Thursday, April 3, 2008

Techie Thursday

I love podcasts. I love smart, funny discussions, I love a good story, I love having all of my favorite NPR shows available at my whim---sometimes in rapid succession.

Social Studies at KCRW
I think I began collecting these 'casts thinking they'd be... serious. No---they're much better than that. Written and performed by Iris Bahr, KCRW describes the rather brief recurring segments thus:

"Social Studies" is a four-minute, rapid-fire satire about power, politics, and popular culture, seen through the lens of characters who spring from the mind of actress, playwright and author Iris (e-reese) Bahr. Raised in both the Bronx and Tel Aviv, Iris has traversed the globe and has a unique take on just about everything...."Social Studies" characters include Svetlana, Russian prostitute to Hollywood stars and political heavyweights.
Svetlana is hilarious, not overly ribald; check this out and see if you'd like to subscribe--either through RSS feed/podcatcher or iTunes (nb I have noticed that sometimes there are long delays in iTunes grabbing the updated KCRW podcasts):

General Freebie, KCRW Social Studies

Sound Opinions on Chicago Public Radio and American Public Media

Hosted by Jim DeRogatis (Chicago Sun-Times, pop music critic) and Greg Kot (Chicago Tribune, pop music critic), Sound Opinions is an hour long weekly gabfest about rock music. Yes, boys and girls, intelligent conversation about ROCK. I agree with these guys something less than half of the time and I sometimes find them just plain annoying but the 'casts are always full of food for thought and context for musical critique. They were terribly rude about Herbie Hancock's "The River" and the soundtrack to "Juno" but I keep listening. Also available from iTunes, the show's website is packed not only with archived episodes but tons of information.

In general, both KCRW and Chicago Public Radio produce some of my favorite podcasts, along with NPR, natch. More podcast chat another time...


Question
Doesn't Geneva look like a nice place to hang around?

Rob and I are thinking of making a little trip.

1 comment:

Marietta said...

i think they speak german in geneva - you will definitley need a translator...hint hint