“Odyssey” mania is real! Here are some souvenirs from a trip to the Princeton Barnes & Noble last week. You’ll note a table devoted to Emily Wilson’s translations of “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey.” Someone snuck in a copy of the Robert Fagles’ version. He was, after all, born in Philly and served on the Princeton faculty.

Also, an endcap of other “Odyssey” translations from the B&N bargain bin and related mythological material.

And finally, an impressive display of “Odyssey” books and bric-a-brac.

The other photo was taken yesterday at Princeton Public Library. I was amused to find this plug for Matt Damon survival movies in their collection. The internet is alive with debate about which are better, Matt Damon movies in which he is saved, or those in which he saves himself. The man has established quite the interesting subgenre. When we think John Wayne, we think westerns. When we think Errol Flynn, we think swashbucklers. When we think Matt Damon, we think SAVE HIM!

Last night, I revisited Kirk Douglas’ “Ulysses.” It really is ridiculously entertaining for a 1950s sword-and-sandal adaptation – from Italy, no less, with all the actors dubbed! There are few actors anymore who can fill the screen like Douglas and Anthony Quinn (as Antinous), the latter giving a very different interpretation, and on quite a different level, from Robert Pattinson (who, granted, is wholly believable in the new version as a scheming coward).

Off today to Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, to take in a performance of Richard Strauss’ opera “The Egyptian Helen” – about the troubled reconciliation of Helen of Troy and her husband, Menelaus, following the Trojan War. The opera runs through August 2, with a livestream on Friday, July 31, at 4 p.m. Often Bard archives these things online not long after the run, so watch for it, and check out some of their past performances. For more information, visit https://fishercenter.bard.edu/series/the-egyptian-helen/

The Classics are everywhere these days, and I’m riding the wave all the way to Ithaca!

Past Bard operas and related material archived here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfzbP01j_SLj4B4A46l-jLPjzWdSxt_wS