Sunday, May 3, 2009

BBC's In Our Time - always recommended

Here is a quick update about BBC's In Our Time, which I must deliver in order to get a clean slate. Since my latest review we have had three very good programs which I hope you all downloaded and if you haven't listened to it, go ahead and do.

The issue about Suffragism gives insight to the political activism that preceded women getting the vote in Great Britain. About radicals, moderates and those women who opposed. This is not only a fascinating history of recent political developments, also of gender, treatment of women and political prisoners and controversy. Controversial, for example, is the question whether the Great War expedited or delayed the eligibility of women for the vote.

The building of St. Petersburg is more than just a history of Peter the Great's feat to build a whole new city for himself in the Baltic. It is also a story of Russia's struggle for modernity and of autocratic ruler's capacity to shape their empire.

The vacuum of space is one of those scientific In Our Time programs. Every season there are a handful of those and they invariably are the toughest for me to follow. I dare to predict they are the toughest to follow for the whole regular audience of In Our Time. Yet, to the credit of this particular instance it needs to be said it had me glued to the iPod until the end.

More In Our Time:
Brave New World,
Rafael's School of Athens and the depiction of Plato and Aristotle,
The Boxer Rebellion,
The library of Alexandria,
The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot.

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Nursery University - Mighty Movie Podcast

I have just begun to make myself acquainted with a podcast that was brought to my attention by a reader: the Mighty Movie Podcast. (You will have to excuse me for not writing the name in persistent capitals, as the makers do) Podcaster and film critic Dan Persons interviews film makers about their work.

I usually go through a couple of episodes before beginning to see the form of some general review, but I was lucky enough to pick up as a first listen such an interesting chapter, I couldn't resist pointing you directly to that, before knowing more broadly about the show.

Nursery University is the title of a documentary made by Marc Simon and Matthew Makar about the rat race New York parents get involved in in order to get their toddlers enrolled in nothing but the best day-care centers. While describing how they could get to make the film, Makar and Simon already suggest that also elsewhere in the US this phenomenon is likely to exist and I can vouch it also happens in Israel. So even though they assume their picture describes a New York reality, I think deep down it is universal.

If you imagine the hysteria and sham involved, you come to appreciate all the more the efforts the filmmakers had to go through in order to realize this project. Dan Persons podcast gives a wonderful concise view behind the screens. If the podcast is regularly as good as this one episode, it is a great treasure trove, not necessarily just for film buffs.

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Robert Heinlein according to Ran Levi

Every once in a while, עושים היסטוריה! עם רן לוי (Making History with Ran Levi) pays attention to a writer and his work, mostly in the realm of Science Fiction in stead of digging into a subject of the history of science which is Ran Levi's usual subject. These are invariably great episodes.

Among these generally recommended is specifically the recently delivered episode about Robert Heinlein. With great respect, admiration and the usual, typical Israeli tongue in cheek, Ran Levi goes over Heinlein's biography, work and the wild variety of interpretations available. Heinlein is portrayed as a very original figure whose ideas cannot be molded into one commonplace stream or another, yet which stands out as smart, challenging, provocative and eventually accurate.

Apart from all the content of literature and political philosophy, the way Ran Levi deals with Heinlein involves enough science, history and technology to make it neatly fit in with the general subject of the series. Once again, he has shown to be, by far, the most professional Israeli podcaster.

More Making History with Ran Levi:
Diamond Rain and other phenomena,
Blood,
Myths and pseudo-knowledge,
What goes up, must come down,
Douglas Adams.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Adjiedj Bakas en Gijs Wanders bij voor 1 nacht

Vorige week schreef ik dat ik niet elke uitzending van KRO's voor 1 nacht even sterk vond. Ik had mijn indruk onder meer gebaseerd op het begin van de gesprekken van Marc Stakenburg met enerzijds Gijs Wanders en anderszijds Adjiedj Bakas.

