Mary: “What am I going to do?”
Rhoda: “Eh, eat some candy.”
Mary: “Rhoda, chocolate solves nothing.” Rhoda:
“No, no, cottage cheese solves nothing. Chocolate can do it all.”
The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "Put On a Happy Face" (3X23)
Jukebox: Mira, Melody Gardot
Melody Gardot is a favorite. She has a great story & I love her albums. Jazz. Classic but modern. Below is the first song off her new album. As soon as I saw it had released I purchased it.
How Does a Story Get Selected for This American Life?
Ira glass did an IAmA on Reddit. I feel like this is the question that goes through the minds of many while listening to This American Life: How did you select this story?
Here's the answer.
In general, the story process is kind of messy. I suppose that's inevitable. At any given point, we have three or four shows we're actively preparing, and another two or three kind of burbling up slowly in the background. (There are nine of us on staff. It's a lot of people. For years, it was just four.)
If we find a story that we love that doesn't fit with any of those episodes, we invent a theme that could include it.
Then we go looking for other stories that could fill out the theme.
We do this by brainstorming what MIGHT work and then go looking for it. We do this by sending out emails to contributors and asking "have you got anything that goes with this?" We have a doc we send now and then to an email list of hundreds. Occasionally we crowdsource an idea on Facebook and our show's blog. It's messy.
What we're looking for: someone to relate to, a plot that's surprising that leads to some idea about the world that's also new or interesting or surprising. Those are the basic elements. Extra points for humor, charm or memorable details that you can't get out of your head. A great story is like a great melody: it announces its inevitable greatness and you recognize it the first time you hear it. Most stories aren't that. They do not announce their obvious greatness. 60% are in the limbo region where they might GET great or they might flop, and the only way to figure it out is to start making the story. So you launch in, hoping for that winning combination of great moments, charm, funny, and X factor.
As a result, we go through tons of stories on our way to the few that end up on the air. It's like harnessing luck as an industrial product. You want to get hit by lightning, so you have to wander around for a long time in the rain.
Here's the list of story ideas we looked into for the show we did Sept 28th. In addition to the stories that ended up on the air, we collected tape on another three stories I know of. Might be more. The knee defender story I recorded on a plane to MN. Hopefullly that'll show up in a future episode.
This is pasted in from our staff story list for that week. They are in decreasing order of likelihood of ending up on the air, which is how we always list them. Often the final lineup isn't determined till the day of the show. Often on the day we broadcast the show we have to decide: will we cut a few minutes from each story to fit in more stories, or will we kill a story?
Send a Message (Jonathan)
Dave Hill: homeless man throws pee on him 10
Great-grandmother predicts baby genders from beyond the grave Melissa Salpietra (Brian) 8-9
Sonari Glinton: Black Jesus (Jonathan) 10
Josh Bearman: Galileo sends coded messages to Kepler (Robyn) 7-10
Bill Lahey: dad’s phone calls to kids about divorce (Nancy) 12-15
Lisa: knee defender for planes
PJ Vogt: Craig Schergold gets greeting cards after tumor is removed
Brian: Thai chef punks restaurant w/ wrong name
Starlee & EG: talk to authors of coming out book (Robyn) 10-12
Andrea: getting harrassed by jealous uncle
AZ & HI emails about Obama’s birth certificate
Rob: $15 collect calls from Cook County jail
Jonathan: ABC/CBS Dancing on the Stars
Ruthie: Tourettes guy (Jonathan)
x-Matt: jr high boycotts lunch; gets salad
x-Sam: couple gets divorced to protest gay marriage laws (not until July)
x-Robyn: 13 y.o. writes essay comparing school to slavery
x- Nancy: Nazi reference in Librarian training manuals
x- Bruce: same speech for 19 years about genocide treaty (Lisa)
x- Ben: Iraq war vet flipping off Scott Walker*
Jukebox: It's Time, Imagine Dragons
Night Visions by Imagine Dragons is one of the albums I recently purchased. Feels a bit more mainstream, but it's fun & great for running. A variety of songs on the album, below is a Spotify link for the top hit.
Rebelmouse
Have you heard of Rebelmouse?
It's currently in beta. Basically, it makes a snapshot of your different social profiles in case someone would like to look at it. It shows what you're sharing online. Here's mine.
It's made by Paul Berry, formerly of Huffington Post. I think it has potential. It takes a few extra moments to jump from site to site and get a feel of your profiles. So, the profile or your profiles could be a thing in the future.
