Monday, December 31, 2007

Amusing

What I have been amused by lately has been This American Life , on NPR:

I was just listening to an old episode of This American Life and heard Sarah Vowell's discussion of how people keep (inappropriately) comparing themselves to Rosa Parks. You can read the essay online --- You, Sir, are No Rosa Parks -- or listen to it on streaming audio at This American Life (it's the third act of that podcast, starting around minute 47).

Another, howlingly funny essay by David Sedaris, discussing the cultural and linguistic challenges of describing Easter in France, can be found as the final act in The Angels Want to Wear My Red Suit . Between David Sedaris and David Rakoff, I can be amused for hours. It is totally worth hearing David Sedaris' Live at Carnegie Hall performance, if only for the "Six to Eight Black Men" and "Stadium Pal" essays, which still make me giggle when I hear them.

I love NPR.

Edit: You can hear David Sedaris' "Six to Eight Black Men" on This American Life -- it's the second act, starting around minute 25.