[1.30.06] Good fun for fans of Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus—if you can attend, you should see the Kneehigh production summarized here by Independent stage reviewer Paul Taylor: "Sizeable tracts of the novel have been excised—including the final Siberian section. But with the central couple eventually somersaulting in a rapturous aerial display of hard-won parity, Carter's myth has not had its wings clipped." Taylor gave it 3 stars, but his review seemed more glowing than that to me; at any rate, it sounds like just the ticket for fans of the carnivalesque.

[1.30.06] Okay, we heard that Gabo was suffering from a spell of writer's block? He now admits to not having written a word for the entirety of 2005, and that he does not plan to write anymore. It's all over the web. Boohoo, say it ain't so, Gabo.

[1.30.06] Box Office Prophets Monday Morning Quarterbacks have been giving the recently released family film, Nanny McPhee, a strong set of predictions for the coming weeks. Writes Reagen Sulewski: "It's tough to go wrong with magical realism these days…" [cheers from the MARGIN home office!] but then Sulewski continues, "—Harry Potter really opened things up." Oh, don't get me started. Harry Potter is not MR. Harry Potter is not MR. Repeat after me… I haven't seen the latest take on Mary Poppins yet, but when I do, I'll let you know what I think [TKS, editor].

[1.30.06] Sundance Update: Congratulations to Vancouver director Julia Kwan, who won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival last Saturday for her debut feature film, Eve & The Fire Horse, featured here last Friday.

[1.30.06] Discovered, today: A wealth of imagination in PEN America 6: Metamorphosis. This wonderful issue came out in 2005 but I'm only now perusing it. What a treasury! A veritable showcase of some of MR's finest [Edith Grossman, Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, Angela Carter, George Saunders, Ben Okri, Yusef Komunyakaa, Luis Bu?uel, Jorge Luis Borges]. Get thee to their website and order your copy now!

[1.15.06] Overhead at a local poetry reading at the Jewel Box Theater in Poulso, WA: a wonderful magical realist poem by John Willson. You'll be able to find the poem, which features a literate aardvark, among other things, as part of a broadside series presented by the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council this coming spring. Stay tuned for more info.