Tag Archives: This American Life

General, Uncategorized

It Was a Nice Weekend

Leave a comment

Had a time overall this past weekend– on Friday, I went out for a couple drinks with some people from work at Bar Louie, in the Bayshore mall.  Kyle met me there just before 7 and picked me up to drive back toward my place and hang out.  Good to see the K-Man; Michelle and I agreed that it will be nice when Robin comes out of hiding in the future, too…  😛

We decided to have a couple beers at the American Legion post 331, just across Wilson Ave from my house.  Ever since I moved to Shorewood, Michelle and I have been talking (partly tongue-in-cheek) about dropping in there for the fish fry on a Friday night.  When Kyle and I got there, there was still quite a bit of fish being slung, and the atmosphere did not disappoint.  We had pint-tappers of High Life for 2.50.  Not bad at all.  Michelle joined us a bit later, but by then, it was about time for everyone to head out and get some sleep before our respective Saturdays.

Michelle had to get up even earlier than me (!!) in order to make it to Watertown for judging a cheer competition.  I just needed to be ready for Sarah & Brian to pick me up at around 12:30 for our trip to Fort Atkinson.  We were en route to Brad & Mindy’s place for a day out to bid farewell to Todd & Marcia; they are heading to Laos, where Marcia will be working on a project for her PhD.  They’re going to be gone for several months, so it was nice for everyone to get together for an evening out.  Photos from this event are in the Day to Day gallery ((Speaking of photos, I’ve uploaded some from our Twin Cities weekend, too; I only had a few, but they are in the TwinCities gallery)).

On Sunday, we made a quick shopping detour in Johnson Creek before making it back to Milwaukee.  We caught most of the Super Bowl (well, at least half of it) over at Chris/Bob/Justin’s place.  The second half of the game was pretty exciting!  I felt bad for Jason Hill, who was the only Steelers fan in the place.  Personally, I didn’t have a horse in that race, so I was rooting for some of friends who were watching (whoooo!!  Eat that lii’ smoky weiner!!!).

One thing I did discover over the balance of the weekend is that I will need more discipline in order to stick to a schedule on those off-days.  It’s hard to carve up your time the right way when you might go out and not know exactly when you’re getting in (or how late you’ll sleep).  I might just have to “power through” and do my best on those days…

Well, plenty to get done around here before the end of my short day; I have to leave work around 3:30 to head to Madison for a “Recruitment & Outreach” presentation.  Gonna be a late night, but I’m taking some This American Life with me, so I should be golden…

General, Hollywood, Uncategorized

Some Worthwhile Consumables and Weekend Notes

1 Comment

I finally listened to episode #368 of This American Life, “Who Do You Think You Are?” on my way in and for the first half hour or so of my work day.  About half the show was excerpts from a series that Studs Terkel, a recently deceased, longtime Chicago radio man hosted in the 1970s called “Hard Times.”  He did interviews with ordinarily American citizens about their experiences from the Great Depression.  It was fantastic to hear these unique perspectives of witnessed history.  Listening to a piece like this makes me think about how valuable the mass media archives of the 20th century could potentially be as the future rolls on.

And I guess that I’m thinking about it relative to photography in a sense: sure, we have photographs from as far back as the mid-19th century, and it is amazing to look into the faces of the people who lived at those times.  But what still photos lack (a clear idea of what the people who lived in those times THOUGHT about them), sound recordings and motion pictures of the 20th century have in spades.  As generations of people pass on and memory continues to fade, we retain an ability that no era in the past could boast: we can engage those past generations in conversation through recordings.  Pretty amazing stuff, if you think about it.

And speaking of voices from the past informing the events of the present, an interesting little piece here from New Scientist about how the worldwide economic doldrums we find ourselves in were predicted (with computer assistance) in 1972.

Beyond that, had an enjoyable and somewhat productive weekend.  Michelle and I went to see Quantum of Solace on Saturday.  Not usually a movie she’d be interested in, but we had a good time at the last Bond.  I thought it was good, but I agree with most of the critics I’ve read that Casino Royale was better.  The review I saw in The Onion tried to parallel the 2nd Daniel Craig-Bond flick with The Dark Knight, both being the first sequel in a largely-reimagined franchise.  I dunno if that’s a fair comparison, in part because Batman has such a long, rich body of source material to work from: the Joker is a well-established and defined character; James Bond is up against a new villian every time out.  So anyway, Bond was good; not great, but good.

Michelle was on pins and needles through most of the movie.  She hasn’t watched a lot of action films, so when she DOES see one, it is literally a heart-pounding thrill ride.  It’s fun for everybody.  After we left the theater, we talked about some other movies like this one that she might try, and we agreed that action flicks with lots of explosions, chases, fights, and general debauchery are a great reason to have a bigger TV.

OK, well, the kids are starting to back up in the office.  Best get to it…

General, Uncategorized

More This American Life Props

Leave a comment

It feels like it was just the other day that I was here talking about a great episode of This American Life.  Gotta say that I really enjoyed the show from this past weekend, too.  They talked about the roots of the credit crisis, and for a financial novice like myself, I found the show to accessible and informative.  I came away with a much more thorough understanding of the events that led us to our current economic state of affairs.

One additional question that I had afterwards was, “What were the comparable specifics that led to the economic downturns of the 1930s and the 1970s?”  I’m sure I learned these things in history classes (10-15 years ago) but I don’t really recall.  It’s baffling to realize that even though we, as a species, recognize that mistakes in history tends to repeat themselves, mistakes keep happening, and the cycle goes round and round.

Give a listen to episode #355, “The Giant Pool of Money,” if you get a chance.

General, Uncategorized

A Very Special "This American Life"

Leave a comment

I haven’t been able to listen to the show as regularly since I live in Milwaukee and don’t have a 90-minute drive a few times a week.  But I digress.

The episode from March 28 was called, “The Audacity of Government.”  What it dealt with most of all is the way that the Bush Administration has very shrewdly, very carefully, and very frighteningly reinterpreted the way that executive power can be used in the United States and how and when the Constitution applies to the president.  These are issues that are easy to overlook if you’re not directly affected by them, but they do cut to the core of what sort of democracy we want to have (and what sort President Bush has set the precedent for us to have).  In my mind, this is something that should be central to the current presidential campaign, because of some of the power seized by Bush isn’t returned immediately, it’s never going back, and the way that we govern ourselves will have been fundamentally changed.

Anyway, I get my TAL via podcast, but for now, you’ll need to stream this episode over the web.  I HIGHLY reccommend doing so.  This was one of the best ones I’ve ever heard.