Monday Night Video – Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me

August 27, 2012 by 1 Comment

I’m excited about the release of comedian Mike Birbiglia’s film, Sleepwalk With Me. Like many people, I first came across Birbiglia’s easygoing charm in an August 2008 This American Life episode entitled Fear of Sleep. This American Life included Birbiglia’s tale of a sleep disorder and the havoc it created on his personal life. The story came from his one-man show, which also formed the basis for the movie.

I feel fortunate that Sleepwalk With Me is opening on August 31 at the Aquarius in Palo Alto. Ira Glass co-wrote the script and This American Life is asking its fans to make sure the film has as wide a distribution as possible. It has a 6.5 rating right now on IMDB, which isn’t great for an independent flick, but I like the people involved enough to make sure and give it a go. As you can see from the trailer, there’s even a part in it for Marc Maron!

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Friday Night Video – Jack McBrayer & Triumph Visit The Wieners Circle

June 22, 2012 by Leave a comment

If you saw Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, then you saw Conan tease 30 Rock star Jack McBrayer to the point where the audience, if not the participants, got really really uncomfortable. Still fascinated with McBrayer’s niceness, Conan sent him to Chicago’s The Wieners Circle, which sells hot dogs while engaging in insults with the patrons. (If I were in a more scholarly mood, I might parse the intersections of race and class in this piece.) The workers are pretty proficient at performing for the cameras, and central to the ride is Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.

MCBRAYER: I’m letting you know, I would just like a hot dog….I’m coming back with a friend and you will be very sorry.

H/T: Under the LobsterScope

Bonus Friday Night Video! This American Life already noticed and investigated the race and class angle.  So now, if I were in a more scholarly mood, I might look to see if some enterprising Ph.D. student at Northwestern wrote a dissertation on The Wieners Circle. Someone has to have, right?

Warning: watching this full video may cause Friday Night Depression, as it’s a case study of how uncurbed capitalism makes money off of racism.

ROBERTA JACKSON: You have to do what you have to do.

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Podcast Moments: This American Life on the Dos Erres Massacre

June 8, 2012 by 4 Comments

This American Life is one of those radio shows that I love but don’t always follow as it comes out every week. I download the podcast, sure, but then I listen to it in bunches, every few months. For me, TAL requires more old school contemplation in order to follow their story-telling. It’s certainly not Doug Loves Movies, where half the fun is seeing if Doug is going to be too stoned to remember the rules of his own games and it doesn’t matter if I listen to it in three minute snippets. TAL requires more headspace.

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Podcast Moments: This American Life, “Take the Money and Run For Office”

April 10, 2012 by Leave a comment

This American Life’s recent episode “Take the Money and Run” does one of he things that TAL does so well, which is to combine investigative reporting with compelling storytelling. If you’re interested in the details of political fundraising — not just who raises how much, but how, for example, the check is actually handed over — then this is the show for you.

I do take slight issue with how they initially present the old “two sides of the argument” argument.

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