Episode 36: Letters

Totally unscripted, real and random.

Those are the best ones, as this one is.

This episode is Ira, along with a playwright out of Chicago, bring the writer's shows of people reading random letters to This American Life. Ira pulls names out of a hat and people get on stage with their letters, some written by themselves, some by others- there's even some found letters, too.

The hour passes quickly with the letters and share little pieces of different folks' lives.

Let's just say it- I want more!

Episode 33: A Night at the Weiner Circle

Oh, I know...hello possibly awkward title.

Alas, here's what Ira shares, talking in 2006, at the beginning of the episode...this one was made for just the local Chicago audience and would form into another episode down the road a few weeks (hence how this ep. is sandwiched between shows dedicated to the Republican and Democratic parties), but it looks as if the full episode never came to fruition.

 This is a sad thing to note, seeing as the later episodes that are composed of spending an entire 24 hours in a diner and busy rest stop are so great, an entire night at the entertaining night shift at the Weiner Circle would make great fodor for an episode...so try again in 2011, Ira? Please?

There is a little bit of a story about the diner and its boisterous employees, in their own words, that made me laugh out loud more than once, but will all the editing and beeping over cursing, I can see how an episode would be a little harder to pull together just covering their life at the restaurant. 

There are a few other acts involved in this show, but honestly, the one thing that still stands out to me, 48 hours later, is the folks working at this establishment and how true it seems that they really were giving "dinner and a show", as stated by one of the patrons interviewed.

Basically, skip the last act or two and give the first bit a listen. Guarantee those folks will make you laugh.

(plus the songs are pretty great on this one, too).

Episode 17: "Name Change/No Theme"

FINALLY the name change! I feel better about things and doing this project now that the name of the show was officially, finally, changed to "This American Life". Good riddance, "Your Radio Playhouse"- I can see how those public radio folks hated the name.

As the title states for this one the name changed and there wasn't a theme- there's around 5 different stories going on in the three acts and they're alright but nothing that spectacular.  The follow up to the Navy Pier story from the week before was an interesting thing, sharing the fact that the pier had announced, after the episode promoting how much they were giving back to the city of Chicago, that they were having to cut a lot of the job force due to loss of money. Then Ira dropped that people paid $16 to park for this place. Then I lost any sympathy I had towards to the government and their running of the place. Anyways- I liked the follow up, the city of Chicago still not wanting to give into having to tell about their possibly boo-boo in the economy.

Overall, this show's a listen to it and just let it go on shows...the stories that were told, of no particular theme that is, could possibly pop back up at some random times on you.

No harm, no foul, thank the Lord they changed the name.

Episode 16: "Economy"

Considering that I'm not a highly political person, this episode was produced in 1996 and at that point I was still enjoying my elementary school years, I enjoyed episode 16 quite a bit. I was skeptical when reading the synopsis of the different acts, talking about presidential elections and such, yet the story on the economy was very reminiscent of something that would be reported on, say, a year ago. The unemployment that is represented in this episode was actually presented in a bit scarier way than it was in the recent recession we are recovering from.

Act 1, eh let's skip it. Dole vs. Clinton...yadda yadda yadda...moving on.

Acts 2 and 4 were my favorites- 2  told from the point of view of two temps that TAL hired for a few days (and then Ira hustles for them to get some work, via the show). It was a great look into the lives of guys who are just trying to earn a living and make it in the world but they can't catch quite the right break. It's obvious they wanted to do the work and wanted to succeed- more than once they say that they will work anywhere, for any price. Frankly, I think if more people had the opportunity to get to know folks more than just on the surface, as is seen through this story, the people who deserve the best things in life would get them- and to them the best things would simply be what is necessary to just get by comfortably.

Act 4 is a rundown of the $156 million renovation of the Navy Pier in Chicago and the economic influence that projected onto the city and state of Illinois. It is a pretty interesting listen, considering it is the place that WBEZ studios are located and Ira gets a kick out of explaining the layout to the listeners.


(Oh, and Act 3..eh...those poets and their artistic writings...I prefer the straight forward and straight talking...like the Johnny Cash song getting played in Act 2).

And one other note for this episode- Ira exhibits an underlying sense of humor for this week's show. Plus now he'll make me giggle everytime I hear the "Market Place" 'doing the numbers' music...

Episode 8: "New Year"

Yay for making it to 1996! Admittedly, I've been a little distracted by catching up with my new favorite show, Mad Men, and other new fall line up tv episodes, but I have found a time for this bit of  TAL listening.

You would think starting the show off with coverage of the new Beatles interviews that had just come out on cd when the show came out, but the way Ira talked about, quoting the number of the "limited edition" cd that they had purchased (something like 52,000 or something ridiculous) makes it seem kind of silly to make such a hubub about the band. Add to that the comments from the band themselves through the snippets that Ira played and, well, they kind of seem like a big deal for nothing.  You can hear the fab four indirectly saying "stop asking us about dumb stuff that's everyday- we aren't anything that special", which is a somewhat lens to see them through. Now we're getting somewhere in what I'm searching for to reflect on via this blog- something seen through another lens for once.

The stories of high school student Claudia are the best part of the entire episode, though. She takes a look into the Mexican area of Chicago, which gives looks into many different folks lives and reflects on the previous year. Ira also gets to ask the hard questions to Claudia herself at the end of the show, which proves to be an interesting listen, too. After learning more about her hometown area and her life, I would be very interested in what exactly the then 18 year old is doing now.

The other of the stories is about being the first to integrate into new situations, particular for an African Americans woman and her integration to a new, white neighborhood. Ira made the comment he had been working on the story for a year and while it was an alright listen, it was one that you had to have your head in the game and try to hang on every word of to make it all work out (I have a tendency to be on other websites or painting while spending all this time listening to TAL, so if a story doesn't completely suck me in, I have a predisposition to get lost).

Overall, this episode is one I can vouch for, just be leery that the middle story is one you have to pay a lot of attention to.