iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 13h

Spouse: Just back from a quick pee outside. Me: The dog, I hope? Spouse: Yeah, she dragged me back in before I could go.

static.klipy.com

Spearhyunho

ALT: Spearhyunho

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 15h

Brittany Williams in the Chicago Tribune: Let the Northwestern band play the pregame show "Thanks for the stadium, but please remember who it was built for." (As we say in the trombone section: she's a bonehead; she's a GENIUS!) www.chicagotribune.com/2026/10/05/o...

chicagotribune.com

Brittany Williams: Let the Northwestern band play the pregame show

The Northwestern marching band, a fixture of the football game day for a century, was sidelined at the first game at the new Ryan Field.

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 19h

Michigan Band = always classy AF, but this one was a cut above. I thought I was done with marching band after HS, but it wasn't quite done with me yet. 😂

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 20h

Awww, look at those sweet, sweet faces! They are clearly innocent of all crimes! 😂 Shalom!

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Spouse: [opens YouTube] Me: …were the dogs good this week? WeRateDogs: The dogs were good again this week. Me: THANK GOD.

static.klipy.com

Sealdog Black Dog Wagging Tail

ALT: Sealdog Black Dog Wagging Tail

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Glad the ‘Cats ate the lions tonight, and New Ryan Field looks amazing! Time will tell if the pregame kerfuffle was warranted, though I doubt we’ll ever know exactly how much was poor decisions and how much was damage control. I’ll take the win.

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Assuming this is accurate, it's still a far cry from a public recommitment to featuring NUMB in on-field pregame shows, but it's good to know NUMBalums retain our well-honed ability to be loud. Go 'Cats.

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

"The plan for the Homecoming game next week & for future games is for the band to have the opportunity to play on the field as part of pregame activities. In addition, NUMB will have the opportunity to invite its alumni members to join them on the field at halftime for the Homecoming performance."

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The plot kinda-thickens? Alumni Relations/Athletics: "Amid all the buzz around the new Ryan Field, there have been assumptions that [NUMB] has been sidelined at the opening game—or that the band has been excluded from playing on the field before games in the future. This is simply not accurate."

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

PS I also lettered in varsity fencing all 4 years (we earned conference titles 2 of those years...) & was a repeat Academic All-Big Ten honoree, so I get to be disappointed on both the student athlete AND marching band sides of this travesty yaaaaaaaay. #northwestern #bigten #newryanfield #NUMB

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Maybe, just maybe, it might not be the best idea to cede all aspects of game day programming at a school whose athletics program dates from the 1890s to companies run by entities that exist to extract short-term profits. But what does a bonehead like me know? (As in, I marched trombone in NUMB.)

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

That would be Oak View Group, backed by private equity firm Silver Lake, & Legends Global, backed by private equity firm Sixth Street Partners, with an assist by JMI Sports, technically separate from JMI Equity, but both share a founder in former Padres owner John Moores.

static.klipy.com

Andrew Yang: Who Could Ever Have Predicted This?

ALT: Andrew Yang: Who Could Ever Have Predicted This?

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I mean, Northwestern is a charter member of the Big Ten conference with a century-old tradition of pregame shows that feature the marching band. You see that history in our pregame shows and those of the other OG schools like Michigan, Purdue, and Wisconsin. So again, who would do this? WELL.

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The NUMBalums called for letter-writing aid. Rohan answered. Several of us shared our letters, and the common thread is wondering whose bozo idea it was to cut the marching band out of pregame when we appear on the field in their own freaking markeitng image for New Ryan Field.

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Semi-ironically, my household is currently flying an N Cat flag and I'm in a NU tee today. We don't stop bleeding purple just because current decisions-makers have made some wrong-side-of-history calls of late.

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Hamilton: Lin-Manuel Miranda's Stage Performance

ALT: Hamilton: Lin-Manuel Miranda's Stage Performance

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Of note: this is also the first year in a while that I haven't donated to my alma mater because if they had $75M to fuck over women & minorities to placate the Bigot-and-Kleptocrat-in-Chief, they clearly don't need anything from li'l ol' me. AND HEYYY LOOKIE HERE AT THIS TOTALLY COINCIDENTAL THING

dailynorthwestern.com

Northwestern drops to No. 9 in 2027 U.S. News college ranking

Northwestern fell to No. 9 in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report’s National Universities rankings, two places lower than its previous spot at No. 7. NU tied with Johns Hopkins University and the Univer...

