This American Life

What's your favorite episode?
Favorite guest?
Favorite story on TAL?


mine:

-"the pursuit of happiness"
-scott carrier
-"How Sinatra Affects Us" by camden joy

No, really, what the hell is This American Life?

It's a show on public radio.

Among my favorites (I don't remember the names, if you've heard them you'll remember them):

-the ADM price fixing scandal with the surveillance tapes
-David Sedaris makes friends with a little girl and it goes horribly, horribly wrong.
-the show devoted entirely to Scott Carrier stories where Carrier interviews schizophrenic patients, then takes the test himself (nice choice, huk)
-the one devoted to the Umberto Eco essay on artifical worlds, where they go the wax museum where Chuck Norris has his own room, but Abe Lincoln, Andy Warhol, and Steven Hawking have to share a space
-the superpowers one - the woman who learnt all those skills in order to become a superhero was fascinating. I also felt incredibly dirty for wanting invisibility over flying.
-the FBI tries to get rid of Mob involvement in the Chicago teamsters by funding a movie
-the exile family that returns to Afghanistan after the war

That's just off the top of my head. My only complaint about TAL is that occasionally they're not hardheaded enough - the piece on the girl who went to Panama by invitation of Noreiga made me want to puke. Other than that, it's amazing.

themadking, if you're curious, you can listen to episodes on streaming audio at:

http://www.thislife.org/

In case you missed it, an interview with Ira Glass in The Onion.

There was someone on this site who was having a really lousy day and I was thinking of leaving them a link to one of the stories in order to cheer them up, but I didn't think anyone here enjoyed or even knew about the show.

I dont listen to it much, but I liked the one about Mr. Rogers who would do his puppety with Dave Sedaris. "When Mr. Rigers brought out Daniel the Tiger, that's when I lost it."

Sissies, Cruelty of Children, Other People's Mail (this was the first one I heard -- the other two I listened to on the internet -- and I heard it on the way to the Miami Book Fair so I could get my copies of Solstice and Foxfire signed by Joyce Carol Oates), A Very Special David Sedaris Christmas, Leave the Mask On, I Enjoy Being A Girl, Sort Of, You Are So Beautiful... to me, Superpowers, Didn't Ask To Be Born, First Day, What Is This Thing?

Go listen to all of those now.

[Edited on Nov 23, 2003 by braveliltoaster]

definitely kid logic

bump......more people need to listen to this show

The High Cost of Living (esp. Act One), First Day (esp. Squirrel Cop), Detectives, Basketball. Fiasco. I could go on and on- guess I'll stop.

Absolutely anything where David Sedaris tells a story. Nothing's jumping out at me right now, but I don't listen to that show nearly enough.

The one about Hands on a Hardbody is pretty intense.

I'm actually reading Barrel Fever right now. Excellent body of work. You all should read it. If you don't know about TAL or David Sedaris, you should start HERE . This is the story that put him on the map. His legendary "SANTALAND DIARIES." And, what better time of year to listen to this story?!

Enjoy!

I like the one about the house, and no one has lived there for years, and he goes and tries to unravel the story. The thing I like about him is his stories are so quiet and human.

ah, i found it: the house on loon lake

[Edited on Dec 21, 2004 by louys]

So fucking good....I swear I want to go to work on Saturdays just because I get to listen to it. "You and the little mermaid can go fuck yourself!"

[Edited on Dec 21, 2004 by AaronB]

Whoah...I knew at least SOMEONE would dig it

that show depresses the hell out of me... particularly the one about road trips.
i can't listen to it for more than 3 minutes. i do like his voice though. the stories are just too pathetic.

What the fuck are you talking about? I mean, yeah, some of the stories are depressing, but some of them are funny and some are inspiring...it just varies from show to show.

As far as road trips go...was that the one that had the guy who, for a time, travelled around Utah, interviewing people who may or may not be schizophrenics, and scoring them from 1-7? Because that is one of the best ones I've ever heard. Fucking depressing, but amazing.

http://207.70.82.73/pages/descriptions/01/181.html

You fucking rock. Thank you.

My only problem with these shows is that they're so fucking long and I really have to devote myself to listening to them. You know, like, I hate doing stuff and then realizing I wasn't paying attention and missed something. It'd be great if they could release individual shows on iTunes or something for a couple bucks so you could hook them up to an iPod on long drives. I once drove from Las Vegas to Boulder in like a nine hour drive. I had someone to talk to, but that gets old, and then music gets old too. Something mentally stimulating like this would be the best thing for that sort of situation.

It makes me so sad that I miss it most of the time.

This one fucking rocks. Thanks, great find.

It's funny. I just realized I mentioned TAL in my current journal entry.

I dig that show.. I don't know about a favorite but the strangest one's to me are the ones with Davy Rothbart, because he was one of my best friends in Jr. High and High school.....