To start on a sycophantic note, Dan Savage’s Savage Lovecast remains a staple. In the crudest and most bullshit-intolerant terms, Dan Savage - potentially the first actual sex-positive-and-feminist relationship advice columnist - encourages us all to just, please, just be good to each other. (Or, to be GGG to each other.) His reach extends into the mainstream through his recent web initiative, the It Gets Better Project, with video messages reaching deluge proportions, posted by everyone from everyday webcammers to the likes of President Obama and Janet Jackson.
The hosts of Slate’s Cultural Gabfest are erudite and curious and have a listenable rapport with each other. WNYC's Radiolab, which is fancier - more scripted, less gabby - has the same satisfying warmth and pace.
This American Life goes and goes. Which reminds me to mention this article in the New York Review of Books, investigating the resurgence of good radio shows in the States, and attributing this resurgence to shows like TAL and Radiolab.
Transom is a self-described 'showcase and workshop for new public radio', offering advice and potentially airtime to emergent radio producers. Their website is an amazing resource, and the podcasts they produce are varied and significant.
A good one to listen to when you just want a short radio-story injection is The Moth, which features versed performers and novice yarn-spinners alike. If you can find it on the web from other sources - they archive these ones quickly - it's worth listening to Kimya Dawson's story about her encounter with Mariah Carey.
Melbourne's own Paper Radio makes a happy exception to the American rule. Divided into two streams - 'FM' for fiction and 'AM' for non-fiction - these are smoothly-produced, entertaining pieces from contributors in Australia and New Zealand. Their output so far is rare and glittering, and I am crossing my fingers for an increase in momentum soon. Here's to solid antipodean radio.
This American Life goes and goes. Which reminds me to mention this article in the New York Review of Books, investigating the resurgence of good radio shows in the States, and attributing this resurgence to shows like TAL and Radiolab.
Transom is a self-described 'showcase and workshop for new public radio', offering advice and potentially airtime to emergent radio producers. Their website is an amazing resource, and the podcasts they produce are varied and significant.
A good one to listen to when you just want a short radio-story injection is The Moth, which features versed performers and novice yarn-spinners alike. If you can find it on the web from other sources - they archive these ones quickly - it's worth listening to Kimya Dawson's story about her encounter with Mariah Carey.
Melbourne's own Paper Radio makes a happy exception to the American rule. Divided into two streams - 'FM' for fiction and 'AM' for non-fiction - these are smoothly-produced, entertaining pieces from contributors in Australia and New Zealand. Their output so far is rare and glittering, and I am crossing my fingers for an increase in momentum soon. Here's to solid antipodean radio.
The New Yorker: Fiction podcast features stories from the New Yorker archives, selected and read aloud by other fiction writers for the New Yorker. My favourites so far are Thomas McGuane reading James Salter, Monica Ali reading Joshua Ferris, Nell Freudenberger discussing Grace Paley, Jonathan Franzen reading Veronica Geng and Ian Frazier, and Salvatore Scibona reading Denis Johnson.
Like the New Yorker Fiction podcast, KCRW's Bookworm is a half-hour commitment you can't just have playing in the background. Michael Silverblatt interviews writers from all over the place about their recent works and literary experiences. (The theme song is composed and performed by Sparks!) Unfortunately because you want to sit and listen to them properly, I often find myself having a backlog of episodes to listen to - at the moment I'm hoping to find a contemplative hour to listen to recent episodes about Salman Rushdie and David Vann.
Like the New Yorker Fiction podcast, KCRW's Bookworm is a half-hour commitment you can't just have playing in the background. Michael Silverblatt interviews writers from all over the place about their recent works and literary experiences. (The theme song is composed and performed by Sparks!) Unfortunately because you want to sit and listen to them properly, I often find myself having a backlog of episodes to listen to - at the moment I'm hoping to find a contemplative hour to listen to recent episodes about Salman Rushdie and David Vann.
Also from KCRW, The Business features fascinating Hollywood-related interviews and stories, usually about directors, writers and producers rather than stars. Although, in the context of discussing The Fighter with producer David Hoberman, one episode does investigate Christian Bale's particular kind of 'reluctant' celebrity. (For good measure, here is his wonderful and, I reckon, completely understandable rant on the set of Terminator: Salvation.) Generally though, in a world of Hollywood coverage which focuses on the bitchy and fleeting, this podcast is a considered and accessible exception.
Strange though it is for me to engage in financial issues that aren't purely personal and crippling ones, I've been listening to NPR's Planet Money podcast. A spin-off from This American Life, it is making a name for itself as a compelling take on the world of economics. The Planet Money team don't just talk about money - they go out and do stuff. One time, they reported on the financial restrictions faced by small businesses in Haiti, which led to listeners donating thousands of dollars to a couple of designated Haitian bank accounts, which in turn allowed Planet Money to test the hypothesis that it is better to give money directly to people in need, rather than to have it administered by NGOs. The results were in one case uplifting and in the other, devastating, and, all in all, happily, humanly inconclusive.
One thing in a French day is my token effort to keep some semblance of French comprehension skills. An esoteric recommendation - basically you want to be in exactly the same second-language situation I'm in, which is that I've plateaued, got the basics down, and any elaboration goes out of my head for want of practice. Subjunctive? What?
Radio Lingua's Coffee Break French might be useful to more people in that it takes the format of actual language lessons - and for non-francophiles Radio Lingua offer a bunch of language courses from Catalan to Zulu.
Muscially, NPR's All Songs Considered has replaced the Indiefeed channels I liked before. It’s better not to have to press ‘play’ each time a song ends. Although, I like them a little less when they do an hour-long special on progressive metal and meditative drone music. The FADER is still good for just-music-no-ads-no-talking, too.
I have also ventured into the (paid) realm of the audiobook through Audible.com. So far I’ve listened to David Sedaris and others (Elaine Stritch! her voice like unhappy syrup) reading his new collection, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, my favourite story still being the one about the self-righteous white mouse blaming her companion’s cancer on his bad attitude.
Also, as I’ve pottered around my house, peering into boxes of books and junk and unpacking the most interesting ones first, I’ve been listening to Wuthering Heights. It's read by Janet McTeer (who played Ellen Dean in the Fiennes/Binoche film) and David Timson (who has a bunch of British TV credits on IMDB)... and it’s a blast. As if pious Joseph’s words weren’t hilariously indecipherable enough in print, I now get to hear them read aloud as if he were standing right here, shaky and belligerent. Plus, I've found it's easier to keep track of the story within a story within a story within a story (Heathcliff telling Ellen Dean who tells Lockwood who tells us) when actors are pronouncing the various tones and accents so beautifully. At the six hour mark, I am halfway through, and taking a break while in NZ to enjoy the dulcet tones of the kiwi accent.
Also, as I’ve pottered around my house, peering into boxes of books and junk and unpacking the most interesting ones first, I’ve been listening to Wuthering Heights. It's read by Janet McTeer (who played Ellen Dean in the Fiennes/Binoche film) and David Timson (who has a bunch of British TV credits on IMDB)... and it’s a blast. As if pious Joseph’s words weren’t hilariously indecipherable enough in print, I now get to hear them read aloud as if he were standing right here, shaky and belligerent. Plus, I've found it's easier to keep track of the story within a story within a story within a story (Heathcliff telling Ellen Dean who tells Lockwood who tells us) when actors are pronouncing the various tones and accents so beautifully. At the six hour mark, I am halfway through, and taking a break while in NZ to enjoy the dulcet tones of the kiwi accent.
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