![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.conversiondiary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg\" "\\"7_quick_takes_sm\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u2014 1 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been back stateside for a week, but I\u2019ve still been doing Ireland reading, since I wound up with more books than could fit into a vacation. \u00a0Here\u2019s the Hibernian reading that got done this week:<\/p>\n \nIt was after that argument between Athairne and Neidhe, King Conchubar made a change in the laws. \u00a0For it had been a law that no one that was not a poet could be a judge. \u00a0But the language of the poets was hard to understand, and the king was vexed when he could understand but a small part of their argument. \u00a0So he said that from that time out, any fitting man might be made judge, was he or was he not a poet. \u00a0And all the people agreed to that, and the new law turned out very well in the end.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019ve been trying out Goodreads, by the by, and don\u2019t really understand what\u2019s fun about it. \u00a0If you\u2019d like to, enlighten me in the comments. \u00a0And if you want to friend me there (or whatever one does), here\u2019s my profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 2 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Now, here\u2019s a quick takes link I had to hold in reserve while doing vacation Quick Takes last week. \u00a0(Though, in one way, it might have been on theme). \u00a0Modern Farmer\u00a0<\/em>has a review of a very\u00a0sui generis<\/em>\u00a0King Lear<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n King Lear with Sheep\u00a0<\/em>stars one man and eight sheep.<\/p>\n Understandably the play is not a straightforward replica of the original Shakespeare (even without the addition of the animals), and focuses on the efforts of a stubborn director to persuade his all-sheep cast to perform\u00a0King Lear<\/em>.<\/p>\n As you would expect, they remain silent.<\/p>\n The director interprets this as mutiny and comes to loathe his troupe; their unwillingness to perform the roles he expects of them precipitates his nervous breakdown, and his fall mirrors the fall of Lear himself.\u00a0King Lear with Sheep\u00a0<\/em>is an experimental re-evaluation that overturns theatrical conventions through the startling and revolutionary device of costumed sheep.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a>\u2014 3 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n A more conventional\u00a0King Lear<\/a><\/em> opens next week in Central Park<\/a>, but, on my next trip to the city, I\u2019d be most interested in visiting the new Morbid Anatomy Museum<\/a>. \u00a0The\u00a0New York Times<\/em> review<\/a>\u00a0profiled people who worked on the museum and contributed research or exhibits, and\u00a0included the following:<\/p>\n Karen Bachmann\u2019s cluttered living room in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, looks like that of any other family with young children \u2014 until you notice the skeleton of a human foot splayed on one wall.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to wear it in my hair in art school,\u201d Ms. Bachmann explained on a recent morning. \u201cI would pile my hair up on my head and bend the foot into a clip.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Bachmann, an independent jeweler who teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Pratt Institute, no longer wears the foot, but she still does unorthodox things with hair, or other people\u2019s, at least. She is an expert on hairwork, a once wildly popular 19th-century home art \u2014 the Paris Exposition of 1855 featured a life-size portrait of Queen Victoria made entirely of human hair \u2014 that had all but disappeared by the 1920s.<\/p>\n As a student at Pratt, Ms. Bachmann made necklaces from chicken hearts and sculptures featuring animal organs in plastic bags cinched with corsets. \u201cOne professor called my work grotesque,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI was offended, but then decided to take it as a compliment. Besides, I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m the only student of hers who ever got a job at Tiffany.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n If you are even the tiniest bit intrigued, I strongly recommend Drew Gilpin Faust\u2019s\u00a0This Republic of Suffering<\/a><\/em>, which has some excellent sections on the way the Civil War shaped America\u2019s cultural approach to death and mourning.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 4 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n For a slightly sweeter take on the macabre, I enjoyed seeing pictures of\u00a0Christine McConnell\u2019s creepy cakes<\/a>. \u00a0Here\u2019s one I particularly liked:<\/p>\n I could use some crowdsourced cake advice myself. \u00a0I\u2019m having my birthday party (early) this weekend, \u00a0and since I\u2019m staying in temporary housing til my new lease starts in August, baking is more of a hassle than usual. \u00a0Any advice for easy but delicious chocolate cakes?<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 5 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Ngozi of\u00a0Check Please!<\/em><\/a> has another artistic take on a horror story. \u00a0Ok, weddings may not always be terrifying, but they certainly are for Amy in Stephen Sondheim\u2019s\u00a0Company<\/em>, and Ngozi has done a lovely job storyboarding Amy\u2019s frenetic \u201cNot Getting Married Today.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0It\u2019s not embeddable, but it\u2019s a whole lot of fun, so click through.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 6 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s another beautiful animation to enjoy via Mike Bostock, who has put together a fantastic page explaining how a lot of common sampling algorithms work (and using Van Gogh\u2019s Starry Night<\/em> to illustrate them)<\/a>. \u00a0The page is gorgeous and easy to learn from.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 7 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n My last link is a bit less exciting than those that preceded it, because it concerns a baseball game about nothing. \u00a0Well, technically, that might be how I describe all baseball games, but the Brooklyn Cyclones dedicated a game to all things\u00a0Seinfeld<\/em> with hilarious results.<\/p>\n The foul poles were renamed the Festivus poles and the information kiosk was repurposed for an \u201cairing of grievances.\u201d There was a low-talker announcer and a close-talker mascot. The Cyclones awarded an actual latex salesman tickets and let a man actually named George Costanza, who drove down from Rhode Island, do radio commentary.<\/p>\n Character-inspired games included an Elaine Benes dancing contest and a competition inspired by George\u2019s whale-rescuing heroics. Winners received Bosco chocolate syrup in honor of George\u2019s close-kept password, and Beefareeno canned meat, which Cosmo Kramer regrettably fed to a carriage horse.<\/p>\n The Cyclones\u2019 director of communications, Billy Harner, came up with the promotion and fleshed it out with five other staffers. Even some ideas that seemed laughable at first made the cut. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of the beauty of minor league baseball,\u201d said Mr. Harner, 31, a native of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. \u201cWhat we do as an industry is we major in the absurdity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n
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