WITHIN THE QUOTA—A 1923 BALLET FOR OUR TIMES PART 2
YESTERDAY HERE IN Part 1, we talked about Cole Porter’s ballet Within the Quota, its 1923 Paris debut, 1924 U.S. tour, and then prompt disappearance. Today in Part 2, the … Continue reading
WITHIN THE QUOTA—A 1923 BALLET FOR OUR TIMES PART 1
COLE PORTER IS best known for his contributions to the Great American Songbook. Among them: “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love;” “Just One of Those Things;” “You’re the Top;” … Continue reading
CELEBRATING GEORGE CARLIN
I RECENTLY ENCOUNTERED one of comedian George Carlin’s great lines: “Have you noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster is a maniac?” Thus … Continue reading
SWORDPLAY OVER THE AGES AND AROUND THE WORLD PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN our swordplay tales with the Völsunga’s Gram aka Wagner Ring Cycle’s Nothung and Arthurian legends of Excalibur and the sword in the stone. Today in Part 2, … Continue reading
SWORDPLAY OVER THE AGES AND AROUND THE WORLD PART 1
NOT THAT ANYONE has asked lately, but here are swordplay tidbits collected from a variety of sources, some even overlapping with others. In Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow, … Continue reading
A QUARANTINE QUERY
WHO’D YOU LEAST like being quarantined with? Anna Whitelock, head of history at Royal Holloway, University of London, assembled responses to this Twitter query in one of the Talking Points … Continue reading
A LOVE POTION GONE AWRY PART 2
YESTERDAY, A WAGNER opera taught us that chemical enhancement of boy meets girl can lead to trouble. Today in Part 2, Tristan and Isolde aren’t the only ones encountering life’s … Continue reading
A LOVE POTION GONE AWRY PART 1
I ENJOYED WATCHING Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, part of the Metropolitan Opera’s free streaming. This opera generates ecstatic appreciation from some and bored derision from others. I place myself in … Continue reading
THOUGHTS FROM A PHILOSOPHER WHO HAS STUDIED EVIL
THESE DAYS, THE United States is into moral introspection concerning governance, divisiveness, immigration, Black Lives Matter, Covid-19, and many other issues. Isaac Chotiner’s article “How to Confront a Racist National … Continue reading
PLAYING CARD TIDBITS
THIS WEBSITE’S RECENT account on Trump doubling down got me to thinking about other playing card-related terms that have entered our language as metaphors or similes. Here’s a sampling, in … Continue reading
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