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

1st response: WHAT THE ACTUAL 2nd response: holy shit does it feel good to be upset about something relatively low-stakes that I actually have a small lever of power to do something about as a NUMBalum with strong letter-writing skills.

dailynorthwestern.com

NUMB will not perform pregame at new Ryan Field

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available. Last updated Oct. 1 at 12:00 p.m. The Northwestern University Marching Band will not perform on the field pregame ...

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Apparently, I'm only allowed to have successful auditions for opportunities to revel in exceedingly niche interests and I have to sneak into everything else. And y'know what? Zero complaints!

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I suppose in this case, imitation is the sincerest form of fappery.

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Reposted by Libby Weber

Emily Gorcenski @emily.gorcen.ski · 28/09/2026

Here’s the most incredible story you’ll read today. A small plane with four people aboard crashes in a field. Another pilot witnesses it. That pilot happens to be flying a bunch of skydivers. They offer to jump to assist, are given permission. The skydivers happen to be EMTs. Everyone survives.

wisn.com

Skydivers alert emergency crews, assist after plane crashes near East Troy airport

Four people were aboard the single-engine plane when it went down in a cornfield near Carvers School Road in East Troy at about 1:30 p.m.

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Reposted by Libby Weber

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

DoorDash spent $1.4M trying to stop Zohran Mamdani from becoming mayor. This week's historic $131.5M enforcement action against DoorDash for underpaying NYC delivery workers shows why. Yet another reminder that the only thing that can beat organized money is organized people.

theintercept.com

DoorDash Spent $1.4 Million Trying to Stop Mamdani From Becoming Mayor. Now We Know Why.

In a wage-theft settlement, DoorDash now has to pay its workers around 100 times what it spent trying to beat Zohran Mam

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Reposted by Libby Weber

Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Fuck ChatGPT flyers. The future is broadsheets.

A crowded broadsheet with way too many fonts. It says:
Forget ChatGPT Flyers
Say it with
Broadsheets
Unlimited fonts
Stretch them
Or cram a really long sentence into one line for no good reason
No whitespace
Mix capital and lowercase
Pointing hands
(They're called manicules!)
Don't be left behind
Broadsheets are the future

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

No idea how this passed me by (though let's be honest, a lot does...) but I will be rectifying this posthaste!

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I never could have dreamed such a thing. It's so funny to me that choral singing was my back door into a LORT house despite having a theatre degree. I thought I'd set aside that dream after some discouraging early experiences, but life does like to surprise us!

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Did you hear about the psalmist who started sneaking organum into the choir's chanting when the congregation was distracted by the first reading? The change was gradual.

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

...followed by Patrick Page singing Hellfire? I'm glad to know about Lapine's deep ties to the show and that he helped make this absolutely stunning diptych of songs hit even harder through nuance and connection. How could anyone involved not be changed by it? www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCJY...

youtube.com

The hunchback of Notre Dame Hellfire

YouTube video by movies and tvseries clips

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Parnell, Menken, & Schwartz gave the show new life in the US, but Lapine transformed my beloved film into an unforgettable work for stage that fundamentally changed my musical trajectory. I mean. Michael Arden singing Heaven's Light right in front of me night after night... youtu.be/6q5feQr-RmQ?...

youtu.be

The hunchback of notre dame musical heaven's light

YouTube video by movies and tvseries clips

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Lapine was the guy who scrapped the kitschy trio of gargoyles (my least favorite part of the film) in favor of a gargoyle chorus who are unambiguously products of Quasimodo's imagination. Lapine was the guy who delved into Frollo's backstory & gave him a more nuanced relationship with Quasimodo.

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

READER, I was agog, gagged, & giddy. Lapine, whose work I've admired since 1991 when American Plahouse aired Into the Woods on PBS, is the guy responsible for my favorite aspects of the stage show, like the decision to hew more closely to Victor Hugo's novel, which ends in unambiguous tragedy.

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

BUT! It turns out that Lapine DID adapt Disney's Hunchback for the stage in 1999! «Der Glöckner von Notre Dame» ran for three years in Berlin and featured nine new songs as well as the best ones from the film. I knew that our production was based on that one but had no idea who had written it!

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

So imagine my surprise & confusion when James Lapine casually dropped in a chapter about the thankless nature of being a Broadway book-writer, that he'd written the book for Disney's stage adaptation of Hunchback. In my hubris, my first thought was MY DUDE I was there! That was Peter Parnell!

