I was lucky enough to catch a couple of events at this year’s THE NEW YORKER Festival, including a very interesting interview with Rachel Maddow of The Rachel Maddow Show and a presentation by Simon Schama that was ostensibly about Barack Obama and “Words-as-Actions”, but was really a virtuoso demonstration of Schama’s eclecticism and his force of spirit.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to see some of the other events — Ricky Jay, for example, is someone who’s wide-ranging work I’ve enjoyed for years. You know that the organizers of a festival did a good job when you find yourself getting angry at them for giving you more incredible events to see than time to see them.

Hey Guys — Festival WEEK next year?