I love This American Life. I don’t listen to it as often as I should. (I have 62 podcast episodes of the show downloaded but unheard.) But as much as I love it as a radio program, I’m even more excited at the prospect of the new television version:
“They can’t do this on TV,” Kris told me the other day. “It won’t work the same. Part of the charm of the show is that it’s iconic, that you don’t get to see the people, that you can project your own images.”
She has a point, but I have to say that the above teaser for the show does a lot to dispel my fears. I’m praying that the iTunes Music Store carries this show, because I’m not about to subscribe to Showtime to get it. I don’t want to have to resort to BitTorrent.
I agree with Kris, it will not work well on TV. But I also want to say, who doesn’t love a pig?
Pigs rock.
I heard Ira Glass talk about this show on another NPR show. He made me a believer that it could work, and this preview solidifies that to me.
Then again, I also think there are plenty of reasons to love a chicken.
Damn, damn, damn, I’m going to have to breakdown and add showtime onto my cable bill. So far I’ve resisted getting HBO for Deadwood, Sopranos and Rome, but I can’t tell you how many ‘driveway moments’ I’ve had listening to ‘This American Life’ its probably the most compelling show on radio!
Oh my goodness. I clicked on your dungeon and dragon link over on the sidebar and there is no way a child of mine or any body else will ever play such an awful game in my house. It starts out by saying that it will drive you deeper and deeper into the occult. Thats terrible! Who would play it after hearing that? It all just gives me the shivers. I now know all I need to know and have seen all I need to see about dungeons and dragons! I cant believe people waste their time playing such things! I do have to thank you though for showing me what this game is all about. I can see I wasnt missing out on a thing!
Hey Mrs. D, I think that part about the occult was sarcasm. If you watch the ‘animated’ game-play part of the link, you will see what D&D is really like (or at least that’s what it was like when JD and his geeky friends used to play ;-).
Actually Mrs. Darling Dungeons and Dragons is quite a harmless role playing game that promotes creativity and teamwork. Hysteria such as yours about a game is actually quite amusing and quaint. Why don’t you do some research on your own and not base your opinion on just one website? Another note, the more firmly you are on preventing your children from playing this or any other game, the more likely they will be to go out of their way to try it. It is entirely likely that they will lose interest quickly in the game, as many children these days don’t have the attention span or the patience to roll dice and alter character statistics on paper. I played this game myself many times since I was 12 years old when it first came out. I’m 35 now and am no worse for wear. I’m what most would consider to be a normal, tax paying, law abiding citizen with a young family. If my son wants to play this game at some point, I will gladly let him, in fact I’ll probably help him roll his first characters! The only danger to playing Dungeons and Dragons is the possibility of being labeled as a ‘nerd’. To me that is a far better label than say, oh I don’t know, ‘mindless bible-thumper’?
Well now, quaint, amusing, and Bible thumper are some of the more mild adjectives used to describe me. Ive been called far worse things on this very weblog! 🙂
And Dave V if my children really had an interst in playing this game I would do research on my own. But since they dont even know the game exists I really have no need or desire to research it.
Jethro I fear you may be right and that your brother, my dear cousin, may have purposely been bating me and I fell into the trap.
I’ve been playing D&D since the early 1980’s, and I’m proud to say that I no longer engage in the drinking of human blood or mystical ceremonies designed to attract the attention of the gods. Instead, I regularly go to church, participate in a ritual in which I profess to be consuming the blood and body of Christ while I take communion (whereupon the grape juice and unleavened bread are transformed into human blood and flesh), watch as the high priest lights incense and walks down the isle swinging a brazier, have holy water sprinkled on me and pray that God grants me good health.
Thank God I live in the real world now. That fantasy stuff was just WAY out there. Can you imagine having a ritual to exorcise a demon or weird stuff like that? No way!
Sure Orcus, you don’t literally drink the blood of other humans, but I bet you eat pigs! And you Tiffany? Denise? Buncha hypocrites.
Of course I eat pigs, you fool! The abominations of Leviticus mean nothing to me other than the superceeded teachings of a dusty religion. I love pigs. I love them roasted, fried, baked, hung and cured. Mmmmmmmm, bacon. There’s nothing quite like a little bacon in the morning (except maybe a LOT of bacon in the morning), the smell of sizzling fat mixing with the wafting odor of my decidedly civilized English Breakfast tea. Tasty stuff.
But that doesn’t detract from my belief in transubstantiation. Sure it’s a little embarrassing when they toss some holy water on me and I dance around screaming “It burns, it burns”, but such is the price I pay for my beliefs.