The Lady Mini Figure

Strange little story from NPR about Lego's efforts to create toys for girls. Features expert Bradley Weiners' gravely voice.

PHOTO: REPOORT

Tell and Cajole

So far, I'm enjoying Alec Baldwin's new show on WNYC, "Here's The Thing" because it still seems a bit rough around the edges. He sometimes struggles to stay on topic and clamors to get his own thoughts in, overstepping his guests.

Alec Baldwin's interview with Kris Kardashian Jenner almost, almost makes the Kardashian reality show sound like it's worth watching, but trust me, it's really not. In this interview the Kardashian matriarch comes across vastly more thoughtful and self-aware than she does on TV, and it makes me wonder to what extent the reality show flattens out the entire Kardashian family into a shallow, clumsily staged version of themselves.

Also, yes, in an off the cuff comment, Alec Baldwin does say that a future reality show might be "Keeping Up with The Klonopins." (An anti-seizure drug). I have no idea what that means.
 


PHOTO: Eva Rinaldi

Indoor Pollution

Lively and personal short report on air pollution in Beijing from NPR's Louisa Lim.

Link to story on npr.org



PHOTO: JOHN GULLIVER

The Sound of Young America is going to be renamed. I've always found the name endearing because it harkened back to Kids America which I grew up listening to, and because it's sort of long, but I'm looking forward to hearing what they come up with.

PHOTO:QUIN ANYA

A Few Recent and Not So Recent NPR Stories

Content Farms, by Zoe Chace

Are Vitamins and Supplements Necessary?, by Richard Knox

Hormones, Metabolism and Dieting, by Allison Aubry
Part of NPR's series on obesity.

Interview with Joan Didion about her book Blue Nights, by Susan Stamberg
I'd never heard her voice before. This book is on my list.

Why is College So Expensive? by Larry Abramson

Story on the Listeria Outbreak by Allison Aubry
I'm currently taking Microbiology so this caught my attention.

Recent Slate Political Gabfest Legalese

Emily Bazelon's discussions of current legal issues are my favorite part of the Slate Political Gabfest because she really gets at the sometimes abstruse legal questions that make the cases note-worthy. I've collected a few of those recent segments. The Slate Political Gabfest is also available free in itunes.

Online bullying and school.
Download MP3

Bans on violent video games.
 Download MP3

The class-action case against Walmart brought by women who claimed they were discriminated against.
Download MP3

Contracts for Safety

     I'm starting to delve into medical podcasts and this is one of the first episodes I've listened to. Dr. Rob Orman invites guests onto his show, ERCAST, to discuss topics in Emergency Medicine.
     Many of these episodes are labeled EXPLICIT in itunes, not because of strong language but because of gore (the C Diff episode carries a strong warning: "There are descriptions in this interview that may make you pass out or possibly vomit"). This episode is not gruesome but does contain sensitive topics relating to suicide. The focus is on assessing suicide risk in the emergency room. Originating from the perspective of clinicians makes for different language and different details than you'd get from public radio.

MP3 Download



PHOTO: GABRIELA PINTO

Recent New Yorker Fiction Podcasts

I recently listened to three terrific episodes of the New Yorker Fiction Podcast, each story very different from the next. Host Deborah Treisman ends up asking almost exactly the same questions in every episode, which gives the show an even perspective episode to episode.


Click on the links below to listen:
Thomas McGuane's "Cowboy"
There's something very funny about hearing Sam Lipsyte read in a cowboy dialect. He tries hard but he enunciates too perfectly, it sounds too correct to be real. To be fair, I'm not sure who could read this story aloud without sounding stilted.

Roberto Bolaño's "Gómez Palacio"
So mysterious to me, hope to read more of his stories.

John Cheever's "The Swimmer"
Anne Enright's reading brings so much to this story. Perfect for a hot day.

PHOTO: LEE COURSEY

WTF Podcast comes to Public Radio

Happy to see Marc Marone's caffeine-fueled pet project get picked up by Jesse Thorn & co to be distributed by PRI. Promos by Ira Glass (I guess public radio is a small world):

NPR: Young Catholic Nuns

This story discusses the growing number of young nuns at a Catholic convent in Tennessee. In addition to religious training the women are educated as teachers at St Aquinas College and then work in the schools associated with the congregation. What I found interesting about this report is that Barbara Bradley Hagerty, who regularly produces reports on religion for NPR, describes their role in the community as well as the specifics of how they orient themselves to questions of love and society. The way they talk about their love for Jesus using the language of person-to-person romance is definitely surprising to hear from young American women.
NPR page for the story


PHOTO: CELINE NADEAU