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Man, it seems like everyone is defending or proposing these days!

Yesterday I went to Kevin Bierhoff's thesis defense. Since my work is based on his and also he is my friend, I thought it'd be a good idea to check it out. The defense was great. There was a huge turnout. He passed. The talk went well, if a little light on the technical details, but it was great for a general CS audience. Later that night we went to Bites & Brews to celebrate. Congratulations Kevin!

I also went to see Bite of Brecht, a play on campus that focused on the poetry of Bertolt Brecht. Among other things, it included the song Mack the Knife, which he wrote for the Threepenny Opera. I was expecting some avant-garde garbage based on the lukewarm review in the City Paper, but I actually found it to be quite entertaining. The music was good. The acting was good. There were some funny parts. It did seem to drag a bit at the end, but that was my only complaint. Check it out.

Folks, if you're in the Pittsburgh area I highly recommend that you see The London Cuckolds, which is now playing at the Chosky theater on CMU's campus. I saw it last night as a friend, Nathan, wrote the interstitial music. 

Not only is it genuinely funny, but it's dirty, well acted and $5 if you are a (CMU?) student. I think it's only playing until Saturday, so go see it!

Last night I saw CMU's production of The Piano Lesson. It's going to playing until March 1st, and I really recommend that you go see it if you can.

The Piano Lesson is the story of a family living in The Hill District in Pittsburgh in the 1930s, and you ought to see it if only because its author, August Wilson, is one of the few nationally known writers to live and work in Pittsburgh. (Two of his works including The Piano Lesson won the Pulitzer Prize.) But an even better reason to see it is because it is terrifically acted by a really talented group of CMU students. Even on the first night (and you could tell a few of the lines were not yet solidified) the characters were all extremely powerful, and funny too!

You should check it out, and I'll leave it at that.