God, suggests Shannon Wheeler is an atheist. An amusing idea. I am reminded of a favorite Arthur C. Clarke short story, “The Nine Billion Names of God”. Go on, read it. I’ll wait. There is always a last time for everything.

Earlier this evening, I finished watching Trevor Nunn’s excellent and haunting adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The play has always been problematic. Laurence Olivier once called it “horrid, cruel, and one of the most popular plays in the whole collected volume of Shakespeare.” In college, as part of my Shakespeare course, my group had to argue that Shylock is in fact the tragic hero of the piece. I had my doubts before watching tonight, but it would be a wretchedly uncomfortable play, I think, were he not

“I want a life with a man who will ignore me and take me for granted and only pretend to be interested in me to get in my pants.” I now find myself watching Bedazzled for some reason. Brendan Fraser is goofy, and Elizabeth Hurley is…well, Elizabeth Hurley. I mean, c’mon, she’s dressed like a Catholic schoolgirl and she’s got that accent. I’m only human.

Well anyway, some more photographs, for what they’re worth.