Beide gesprekken hebben akelig oppervlakkige momenten. Het is niet alleen Stakenburg die zijn gasten benadert met een comfortabele vraagstelling, het is ook de overdaad aan ontoepasselijke muziek en tenenkrommend goedkope en makkelijke generaliserende uitspraken van met name Gijs Wanders, waarbij het dieptepunt wordt bereikt met zijn geborneerd stereotype beschrijving van Oost-Groningen. Ik was al afgehaakt en doorgeschakeld naar het gesprek met Arnon Grunberg dat ik meteen veel beter vond en waarover ik mijn eerste recensie schreef.

Niettemin was het programma toch goed genoeg dat ik terugging om de twee anderen tot het eind uit te luisteren en opeens werden ze heel veel beter en zelfs het aanbevelen waard. Bakas en Wanders zijn nog steeds geen geweldig diepe gesprekspartners, maar wel mensen die oprecht hun werk doen en daar een waardevol inzicht in geven.

Eerder over KRO's voor 1 nacht:
Arnon Grunberg.

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Wangari Maathai on Speaking of Faith podcast

APM's Speaking of Faith has the good habit of rerunning its great quality programs. Also on podcasts, subsequently, these chapters are published again. And so, for the fourth time in about four years, SOF aired Krista Tippett's inspiring conversation with Wangari Maathai.

Here is the guest post my wife wrote about this talk last year:

Krista Tippett is speaking with Dr. Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel peace prize winner who stood up to a dictator and won. Dr. Maathai organized a group of special women who fought off encroaching desert by planting 30 million trees in Kenya. Wangari Maathai elaborates about the relationship between ecological aspects of life, human rights, the legacy of her ancestors, religion and more. She notes that one of the sources for her strength to stand up against dictators (The Moi regime in Kenya) and win was her deep conviction that they knew that she was right. She laughs a lot, speaks in an almost casual way about her great achievements, cares in a genuine manner about the suffering of other human beings, gives much credit and respect to fellow women in her life (her mother, a woman partner to the planting trees action), enjoys the interaction with western culture and yet has much respect to her roots. Indeed, a great, wise, well-balanced, impressive human being.

More Speaking of Faith:
Rumi,
The story and God,
The Buddha in the world,
Doubt,
Listening Generously - Rachel Remen (recommended).

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Friday, May 1, 2009

260 Podcasts - Anne is a Man's list for May 2009

UPDATE: we now have 316 podcasts reviewed. (click this link for the latest list)

Every first of the month I publish a full list of podcasts I have reviewed. You can find the list below. If however you want to have them presented to you in a more orderly fashion, look up my list of directories. The disclaimer must be that the directories are not as up to date as the full list is. I am working on it.

