national day and TAL links
happy national day in china!
that was exactly one year ago today. beijing. fun times:)
to celebrate national day this year, i'm going to my friend heather's house to share my china pictures, look at pictures from her wedding last summer, then watch the chinese movie and the japanese movie i sent her from china. the chinese movie is shaolin soccer starring the man the chinese call the chinese jim carey. i don't know how on board i am with that comparison, but whatever. not as good as kung fu hustle (same lead actor) but entertaining. incidentally, dontsniff should be at shaolin temple today or tomorrow. that was on my list of places to visit and i just never got there. ah well. the japanese movie i sent heather is the seventh samurai. we've been talking about watching it since we were first roommates, sophomore year of college. so this'll be fun:)
my national day gift to all of you is a link to the three episodes of "this american life" that i listed in my application as particular favorites of mine. the first episode i'll link to was actually the first TAL episode i listened to in its entirety.
the house on loon lake
usually, the show does several stories, called acts. this was one of the first stories they liked enough to dedicate an entire show to. it's kind of a mystery and reminded me a little of the mystery books i loved so much growing up. it also incorporates some moments of emotion that i couldn't get out of my head for a long time after listening to it. i actually listened to it during the show's normal airing time and liked it enough to listen to it again a couple days later when the station replayed it.
mind games
this has a more typical show set-up. in my application, i actually only talked about act two, the second story in the episode, but all three stories are quirky and interesting. it actually did mess with my mind a little bit. each story left me with something to think about, anyway, which certainly isn't always the case.
come back to afghanistan
this is generally acknowledged as one of TAL's best episodes. it's won awards and all that. i could tell it was extra good before i heard about the awards, though. this is just one story, again. it's the audio diary of a teenager whose dad became the governor of a part of afghanistan two or three years ago so, for the summer, he went to be with his dad and go for the first time to the country his family is from. a whole different perspective than what you usually hear. the point of view is definitely the best part of this for me. the boy grew up in america and sounds as much like a typical american teenager as you can sound.
that was exactly one year ago today. beijing. fun times:)
to celebrate national day this year, i'm going to my friend heather's house to share my china pictures, look at pictures from her wedding last summer, then watch the chinese movie and the japanese movie i sent her from china. the chinese movie is shaolin soccer starring the man the chinese call the chinese jim carey. i don't know how on board i am with that comparison, but whatever. not as good as kung fu hustle (same lead actor) but entertaining. incidentally, dontsniff should be at shaolin temple today or tomorrow. that was on my list of places to visit and i just never got there. ah well. the japanese movie i sent heather is the seventh samurai. we've been talking about watching it since we were first roommates, sophomore year of college. so this'll be fun:)
my national day gift to all of you is a link to the three episodes of "this american life" that i listed in my application as particular favorites of mine. the first episode i'll link to was actually the first TAL episode i listened to in its entirety.
the house on loon lake
usually, the show does several stories, called acts. this was one of the first stories they liked enough to dedicate an entire show to. it's kind of a mystery and reminded me a little of the mystery books i loved so much growing up. it also incorporates some moments of emotion that i couldn't get out of my head for a long time after listening to it. i actually listened to it during the show's normal airing time and liked it enough to listen to it again a couple days later when the station replayed it.
mind games
this has a more typical show set-up. in my application, i actually only talked about act two, the second story in the episode, but all three stories are quirky and interesting. it actually did mess with my mind a little bit. each story left me with something to think about, anyway, which certainly isn't always the case.
come back to afghanistan
this is generally acknowledged as one of TAL's best episodes. it's won awards and all that. i could tell it was extra good before i heard about the awards, though. this is just one story, again. it's the audio diary of a teenager whose dad became the governor of a part of afghanistan two or three years ago so, for the summer, he went to be with his dad and go for the first time to the country his family is from. a whole different perspective than what you usually hear. the point of view is definitely the best part of this for me. the boy grew up in america and sounds as much like a typical american teenager as you can sound.