Our foreign language lesson podcasts got a little love yesterday from the great Lifehacker site. Many thanks to them. For any visitors who aren’t familiar with our other podcast collections, here’s a list that you’ll want to peruse.
Ever wondered what Second Life is and if you should care about it? Imagine a 3‑D immersive game where you control an avatar and travel through constructed environments–and now take away the game part. What’s left is a fairly wide-open creative space where users can create and sell in-game stuff–houses, objects, clothing, etc–or engage in group activities ranging from concerts to political activism to prostitution. It’s free to join but to own land (and receive a larger stipend of in-game cash) you have to sign up for a monthly subscription.
The online community has been growing fairly rapidly over the past year or two, now boasting over one million users who logged in during the past month. Big business has taken notice of the trend, and companies from Toyota, Microsoft and Sony BMG have all launched virtual presences in SL.
The service has been receiving some of its most enthusiastic press from educators who hope to take advantage of the free-for-all 3D spaces as tools for pedagogy. You can find a lot of engineering schools, medical institutions and, of course, the Star Trek Museum of Science on this list of science places in SL. The world’s creators actively encourage educational participation and teachers from many universities (including Harvard, Columbia and more) have tried running courses or training sessions in the simulation. There is at least one skeptic out there, though: Clark Aldrich, a consultant for an e‑learning company, offers up ten things he sees missing from SL as an educational tool.
Whether or not Second Life becomes a permanent fixture of the Internet landscape, it’s certainly captured a lot of peoples’ attention. To learn more about it check out the plethora of podcasts available on iTunes. At the very least this world does offer some zany opportunities for multiple layers of simulation. Check out this video of a U2 “virtual tribute band” performing a concert with lovingly rendered tribute avatars:
Once upon a time we told you about TED Talks, the annual conference that brings together the world’s “thought-leaders, movers and shakers.” These talks have been available on iTunes in both audio (iTunes — Feed) and video (iTunes — Feed). And now you can apparently find some on YouTube. Below we highlight a few.
First up, Dan Gilbert, a Harvard psychology professor who recently wrote Stumbling On Happiness, a book that uses psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy and behavioral economics to show how our imagination — our unique ability to predict the future — usually interferes with our basic ability to be happy. Here you get some kernels of thought from the bestselling book, and some insights into why a paraplegic is often as happy as a lottery winner. Good stuff here.
Next, we give you Al Gore doing a little stand-up comedy (no kidding) and speaking on global warming, much as he does in An Inconvenient Truth. No other introduction is needed.
All About Jazz Bloglist: What you get here is not so much a blog, but, even better, a meta-list of jazz blogs. This should keep jazz aficionados busy for some time.
Arjan Writes: A well-reviewed blog that looks at pop-alternative music. Features album reviews, interviews and free downloads of demo tracks and new releases, plus videos from new bands.
ArtsBeat: A blog put out by reporters and critics from The New York Times. Includes reporting from arts events from around the world, including recent reports from the festival at Coachella and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Blogcritics Music: A community of writers and readers from around the globe musing about music.
Brooklyn Vegan: An “NYC-centric mostly-music blog that focuses on reporting international
news, live show reviews, pictures, tour dates, gossip, tips, MP3’s,
videos, and just about anything else a music fan could want.”
Ionarts: A DC-based arts blog with a marked focus on classical music.
Largehearted Boy: A “music blog featuring daily free and legal music downloads as well as news from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture.”
Live Music Blog: Nothing like a title that pretty much summarizes it all. Yes, this is a blog about live music.
Marathon Packs: Writes about and lets you listen to interesting songs.
Moby’s Journal: Here again another not-entirely-musical blog by a music celeb — Moby.
Motel De Moka: A daily blog posting eclectic playlists, including indie rock, acoustics and ambient.
Music for Robots: An acclaimed mp3 blog that features diverse music. All music
is posted with the permission of the artist and/or label.
Nothing But Green Lights: A UK-based mp3 blog that keeps track of indie, electro, folk & pop, all from the UK. The site only posts tracks that the internet is giving away for free, or ones that have been granted permission.
NYC Opera Fanatic: A blog for the opera lover (a term, however unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to me).
Sandow: “Is classical music dying? That’s a big topic, and a blog seems like a perfect way to attack it.” That’s how critic, Greg Sandow, describes his blog.
Stereogum: A popular gossipy blog about the indie music scene. The site often posts mp3s of new music, plus offers record reviews, announces tour dates, and covers music festivals.
The Modern Age: A highly touted blog about “about music, pop culture, the Strokes, puppies, Jack White, and cute boys.” Brought to you by Miss Modernage.
Twangville: Covering “twang-infused music with an alternative slant.” Alt-Country, Americana, Indie, Rock, Folk & Blues.
America’s misadventure in Iraq has had multiple costs for the US, with just one being the decline of American moral leadership on the international stage, and particularly within the Middle East. Intellectually, we know that America’s prestige is momentarily shot. But to get a feel for what this means in practice, it’s worth listening to this interview (iTunes — MP3) with Lawrence Pintak, who directs the Adham Center for Electronic Journalism at The American University in Cairo. A longtime observer of the Middle East, Pintak sees the evolution of America’s image going something like this: Before 9/11, the proverbial Middle Eastern cab driver expressed deep admiration for America and Americans, even while disagreeing with American leaders and policies. When the Twin Towers fell, sympathy for America was never greater. Now, six years later, it’s all gone awry. The mental line that separated Americans and American policy is gone, and the antipathy toward America is fairly complete.
What partly explains this shift is how the war has been refracted through the Middle Eastern media. Ever since Al Jazeera started airing in 1996 (you can watch it here in English), the Middle East has had its own free media and seen events through its own lens. And, in the case of the Iraq war, it has meant seeing what we don’t see — the unsanitized war, the bodies, the leveled buildings, etc. — but also much more mundane things that shape overall impressions. It means seeing, for example, how tone-deaf US spokesmen in Baghdad show up at journalist conferences in Abu Dhabi (a completely non-military event outside of Iraq) in army fatigues, leaving essentially the impression that the US sees the larger Middle East as a military stage.
Pintak knows the region well, and he articulates America’s perception problem in a balanced and thoughtful way. Check it out here: (iTunes — MP3) Also, on a related note, anyone who wants to digg more deeply into Middle Eastern perspectives may want to explore Mosaic: World News from the Middle East (iTunesFeed). This Peabody award-winning podcast provides a daily compilation of television news reports from across the Middle East. The news comes from independent and state-run news services, and it is all translated into English.
Over the past six months, we have created a series of resources that let you access university resources for free and on-the-fly. Below, we have centralized these materials in one place to give you quick access:
This collection features large podcast collections from leading universities in the US and Europe. This collection will definitely give your mind a workout.
Another specialized collection of podcasts produced by top-notch MBA programs and business school publishers (e.g. Harvard Business Review). See related article here.
Each episode of this podcast delves into the history of his career, and what led him to record each of the tracks of his current release Appassionato.
This educational podcast gives you an inside look at the symphony. Currently you will find a two season overview and recordings of Beethoven and Arnold Schoenberg.
For the celebration of Mozart’s 250th anniversary, Denmark radio offered podcasts of nine Mozart symphonies by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since the web site is in Danish, your best bet is to access these high quality MP3’s through the feed.
A monthly window into the world’s most authoritative classical music magazine, featuring an overview of the best releases, news, exclusive interviews with leading figures from the music world, and lots of greatmusic.
Swedish Radio has launched a Mozart Podcast to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday. They’ve been podcasting their own recordings from the 1940–1950s of Mozart’s operas.
Posts are flying around the literary blogosphere lamenting the Death of Literary Criticism. Now, by my count this particular demise has been predicted at least three times in the past few decades, so why worry now? The short answer is that more books are published annually than ever, and now there are fewer book reviewers. The LA Times recently folded its freestanding book review into the rest of the weekend paper and newspaper staffs around the country are trimming review positions in favor of syndicated wire service reviews.
Michael Connelly, a crime fiction writer, published an op-ed in the LA Times protesting the move and he paints a dire picture of our cultural future:
The truth is that the book and newspaper businesses share the same
dreadful fear: that people will stop reading. And the fear may be
well-founded. Across the country, newspaper circulations are down — and
this is clearly part of the reason for the cuts to book sections. At
the same time, the book business increasingly relies on an aging
customer base that may not be refueling itself with enough new readers.
Should we blame cash-strapped newspaper companies or a culture that’s shifting away from traditional media altogether? Ladies and gentlemen, start your iPods–to lend reasoned analysis, we now turn to Steven Colbert, who interviewed Salman Rushdie on this subject earlier this week (click below or watch the full show on iTunes):
Alternative Film Guide: A nice resource for anyone who wants to go beyond mainstream movies.
Cahiers du cinéma: This is not exactly a blog. Rather it’s the site for the very influential French film magazine founded in 1951. If you read French, definitely give it a look.
Cinecultist: This cinema blog comes straight to you from the East Village in NYC, and it’s put together mainly by Karen Wilson, a freelance writer and editor with a film background.
Cinema Minima: A news blog for movie makers that digests information about movie making, acting, distribution, and film festivals.
Cinema Strikes Back: The site covers movies worldwide with news, reviews, interviews and film festival reports. It also offers advanced looks at upcoming movies and DVDs. Has a particular focus on genre, cult and foreign films.
Cinemarati: Created by the The Web Alliance for Film Commentary, this blog brings together online film critics for serious, and seriously fun, discussion about film, and also counters the notion that “anyone with a modem can be a critic.”
Cinematical: Part of the Weblogs, Inc. network, Cinematical keeps tabs on what’s new in film.
Clip Joint: Put out by the Guardian, this blog presents a roundup of top cinema-related clips on the internet.
Dave Kehr.com: When not blogging, Dave writes “Critic’s Choice: New DVDs,” a
column that appears in The New York Times and is archived here.
Deadline Hollywood Daily: Published by LA Weekly, this blog is written by journalist Nikki Finke, who writes about the business, politics and culture of the infotainment industry.
Drifting: David Lowery discourses here on film, at least most of the time.
Film Experience Blog: What you get here are cinematic musings from Nathaniel R with frequent dips into pop culture miscellania.
Like Anna Karina’s Sweater: A film and culture blog with a focus on non-mainstream topics, written by a professional screenwriter and a part-time misanthrope.
Lost in Negative Space: For provocative film criticism with an underdog bite. Written by Peter Gelderblom.
Masters of Cinema: Five bloggers from three different
countries bring pertinent information together in one place
for aficionados of World Cinema.
Movie City Indie: Independent movies, independent thinking by Ray Pride.
Not Coming to a Theater Near You: A site with a bias towards older, often unpopular, and sometimes unknown films that merit a second look.
Notes from the Underdog: On writing, screenwriting, films, music, and the political landscape.
Scanners: A film blog written by Jim Emerson, a Seattle-based writer and film critic, who is also the founding editor-in-chief of RogerEbert.com.
On Monday night faith and atheism got a verbal workout. Famously vitriolic columnist Christopher Hitchens (a former liberal best-known in recent years for his staunch support of the war in Iraq) faced off against Reverend Al Sharpton in a discussion moderated by Slate editor Jacob Weisberg. Hitchens is a vehement non-believer and the new author of God is not Great (also available on iTunes). Suffice to say that the debate between him and Sharpton was colorful. That should come as no surprise–what makes it worth listening to is that it was also reasoned and intelligent.
You can read a transcript or listen to the debate (RealAudio only), which was held at the New York Public Library.
The two celebrity pundits saved their best moment for last:
“I’d encourage people to buy the book,” Mr. Sharpton said. “I don’t
believe what it says, but it’s well written. He’s a very eloquent and
well-versed person.”
“That’s extremely handsome of you,” Mr. Hitchens replied.
As an aside, Hitchens recently appeared on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight. In the interview above, you can get a little more insight into Hitchens’ thinking.
Below, you’ll find a list of 20 fine literary blogs. Like our podcast collections, this list will grow over time. In fact, it will become part of a larger list of great culture blogs. Over the coming weeks, we’ll roll out new installments and then mash them together into one larger list. Stay tuned for more.
If you feel that we’re missing some extraordinary blogs, please feel free to **@******re.com/”>email us.
Blog of a Book Slut: Bookslut’s editor-in-chief, Jessa Crispin, provides links and commentary for those who love to read. The popular related website includes feature stories, author interviews, reviews, columns about book-related content, etc.
BookDaddy: It’s your source for intelligent book blather. The stated mission of the site is to “ponder print media, literacy & publishing. Anything on wood pulp, pixels or stone is up for discussion.”
Books, Inq: This blog offers a behind-the-scenes look at a book-review editor’s world. In this case, the book review editor is Frank Wilson, of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Book World: What you get here is one woman’s attempt to read what’s worth reading and say something about it along the way.
Chekhov’s Mistress: An oft-cited literature blog written by Bud Parr, a book lover who also runs a network of literary blogs called MetaxuCafe.
Critical Mass: Offering commentary on literary criticism, publishing, and writing, this blog is written by the Board of Directors of the non-profit that issues the yearly National Book Critics Circle Awards.
Eve’s Alexandria: A nicely balanced multi-person literary blog coming out of the UK.
Laurable’s Poetry Weblog: A poetry weblog that specializes in connecting readers with audio of poets reading their work.
Maud Newton: A widely-read blog that specializes in publishing & writing industry news, plus occasional literary links, amusements, politics, and rants.
Moorish Girl: A well regarded book and literature blog written by Laila Lalami, author of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits.
Rake’s Progress: Named by The Guardian as one of the 10 best book blogs.
ReadySteadyBlog: Run by Mark Thwaite, this is an “independent book review website … devoted to reviewing the very best books in literary fiction, poetry, history and philosophy.”
Slate Books: Even though technically not a blog, it should be on your reading list.
So Many Books: Given the tagline ‘the agony and the ecstasy of a reading life”, here’s a lauded blog that takes you into the reading world of Stephanie Hollmichel.
The Elegant Variation: A well-reviewed and respected book blog that tends to give special attention to the LA literary scene. Features a really extensive blogroll that’s worth picking through.
The Guardian Book Blog: It’s not exactly your average independent book blog, but it’s got valuable content and it’s worth your time.
The Kenyon Review Blog: If you’re a writer, you surely know The Kenyon Review, and you should also get to know their blog.
The Litblog Co-Op: A useful blog that unites the “leading literary
weblogs for the purpose of drawing attention to the best of
contemporary fiction, authors and presses, struggling to be noticed in
a flooded marketplace.”
This Space: A literary blog written by Stephen Mitchelmore, a blogger who Ready Steady Book deems “the finest writer we have in the literary blogosphere.”
Vulpes Libris: “Vulpes Libris: A multi-national pack of bookfoxes blogging, reviewing and chatting about books and book matters. Participation welcome.”
Words Without Borders Blog — This weblog is the online complement to Words Without Borders: The Online Magazine for International Literature. And, yes, as you’d expect, it’s a literature blog with an international focus.
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