Madame Arcati is a professional spirit summoner whom Charles invites to a dinner party (Simon Jones and Deborah Rush play the other, more conventional guests), partly in sport and partly by way of research for a mystery novel.
Even the more conventional guests could be strange: Uncle Bill, with "a child's mind in a burly adult body," fond of marching up and down in his bedroom to brass-band music; Tia Honsai, a martial arts expert with a "greasy quiff," in reality a Welshman named Ronald Thatcher.
Though the lobby is visible from the street outside through big glass doors, a sign states "guests only", giving the feeling of a private members' club rather than a conventional hotel; guests can enter freely with their room key.
The ceremony was a mix of Jewish traditions and some rather less conventional stuff, like guests wearing swimsuits and getting saying vows on a tidebar.
With the ground floor ablaze, conventional escape was impossible for guests stranded on the upper floors.
So it's been disappointing that Mr. O'Brien has produced a fairly conventional talk show, albeit with less famous guests.
On the Sunday talkshows, ground zero for DC conventional wisdom, exactly one out of 89 guests could be identified as "anti-war" when it came to the subject.
Because Sky Radio must pay the airlines an undisclosed fee for its airtime and does not accept more conventional advertising, the fees paid by its guests are among its only sources of income, Mr. Holland said.
This week's question My daughter is getting married next summer, and instead of a conventional wedding list would like to invite guests to contribute towards buying roof-top solar panels.
A steady flow of catchy and infectious rhythms, a harder-than-usual sound and a horde of big-name guest rappers add to the more conventional flavor of "Art Official Intelligence".
