September 5, 2001

7:01 AM

INTERIOR SHOT: Stratford-upon-Avon; Study; William at desk

William:
To be or not to be...

William: takes long toke from hash pipe on desk

William:
That is the question...

posted by o2b (21 comments total)

The evidence is far from convincing. In one of his sonnets, W.S. has the line (it also appears in the anonymous play Edward III--not to be confused with Marlowe's Ed II) that "lillies that fester smell far worse than weeds."
The lilly is a member of the onion family. What W.S. seems to be saying is that when something very nice, beautiful decays, rots, then the stench is worse (because not expected) than the smell of weeds (expected to be unpleasant). That line hardly seems to refer to weed as we now sometimes use the word.
posted by Postroad at 7:29 AM on September 5, 2001

Duuuuuude...
posted by xiffix at 7:30 AM on September 5, 2001

So Will got a little high when he was writing - so why are these gimps getting so defensive and uptight about it? Nobody bothers trying to deny that Coleridge was laudanum'd out of his tiny little mind when he wrote Kubla Khan, ditto Mary Shelley and Frankenstein. What's so special about Shakespeare that he couldn't have any fun?
posted by scribe at 8:05 AM on September 5, 2001

sorry, searched for it, but didn't find it.
posted by o2b at 8:07 AM on September 5, 2001

well, considering the success of both "shakespeare in love" and "dude, where's my car?" does this story suggest that a hollywood studio will seek to combine the two sometime in the near future?

possible titles (suggestions are welcome)

"dude, whither mine car?"
"my kingdom for a bong!"
"the tempot"
"to sleep, perchance to dream"

any others?
posted by elsar at 8:30 AM on September 5, 2001

The Merchant of Berkeley?

k
posted by Kafkaesque at 8:41 AM on September 5, 2001

MACBIFTA - Act 1 Scene 1


Loud music and strobing-lights. Enter three Witches

First Witch
When shall we three toke again
In nightclub, park, or in my mate Bazza's flat?

Second Witch
When the rolling-up's done,
When the spliffs wrapped we'll have some fun.

Third Witch
That will be ere the set of sun.

First Witch
Where's the rizla's?

Second Witch
Upon the skinning-up tray.

Third Witch
There to keep them safe.

First Witch
I whitey, Graymalkin!

Second Witch
Munchies call!

Third Witch
Anon.

ALL
Fair is dope, and dope is fair:
Hover through the fog and sweet-smelling air.

Exeunt
posted by scribble at 9:22 AM on September 5, 2001

The best refutation of this theory comes from STATS. No blue-noses involved.
posted by dhartung at 9:32 AM on September 5, 2001

So Will got a little high when he was writing - so why are these gimps getting so defensive and uptight about it?

Because, scribe, if the children knew that Will dug the doobage then they would have all the more reason to go and smoke their little brains out and have sex before marriage and dye their hair and pierce their eyebrows.
posted by amanda at 10:40 AM on September 5, 2001

i don't understand why people keep thinking that if he smoked pot, that makes shakespeare a lesser genius. i have yet to meet someone who became more intelligent or productive when high.
posted by meep at 10:44 AM on September 5, 2001

Apparently a mistranscription of his real dictated words to an obviously stoned scribe:

"Doobie, or not doobie, that is the question."
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 11:12 AM on September 5, 2001

fold_and_mutilate might have the edge for punchiness, but scribble's tied i think for comprehensiveness.

could WS have been struggling with addiction when he had lady macbeth utter those famous words, "Out, out, damn pot"?
posted by elsar at 11:29 AM on September 5, 2001

Alternate title of Titus Andronicus:

"Dude, where's my hand?"
posted by Kafkaesque at 11:35 AM on September 5, 2001

I agree with Meep. If the guy wrote these incredibly poetic plays while TUNED, then he deserves twice the credit. I know people who have difficulties making trips to the fridge....

Rushmore quote time:

"Oh yeah? Well I wrote a hit play, so I'm not sweating it either..."
posted by Aphex Kid at 11:39 AM on September 5, 2001

Then marlowe must have done the ya-yeah.(i always wondered about Caliban)
posted by clavdivs at 2:45 PM on September 5, 2001

"Behind every good man there is a woman, and that woman was Anne Hathaway, man, and every day William would come home, she would have a big fat bowl waiting for him, man, when he come in the door, man, she was a hip, hip, hip lady, man."
posted by dfowler at 5:33 PM on September 5, 2001

A famous recent mathematician claimed to be far more productive while on speed than when he went off it. And he was pretty damn productive to begin with.

I'll be damned if I can remember which one, though.
posted by Ptrin at 5:58 PM on September 5, 2001

You know, before I clicked that link, for one brief shining moment, I thought it was going to be about hunky Prince William smoking some kind. Drat.
posted by thc at 6:09 PM on September 5, 2001

"Is this a hot-knife I see before me?"
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:43 PM on September 5, 2001

Ptrin: It was Paul Erdos. Note that he used an orally administered amphetamine solution that was probably an amphetamine variant like dextramphetamine. He wasn't taking hits of crystal meth.
(See http://www.paulerdos.com/1.html)
posted by sigsegv at 11:52 PM on September 5, 2001

I don't see why smoking pot and being a genius have to be mutually exclusive.
posted by kramer_101 at 4:44 AM on September 6, 2001