1. I called the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst and ordered a fifteen-year-old back issue of Der Pakn Treger, because it contains, as far as I can tell, the only complete English translation of Sholem Asch's Got fun nekome (God of Vengeance, 1907) since Isaac Goldberg's in 1918, which I do not recommend. I cannot figure out how I never heard of this play until last night. Seriously, first lesbians of the Yiddish theater? Will report back when I have read it. Also maybe see if ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
strange_selkie wants to direct a production.
2. Bydgoszcz is a real place. I had always vaguely assumed Harlan Ellison made it up for "The Last Will and Testicle of Trees Rabelais"—nothing about the rest of the story, including the title, would encourage one to believe otherwise. Nope. It's quite a large city. It's where one finds the Bydgoszcz Canal and Casimir the Great University. It came up in the course of my job, which has heretofore mostly been teaching me about fast food in Finland and small Indonesian streets.
3. I am pleased beyond words that someone appears to be coming out with a full translation of the Brontoscopic Calendar of Nigidius Figulus. It's a seventh-century Etruscan omen text translated into Latin in the first century BCE and surviving in a sixth-century Greek edition; it's incredibly awesome. Also, it's just that much fun to say.
4. I had coffee this afternoon (all right, they had coffee, I had herbal chai) with a pair of philosophers at Café Gato Rojo in Harvard Square. The conversation turned to Robert Musil and then someone quoted Wittgenstein.
5. I wish I hadn't missed A Taste of Honey (1961) on TCM. I read the play last week.
strange_selkie wants to direct a production.2. Bydgoszcz is a real place. I had always vaguely assumed Harlan Ellison made it up for "The Last Will and Testicle of Trees Rabelais"—nothing about the rest of the story, including the title, would encourage one to believe otherwise. Nope. It's quite a large city. It's where one finds the Bydgoszcz Canal and Casimir the Great University. It came up in the course of my job, which has heretofore mostly been teaching me about fast food in Finland and small Indonesian streets.
3. I am pleased beyond words that someone appears to be coming out with a full translation of the Brontoscopic Calendar of Nigidius Figulus. It's a seventh-century Etruscan omen text translated into Latin in the first century BCE and surviving in a sixth-century Greek edition; it's incredibly awesome. Also, it's just that much fun to say.
4. I had coffee this afternoon (all right, they had coffee, I had herbal chai) with a pair of philosophers at Café Gato Rojo in Harvard Square. The conversation turned to Robert Musil and then someone quoted Wittgenstein.
5. I wish I hadn't missed A Taste of Honey (1961) on TCM. I read the play last week.
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