Jukebox: Nothing's Real But Love, Rebecca Ferguson
I bought Heaven by Rebecca Ferguson over the summer. Excellent album. My friend calls her 'A young Aretha'. Here's my favorite, Nothing's Real But Love.
Ugly or Pretty Has Nothing to Do with Funny
Elizabeth Banks responds to Nikki Finke.
It's funny, I tend to prefer female comedians to male comedians. No matter how many times someone says that 'women aren't funny' & in this case pretty women aren't funny it ends up coming across as ridiculous.
Funny is funny. What you think is funny may not be funny at all to me. I know a lot of guys that follow mainly male comedians. As far as actors go, I often find female comedy actors very memorable.
Saying pretty women aren't funny? Well, you may think so Nikki Finke, but doesn't that rely on your definition of 'pretty'? I Love Lucy is one of my favorite comedies. And I think Lucille Ball looks great. Amy Poehler in Parks & Recreation or Mindy Kaling in The Mindy Project both have hilarious shows. I'm sure every other article about them will have a comment about their looks. Part of my perception of beauty links with personality and sure that can vary, but the amount of attention people pay to how others look can be astounding.
Why not just focus on their talent?
George Allen is Running for VA Senate
George Allen is running against former Governor Tim Kaine in the Virginia Senate race.
Here's a video from his previous time on the campaign trail.
Just to break that down for you, he's calling an Indian campaign worker from the opposition 'macaca'. Slate says to read the wikipedia entry with a pinch of salt.
OK. But, he's still calling the Indian guy something. I don't care if it's a racial slur or it it just means 'monkey', would he have done the same to a white male? And , before people start yelling at me for using the 'race card', that's not my intention. Honestly: Would he have used the same words for a person that looks like him?
Music, the Kind You Buy
There's not a huge need to buy music right now. Go on Spotify and stream nearly anything for free, go on YouTube to listen to the songs that aren't on spotify, & pirate things that are good enough for you to want a copy. Wait, no, nobody actually pirates music, it's illegal! Sure. I think there's a more of a "nobody buys music, it's all free somewhere" mentality.
One of my friends, George, has stopped buying music and using iTunes. Instead, he subscribes to Spotify. I guess it makes sense, save the money that you would use to own albums so that you can listen to whatever you want.
I fall in the camp that does buy music. Kind of. I tend to try out music for free like on Spotify so I can try and find new music or my friends can send me suggestions. But, when I listen to something enough or is the type of music I can see myself enjoying in the future, I buy it. I tend to be careful with these purchases so I don't clutter my list. I may go months at a time without buying anything. Then, I'll find something or an artist I enjoy has an album and I buy it. Depending on the season, I'll find a few things in a row. Great for my ears, bad for my wallet.
I like a copy of the music I love so that I can have it on my devices as I like or even port it to an external drive. Spotify is a great service. I enjoy using it. When it comes to music I really know I love (or will binge listen to), I'd rather buy the album than pay for subscribe to Spotify. For now.
Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan: The Do-Over
Best political ad of 2012?
Jukebox: The Tower
Great piece by Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi.
He has many other great pieces, but this song seems to really capture the feeling behind the title.
Cloud Atlas
This might be the most interesting trailer of the year.
Doctor Who Series 7: Extended Trailer
Enjoy.
Note, the video below is the BBC America edit of the Series 7 Trailer. The UK version of the Doctor Who Series 7 Trailer is here.
Looks like we're in for a nice ride
Future Titles
Possible titles of my future memoirs or novels:
Hello. The Universe is Trying to Kill Me
Absolutely Graceless
Grace is Dead
What's on TV? Fall 2012
OK, it is early to line up every single show that you're going to be watching this fall. What the hell, why not.
TVLine is a great site for TV news. They put together a TV grid for fall that's worth a look if for nothing else but to figure out which crappy show you're going to cut out of your life. Be merciless.
Here's the grid from TVLine. Visit the site for full lists of which shows the networks will have at some time during the 2012 - 2013 season & their premiere dates.
Now is when I get to list how much television I watch. Not live though. The internet is my ally. There are probably more shows...we're not counting non-US based shows. Or spring. Or cable. Or shows that premiere later in fall...
Go ahead, judge me.
New shows are in bold.
