Here’s a quick recap of feaÂtures from this past week:
Catch Khaled HosÂseiÂni talkÂing about his latÂest bestÂseller, A ThouÂsand SplenÂdid Suns, which comes on the heals of the The Kite RunÂner. The interÂview was conÂductÂed by JefÂfrey TraÂchtÂenÂberg at The Wall Street JourÂnal.
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The Leonard Lopate Show (iTunes — feed — web site), comÂing out of New York City, has recentÂly aired a good series of interÂviews with authors of new, imporÂtant books. Lopate knows how to give a good interÂview. Give a lisÂten.
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We recentÂly stumÂbled upon a big trove of politÂiÂcal disÂsent. This colÂlecÂtion feaÂtures over 200 talks — some in audio, some in video — givÂen by MIT’s Noam ChomÂsky. The talks, which focus on polÂiÂtics (and not his work on linÂguisÂtics) range from the 1970s to today. For an archive of his politÂiÂcal writÂings, which includes many comÂplete online texts, click here.
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A quick fyi: We recentÂly did an interÂview with The ChronÂiÂcle of HighÂer EduÂcaÂtion where we talked about uniÂverÂsiÂty podÂcasts and relatÂed trends. You can catch the interÂview here (iTunes — mp3), and I would also encourÂage you to explore their othÂer podÂcastÂed interÂviews.
You can look through our genÂerÂal colÂlecÂtion of uniÂverÂsiÂty podÂcasts here. Our othÂer podÂcast colÂlecÂtions include: Arts & CulÂture — Audio Books — ForÂeign LanÂguage Lessons — News & InforÂmaÂtion — SciÂence — TechÂnolÂoÂgy — UniÂverÂsiÂty (Law School) — PodÂcast Primer
The New York Times surÂveyed a series of well-known writÂers and asked them what books they’ve read and enjoyed lateÂly. Here is what they had to recÂomÂmend. For the record, the list of writÂers includes, among othÂers, Nora Ephron, Dave Eggers, UrsuÂla K. Le Guin, Jonathan Safran Foer, Colm ToibÂin, and JefÂfrey Eugenides.
Among the titles you’ll find recÂomÂmendÂed are The OmniÂvore’s DilemÂma (Michael PolÂlan), The Cave (Jose SaraÂmÂaÂgo), KalooÂki Nights (Howard JacobÂson), Natasha’s Dance: A CulÂturÂal HisÂtoÂry of RusÂsia (OrlanÂdo Figes), Lincoln’s Sword (DouÂglas WilÂson), The Lay of the Land (Richard Ford), One Big Self (C. D. Wright), and Rembrandt’s Nose: Of Flesh and SpirÂit in the Master’s PorÂtraits (Michael TayÂlor).
The WestÂern TraÂdiÂtion is a free series of videos that traces the arc of westÂern civÂiÂlizaÂtion. StartÂing in Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, the surÂvey proÂceeds to covÂer the ByzanÂtine Empire and Medieval Europe, then the RenaisÂsance, EnlightÂenÂment, and IndusÂtriÂal RevÂoÂluÂtion, and finalÂly ends up in 20th cenÂtuÂry Europe and AmerÂiÂca. PreÂsentÂed by UCLA proÂfesÂsor Eugen Weber, an impresÂsive EuroÂpean hisÂtoÂriÂan, the video series includes over 2,700 images from the MetÂroÂpolÂiÂtan MuseÂum of Art that illusÂtrate some of the West’s great culÂturÂal achieveÂments. Each of the 52 videos runs about 30 minÂutes. So you’re getÂting an amazÂing 26 hours of conÂtent for free.
You can stream all of the videos from this page.
You can find The WestÂern TraÂdiÂtion listÂed in our colÂlecÂtion, 1,700 Free Online CoursÂes from Top UniÂverÂsiÂties.
If you would like to sign up for Open Culture’s free email newsletÂter, please find it here. It’s a great way to see our new posts, all bunÂdled in one email, each day.
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The Cannes Film FesÂtiÂval just wrapped up in France, and it turned out to be a very good one, the best in recent memÂoÂry.
In this interÂview, John PowÂers, NPR’s film critÂic-at-large, gives a good, spirÂitÂed debrief (iTunes — Stream) on a fesÂtiÂval that feaÂtured, among othÂer things, sevÂerÂal highÂly-acclaimed AmerÂiÂcan films, includÂing ones by the Coen BrothÂers (No CounÂtry for Old Men), Gus Van Sant (ParaÂnoid Park), and Michael Moore (Sicko). Also, PowÂers touchÂes on the RomanÂian film that took top honÂors at the fesÂtiÂval (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) as well as Quentin TaranÂtiÂno’s splenÂdid disÂapÂpointÂment (Death Proof). You can find the full list of 2007 prize winÂners here. For an anothÂer point of view, you can check out the New York Times podÂcast from Cannes (iTunes — mp3). Here you get A.O. ScotÂt’s and Manohla DarÂgis’ final thoughts on the fesÂtiÂval, plus their othÂer podÂcasts from the RivÂiera. And while you’re at it, you can review a colÂlecÂtion of their print covÂerÂage. LastÂly, here’s a French perÂspecÂtive on the fesÂtiÂval that comes from Europe 1. (Yes, it is in French.) RelatÂed TopÂic: Check out our colÂlecÂtion of 100 Top CulÂture Blogs, which includes many film blogs, and |
Here’s a logÂiÂcal folÂlow up to our last post — 10 Free UniÂverÂsiÂty CoursÂes on iTunes.
It turns out that yesÂterÂday Apple niceÂly inteÂgratÂed iTunes U into iTunes. Now, you’ll probÂaÂbly ask what is iTunes U, and why should I care about this inteÂgraÂtion? So here is the simÂple answer:
iTunes U is essenÂtialÂly a non-comÂmerÂcial verÂsion of iTunes that sevÂerÂal uniÂverÂsiÂties startÂed to use over the past year. And, in fact, some of the best uniÂverÂsiÂty podÂcast colÂlecÂtions (nameÂly, BerkeÂley’s and StanÂford’s) were launched on this platÂform. The probÂlem was that you couldÂn’t access these podÂcasts from the iTunes store that everyÂone’s accusÂtomed to using. So, if you opened iTunes and searched for StanÂford podÂcasts, you got bubkis.
The disÂtincÂtion between iTunes and iTunes U was largeÂly artiÂfiÂcial, and so it made perÂfect sense to mesh togethÂer the two platÂforms. (Read the press release here.) What doesÂn’t parÂticÂuÂlarÂly make sense is the way in which the two platÂforms now fit togethÂer — or actuÂalÂly kind of don’t. If you do a search for “MIT,” for examÂple, you’ll see that some MIT podÂcasts come up in a search results buckÂet called “PodÂcasts” (these are from MIT’s busiÂness school) and othÂers come up in a buckÂet called “iTunes U.” So, put simÂply, the MIT podÂcasts aren’t grouped togethÂer in one colÂlecÂtion. (Try it out and you will see what I mean.)
But why comÂplain, the new inteÂgraÂtion is no doubt a good step in the right direcÂtion.
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