Stuff We Like :: 5.6.16

Happy May, everyone! And special thanks to Amy for letting me take over Stuff We Like this week! I’m busy getting ready for the summer Hamilton History class (register today!) so I’ll do my best to limit the number of Hamilton-related links, but I can’t help starting off with one (or two or three…) 

Around the Web

Awesome Hamilton Broadway Crossover Pt. 1: For when you’ve memorized the cast recording and start wondering how other great Broadway shows would sound Hamilton-ized, here’s the cast doing their version of “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (Demon barber Sweeney Todd/I am the demon barber Sweeney Todd…)

Awesome Hamilton Broadway Crossover Pt. 2: A conversation between my favorite Alexander Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and my favorite John Adams, aka the actor William Daniels, from the other great Broadway musical about American history (and my favorite July 4th movie-watching tradition), 1776

Speaking of politics, it’s time for my election-year rewatch of The West Wing (I’m also enjoying Joshua Malina’s new podcast The West Wing Weekly) and I was thrilled to see C.J. Cregg herself taking the podium at a recent White House press briefing (and was reminded of these two adorable West Wing PSAs from a few years back—walk and talk, anyone?)

And now that I seem to have established a theme, here’s #Ham4Ham in the West Wing with Cabinet Battle #1 (makes me wonder why I even bring the thunder…)

at home | school | life

in the classroom: Speaking of Hamilton, registration is now open for our summer classes

in the store: Also open: registration for our awesome Homeschool 101 workshop

on the blog: I think we can all identify with the messiness of homeschooling

on instagram: Any excuse to quote Umberto Eco

in the archives: What to read next if you loved Lemony Snicket

 

Reading List

My non-fiction reading at the moment is all Hamilton-related—my favorite so far has been Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life (in which I learned that during his second term George Washington himself was challenged “to point out ONE SINGLE ACT which unequivocally proves you a FRIEND to the INDEPENDENCE of AMERICA,” proving that partisan political speech in this country has always been nasty and bone-headed, a fact I find strangely reassuring at this time of year). I’m midway through Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis, a much shorter book which focuses on several specific events of interest to Hamilton fans (the duel, the Jefferson-Hamilton-Madison dinner, etc.) in which Ellis memorably describes the secretary of the Treasury’s “dashing Hamilton-to-the-rescue demeanor.” (Now I want a Hamilton-to-the-rescue t-shirt.)

For lighter, non-Hamilton-related reading, I’ve been working my way through Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher mysteries (the racier inspiration for the also-very-enjoyable and exceptionally-pretty-to-look-at television series, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries) from Cocaine Blues to the latest installment, Murder and Mendelssohn, and am hoping that Greenwood will give us some more, now that I’ve become very fond of the indomitable Phryne and her household of devoted minions.

Current read-aloud: the final book of Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland series, The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home, which I confess to reading more slowly than usual, as I’m not ready to say goodbye to this world.

Is it weird that I pre-ordered Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter so that I would get it the day it came out, but haven’t actually read it yet? I like looking at it on my shelf, anticipating how much fun it will be to read, and taking it out every once in a while to admire its encyclopedia-like loveliness and maybe give it a little hug. That’s super-weird, isn’t it?

At Home

Superheroes, Pt. 1 (Marvel edition): We’ve already got our tickets for Captain America: Civil War (opening this weekend!) and family relationships are starting to break down along Team Iron Man vs. Team Captain America lines. (For the record, it’s Steve Rogers all the way.)

Superheroes, Pt. 2 (DC edition): Got to catch up on our DVR’d episodes of The Flash (this season is very stressful) and Supergirl—can’t wait to finally see the crossover.

There’s a new Mapp and Lucia on PBS! My well-read copy of E. F. Benson’s Make Way for Lucia is dog-eared and falling apart and I’m a huge fan of the 1980’s adaptation (starring Prunella Scales, Geraldine McEwan, and Nigel Hawthorne), so I’m very excited to return to the 1930’s and the seaside town of Tilling.

International Tabletop Day was last Saturday (mark your calendars for next year) and this year we tried out Cash N Guns and Last Night On Earth at a local game store. (Apparently we were feeling a bit violent. We’ll have to play a couple of rounds of Pandemic to save the world and make up for it.) 

Coming up in May: We’ll soon be celebrating my eldest’s 18th birthday AND his high school graduation! I couldn’t be happier to reach such major milestones. I also may be having a small nervous breakdown. Clearly, it’s time to pour a glass of wine and listen to Hamilton.

Have a great week!

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