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Lemmi Caution posted:Guess you missed the fiction piece about the sled a couple weeks back, then. Thank God someone else hated that. Maybe some semblance of delivery could have saved that, but I zoned out about halfway through and then I heard it was a fiction piece and ugh. Terrible.
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Jan 5, 2013 02:30
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hope and vaseline posted:Does anyone else have trouble paying attention to TAL's fiction segments in general? I do, but that's because I listen to TAL for the oral history aspect, rather than "witty" fictional accounts that try to impersonate the oral history aspect. Also, that Honduras thing was pretty drat sad.
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Jan 9, 2013 19:40
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Do I just not "get" David Sedaris or was his segment in the Deception episode kinda boring and meandering and not at all as hilarious as the audience thought it was? I was also kinda hoping for a better resolution to that busboy story than "I got paid crap and left," but it was a good look into a world I would (thankfully) never interact with personally, which is what This American Life does best.
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Jan 23, 2013 16:25
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I hope the theme is Cliffhangers.
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Feb 15, 2013 01:55
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Drunkboxer posted:Was the pig anus doppelganger story not lighthearted enough for you?? I thought Fred Armisen as Ira Glass was hilarious. One of my favorite TAL's was the one where they set up at a diner (The Golden Apple?) for 24 hours. It wasn't particularly insightful or anything, but I liked it as a sort of infinitesimal slice of American life. It really reminded me of a Studs Terkel style oral history, moreso than any of the other programs I've listened to, in that it shows the many permutations of life that for some are horribly mundane, but for others is just fascinating.
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Feb 19, 2013 18:30
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Drunkboxer posted:That was my favorite recent episode actually. Sometimes they do lighter stuff, not everything has to be disabled babies getting shot in the face or something. I would have liked the Doppelganger episode a lot more if they had been a bit more adamant that calamari wasn't pork bung. It seems to have created this urban myth that I still see on people's Facebook feeds without realizing that it pretty much started with "some guy said this." Armisen was great though.
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Mar 27, 2013 21:12
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I'm listening to the yellow fever story right now and it is far more disturbing than people whispering on youtube. This Steven guy disturbs me on some fundamental level.
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Apr 3, 2013 15:25
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C-Euro posted:Why do I always have such a hard time listening to the made-up stories on this program, and why do they keep insisting on including them? I skip right over them (and David Sedaris) because I don't listen to This American Life for fictional stories that try so hard to be clever or witty, but just end up feeling forced about it as a result. I imagine they add them as filler for topics they couldn't get an hour's worth of stories about.
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Nov 12, 2013 04:34
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I had just listened to "Dead Men Tell No Tales" this morning, so it was weird to see a followup on it in the news: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...d572_story.html Nothing particularly interesting, just that the FBI agent was cleared in the shooting.
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Mar 21, 2014 19:46
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AstroWhale posted:But that Price is Right story was great. Here's the youtube video of it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGvG-KRz5h0
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May 10, 2014 16:17
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24 Hours at the Golden Apple is really good. It has this great slice of life feel to it that I think a lot of recent TAL seems to lack, and it really reminded me of Studs Terkel's Working. These people don't have to live extraordinary lives to be interesting. On a similar note, 129 Cars is also good. You really do start to root for the people, and you feel their setbacks and whatnot. Both of these lack David Sedaris, which seems to be my qualifier to even be considered a good episode. Edit: For more journalistic punch, Harper High School Part One and Part Two are great.
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May 21, 2014 02:45
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The one thing I hate about Snap Judgment is that they never put a list of the songs they use in their podcasts. They have some really great nu-jazz and chillout songs that are right up my alley.
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Jul 1, 2014 03:21
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I really hope they never do another 20 acts in 60 minutes thing again, since that was really, really boring. I think a format like that gravitates towards humor pieces more, but I also realized that I'm probably not their target audience for humor. It all felt like the sort of anecdotes that you'd hear at wine parties or something, where people try to impress meaning into mundane events without putting any effort into making it funny. Also, I am fairly certain they'd done that "Mama, I'm sorry" thing before, but I can't recall where.
