Got a couple notebook pages full of blog posts flowing from the week in Chicago, which I’ll be putting up over the next day or two; stay tuned.

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At the risk of appearing to give credence to various imbecile popular analogies between gay marriage and other highly disanalogous couplings (“man on dog,” etc.) the argument between Wotan and Fricka in Die Walküre began to sound a touch familiar on Tuesday night. Fricka is outraged that Sieglinde has abandoned Hunding (whom she had been […]

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Rheingold pregame yesterday included a lecture by the University of Chicago’s Wendy Doniger on the mythological sources of the Ring cycle. Among other things, Doniger discussed a recurring theme in the source Eddas and Sagas that Wagner omits mentioning (explicitly) in his version: Brunnhilde loses her supernatural strength (something that’s necessary if Gunter is to […]

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I am an American, Chicago borne (by Continental) for the next week, so—fair warning—blogging is likely to have a Wagnerian focus.

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Jim Henley passes me the talking stick on this question: Behold, the Caesar’s Bath meme! List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can’t really understand the fuss over. To use the words of Caesar (from History of the World Part I), “Nice. Nice. Not […]

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Tonight at 7, bloggers and blog readers unite for some conversation ‘n’ inebriation at Blogorama. As usual, it’s Rendezvous Lounge at the corner of 18th Street and Kalorama.

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Plenty of bloggers have been discussing stories about a new study purporting to show that conservatives are not only underrepresented in academia (I’m shocked, shocked!) but, in fact, appear to face job discrimination when one compares the quality of institutions at which folks with comparable professional achievements (in terms of peer-reviewed publications, etc.) teach. That’s […]

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I’ve always liked the idea behind Alternative Reality Games—a form that (I think) originated with the AI-related stroke of genius known as The Beast and found its most recent expression in the Sony-sponsored (and much less involved and complex, alas) Search for the Urns. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to actually play the damn things, […]

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In Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, the following not particularly PC scene takes place: The birdcatcher Papageno, sidekick to prince Tamino, shows up to rescue Pamina. Pamina’s being held captive by Sarastros’ lecherous henchman Monostatos, a Moor, who has been trying to force himself on her. When Papageno appears, wearing his feather-covered birdcatching suit, each concludes that […]

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CNN’s running a teaser about various people who’ll be “sharing memories” of the late JP2, and the voiceover is done in exactly the same style as it would be if he were hinting at the hijinks that ensue on the next Full House.

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