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Remains of the day

The honorable and charming Book Thing in Baltimore needs your help. The Old Hag lays it on the line here. The Cincinatti Opera will be premiering “Introducing Margaret Garner”, a new opera, based on Toni Morrison’s Beloved later this year. No more conspiracies of silence: The pre-published speak out. (via Sarah Weinman) A new musical based on George Saunders’ “The . . .

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Fantasy Triple Feature time, kids!

Triple features for the resilient, the dreamy and the popcorn-laden. This one’s a bit heavy, so save the whiskey until the second flick, when you’ll really start needing it. Today’s theme: “Messianic Obsessions and the Burdens of Friendship”. What I’m saying is: Werner Herzog. “Fitzcarraldo“: Werner Herzog’s film about one man’s quest to build an opera house in the middle . . .

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Oh, Ricky.

I really don’t watch much television, and especially not sitcoms (except Arrested Development. What genius cast Liza Minelli in this? She is so good). But as many others have attested, the BBC’s The Office is one of the most brillantly hilarious things ever. I’ve only just become aware of Ricky Gervais’s sordid past, as half of Britain’s other early eighties . . .

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Crackdown or hysteria?

Will blogs be subject to FEC rules soon, thanks to McCain-Feingold? Bradley Smith, one of the six member of the Federal Election Commission “says that the freewheeling days of political blogging and online punditry are over.”

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Happy weekend

That’s it from me for the week, I’m afraid. Annie Reid, that y’all-embracer, takes over tomorrow and most Fridays. Have a good weekend. I’ll be back soon.

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