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

So for several months in 2014 I was living the dream of working with world-class artists (Michael Arden, Patrick Page, Menken&Schwartz) in service of music that I've loved since I was a teen & a story I've only grown to appreciate more deeply as an adult. Truly, an experience I'll always treasure.

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I've been obsessed with Menken & Schwartz's score since the 1996 film came out. I auditioned for my first pro choir (SACRA/PROFANA) specifically because they were hired to be the onstage choir for the US premiere at La Jolla Playhouse, I've been with SACRA ever since. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQZb...

youtube.com

La Jolla Playhouse's THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME

YouTube video by La Jolla Playhouse

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Current read: James Lapine's "Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created 'Sunday in the Park With George'" and it is FASCINATING creatively, but it also nearly made me spit-take yesterday because I learned something I did NOT know about Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame.

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

[the choir has too few psalm sheets & while the librarian searches...] Conductor: Anyone got any good jokes? Tenor: Two psalmists walk into a bar... [laughter] Me: OH! Why did two psalmists NOT walk into a bar? Choir: WHY? Me: Because nobody pointed them in the right direction! #professionalism

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

There is little more satisfying than holding a paper copy of something as you type up a bit of it with the published punctuation in order to quote it on the internet.

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Reposted by Libby Weber

Gail Simone @gailsimone.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Writing "wisdom" I hate: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. This is the worst advice ever. It would be better if it was KNOW MORE SO YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT IT. Every good writer I know is constantly researching and getting new information and asking experts. It's a terrible bit of advice!

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

PS Þanks to Alicia for the well-timed meme!

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

And I’ve at least QUINTUPLED the amount of Old English I can randomly quote at innocent concertgoers! AND with a much better accent!

static.klipy.com

Gandalf the White: Look to My Coming

ALT: Gandalf the White: Look to My Coming

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

That those words were just hanging out in my head, waiting to be called to the fore 22 years later. Anyway, I told this to a Master Chorale friend who was at the concert and she said, “OH MY GOD you’re still a huge nerd.” YES. And I’m only getting more shameless as I get older!

static.klipy.com

Lord Of The Rings Helmet

ALT: Lord Of The Rings Helmet

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Which comes from The Call in Shore’s score, one of the texts that actually comes fromTolkein, which means: Where is the helm? Where is the hauberk? Where is the bright hair flowing?

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Eomer Angry

ALT: Eomer Angry

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

So when friends came up to me after the concert and said the Old English text reminded them of Tolkein, I said, “YES! You’re absolutely right! Tolkein based the language of the kingdom of Rohan on Old English!” & unconsciously recited: Hwǽr cwóm helm? Hwǽr cwóm byrne? Hwǽr cwóm feax flówende?

static.klipy.com

Seigneur leads cavalry charge: Ride now!

ALT: Seigneur leads cavalry charge: Ride now!

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The texts for that performance were a conlang GOLDMINE: Quenya, Sindarin, Khuzdul, Adunaic, Black Speech, aaaand Rohirric (so called in the score)! I remember someone telling me at the time that the language of Rohan was Old English, and apparently the music was still in me 22 years later.

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King Theoden: Rohan Will Answer

ALT: King Theoden: Rohan Will Answer

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Back in 2004, I auditioned for San Diego Master Chorale specifically to be part of the choir singing in the touring production of Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings Symphony. This was in the days before live soundtrack movies were a thing. It was selected music from the trilogy plus concept art.

static.klipy.com

Adam Devine: Nerd Alert Bumper

ALT: Adam Devine: Nerd Alert Bumper

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

SO. Apparently I was wrong about never having before performed in Old English before Saturday, when SACRA/PROFANA sang the HECK out of Melissa Dunphy’s AMAZING double-choir Anglo-Saxon motet JUDITH. It was just the first time I sang Old English when it was called by its actual name.

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Inigo Montoya: Let Me Explain

ALT: Inigo Montoya: Let Me Explain

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Libby Weber @libbyweber.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Today in AI enshittification: I needed to do a quick-n-dirty hum recording to loop it for ~1:30 using my usual stereo webcam/DAW. Windows oh-so-helpfully added default "✨audio effecs" to their camera app that includes noise cancellation. 💀 I wasted 20m figuring out WTF my hums faded out after 2s.

static.klipy.com

Golden Globes Fuck Ai

ALT: Golden Globes Fuck Ai

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