This American Life nominated for three Emmys

We are SO excited for Ira Glass and the rest of the This American Life crew on their three Emmy nominations. The night the Emmys are presented is September 8, the night Ira was supposed to be in South Bend. Luckily, we were able to reschedule Ira's visit to Saturday, September 29. Hey, we don't want to be the reason he can't be at the awards ceremony. Tickets are available here.

cynicism run-on

I find it interesting that Diane Rehm and Howard Gardner seemed surprised that young people are cynical given that the previous hour's discussion demonstrated that no one should trust the government, insurance companies and health care providers without question.

Book Club

Book clubs have been coming up in conversation lately. I am an avid reader and am always open to suggestions, so I will make an effort on this blog to list the books that are going to be reviewed or talked about on the programs we carry. NPR has some suggested summer reading lists, but I can't find anything that grabs me. Of course, I will start the new Harry Potter on Saturday, that is after I finish reading Jane Smiley's Good Faith, but I'm always open to suggestions. Got any?

MySpace, baby!

Welcome to 1999! That's right, WVPE has finally jumped on board the MySpace bandwagon now that most of the tweens have left it. (Not that we were waiting for that, it just sort of worked out that way.) The generous folks at Elkhart Community Schools let us use their system to access the internet so unfortunately, I cannot access MySpace at work. I'll do my best to keep up with it at home, though. I'm also working on a Facebook account and some other things I can still get to at the office. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, you want the url? It's www.myspace.com/wvpe. Be our friend!

Harry Potter vs Star Wars

Anyone listen to the Diane Rehm Show today? I find it interesting that they are comparing Harry Potter to Star Wars. I hadn't really considered that.

Let's look at Harry versus Luke: Harry brandishes a wand, Luke has a light saber. Both are magical and stream light when used. Harry and Luke were told lies about the deaths of their parents. Harry and Luke's parents fought evil when they were young. They are both gifted with mystical powers beyond their cohorts which they are ignorant of until some spooky old people show up and educate them. Umm...Both have nappy hair. Both have wise old men in cloaks guiding them who can talk to them after they are dead. Umm...alright, that is all I have off the top of my head.
I would love to hear what you think about this comparison.

Ricky Gervais

Did you catch Ricky Gervais on Fresh Air today? It was a rebroadcast of an interview from December, which I actually caught the first time around, but I still didn't want to miss a minute of it. I love it when his songs. And David Bowie singing about his puffy face and stupid brains is just brilliant, hilarious and entertaining to me.

Diane?

Did anyone catch the Diane Rehm Show today? I love Diane Rehm. She always seems to be well-researched on the areas she is presenting and she questions both sides. I feel that she is usually balanced and fair. However, I didn't feel that fairness today when she interviewed Wendy Shalit, author of Girls Gone Mild.

This is purely my opinion and would love to hear what others think. If you missed it, you can listen to it on her website.