  1. 12 Byzantine Rulers
  2. 7th Son
  3. Africa (Stanford Travel)
  4. Africa Past and Present
  5. All Things Medieval
  6. American Environmental and Cultural History (Berkeley ESPM 160AC)
  7. American History before 1870
  8. Ancient and Medieval Podcast
  9. Ancient History - Alternative Theories
  10. Ancient Philosophy (Berkeley)
  11. Are we alone?
  12. Armistice Podcast 
  13. Backstory
  14. BBC History Magazine
  15. Behind the Black Mask
  16. Behind the News with Doug Henwood
  17. Beyond Good and Evil (Librivox)
  18. Big Ideas (TVO)
  19. Bike Radar
  20. Binge Thinking History 
  21. Bioethics podcast
  22. Biography Podcast (Learn Out Loud)
  23. the Biography Show (TPN)
  24. Biota Podcast
  25. Birth of the Modern (Arizona State University)
  26. the Bitterest Pill 
  27. Bommel Hoorspel
  28. British History 101
  29. Cambridge Alumni Podcast
  30. Car Talk
  31. CAT 2 Culture Art and Technology (UCSD)
  32. CATS 2 Culture and Technology Studies (UCSD)
  33. Celtic Myth Podshow
  34. CFR Podcast 
  35. Chronicles Radio Dispatches
  36. Church History
  37. Dan Carlin's Common Sense
  38. Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
  39. Das Rätsel der verschollenen Schatulle
  40. David Kalivas' World History
  41. De Geschiedenis Podcast 
  42. Distillations
  43. East Asian Thought (UCSD)
  44. Economics 100B (Berkeley)
  45. the Economist 
  46. EconTalk
  47. Engines of our Ingenuity
  48. English 117S (Berkeley)
  49. Entitled opinions
  50. The Ethicist (NYT)
  51. Everything Lincoln
  52. Existentialism in Literature and Film (Phil 7 - Berkeley)
  53. Exploring Environmental History 
  54. F1Cast
  55. Fact or Fiction
  56. Family History - Genealogy made easy
  57. Flavius (Joodse Omroep)
  58. Forgotten Classics
  59. Frankenstein, or modern Prometheus (Librivox)
  60. Freedomain Radio
  61. Fresh Air (NPR)
  62. From Israelite to Jew
  63. From our own Correspondent (BBC)
  64. Game Theory (Yale)
  65. Genealogy Gems Podcast
  66. Geography 110C (Berkeley) Economic Geography of the Industrial World
  67. Geography 130 (Berkeley)
  68. Geography of Europe (Arizona State University)
  69. Geography of World Cultures (Stanford)
  70. German Cultural History
  71. Geschichtspodcast (Chronico)
  72. Geschiedewistjedatjes
  73. Gilder Lehrmann history podcast 
  74. Global Geopolitics (Stanford)
  75. Grammar Girl 
  76. Hank's History Hour
  77. Hannibal (Stanford)
  78. Haring Podcast
  79. Harvard Business IdeaCast
  80. Historical Jesus (Stanford)
  81. Historicast
  82. History 106B (Berkeley)
  83. History 167B (Berkeley)
  84. History 181B (Berkeley)
  85. History 1c (UCLA)
  86. History 2311 (Temple College)
  87. History 2312 (Temple College)
  88. History 4A (Berkeley)
  89. History 5 (Anderson - Berkeley)
  90. History 5 (Hesse- Berkeley)
  91. History 5 (Laqueur - Berkeley)
  92. History 7B (Berkeley)
  93. History according to Bob 
  94. History Compass Blog
  95. History Network
  96. History of Holland (Librivox)
  97. History of Rome
  98. History of the International System (Stanford)
  99. History on the Run 
  100. History Podcast
  101. Historypod
  102. Historyzine
  103. Hoor! Geschiedenis
  104. HUM 4Enlightenment, Romanticism, Revolution (UCSD)
  105. HUM 4104 (Virginia Tech)
  106. ICT Update
  107. In My Living Room! 
  108. In Our Time (BBC)
  109. In the Media (WNYC)
  110. Inspired Minds (Deutsche Welle)
  111. Interview Vrijdag (VPRO)
  112. Introduction to Ancient Greek History (Yale)
  113. Introduction to German Politics (Oxford)
  114. Introduction to Language (Arizona State University)
  115. Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) (Yale)
  116. Iran Podcast
  117. Irving Poetry podcast
  118. It was 20 years ago today 
  119. ITV
  120. Jung Podcast
  121. Junggesellenblog
  122. KMTT
  123. La Resistance
  124. KQED Forum
  125. Language (UCSD)
  126. Leben und Überleben mit 45+
  127. Letters and Science (Berkeley)
  128. LSE Podcast  
  129. Lyrics Undercover 
  130. Making History with Ran Levi - עושים היסטוריה
  131. Marathon Interview (VPRO)
