Tonight: NYU economics seminar with Joseph Altonji, "Work Hours, Wages, and Vacation Leave" (NBER #11693). Dinner and drinks at The Coffee Shop, Union Square, and the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade.

(I stole this 2004 picture from the web, but the scene was pretty much the same).

A discussion of the Hoxby-Rothstein papers on "Economic Principals" blog. The WSJ article can be found here.

A glowing Washington Post review of the Washington National Opera's Porgy and Bess (through November 19th).

This weekend: nothing special... just long walks. Here are some pictures.

1) Lexington Ave north from 64th to 89th, east to Gracie Mansion and Carl Schurz Park (at 88th and East End Ave), south on East River Promenade to 73rd street, further south on York, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Aves to the Royale.

2) Lexington Ave south from 64th to 57th (coffee at Juan Valdez Cafe) to 50th, west to Rockefeller Center and Times Sq (south to 45th), returned north on Lexington.

A clear and concise overview of school finance developments in California in 2005-06, and a guide to Proposition 76 ("State Spending and School Funding Limits).

Tonight: dinner at Gnocco (East 10th Street in the East Village), and Dear Land at Performance Space 122 (1st Avenue at East 9th Street). From the PS 122 website, on Dear Land:

"Dear Land, directed by Berlin based Lydia Steier, is an evening of two contemporary works: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969) and the World Premiere of Chinese-American composer Du Yun's Zolle (2005). Eight Songs for a Mad King portrays the madness of King George III of England who was declared permanently insane ten years before his death. In Du Yun's Zolle a dead woman wanders through the shadowy space between memory and reality, tracing the lines of her identity through the land she once walked: an immigrant in death as in life. Dear Land juxtaposes these two sung monodramas of radically different style, and seamlessly combines sound, text, movement and multimedia images in the examination of the mind when torn from the body."

The first piece (Eight Songs for a Mad King) was brilliantly performed and produced. From the Director's Note: "we have decided, in considering this production, to use our contemporary technological dystopia as a launching point for Dear Land. Drawing inspiration from 'videocam diary' culture, where extreme emotional distress can be broadcast for macabre posterity and mass consumption, our George III delivers the rants and musings of Eight Songs for a Mad King to a stationary camera--his image then projected onto a very large screen. This creates the disorienting juxtaposition of voyeurism on the part of the audience, as well as a strong perception of the character's own exhibitionism."

Also, George III grabbed, played, and then smashed the violin of one of the ensemble's players. Very cool.

A discussion of the Larry Bartels paper "Whats the Matter with What's the Matter with Kansas"

Russell Sage outing: dinner at Josephina (1900 Broadway between 63rd and 64th) and The Light in the Piazza at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center. Light in the Piazza featured Kelli O'hara (Clara Johnson), Victoria Clark (Margaret Johnson), Aaron Lazar (Fabrizio Naccarelli) and Chris Sarandon (Signor Naccarelli).

Overall, I was disappointed with this production. Doris Roberts ("Everybody Loves Raymond" [why?]) was in attendance. I did learn one thing from "Light in the Piazza": don't propose to a girl from another country you met less than 24 hours ago--she may have been kicked by a pony.

RSF visting scholar seminar: a fascinating presentation by Phil Tetlock of his work on evaluating expert opinion. Mostly taken from his book, "Expert Political Judgement" (Princeton University Press).

Quite possibly the funniest picture of all time...

A quiet (half-empty?) night at the Met: saw the Cesare Lievi production of La Cenerentola with Olga Borodina as Cinderella. Vocal standouts included the phenomenal bass Ildar Abdrazakov as Alidoro and Simone Alaimo as Don Magnifico (the step-father). "Le Petit Prince" (he stood several heads below nearly all others on stage) Barry Banks gave a solid performance as the Prince Don Ramiro. Antonello Allemandi conducted.

Visual highlights of the production included Don Magnifico's brightly colored oversized mansion in disrepair (included a 3-legged sofa and peeling wallpaper), a flying donkey (during Magnifico description of his dream), a lightning strike (catching an umbrella on fire), and a giant wedding cake upon which the final wedding took place.

Of course, Olga's "Non piu mesta" was worth the entire price of admission.

Attended a symposium on "The Social Costs of Inadequate Education" at Columbia University, organized by the new Campaign for Educational Equity. Speakers: Charles Rangel (Congressman), Richard Rothstein and Henry Levin (Teachers College), Marta Tienda (Princeton), Jane Waldfogel (Columbia), Tim Smeeding (Syracuse), Ron Ferguson (Harvard), Clive Belfield (Queens College), Janet Currie (Columbia).

from Slate: Moral Courage--Is defending The Bell Curve an example of intellectual honesty?

Death Cab for Cutie concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom, with opening act Youth Group. In true indie style, kept announcing "we're death cab for cutie from seattle, washington." duh. Look for the set list here.

An NPR webcast of the concert at the 9:30 club can be found here.

Damon Clark at the Columbia Applied Micro seminar.

Dining out in the Village: pizza at John's of Bleecker Street, pastries at Rocco's and Belgian Beer at Volde Nuit.

NYU department dinner party at Viet Cafe, Tribeca

Pictures from a Saturday in Central Park.

Saw the band Only Forward from Montreal, Canada at "Underground" (in the basement of a church in midtown). Dinner at 44 1/2 and drinks at the Ginger Man (36th between 5th and Madison).

Saw Carmen at the Met.

Took the train to Boston for a rainy weekend....

Dining out in Chinatown with the RSF dining group at New Green Bo (66 Bayard Street).

Went to a taping of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Cameron Diaz was the guest. Lots of standing in line, but it was worth the wait...

Happy Hour in Greenwich Village at the Town Tavern.

Dining out...at Maya, on the Upper East Side (1st Avenue at 64th)