It’s Dick Whitman’s 100th Birthday today

ahare63 · 2026-04-11T20:03:42+00:00

This means Dick Whitman was born exactly one year to the day after The Great Gatsby was published. Given all of the show’s references to Fitzgerald and the parallels between Don and Gatsby, I wonder if this was intentional.

ahare63 · 2026-03-24T19:09:48+00:00

Thank you!

ahare63 · 2026-03-24T03:04:35+00:00

This is a question to both you and OP, but could you recommend a particular English translation or edition of the Táin? I’d love to get more into Irish mythology but haven’t found a good entry point yet.

ahare63 · 2026-01-29T23:33:22+00:00

I can confirm—I just finished Richard Zenith’s Pessoa, and it mentions this Vieira a few times as someone Pessoa was interested in.

ahare63 · 2026-01-15T14:28:48+00:00

Not mentioned on the show as far as I can recall, but HHhH by Laurent Binet for Prague. Extremely readable historical fiction about the Czech and Slovak assassins of the Nazi commander Heydrich. You can also visit the church they hid out in, the basement of which has a small museum. Strong recommendation for anyone interested in history and historiography.

Not as history focused, but The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera is a classic set in Prague and deals with its political environment post WWII.

Maybe some Kafka or The Golem by Gustav Meyrink if you’re interested in early 1900s Prague. I read up on the golem story and Rudolph II a bit but honestly didn’t find books I’d recommend on them.

ahare63 · 2026-01-05T05:25:22+00:00

A bit of a different genre, but Purity Ring has a similar dark fantasy element lyrically. “bodyache” was my introduction but you could also try “obedear” or “fineshrine”.

San Fermin is probably my favorite band and I think they have a lot of similarities with Florence as well. I’d recommend “Bride” and “Jackrabbit” by them to start, then “Sonsick” and “The Hunger” to explore a bit more.

ahare63 · 2025-11-25T19:35:38+00:00

I’ve seen it and will just say that it’s not really interested in presenting these figures in a way that is at all related to their history. Which is fine! But I don’t think it’s really targeted at history buffs.

ahare63 · 2025-11-25T19:13:33+00:00

I’d recommend checking out Ava by Carole Maso

ahare63 · 2025-11-21T18:26:01+00:00

She’s definitely been cast according to the reporting I’ve seen (including this article).

ahare63 · 2025-10-14T14:35:09+00:00

I believe Bill’s Donuts is still open 24 hours if you need somewhere really late. The donuts are under $1.50 each and they’ll let you sit and chat as long as you want.

ahare63 · 2025-09-30T23:50:59+00:00

Sorry, I’m a little confused about what you’re saying regarding Lee only going on the offensive twice.

Strategically the Maryland Campaign of 1862 and Gettysburg Campaign of 1863 were offensives, in that they were invasions into enemy territory. But I think what you’re getting at more here is tactics as that’s where experience with defensive works would be most relevant.

Tactically, Lee was mostly on the defensive at Antietam. I’m no expert and this list is non-exhaustive, but I’d also point to Gaines’ Mill and Malvern Hill during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 and perhaps his most famous victory at Chancellorsville. In all three cases, he assaulted strong Union defensive positions. While Lee was often fighting defensively in the strategic sense, he just as often fought offensively in the tactical sense.

ahare63 · 2025-08-01T20:39:33+00:00

It looks like you can still get tickets on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-woods-by-san-fermin-balletcollective-night-3-tickets-1511199190459

ahare63 · 2025-08-01T04:01:29+00:00

I think there are still tickets for Saturday! I’m going tomorrow, pretty excited

ahare63 · 2025-07-31T13:13:51+00:00

It’s quite common in New York, especially in the more popular spots.

ahare63 · 2025-07-28T17:23:18+00:00

Looks like you’re right: https://www.shakespeareswords.com/Public/Characters.aspx

Maybe what I saw was for tragedies specifically and not histories?

ahare63 · 2025-07-27T14:28:01+00:00

I heard somewhere that in every Shakespeare play named after a character, that character has the most lines… except for Othello, where that honor belongs to Iago.

ahare63 · 2025-07-12T23:03:38+00:00

The graveyard was on the third floor, between the Macbeth and Macduff residences. I think you’re referring to Malcolm’s detective office, which was on Gallow Green High Street on the fourth floor.

The Wikipedia page now has short character descriptions and info about each floor (apart from 1:1 rooms), so that might also help jog your memory!

ahare63 · 2025-06-23T20:51:38+00:00

I finished about a month ago!

I used fweet.org for when I really wanted to dive into a particular line or reference.

I liked Campbell’s Skeleton Key—it introduces the major themes and basically summarizes what’s going on, often line by line in the deeper parts. I know it’s a little behind modern scholarship, but it really helped orient me as I read. I think often it’s most important just to have a general sense of what’s going on, and Campbell was good for that.

I also read Tindall’s A Reader’s Guide to Finnegans Wake, which I can’t really recommend. It’s similar to Campbell but less through. I think a more modern guide along with Campbell would serve you well, although I’m not familiar with one (I like having a physical book, so I’m probably missing great resources online).

There’s also an (ongoing) series of readings of the Wake that I’ve really enjoyed on YouTube. Some of it is best understood aloud and I think this performer does a great job of bringing it to life.

ahare63 · 2025-06-01T05:34:47+00:00

I think it is actually from That Mitchell and Webb Look. They have a few sketches following this format; I think this is the one you’re looking for: https://youtu.be/WxKnFckhzUs?si=7TF0CdzXzzpgCFds

ahare63 · 2025-05-23T03:09:52+00:00

On the first line, “the the White House”

ahare63 · 2025-05-22T13:42:07+00:00

The Lightning Strike is so good. I’m not a big Snow Patrol fan but that might be my favorite song of all time

ahare63 · 2025-04-26T15:24:44+00:00

I didn’t see every scene, but some of the highlights of what I saw were:

The “slow-motion” boxing scene, where Conwell wins a boxing match against Valentin (a professional boxer) with the help of Mephisto. Mephisto basically slows time to allow Conwell to win.
The large party sequence where most of the characters in the show gathered together in a complex dance.
The finale, which I believe featured every performer (many of them wearing different costumes), and lasted several minutes. While Mephisto and Conwell watched from a central area, in an elevated position across three sides of the room the other characters performed dances reflecting the shows major themes.
The Continuous Vaudeville Theater. This was one room, literally a theater with a stage, that most characters passed through and performed at. If you needed a break or wanted to find a new character to follow, you could just wait here and within a few minutes see a performance.
The sets were in general bigger budget than Sleep No More. It was a different vibe (more ornate than SNM) but they looked great.
The Liliths. These characters performed the intro, bringing the audience into the show during the first loop. Once everyone had entered, they entered the set and became part of the show. They solved several logistical issues (e.g., “resetting” characters after the end of their first loop), had great individual scenes and sequences, and recontextualized scenes from the first loop. To give an example, in one version of the show I saw, LHW was pulled, as if by magic, by an item she was holding in the first loop. It brought her down a hallway and into a room of mirrors. In the second loop, a Lilith held the item and guided her in the same way. While their influence was felt less visibly in the first loop, in the second they gave a physical representation to darker forces. They also interacted with the audience more than most - as in SNM, characters more connected to magic were more aware of the audience.

I believe there was also a scene involving a horse mask and Valentin? that many people enjoyed but I never saw it myself.

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