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American Icons
by Jon Brooks
Thu, December 06, 2007, 3:00 am PST

This is an exceptionally cool series from Public Radio International's Studio 360. Host Kurt Andersen conducts wide-ranging—and often surprising—surveys into the books, movies, art, and architecture that have come to represent American culture and character. In the episode on "Moby-Dick," listen to Laurie Anderson compare Melville's literary masterwork to "Star Trek." In a segment on "The Great Gatsby," hear the only known recording of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Salman Rushdie cites "The Wizard of Oz" as his first literary influence, and Bobby McFerrin performs snippets from his eight-minute medley condensing the entire movie. Other shows take on Superman, Barbie, "Gone With the Wind," Emily Dickinson, Andy Warhol's homage to the Campbell's soup can, and "Kind of Blue" by the truly iconic Miles Davis. So listen up. You might even be inspired to dive in to that book about Captain Ahab and the whale.

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Filed under: Literature, Art, United States

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1,000 Stories
by Jill Robinson
Thu, November 22, 2007, 3:00 am PST

How does a traveler get a sense of the true nature of a place? Filmmakers Florian Thalhofer and Mark Simon chose to tour each other's countries (Germany and the United States, respectively), skip the tourist traps, and interview people. Each artist picked his route based on readers' suggestions. Florian traveled by motorbike. Mark drove a car. Together, they weave a story that shows us far more about each country than the average vacation would...

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Filed under: Travel, Videos, United States, Germany

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Superfund365
by Molly McCall
Fri, September 14, 2007, 3:00 am PDT

According to the EPA, the nation's "Superfund" program "investigates and cleans up the most complex uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country." Currently, 1,306 of these toxic tragedies dot the U.S. map. The creators of this site plan to visit 365 of them, one for every day of the year. They launched their tour on September 1 with stops at Edgewater, New Jersey and North Hempstead, New York. Now headed west, they will eventually wend their way to the natural splendor—and unnatural contamination—that populates Hawaii. (Say it ain't so, O'ahu!) Each Superfund locale gets a page documenting its hazardous makeup, the demographics of its neighboring community, and the timeline of its development and woeful demise. The pages are a marvel of digital "visualization" and statistical terror. But don't let that stop you. This land is our land, after all.
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Filed under: United States, Environment, Pollution

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Separated by a Common Language
by Jon Brooks
Fri, July 13, 2007, 3:00 am PDT

As George Bernard Shaw once wrote, "England and America are two countries separated by a common language." And if you've ever followed one of those "Way Out" signs in the London tube in hopes of discovering something psychedelic, only to find an ordinary exit, you understand what this means. Read this blog and you'll be over the moon (ecstatic) delving into such linguistic differences as mind vs watch, badge vs button, and peanuts vs monkeynuts. And if you plan to do a little shopping while over there, you'll definitely want to review this post on English and American differences in women's clothing terminology. So if some British terms have always looked dodgy (suspicious) to you, don't get knackered (worn out). Just consult this blog and suss out (decipher) their meaning. Cheers. (Bye.)
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Filed under: Blogs, United States, Languages, United Kingdom

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A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania
by Molly McCall
Thu, May 24, 2007, 3:00 am PDT

Before we visited Kathleen Connally's photoblog, we didn't know a thing about Pennsylvania's Durham Township. Even now that we've lingered over her luscious, light-filled images, we can't tell you how many people live there or how the residents tend to cast their votes. But we can testify to the township's natural splendor. We can easily conjure up images of how the snow gleams in the winter sun or the clouds whisk overhead. We know there are woods that hold treasures like old lime kilns, rivers that offer muskie fishing, and more than one place for young people to jump around (even in the cold). Many of the residents of Durham seem to glow in that gorgeous light—and maybe from the proximity to Kathleen, who seems to find the beauty in all things. We're gushing now, but a walk through Durham Township can do that to you.
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Filed under: Photography, United States, Outdoors

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