare, or whether it's those who think the aforementioned "those" are missing the point. Opinions, as they so often and rightly do, differ.

I'm pretty sure we were all just goofing off. This is, in essence, my point. "Those" who "miss" this "point" are "probably" humorless "jagoffs."
posted by kittens for breakfast at 12:27 PM on April 22, 2008

I just found a board that's rewriting my contribution to make it more iambiac and rectifying my error that one does not "reload" a musket but rather "charges" it. I must remind myself not to make up posts in my head while I'm weeding my garden but instead submit them for peer review.
posted by bibliowench at 12:45 PM on April 22, 2008

link, bibliowench?
posted by pjern at 12:51 PM on April 22, 2008

It is with shame I too late realize
That my own Harry stanzas followed thine
by more'n a day; and though it has some shine,
Tis bloated, being twice your verse's size.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:52 PM on April 22, 2008

I'm pretty sure we were all just goofing off. This is, in essence, my point. "Those" who "miss" this "point" are "probably" humorless "jagoffs."
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:27 PM on April 22

As long as they aren't humorless "Yakoff's". OH SNAP!
posted by Pastabagel at 1:11 PM on April 22, 2008

In Soviet Russia, Yakov is humorless to YOU!
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:14 PM on April 22, 2008

Nay, off we goof not; 'tis a sport with rules
And regulations which we play to win--
But yea there always children are (or fools)
Who finish knowing not how to begin.
They rush and scatter all about the field,
And chase the ball whose hide they wish to kick,
But aimlessly the naked feet they wield
Do strike the ball, and strike it like a brick.
The children, crying, tumble to the turf,
And wail and whinge about the blasted ball
And how it ought to have been made of Nerf
For Nerf is quite the easiest of all
For children's feet (and fools') to kick about.
Is ease the point of what we do? I doubt.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:42 PM on April 22, 2008

(Not to be a dick, though; by all means, go nuts.)
posted by Sys Rq at 1:43 PM on April 22, 2008

(Not to be a dick, though; by all means, go nuts.)

It's cool -- it's just that I tend to reserve my taking-something-frivolous-WAY-too-seriously for more important things, like Pokemon slash fic and fantasy football.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:51 PM on April 22, 2008

Oh, it was here. And to be fair, the thread was mostly talking about how cool this thread was. It was just humbling to remember that this style has rules, and that I've forgotten (or never knew) what many of them were. I thought I was so smart for remembering that muskets only fired one shot.

On another note - I remember my Shakespeare professor talking about how iambs were the meter that best mirrored natural speech. It sounded ridiculous at the time - I had just struggled my way through the whole damn history cycle, and the prose was anything but "natural" - but damn if things don't sound . . . more satisfying in iambic pentameter.

And of course, I think any limitations in this thread's contributions just illustrate what a fucking genius Shakespeare was in the first place.
posted by bibliowench at 2:56 PM on April 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Good MeTa, I'd also have missed this.
posted by ersatz at 9:15 AM on April 23, 2008