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Jul 10, 2014 16:10
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dongsbot 9000 posted:i just listened to 388. rest stop and i really liked that one what are some other shows where it's just quick windows into ordinary lives. If you haven't already, I would really recommend you read some Studs Terkel, especially Working if you want quick windows into ordinary lives. Absolutely love that book.
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Jul 11, 2014 06:34
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I'm kinda curious why people can't stand Glynn Washington. I like his flair when he's telling his stories, even if they end up being kinda dull stories (see: Sensei), but it's more enjoyable to listen to than Ira Glass's nasally whiny voice. And it's doubly weird since, like Ira, he only really talks for like 5 minutes before handing it off to someone else to tell their story, so it's not like you can't just skip his introduction. Edit: Although I probably have the same response towards David Sedaris as most of you have towards Glynn so it's not completely imcomprehensible.
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Jul 21, 2014 21:04
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The Moth is good in short spurts, I think. An entire hour's worth of stories just makes you realize A) how insufferable most of these people are and B) how much you really don't care if someone has a goddamn baby. They're often dull stories told reasonably well with the rare really great story. Snap Live in San Francisco was really fun, by the way. A few dud stories/storytellers, but the live element definitely gave it a good performance aspect to it all. I don't know which ones will be actually presented in the podcast, though.
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Aug 8, 2014 04:15
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Serial is a new podcast from some of the people behind This American Life. The idea is that there's only one story, but it unfolds over the course of the entire season. Haven't checked it out yet, but figured someone here would be interested.
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Oct 4, 2014 17:09
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cbirdsong posted:Serial is crazy popular, we should probably get the discussion in this thread split out, or start a new thread. Serial is also ending its season in like 5 weeks, and it's not like this thread was incredibly fast before it came along.
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Nov 11, 2014 23:12
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X-Ray Pecs posted:It just exists, it's not really funny or poignant, it's a weak idea that isn't developed at all. I feel that this describes all the fiction segments on TAL.
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Feb 24, 2015 18:25
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My first introduction to This American Life was actually this segment from their Showtime show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo1LPf9mnyU Which apparently they also did a podcast/radio show about : http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/33/a-night-at-the-wiener-circle
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Mar 14, 2015 00:21
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If anyone likes those episodes of TAL where they talk to some small minority of America, you might want to check out State of the Reunion, which sadly just had its last episode. I'm pretty bummed about it, but hopefully someone will like it.
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May 27, 2015 14:39
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I just listened to the episode from a few weeks ago about the abusive relationship and the guy who couldn't speak to his dad, both of which killed me. I have no greater insight than that, but I'm glad that they ended on pretty happy endings because the journey there was pretty rending, especially the latter since it hit too close to home for comfort.
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Oct 12, 2015 03:20
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X-Ray Pecs posted:Anyone happen to know what Depeche Mode song is playing in the last video clip of act four? New Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFnEhwmpjXI
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Dec 7, 2015 18:26
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Both of them aren't on Planet Money anymore. They tend to gravitate more towards typical podcast quirky topics, like how KFC apparently pioneered franchising.
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Feb 23, 2016 08:22
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I feel like there's probably enough to mine for discussion in a dedicated Radiotopia thread among all their podcasts. Also I like Strangers even if a lot of people dislike Lea Thau's voice. And this very NWS (I guess it's okay if you use headphones?) episode of Love+Radio is hilarious. GrandpaPants fucked around with this message at 06:28 on May 12, 2016 |
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May 12, 2016 06:25
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General Dog posted:who does it benefit to bring it out into the open like that? The audience that they were apparently taping for? Do you not bust out a recorder whenever you have a very emotionally charged moment in life?
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Jun 28, 2016 02:24
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The dangers of listening to podcasts while working is that occasionally I need to take a break from work when the podcast causes me to break down emotionally.
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Sep 30, 2016 17:19
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