MagneticMediaFed

I’ve listened to This American Life on NRP (or PRI, or whatever) here and there since I started obsessing over talk-radio back in the fall of 1999, but it wasn’t until their Showtime program began last spring that I really became a fan. Before that I don’t think I really “got it.” The pacing is such that you really have to give it some time before you get sucked in (not unlike a really great television show) and if the first story doesn’t happen to grab your attention during the dial can be awfully easy. But the series changed all that. Maybe it’s because I was already spending so much time parked in front of the television. Perhaps it was bound to happen. All I know is the storytelling was remarkable, the visual style felt unprecedented in its richness and by the time the six episode had aired I had become a vegetarian (which lasted through the summer).

So when some friends told me about a live This American Life stage show that would be put on in New York City and then broadcast live to movie theaters across the country, I felt that it was something I should certainly attend. I’ll tell you about it after the jump…

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–Rocky from Bottle Rocket

This past weekend, the hipster punchline of the past 4 years (pirates) managed to turn itself into the ultimate in mainstream phenomena. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest brought in an astronomical $136 million, in domestic ticket sales over a three day period, shattering just about every box office record it came across. It even has a shot at tackling the domestic gross taken in by Titanic sitting at nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars. For all intents and purposes we just have to assume that Pirates of the Caribbean is going to be the premiere film franchise of the current generation. Even if it never leaves the cultural dent that Star Wars or even The Matrix did, Pirates will forever be a smash hit.

And yet for all the press and all the talk and all the energy spent on convincing people that story-based entertainment is most powerful when projected upon a screen, the sad reality is no one remembers a blockbuster. Keep reading by clicking below…

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In honor of Strangers With Candy opening tonight in New York, I’ve decided to showcase a few great moments from the shows run on Comedy Central (or at least those moments that someone thought were good enough to load into YouTube). There’s more after the jump below…

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