  132. Matt's Today In History
  133. Media Matters (NPR)
  134. medicalhistory 
  135. Medieval & Renaissance Studies Events - Fall 2008 (Virginia Tech)
  136. Medieval & Renaissance Studies Events - Spring 2008 (Virginia Tech)
  137. Medieval Podcast
  138. Meetings Podcast 
  139. Meiky's Podcast Show 
  140. The Memory Palace 
  141. Midwest Writer
  142. Military History Podcast
  143. Missing Link
  144. MMW 2 , the great classical traditions (Chamberlain - UCSD)
  145. MMW 3, the medieval heritage (Chamberlain - UCSD)
  146. MMW 3, the medieval heritage (Herbst - UCSD)
  147. MMW 4 (UCSD)
  148. MMW6 (UCSD)
  149. Muscular Judaism
  150. My Three Shrinks
  151. Namaste Stories
  152. Napoleon 1O1 (TPN)
  153. National Archives Podcast
  154. Naxos Classical Music Spotlight Podcast
  155. New Books In History
  156. New World Orders
  157. New York Coffee Cup
  158. Night's Knights
  159. Nilpod
  160. Nonviolence (Berkeley PACS 164A)
  161. Nonviolence today (Berkeley PACS 164B)
  162. NRC FM
  163. Only in America
  164. Open Source 
  165. Out of the past
  166. OVT (VPRO)
  167. Oxford Biographies
  168. Oy Mendele!
  169. Parnell's History Podcast
  170. Peopletalk's Podcast
  171. Physics for future Presidents (Berkeley)
  172. Philosopher's Zone (ABC)
  173. Philosophy 103
  174. Philosophy 7 (Berkeley)
  175. Philosophy Bites
  176. the Philosophy Podcast
  177. Philosopy 6 (Berkeley) Man, God, and Society in Western Literature
  178. Podcast history of cooking
  179. Podcasts on Medieval Texts (Virginia Tech)
  180. Pods and Blogs 
  181. Podwatch
  182. POLI 120A - Political Development of Western Europe
  183. Political Science 10 (UCLA)
  184. Political Science 179 (Berkeley)
  185. Politics and Warfare (UCSD)
  186. Pope Podcast
  187. Practice of Art (Berkeley) Foundations of American Cyber-Culture
  188. Prosperity show
  189. PSYC 105 - Introduction cognitive psychology (UCSD)
  190. Radiolab (WNYC)
  191. Rav Dovid's
  192. Real Talk
  193. Rear Vision (ABC)
  194. Red Panda
  195. Redborne History
  196. Religion and Law in the US (UCSD HIUS 155A)
  197. Religion and Law in the US (UCSD HIUS 155B)
  198. Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean
  199. Replaceable You (Stanford)
  200. Rhetoric 10 (Berkeley)
  201. Rpgmp3
  202. RSA Current Audio
  203. Schlaflos in München
  204. Science & the City
  205. Science Fiction and Politics
  206. Science Friday (NPR)
  207. Science Times (NYT)
  208. Sex History Podcast
  209. Shrink Rap Radio
  210. Šimek 's Nachts (RVU)
  211. Šimek 's Nachts (Elsevier)
  212. the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
  213. Skythen-Podcast
  214. SOCD 188JChange in Modern South Africa (UCSD)
  215. Social Innovation Conversations
  216. SOCL 1B - the study of society (UCSD)
  217. Sonic Society
  218. Sparkletack 
  219. Speaking of Faith (APM)
  220. Stanford U History 
  221. Stem Cells: Policy and Ethics (Stanford)
  222. Sterke Geschiedenis
  223. Straight talk about stem cells (Stanford)
  224. Stuff you missed in history class 
  225. Sunday Sundown 
  226. Talking Robots
  227. TdF London
  228. Teaching American History
  229. Teaching Company
  230. TED Talks
  231. That Podcast Show (aka Edgy Reviews)
  232. Theories of Law and Society (Berkeley)
  233. the Things We Forgot To Remember
  234. Thinking Allowed
  235. Time Out for Truth
  236. Times Talks
  237. Tudorcast
  238. UCLA Israel Studies 
  239. University Channel Podcast (aka UChannel Podcast)
  240. US History since 1877 (Temple College)
  241. Veertien Achttien
  242. VIS 22Formations of Modern Art (UCSD)
  243. Volkis Stimme
  244. Volkskrant Podcasts
  245. Voor 1 nacht (KRO)
  246. We the People Stories
  247. Welcome to Mars
  248. What is Judaism?
  249. Wise Counsel 
  250. the Word Nerds
  251. World View (NYT)
  252. the Writing Show
  253. Wynyfryd's meditation room
  254. the Your History Podcast
  255. Your Purpose Centered Life
  256. zencast
  257. zoem
  258. האוניברסיטה המשודרת
  259. מה שהיה היה
  260. קטעים בהיסטוריה 
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