“Comedian, actor and satirist Chris Elliott has made a career of blurring truth and absurdity. Elliott wrote and performed for Late Night With David Letterman, and went on to perform in other television programs, including Saturday Night Live.” Here he is in conversation with writer Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius). The video is courtesy of Fora.TV, and you can watch it here.
Jonathan Franzen Reads
In a quick three minutes, you can watch the sometimes cocky author of The Corrections read from an essay on bird watching, courtesy of BigThink.com, where you can also find more videos with intellectual heft.
For more thoughtful video, also see our YouTube playlist and the related collection: Intelligent Life at YouTube: 70 Educational Video Collections.
China’s Space Walk: Fresh Footage
As US stock declines, China’s stock keeps going up. It’s the story of the decade, really. Here’s footage from China’s first space walk this past week …
What Happens on Mars
From The Daily Dish:
“Clouds move across the sky on Mars. The sun rises. Snow falls — but never touches the ground.”
George Orwell’s 1984: Download Free Audio Book Version
I first posted this one during the dead of summer, so it seemed worth revisiting this now that we’re all a bit more focused .…
Over at the Internet Archive, you can find George Orwell’s classic, 1984, available as a free audio book. As you’ll see, the recording is professionally done. You can download the full zip file here. Or alternatively you can get the individual mp3 files, or stream them, from this page. On a more permanent basis, you can find Orwell’s 1949 work housed in our Free Audio Book Collection along with lots of other free texts. Or see it on our list of Life Changing Books.
New Fiction in Five Parts
This post is a twofer. First, I get to tell you about FiveChapters.com, a web site that posts new fiction in kind of a novel way. Almost a throwback to the 19th century, FiveChapters publishes short fiction in serial format. Each week, they present a story in five parts, and you can follow along as the week unfolds. Now (and here’s the second part), let me mention that FiveChapters showcased last week a story from Scott Hutchins, a good writer and colleague of mine. It’s called $30,000. Here it goes.
Used Book Sculptures
Thanks to a heads up from one of our loyal readers (thanks Bob!) you can see a new artistic trend that’s turning books back into trees. Good stuff.
MAD Parodies the Bailout: “Smells Like Greed Spirit”
Straight from BoingBoing: The new MAD Magazine artwork below. Glad someone can find a little humor in this…
(PS Also see BoingBoing’s piece on the changing WaMu web site.)
The Financial Crisis Explained
NPR’s Fresh Air has been doing a very good job of demystifying the financial crisis. Here, we have an interview with the Pulitzer Prize-winning financial journalist, Gretchen Morgenson. As you’ll see, the program (iTunes — RSS Feed — Stream Here) does an excellent job of connecting many small dots, explaining precisely how the recklessness of Wall Street threatens to spill over into Main Street and beyond, harming our individual and collective financial future. Even if you live outside the US, this all probably applies to you. Definitely worth a listen.
Related Content:
Ten Days That Shook The Financial World
This American Life Demystifies The Credit Crisis
The 2008 Bailouts V. The Great Depression Bailouts
The Life of “W” According to Oliver Stone
Rather slick trailer. (And got to wonder how filming the pretzel scene didn’t hurt.) “W,” Oliver Stone’s new biopic, hits the theaters this fall.
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