Last week, I drew your attention to the Royal Opera House's Twitter project. Well, it turns out the Brits are not alone in bringing the fine arts to the Twitter-verse.  

"Next to Normal" is a Broadway rock musical about a mother suffering from bi-polar disorder.   Shortly after the performance's opening, an edited version was posted to Twitter in 140 character bits. The N2Nbroadway feed now has over 500,000 followers and musical is a hit.

 This recent piece on NPR shows that the stage is not the only medium that is culturing Twitter. Two UChicago students have adopted all sorts of works, from the Illiad to Harry Potter, for Twitter. They plan to publish a book of the work in Fall 2009.

Also in the ranks of Twitt-orators (clever... I know) is a journalist turned academic in England who is Tweeting the 18 volume Hindu epic Mahabarata. 

It is nice seeing Tweets with substance, especially after this recent study that found the 40% of all  Tweets are "pointless babble." I do, however, hope that the Twitter addicts out there take a break every once in awhile to read something longer than 140 characters. I suggest Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This book may just make you worried enough to put down your cell phone, and read something with pages.

(photo by Sara Krulwich for NYTimes)