Sunday:
- Once Upon a Time
- Revenge
- 666 Park Avenue
- The Good Wife
Monday:
- Castle
- How I Met Your Mother
- Partners
- Terrible show/occasional guilty pleasure: 2 Broke Girls
- New show that I may or may not watch: Revolution
Tuesday:
- Happy Endings
- Don't Trust the B in Apt. 23
- Raising Hope
- Ben & Kate
- New Girl
- The Mindy Project
- Go On
- New Ryan Murphy show that I may hate-watch...once: The New Normal
Wednesday:
- Modern Family
- Suburgatory
- Animal Practice
Thursday:
- Scandal
- Chuck Lorre Show I watch on occassion...The Big Bang Theory
- US version of Modern Sherlock that will suck in comparison to the British one by Steven Moffat but I will still watch an episode... Elementary
- That old Ryan Murphy show that I may sometimes hate-watch. Glee
- 30 Rock
- Parks & Rec
Friday:
- Community
I don't watch Saturday shows...if there are any. And shows on the CW. Sorry?
After going through the grid I notice that there are, indeed, other shows I watch or plan to watch. If you can guess I'll confirm (one terrible guilty pleasure is listed on the grid...please don't guess it).
Language: He Speaks in Tongues!
I think of language culturally. There's a certain part of the culture of a place that's linked to a language. How the people speak and act and sometimes even think. You won't really be fluent in a language until you stop pushing to be an English speaker speaking in another lanuage and try to be a person that speaks the language. You'll screw up. A lot. But, even a native speaker of a language doesn't speak correctly--he just tries.
People kind of ignore language until they need them or unless they have a specific interest in the field. A friend of mine is an Italian teacher--awesome. I'm putting off Italian for a while until I can learn it for fun, I mean where do they speak it other than Italy? That's my bullshit excuse for waiting to learn a language that I love. I'll get there.
So far, I know four langauges (English, Hindi, Punjabi, & Spanish). I don't want to stop learning. Next up is French! I thought about learning Chinese or Arabic next because they are extremely useful right now, but both languages require an entirely new set of skills --memorizing the arabic alphabet or every Chinese character. And, Arabic and Chinese are dialect based so just learning the traditional language isn't enough. It's much more time effective for me to learn French next. It's a romance language so I have a base set of skills and I know the alphabet.
Travelling, learning lanuage, and being involved with a culture other than the one you know or that's around you can be fun.
If you ever do decide to learn a new language then, great news, you can stay in front of the computer. Classes can be a good way to learn, sure, but they're not cheap.
Two great and free resources are:
The BBC! The BBC has a great language page to get a feel of anything from Basque to Urdu. Free.
I'm using duolingo right now to learn some French. I like it. It doesn't feel like the other programs, it feels organic in how it teaches you. I might use the BBC's site in the future if I decide to learn Urdu.
Tales of the Universe: Time for a Horror Movie?
So. The universe is trying to kill me. Again.
"Well it's just weather, it's not like it can harm anyone!" That's what he said before the tree branch came towards his windshield. Because reality is just as ridiculous as a terrible horror movie.
Seriously--as I finally head back to my parents' house a storm brews & within minutes of their property wind & lightning start attacking. I rush inside. My parents and brother are gone for the weekend. Their house is perfect for this horror movie. Their road is built with a goal of privacy & the house? Well, it's huge. Since it's in the heart of suburbia you can actually see the stars!
I'm alone. During a storm. In a huge house that's very dark & very empty.
So, there's only one question: Where's the killer?
Is India's Poverty Line of 65 US Cents a Day Fair?
India has far too much red tape & bureaucracy, though it seems as if the country has been advancing over the last few years. There is a huge income and development disparity.
Modern Magazines
Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper, and dissatisfaction with the modern state of magazines.
I really agree with Marco Arment here. I bought the first magazine I have in a while, my first “grown-up” magazine I believe. It was for class, a GQ. $5. And, mostly ads. Why am I paying for something that is comprised mostly of ads?
One of my friends said that the ads vary depending on the type of magazine & some consumers like them. He subscribes to GQ & likes the fashion advertisements in the magazine. For customers such as these, I guess it makes some sense. But, not to me. Why can magazines minimize the ads? Do fashion features? I paid for what felt like a hefty magazine. Going through it, I saw around half the magazine was made of advertisements.
Student suicides soar 26% in 5 years, education system blamed
If you haven’t seen the Bollywood film entitled “3 Idiots,” It’s worth a watch. It's about this very issue, the Indian education system. Well done.
Here's the trailer. Sorry, I couldn't find a version with subtitles.