Fresh Air 2: 2 Fresh 2 Furious, written and directed by Mike Birbiglia
What you just witnessed is a work of fiction.
Terry’s “husband” was played by an actor.
In real life, Terry Gross has never robbed a bank.
She wants to thank you very much for joining her for this film.
This week’s episode on (US) political fundraising is fascinating (especially when they switch to investigative reporting mode (courtesy of the Money Program)), and not surprisingly with such a topic, it’s rather disheartening/depressing and infuriating… Excellent stuff.
Host Ira Glass plays a voicemail containing something very common but very rare to hear: an elected official directly asking a lobbyist for money. (4 minutes).Planet Money’s Alex Blumberg and NPR Congressional correspondent Andrea Seabrook take a tour through the world of money and politics, discovering just how much time members of congress spend raising money and which committee assignments yield the biggest campaign donations. They also try to figure out what all this money is actually buying.For an interactive map of Washington DC fundraiser locations, charts of the best and worst types of fundraisers, and other online extras, visit Planet Money’s website. (27 minutes).
Everything about political fundraising is changing right now, because of the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission. Since then, “Super PACs” have been able to funnel huge amounts of anonymous money into races. Producer Ben Calhoun shares the example of Ami Bera, whose run for Congress was dramatically affected by money from a Super PAC. (15 minutes).Ten years ago, Congress voted to reform campaign finance, after Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold took up the cause. Here they reunite on the radio, to reminisce and lament how that reform failed. Senator Feingold is author of the book While America Sleeps. (7 1/2 minutes).
Radiolab has its own tumblr => HERE
Jian Ghomeshi interviews Atwood and Baichwal live at Sundance to talk about their documentary Payback (and adaptation of Atwood’s book of the same name). Very entertaining interview — Atwood is in great form, engaging in a bit of “geriatrics flirting” with Ghomeshi, as she puts it.
Radiolab:
Cruelty, violence, badness… This episode of Radiolab, we wrestle with the dark side of human nature, and ask whether it’s something we can ever really understand, or fully escape.
Joke trailer for Gary Shteyngart’s dystopian novel Super Sad True Love Story, which came out last summer.
The funny and very articulate Gary Shteyngart talks to Terry Gross on Fresh Air => HERE
Just when you think you’ve squeezed all the best stuff out of TAL’s Radio Archives, you stumble upon yet another gem.
Check out ACT ONE: MAKE ‘EM LAFF (17 mins) in which host Ira Glass attends The Onion’s Tuesday editorial meeting.
Personal highlight (about 16 mins in): “Thirsty Mayor Drinks Entire Town’s Water Supply”
Radiolab’s back in top form with their latest one-hour episode: “The Good Show” is about altruism — just another excuse for Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich to be poetic, silly and naive. It had been a while since I really got my kicks out of a Radiolab session (“Animal Minds” was the last one-hour ep I truly enjoyed), so I’m really glad this one came along.
Catching up on some of the most popular Kermode’s film rants. They’re true works of art. His latest on Dinner for Schmucks is priceless. It’s only available in Kermode’s full podcast episode here for now, so in the meantime here’s a fabulous albeit not-so-recent 10-minute rant on Sex And The City II.
I just love how he starts his review by saying “you’re not gonna get a rant about this”… You just know it’s gonna be big.
It’s only now that I’m subscribing to Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews podcast… what’s up with that? Really good stuff.
Episode aired 05.19.2006
I’ve been rummaging through This American Life’s radio archives extensively this past month: work, travel and weird sleep patterns have been stressing me out so much that listening to Ira Glass before falling asleep at night (well, in the mornings, actually) became a religious ritual I could not do without.
It was a couple of days ago, at 8-ish in the morning, I was back in my hotel room in Abidjan, my body was dead tired but my brain still wired and in need of a tranquilizer. And just when I thought there was no great episode left to dig up from TAL’s archives and I had better find another church to worship, I found this one:
ACT I is one of the most moving tales I’ve heard yet on This American Life: a tale of love between a son and his mother, bravery, injustice and racism. ACT II is light hearted and funny. ACT III is a waste of time, skip it. That’s when brain decided to shut down.
Swimming to Cambodia (1987) by Jonathan Demme
These first three minutes of Swimming to Cambodia give you an idea of Spalding Gray’s oratorical prowess. I admit that my mind wandered off at times but whenever that happened, Gray would inevitably draw me back in with a bout of performing brilliance, and Swimming to Cambodia has got plenty of those.
Unrelated — but bear with me, there is a very loose connection somewhere — is a very interesting BBC Radio 4 programme on “The New York ‘77 Blackout” narrated by Sydney Schanberg, the award-winning reporter who oversaw The New York Times’ coverage of the blackout.
The o-so-very loose connection between Swimming to Cambodia and the BBC Radio 4 programme is Schanberg himself, whose book The Death and Life of Dith Pran inspired the 1984 film The Killing Fields (in which Schanberg was played by Sam Waterston). Now, Spalding Gray played a part in The Killing Fields and it’s that experience of shooting the film he recounts in Swimming to Cambodia. So there’s your connection.
A not-so-loose connection between the two however is The Once And Future Blonde, who always hits the nail on my head when she emails me a link that might –- just might — interest me.
Grilled Lamb Heart, grilled treviso, fava bean hummus, ramp vinaigrette. (Taken with Instagram at American Grocery Restaurant)
