On the screen of his MacBook, Evan Lowenstein watches singer-songwriter Jason Manns strumming an acoustic guitar in his apartment, where the only audience member is a snoozing dog.

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In a country where the game is followed with an almost religious passion, every man and his dog seem to have an opinion on the 16 finalists or have had a go at predicting the outcomes.

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Set in Rudolf's Prague, this weaves dark and magical tales around the emperor's relations with Rabbi Loew, the great sage of the city's Jewish community, and Mordechai Meisl, the banker, it is said, who kept Rudolf's treasury afloat and who told only his dog where he had buried his gold.

ECONOMIST: An exhibition on Imperial Prague