The Fredösphere

The medievalist who blogs at the Unlocked Wordhoard comments on the suitability of John Gardner's novel Grendel as the source material for an opera, and links to Xoom's enjoyable review of the "Grendelicious" L.A. premiere of the new Goldenthal / McClatchy / Taymor work.  I heard bits of the music on NPR last night, just enough to pique my interest (and almost enough to peak my interest).  Yes, the story is from the monster's POV, and yes, we are asked to question what it means to be a "monster."  I'll take that question, if you don't mind:  if you're big, hairy, and eat people, you're probably a monster.  Come to think of it, if you're big, hairy, eat people, and your kids are going hungry tonight because you just had to have those Yosemite Sam mudflaps, you're probably a redneck monster.

Meanwhile, I have an urgent need to stop any confusion before it starts.  Although Fred's "final wishes were 'throw the bums out and don't elect lawyers'" and "he excelled at mediocrity," and he had "a life long love affair with bacon, butter, cigars and bourbon" and his family remembered him mostly for having "never peed in the shower - on purpose" and that he "sadly was deprived of his final wish which was to be run over by a beer truck on the way to the liquor store to buy booze for a double date to include his wife, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter to crash an ACLU cocktail party," that was a different Fred.  To repeat, and in spite of what you might reasonably think:  THAT WAS NOT ME.  Thank you.