Friday, August 22, 2008

Friday's Favorite #3 and a Giveaway!

Let's start with the really good stuff, a giveaway! Not just ANY giveaway, my very first blogging giveaway! YEAH! Last week forFriday's Favorite I talked about my favorite magazine, Real Simple. (In case you are new to Friday's favorite you can read about it here ) When I went to our HEB grocery later that day, I noticed a Real Simple Family issue in the checkout aisle. I picked it up and bought it. However, this week in the mail I received another copy of the same magazine with my September issue of Real Simple.

I do not need two identical magazines. Maybe shoes, but that's another story.

So, I want to give one away! Just leave a comment and you will be entered. I will leave the contest open until this Saturday, August 23rd at 7:30am (Central time). I will then have my husband randomly select a comment number and we will have our winner. I will post the winner then! Unfortunately I don't have a random integer so my husband will have to do for now. Have fun! You may comment as many times as you wish!

Alright, now that the technical stuff is out of the way, let's move on to todays Friday Favorite.
My favorite today is a radio show from Chicago Public Radio called This American Life.

Where do I even begin in describing this programs greatness? How about with the shows host, Ira Glass? He's witty, an incredible storyteller and interviewer and he and his staff always manage to put together an hour of some of the most engaging, thought provoking stories on the radio.

I first heard This American Life back in 1997. I was listening to a story called Fiasco! . It's the story about a small town attempting to put on a "progressive" version of Peter Pan at a local theater when everything imaginable goes wrong. I was laughing so hard I had to pull my car over and stop so I wouldn't crash. If you go to http://www.thisamericanlife.org/ the Fiasco episode is listed in their archives section as one of their 12 early classics. Check it out. You can also sign up for their free weekly podcast as well as download past episodes and listen to a current episode. Look up http://www.npr.org/ to see if your local National Public Radio station carries This American Life's weekly show. You can also check out the TV show of This American Life on Showtime.

Here are a few of my favorite stories they told, in no particular order...
1. Pray
2. This one has two unbelievable stories. The first is about a place called the "Rubber Room". It's a room in NYC where public teachers are sent while awaiting reassignment or release. The second story is about a place called Chimp Haven, which is a retirement home for chimpanzees. I could not make this up if I tried. The story is calledHuman Resources .
3. The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar.

What about you? Do you have a favorite radio program you can't wait to hear? Maybe it's Prairie Home Companion? Or Car Talk? or Fresh Air? Let me know.
Take care,
Julie

5 comments:

Emmy said...

As you know, Troy is a bit of a dead zone for good AM radio. Unfortunately I have to pull Dave Ramsey off of iTunes, so I only get the first hour of content (stink!!!). But I love listening to Glenn Beck and Rush during the day - oddly, they make great companions when delivering pizzas.

Mrs.Naz@BecomingMe said...

I love Ira Glass and public radio

Suzie said...

I love giveawyas Im in

Kristin said...

public radio? i wouldn't take you for that. who would have thunk?! : )
i love a give away, but i got that magazine too! it's great. too bad. i'll wait for the next one : )

D... said...

A giveaway? What fun!

I don't listen to radio programs. I'm a visual person so it's really hard for me to pay attention to someone talking without seeing their face. I'm weird, I know. ;)