NPR

You are currently browsing articles tagged NPR.

Damn That Rapture

May 22, 2011 | Comment

Today is the day after the day that was supposed to be The Day. Reviewing the coverage of what didn’t happen, the following things came to mind.

NPR/Associated Press:

The hour of the apocalypse came quietly and went the same way — leaving those who believed that Saturday evening would mark the world’s end confused, or more faithful, or just philosophical.

Some had given away earthly belongings, [and] others drained their savings accounts.

“I had some skepticism but I was trying to push the skepticism away because I believe in God,” said Keith Bauer — who hopped in his minivan in Maryland and drove his family 3,000 miles to California for the Rapture.

“I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth,” said Bauer…

Read the rest of this entry »


Top Ten Videos of 2010: 6. The Daily Show, “Male Inequality”

January 2, 2011 | Comment

2010 was a big year for Jon Stewart, and thereby for The Daily Show. I didn’t think Stewart could top the October 30 Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear he and Stephen Colbert led, which drew a crowd of over 200,000 to the National Mall in Washington.

billboard

Billboard welcoming RNC attendees to
Minneapolis in 2008
(Photo: Flickr/The Zeppelin)

As it turned out, Stewart outdid himself in December with an impassioned shredding of Senate Republicans’ unconscionable filibuster of the Zadroga Act to provide medical and financial aid to afflicted Ground Zero emergency workers.1

In 2010 The Daily Show also continued to do one of the things it has done brilliantly for several years: point out and mock people who claim to be oppressed, but clearly aren’t. Examples of such people might include certain investment bankers, Christian mega-churches, professional athletes, or many others that generally have it pretty good. In the case of my number six video of 2010, this treatment is given to a richly deserving group: middle-aged white men.2

Samantha Bee, the Daily Show correspodent in this segment, has long been one of my favorites. She had a few things of her own going on in 2010, most notably the publication of her memoir I Know I Am, But What Are You? Her promotion of the book included a wide-ranging interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air and a cute feature piece in the New York Times Magazine. Daily Show video clips featuring her are here; among those that especially crack my shit up are “Shame Parade,” “John McCain’s Air Quotes” (start at about 2:03 into the clip), and “Long Island Wants to Secede.”


Top Ten Videos of 2010: 10. Improv Everywhere, “Ted’s Birthday”

December 28, 2010 | 2 comments

improveverywhere

Photo:
Scott Beale/Laughingsquid

It’s that time again. In fact, it’s past that time again — I would have liked to have started this year’s list of my favorite video clips earlier in December, like I did last year. I like revealing them countdown-style at a rate of one per day, and the 2009 list was fully unspooled before the New Year.

But that was then. I’ve been busier this year, which is a good thing for me, but not as good for this blog. Nevertheless, if you are one of the millions1 of blog viewers who have been waiting with bated breath for the Second Annual Cheek and Bluster Derek’s Ten Favorite Videos List (or CABDTFVL for short2), your breath need no longer be bated. Let’s kick this mutha off.

The producers of my number ten video, Improv Everywhere, didn’t exactly burst onto the scene in 2010. They’ve had a large following for several years now, particularly since they were featured in a popular 2005 episode of This American Life on NPR. Most of my favorite bits of public theatre they’ve pulled off (links at the end of this post) happened in prior years, with the videos of each posted soon afterward. Fortunately, in late February of 2010 they posted a particularly good rendition of one of their tried-and-true “missions” — a little something called “Ted’s Birthday.”

Improv Everywhere’s website is, simply enough, http://improveverywhere.com. Their very entertaining YouTube channel is here. Among my favorites are their videos “I Love Lunch! The Musical,” “Look Up More,” and “Surprise Wedding Reception.”


Freshly Aired: Big Pharma and Psychiatry

July 16, 2010 | 2 comments

A lot of the public doesn’t realize how sophisticated the [pharmaceutical industry's] marketing techniques have become, really over the last 10 years… Essentially when a pharmaceutical company gets FDA approval for a drug, their marketing department can assure their bosses that they are going to be able to sell the drug, really whether the drug is effective or not.
Dr. Daniel Carlat, psychiatrist
Fresh Air, July 13, 2010

Emphasis in the final sentence is mine.

Dr. Carlat’s current book is Unhinged: The Trouble with Psychiatry – A Doctor’s Revelations about a Profession in Crisis. He was previously the author of a 2007 New York Times Magazine article entitled “Dr. Drug Rep,” about his experience being paid by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to sing the praises of its anti-depressant Effexor to his colleagues; he also talks about it at length in the Fresh Air interview.

Carlat is a psychiatrist in private practice in Newburyport, Massachusetts, an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine, and the publisher of The Carlat Psychiatry Report. Oh, and he’s also a blogger. How he is all of these things at once I cannot fucking imagine.


Google Map of Accents for Actors: Great Idea or Dumb Idea?

May 6, 2010 | 7 comments

accentmap-screenshotHere’s the idea: make a Google Map wherein each placemark on the map contains a link to an audio or video source of that place’s authentic accent/dialect — for example, documentaries which can be rented or found at libraries, or radio segments that are archived online (like at the NPR website, and the sites of some specific public radio shows). The important thing is that the media sources contain the speech of ordinary people (i.e., non-actors). See also the screenshot at right for an example of what a placemark on the map would look like.

Great idea or dumb idea? Vote in the comments. And comment in the comments, if you are moved to do so.


« Older entries