The Best of This American
Life
Don't get me wrong, there are so many great
moments on TAL, that it would be easier to make a short list of
the lame segments. However, I started compiling this list when kept
finding segments that I just had to tell friends about, then spent
forever trying to track the episode down. Here's my short list to
make your navigation a little faster.
The links below pull up the
episode in streaming audio. Skip right to the appropriate story as
directed below.
-
Faustian
Bargains - About 15 minutes into the program.
Audio artist David Black makes some phone calls. (Episode 43)
-
Tales
from the Net - Entire show. Probably
one of the best episodes I have ever heard. But what would you expect?
You're reading this from a guy telling you about this over the web.
(Episode 66)
-
Stuck
in the Wrong Decade - Beginning of the show.
Karl T. Wright and Wendy Miller's game show wedding. This is what
I want for my wedding! (Episode 79)
-
Telephone
- The whole show is good, particularly the segment about "Dial-A-Song"
by the band They Might Be Giants reported by Sarah Vowell. (Episode
90)
-
Leaving
the Mask On - First half the show. A
woman's father gets into the art of autobiographical monologues... and
is good at it! (Episode 90)
-
Invisible
Worlds - 37 minutes into the show. Interview
with the publisher of Infiltration,
a 'zine about exploring places you never knew existed. (Episode 141)
-
Time
to Save the World - About 13 minutes into the
show. What happens when teenagers call "Heather" and make an unlikely
friend. Also, this episode features Starlee Kine's "Rundown" for
ending small talk. (Episode 231)
-
The
Real Story - About 12 minutes from the end
the episode. An imaginative attempt to rewrite Star Wars: Episode
1: The Phantom Menace. (Episode 232)
-
What
is this thing? - 47 minutes into the program.
Johnny & June Cash: A very unusual love story told very, very well
by Sarah Vowell. This is my all-time favorite segment on the show.
(Episode 247)
Also, the staff
also have their favorites. Check out their list here
(as you might expect, there's naturally some overlap with my list above).
Links
-
Sarah
Vowell's columns - Links
for collections of the pieces she wrote for Salon.com
can also be found
here,
here,
here,
and
here
(They
really need to revamp that site!). Several of these
pieces ended up in her book The Partly Cloudy Patriot.
-
Found
Magazine - Featured
on the show in episode 239 (Lost in America). They're currently on
tour
to college campuses, so check out their site for details.
Copyright
unofficiAle[x].
