Wordless News

I heard about the site Wordless News on NPR earlier this month, and I occasionally look at the sight. The artist gets up early in the morning and listens to NPR and choses a story to illustrate. She'll work on the image from about 5:00-10:00 a.m., then post the image  on her blog before she gets on with the work she does for her graphic art clients. I particularly enjoyed this one honoring Pete Seeger.

Radiolab

My go-to listening on my iPod for working out or walking has been NPR's podcast: Most-Emailed Stories. For some reason, they have not put up a new podcast since June 26, which leads me to wonder if they are going to continue or not. If they aren't going to do this podcast anymore, I have to find other podcasts. Well, I do listen to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me (only once a week) and the Piano Puzzler (also once a week and only 6 minutes long).

A few months ago my daughter altered me to a Radiolab episode on tempos in Beethoven's music. I decided to check out more Radiolab episodes and listened to them on Saturday during my Wilderness Trail hike. Pretty good stuff. I am now a podcast subscriber. This won't replace the news that I am looking for, but the segments are pretty interesting (the ones I listened to were about moments of true bliss, ants - which are more fascinating that you might imagine, the nature of the universe, and cicadas).

Paula Poundstone and Harvey Mudd and Donuts

Welcome to a meandering, feel-good post, dedicated to fun and laughs and lots of links.

Are you a fan of NPR's Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me? I listen to the Saturday quiz show religiously either on radio or podcast, and one of my very, very favorite panelists is Paula Poundstone. She cracks me up. So, of course, when we found out that she was performing at the Haugh Performing Arts Center at Citrus College, we were there. Last night. Good times.

Paula's show involves some, I assume, scripted pieces ranging from gays in scouting to what our esteemed forefathers might have thought about the second amendment to her three children, 16 cats, 2 dogs and other assorted pets. However, Paula's comedic genius derives from her improvisatory conversations with audience members. She first spoke with a man who works in the dean of students office at UCLA and riffed throughout the evening about the tidbits he offered about students he dealt with who were cheating on tests. One man would not answer her questions, and when she asked his wife if he was going to talk, the wife said, "He says he's not going to bite." She has a great way of taking what someone says and totally misconstruing it, making me laugh so much that by the end of the 2 hours, my cheeks hurt.

This photo shows that we had fabulous seats - 3rd row.

Paula made some comment about a delicious strawberry donut she had been given backstage. She asked about this famous donut, and the audience tried to tell her where the store is located, and soon she was talking to a retired x-ray technician who had worked in a doctor's office where the Donut Man was a patient. Paula wanted to know if she could tell us about the inner workings of Donut Man and whether he had a hole in his body, etc. until soon she discovered that  Mr. Donut Man (Jim Nakano) was in the audience and she started to riff with him.

So, if you are still with me, here is the meandering part. I have not yet been to the Donut Man on Alosta in Glendora, but I have seen the Huell Houser interview, and this place is famous in the Harvey Mudd community because the Gonzo Unicycle Madness Club rides the 8.7 miles once a year from Claremont to Glendora just to eat these strawberry donuts. Watch a great little youtube video about this adventure here.

Signals

It's the season for catalogs, and a few weeks ago I received the Signals catalog, the public television store. I haven't gotten this or Wireless (NPR) for a few years, so I was happy to peruse the offerings. I really enjoy the funny sayings on the various shirts, mugs and whatnot, and I thought it would be fun to list some of my favorites here.

Enjoy!

Earth without Art is just "Eh"
Who says nothing is impossible? I've been doing nothing all day!
I'm not short. I'm fun size!
Yes, it's true. I'm not on Facebook.
Libraries are my candy store.
E = Fb - The Musical Theory of Relativity
The library. It's like taking your brain to the gym.
I dream of a society where a chicken can cross the road without its motives questioned.
Sarcasm is the mind's natural defense against stupidity.
I have a degree in Philosophy. Why do you want fries with that?
Irony. The opposite of wrinkly.
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
There. Their. They're not the same.
The Hokey Pokey Clinic: A place to turn yourself around.

Untethered Technology

Yes, we are dependent upon our internet connections like most of the world, but when we headed to Death Valley, we knew that we would have to cut the cord. Our cell phones don't work there, we knew the wi-fi would be limited (nearly nonexistent, actually), and the room had no tv. I don't think there were many radio stations, but we didn't check.

That was fine. We like being unplugged for a few days so we can relax and enjoy our surroundings and each other's company.

However, we did use technology for our entertainment. First of all I put an audio copy of John Grisham's Calico Joe on my iPod so we could listen during our drive. When that novel ran out, we caught up on NPR podcasts of Most Emailed Stories, and I listened to my newest favorite album recently purchased on iTunes.

We also had some DVDs of the tv show we are working on - The Good Wife - which we watched on the laptop. This was especially helpful when it got dark early. Although we also had that old technology of ink on paper which is bound together into a book, it is hard for me to read for more than an hour at a stretch, although I did finish the Oliver Sacks book during the vacation.

Documentaries

While H was spending a long weekend umpiring in Oklahoma City last weekend, I decided to get caught up a little bit on my Netflix streaming queue.  I watched five documentaries, three worth blogging about. My favorite one, Chops, is about a high school jazz band preparing for a major competition.  I wrote more about that one on my music blog on Monday, June 25.

Last year sometime I heard Kevin Clash on NPR's Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me. He is Elmo's puppeteer, and when I saw that there was a documentary about him, I thought it would be worth watching. It most certainly was. Being Elmo is about as charming as you might imagine.

For some reason I had a documentary in my queue (perhaps it was suggested by Netflix, I'm not sure) entitled Bill Cunningham New York. Not really knowing anything about it except that Netflix thought I would rate it a 4, I started it up and then found out it was about the photographer for "On the Street" in the Sunday NY Times. These are the photos of people who are wearing similar kinds of clothing. Bill  Cunningham rides his bike through the streets of NY looking for style and taking photos on the fly.  I also recommend this film about an interesting character.

So, when the heat gets to you this summer, three recommendations for ways to amuse yourself.

Thank You, Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen

 I do not remember how long I have been listening to Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR, but I don't remember doing so before Liane Hansen was the host.  I remember listening to the Puzzle Master Presents with Will Shortz and Liane back in the day when entrants had to mail in postcards with their answers.  When the radio plays the Sunday theme music on piano, I lie in bed and know that it is (usually) a day of rest and that the reading of the Sunday paper awaits.

Audie Cornish

Now Liane is retiring, and today was her last broadcast.  Instead of saying "good-bye" she told her audience, "thank you."   Thank YOU, Liane for 20 years of Sunday mornings.    Time to say Welcome to Audie Cornish (starting this fall).  Onward!

(After listening to all the voices on NPR, I always find it interesting to match the photos and spellings with the sounds I've become familiar with.)

Click and Enjoy

I have been listening to "This I Believe" on NPR, and last week's was my most favorite one. It's called "Singing: The Key to a Long Life."