Leonard Lopate[‘s Stand-In] Interviews Lorraine Bracco (6/7)

Have been a fan of Bracco’s for years, before the Sopranos, as she’s got both a great voice and a great physical presence. Since she isn’t normally the subject of the gossip rags, I was unaware that she went through a horrific divorce and custody battle. Has a book out discussing such and her subsequent trips to therapy. It was an entertaining conversation to listen to but a little too much “since you play a psychiatrist on TV, what do you think of this?” on the part of the interviewer.

Wait, Wait…June 4th edition.

For some reason I just thought this entire episode was hilarious and I was having a really hard time not busting out laughing on the El. Craig Ferguson played Not My Job. There was a hilarious bit about a Greenpeace gaffe in a press release. The drought in England was the subject of the “which story is it” part of the show. And there were all kinds of sidecracks and random joke occurrences. Very funny episode. Why aren’t you listening to this podcast? Go!

Netflix: The Cruise.

Somehow, someway, I have GOT to get better at Netflix; this movie has been sitting in my house since sometime in March! Argh!

Anyway, this totally nutso crazy Napoleon Dynamite look-alike leads architectural bus tours in NYC. If you can get past his crazy rantings, there are some neat nuggets of architectural, historical and city planning information…as well as, of course, giving those of us homesick ones some cool B&W views of our former city.

Last Night’s iTunes Buying Frenzy.

If you’re a Keane fan – their new album is very, very, VERY listen-worthy. It is distinctively them, but it is them good.

If you’re a Nelly Furtado fan – her new album is very confusing to me. But note that sell-out is not my choice of word, as others are saying.

If you’re a Gomez fan – then you know more than I do as this is my first Gomez purchase. A purchase that I am quite enjoying. And by quite enjoying I mean I almost can’t breathe during a couple of the songs.

So two thumbs way way up and one thumb that can’t figure out which way is up and which way is down. But more on that one later.

Big Screen: An Inconvenient Truth.

Maybe a little less emphasis on how quietly meditative Gore is (all those longing looks out the windows of planes), but otherwise I did enjoy this movie, and I do believe he is a thoughtful person despite the movie’s overemphasis on trying to prove that to you.

If you have any fucking clue at all, you already know a lot of what he talks about here. Obviously the problem being that 90% of America chooses to be fucking oblivious.

Loved the graph about the difference between a) whether or not scientists agree about global warming and b) how the media reports whether or not scientists agree about global warming. Liberal media, MY FUCKING ASS. Those graphs would be identical, did we really have a liberal media. They (the graphs) are not (identical). They (the media) are not (liberal).

It will be interesting to see if Congress wakes up to this issue. I know “the administration” won’t. Jackhats.

Quirky Nomads (6/9): 8 Words a Month.

Remember Sally Struthers? For just 25 cents a day…

This is the “help the podcasters by leaving them comments” pitch, asking for just eight words a month.

Pretty funny, but I don’t know that I needed the full 19 minutes of it…

Quirky Nomads (6/7): Books.

I didn’t know about this show until Claudia recorded a story for it (that’s in the 6/8 podcast, I believe).
A funny rant about the publishing industry using massproduced cakes versus handproduced cupcakes as an analogy. (Those sound very, very similar to the cupcakes made at the store down the block from me. I’m just sayin is all, as Claudia would say.)

Leonard Lopate Interviews Jean Said Makdisi (6/5)

Makdisi’s written two memoirs: Beirut Fragments: A War Memoir (self explanatory, no?) and Teta, Mother and Me, the story of three generations of her family.

This interview was somewhat fractious – they seemed to be talking at cross purposes. Lopate wanted to focus on the repression of women in Arab countries and Makdisi wanted to emphasize that “modernism” doesn’t have to mean “Westernism.” She was a little unwilling to ever give ground, and refused to accept any generalizations. Which in a conversation about an enormous topic isn’t always possible. He, on the other hand, didn’t seem to know how to pick his battles in this one.

Leonard Lopate Interviews Two War Correspondents (6/2)

Two New York Times writers covering the conflict in the Middle East. Dexter Filkins (who writes for the paper) who’s been in Iraq (and on his way back) and Elizabeth Rubin (who writes for the magazine) who’s in Afghanistan and moving on to Pakistan.
Really interesting. Discusses the dangers that exist right now, particularly for American reporters. The things they’re seeing or not seeing. Who will talk to them, who won’t. What they have to do to get around the country. Pretty intense.
Sad that more than half of America is still pretending this war isn’t even going on. While the other half silently mourns.