Wagner's Ring Cycle

A few of us humble music-lovers tried to get tickets for the Kirov performance of Wagner's very important Ring Cycle (not to be confused with your Washing Machine's all-important Rinse Cycle; this is the one with the immortal chorus, "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!") and quickly discovered a troubling fact.

Specifically, even though these shows at Lincoln Center require a tremendous investment of time and capital (rendering them presumptively beyond the reach of the common man), there are either enough uncommon men in New York City, or else there is such a ravening desire of the common man for musical masochism, that we could not obtain a block of four tickets to even one part of one Ring Cycle. Individual tickets, where available, are scattered and cost $300+ each. All I can say is that the price per hour would be quite reasonable if it were a private performance.

These kinds of disappointments can only build character, although it is bitter indeed to be constantly reminded of my loss due to the omnipresent wascally wabbit motifs in New York City. Speaking of which, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Arms and Armor collection features this helmet calculated to strike terror into the hearts of one's fellow warlords in ancient China: