The open access movement keeps rolling along. See here.
Jacques Brel Sings “Ne Me Quitte Pas”
Ne Me Quitte Pas — It’s Jacques Brel’s classic from 1959. It’s a fixture in the French cultural imagination. And it’s been covered left and right, by such singers as Nina Simone (here) and Frank Sinatra (listen). Now, Jacques, take it away. (PS You can find Brel’s video on our YouTube playlist.)
Tobias Wolff Reads From His New Collection
Segueing from our last post, I wanted to feature a reading given by Tobias Wolff, a master of the short story, who also happens to teach creative writing at Stanford.
In March, he released a new book, Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories. And below we have posted a clip of him reading from a piece called “The Benefit of the Doubt.” As you’ll see, Wolff knows how to give his stories a very good read. Enjoy.
(PS If you like literature in audio format, then feel free to peruse our Free Audio Book Collection. Also note that if you sign up for Audible, you can download two bestselling audio books for free. Get more info on the deal here.)
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Stanford Online Writing Courses
A quick fyi: Yesterday, Stanford Continuing Studies opened up registration for its summer lineup of online writing courses. Offered in partnership with the Stanford Creative Writing Program (one of the most distinguished writing programs in the country), these online courses give beginning and advanced writers, no matter where they live, the chance to refine their craft with gifted writing instructors.
Registration opened yesterday, and some of the classes are almost full. Classes will start during the last week of June. For more information, click here, or separately check out the FAQ.
Caveat emptor: These classes are not free, and I helped set them up. So while I wholeheartedly believe in these courses, you can take my views with a grain of salt.
Summer Courses:
- Introduction to Creative Writing
- Novel Writing: Making a Great Debut
- Short Story Writing
- Creative Nonfiction: Beginning Your Book
- Creative Nonfiction for Magazines
- Fiction Writing: The Short Story Cycle
- Poetry: Writing the Moment
By the way, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and want to keep the mind engaged, give some thought to Stanford Continuing Studies. Our full summer catalogue is here.
Learn to Play Instruments (and Also Some Music Theory) Online
The always handy Lifehacker has pulled together resources that will teach you to play guitar, drums and piano. Some of these lessons are taught via video, others with podcasts. And if you’re looking to teach yourself music theory, then head over to Musictheory.net. They’ve got you covered.
The Smithsonian Channel on the Vietnam War Memorial
As a quick follow up to our post earlier today, I wanted to highlight the Smithsonian Channel’s first broadcast on BlogTalkRadio, which aired tonight. Right in time for Memorial Day, the program features an involved conversation with Jan Scruggs, the founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, who conceived the idea of building the memorial in Washington. It also complements a Smithsonian Channel documentary ‘Remembering Vietnam: The Wall at 25′ (click link to see trailer). You can listen in on the conversation right below.
Smart Culture on BlogTalkRadio
Here’s a little something for consumers and producers of good cultural media.
BlogTalkRadio gives anyone with a computer and telephone the ability to create their own live radio show, and then later turn the broadcast into a podcast. So far, about 82,000 shows have aired on this free service, and about 2.4 million listeners tune in each month. Among the broadcasts, you’ll find interviews with Brian DePalma, Yoko Ono, Chris Anderson (author of The Long Tail), Jodi Picoult (author of 14 novels), Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia), Frank Rich (New York Times columnist), Phil Donahue (director of the new film “Body of War”), and David Mamet (famous screenwriter and playwright). Some noteworthy shows hosted by BlogTalkRadio include: the Smithsonian Channel, Mr. Media, Movie Geeks United, ZNE’s Circa Arte, BC Radio Live, The Poor Chef, and 3 Chicks on Lit.
Lastly, let me underscore something that’s probably already clear. This service seems particularly useful for anyone who wants to create a broadcast/podcast but doesn’t want to grapple with the technical side of things. For example, me. Now if I could only find the time to pull one together. Get more info on BlogTalkRadio here, and check out their “Best of” section here.
Rare Recording of Walt Whitman Reading From His Poem “America”
Apparently, this is “an authentic wax cylinder recording of Whitman reading from his late poem ‘America’ that appeared in 1888 …”
Earliest Recording of the Human Voice
FirstSounds.org has gathered some of the earliest sound recordings. This clip, dating back to 1860, features someone singing the French folksong “Au Clair de la Lune” on April 9, 1860, and it “is the earliest audibly recognizable record of the human voice yet recovered.”
This American Life Demystifies the Housing/Credit Crisis
There’s been no shortage of articles trying to explain the ongoing housing and mortgage crisis. But none does a more clear and entertaining job than this recent episode of This American Life, “The Giant Pool of Money” (iTunes — Feed — MP3). Step by step, the show traces how we got into this mess. Along the way, you’ll discover how 70 trillion dollars of global money needed to get parked somewhere, and it found the US housing market. As the money poured in, the American investment community cranked out as many mortgages as it could. And when there were no more qualified home buyers left, the banks started lowering lending standards until there were none left. In the end, even dead people were getting mortgages (sadly, a true story). Give the podcast a listen. The whole debacle gets pieced together in a way that you’ve probably never heard before.
For more details, look here.
Burning Issues Inside the Arab World
There’s nothing like a good debate to reveal the issues that matter most to a society. And that’s what The Doha Debates have to offer — a good, nuanced look at the hottest issues in the Arab and Islamic worlds. The debates, which have been held in Qatar over the past three years, follow the format used in the famous Oxford Union debates. And they’ve been aired over the BBC and have picked up a sizable international following. (You can download the debates in video or via podcast from this page.) The speakers generally include “academics, politicians, religious figures, government officials, policy experts and journalists” and some of the recent topics debated include the following (thanks Kirsten for the heads up on this):
- Is the Sunni-Shia conflict damaging Islam’s reputation as a religion of peace?
- Do the Palestinians risk becoming their own worst enemy?
- Is the face veil a barrier to integration in the West?
- Should the Palestinians give up their full right of return?
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Open Culture scours the web for the best educational media. We find the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & educational videos you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.
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