Fallingwater

Teller, of ''Penn and Teller,'' turns out to be a pretty good writer. The man should have a blog. I was particularly pleasantly surprised to discover that he had done a terrific little essay about Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater.

I've xeroxed pictures out of architecture books. I've read the philosophy of floorplans. I've even drawn my own. But I know little about materials, nothing about construction. So here I am, trying to be Jefferson, the gentleman architect, emulating Palladio; but deep down, I doubt I'll come up with Monticello. To get workmanship like that you need slaves.

Nevertheless, when I realized that my show would be playing in Pennsylvania near Fallingwater, the legendary home Frank Lloyd Wright built for the Pittsburgh department store tycoon around 1938, I decided I'd have to see it. Not that I could afford to build a single room of it. Nor that I would even have the slightest notion what was holding it up.

If you're a fan of the duo, or have an interest in magic, I also particularly recommend his acceptance speech for the Magician of the Year award, in which he tells the Secret Origin of Penn and Teller.