Detroit

No city intrigues me quite like Detroit. Once the 3rd most populated city in the United States, and now an urban wasteland. Whereas many probably think the city is as good as dead, I can't wait to see what it's going to turn into next. An artist's haven? The American Berlin? This three-part documentary offers a glimpse into the side of Detroit I'm talking about.

The Wire

If you haven't watched all 5 seasons of HBO's The Wire yet, you should probably put life on hold and go start. I'm confident you'll learn more in those 60 hours than you would in a year of grad school. Not just is this the best television series ever created, but I'm confident it's going to go down in history as the 'War and Peace' of our time.

Think I'm overstating things, well they're teaching The Wire at Harvard now.

If that article isn't enough, here's a podcast episode of Bill Moyer's Journal interviewing the producer of The Wire, David Simon.

Listen now, or download it on itunes. The itunes release date was 4/17/09.

David Foster Wallace

I have never read anything of David Foster Wallace, but I will now. This podcast by "To the Best of Our Knowledge" is a great overview of the author, his work, and the depression which eventually led to his suicide.

The best part is a short excerpt from a commencement speech he delivered at Kenyon College in 2005, it begins at 48:49 of the podcast. If you would like to read the transcript of the speech click here.

This podcast is no longer available on itunes, but you can listen now.

More on National Parks, and the forestry service

This episode of Fresh Air is a great addition to the previous posting about National Parks. It describes a wildfire from 1910 which burned an area the size of Connecticut over the course of a weekend, and discusses how that fire saved our National Lands, yet permanently transformed the way we treat them.

It also has some great tales about Teddy Roosevelt wrestling and skinny dipping (not at the same time).

This episode is no longer available on itunes, but you can listen now.

National Parks

Here's another great episode from 'To the Best of our Knowledge.' This one is about National Parks, how they started, why they're so great, and Indians whom were sadly removed from many of the parks. I would have never imagined that they could have made the topic of National Parks so interesting, but voila! This podcast makes me want to go camping.

Listen now, or download it on itunes. The itunes release date was 8/28/10.

Superheroes

David in London recently told me about a great new podcast: To the Best of Our Knowledge, by Wisconsin Public Radio.

It's got some great episodes, one in particular which is about superheroes. If you're not into comic books or anything like that, not to worry, this has has some great stories, including one Islam's first superheroes: The 99.

Listen now, or get it on itunes. The itunes release date was 9/3/10.

Country Music

This week the NPR: Fresh Air Podcast has dedicated every show to country music. It includes interviews with Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Doc Watson, an more. I really haven't been exposed to that much country music (shhhh, don't tell the other Texans), but listening to these podcasts is like taking a class in Country Music 101.

These episodes are no longer available on itunes, but you can also listen to any of them now by clicking here. Their are 6 episodes in total, with the release dates of 8/30/10 through 9/6/10.

My favorite interviews are with Merle Haggard, John Doe and Doc Watson.