{"id":832,"date":"2011-11-23T00:29:17","date_gmt":"2011-11-23T05:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aforgrave.ca\/detritus\/?p=832"},"modified":"2011-11-23T22:24:18","modified_gmt":"2011-11-24T03:24:18","slug":"soul-of-the-twit-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aforgrave.ca\/detritus\/2011\/11\/23\/soul-of-the-twit-redux\/","title":{"rendered":"Soul of the (t)Wit, Redux"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026 or \u201cTo Whence goeth Marcellus_01 ?\u201d<\/h2>\n
\"@Marcellus_01\"<\/a>

@Marcellus_01 by aforgrave, on Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Back in March, Danika Barker (@danikabarker<\/a>) got a troupe of us together to act out Hamlet on Twitter for her English classes. Over a span of several weeks (leading up to and following the re-enactment) a number of us took to the (stage) wings to create contemporary representations of the characters. As documented in my original post on the topic<\/a>, my spear-carrying rampart sentry character Marcellus_01<\/a> came to be, and we started to explore how we were going to make the thing happen.<\/p>\n

To say that the experience was a blast would be an understatement. It was wonderful!! For the duration of the play (maybe six weeks or more), my TweetDeck monitored not only my day-to-day Twitter account and #tags, but also the account of Marcellus_01<\/a> and the related #Brevity\/Hamlet cast list<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Early on, the Marcellus_01<\/a> effect had me reflecting on my own experiences with Shakespeare, and reminded me of my long-forgotten fondness for speaking in Iambic Pentameter<\/a>.\u00a0 Periodically, Marcellus_01 would tweet in that form. Original words, mind you, and using mostly contemporary vocabulary.\u00a0 Old skills come back to me in record time. Marcellus tweets in rhythm and in rhyme.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Supermoon<\/a>

Supermoon from the Hilltop, by aforgrave on Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

As the days progressed, the character of Marcellus_01 became fleshed out, and he began to take on a life of his own. He shared a few pictures of his surroundings via TwitPic<\/a>. (That had me travelling a couple times to Fort Henry in Kingston<\/a>\u00a0(my local stand-in for Elsinore Castle) for couple photo sessions. One of them happened to be on the night of the Supermoon<\/a>, so our respective agendas meshed nicely.)\u00a0 But he started to use social media, beyond Twitter, like real folks do.<\/p>\n

Marcellus_01 started talking about his favourite Danish rock band, Mew<\/a>, and shared his favourite songs via Blip.fm<\/a>. Gee, before Marcellus_01, I didn’t even know of any Danish rock bands, let alone have a favourite one. Now, Mew grace my iTunes playlist, and give me fond memories of walking the ramparts of Elsinore Castle at midnight. I haven’t heard from @FranciscoFears<\/a> recently, but maybe Mew are a favourite of his (actually her) now too? Who knows?<\/p>\n

\"Marcellus_01<\/a>

Marcellus_01 on FourSquare (Badges)<\/p><\/div>\n

Then there was the day when Marcellus_01 simultaneously celebrated his promotion to Captain of the Guard (I think that was in the play) and achieved status of Mayor at Elsinore Castle on FourSquare<\/a>. Happy times! He wandered the streets of Elsinore, visiting caf\u00e9s and shoe stores (in homage to the alter egos of @Horatio_79<\/a> and @FranciscoFears) and met up with other players for refreshments and important, plot-advancing conversations. Marcellus_01 later on took a boat ride and earned the “I’m on a Boat Badge,” along with a bunch of other mayorships. He and @cool_court_chik<\/a> almost managed to play a round of golf at the Helsingor Golf and Country Club, but they missed each other by a few minutes. But he had fun with that FourSquare thing. As for me, I developed some familiarity with the streets in Old Elsinore. It would be nice to visit there someday. We’ll see.<\/p>\n

Then, there was YouTube. Along with the other media that characters were creating to support the unfolding of the play (Kristine’s news report<\/a> rocked!), Marcellus_01 played his part in documenting the pivotal appearance of the Ghost Father in the opening act. He posted a live feed from the Elsinore security cameras<\/a>, as well as his own HelmetCam footage of his encounter with the Ghost.\u00a0 Man, that was scary.<\/p>\n