Amazon.com's Best of 1999: With the rise of more and more forms of media, the American storytelling tradition has become increasingly fractured. Praise be then for This American Life, a weekly radio anthology of stories that never fail to move even the most casual listener. Lies, Sissies, and Fiascoes purports to be a best-of compendium, but at two discs there's plenty more where this comes from. --Randy Silver
Amazon.com: Are you a sucker for a well-told story--one that'll make you hoot with pleasure, drop your mouth in disbelief, tear up with empathy? If that be the case, you're likely already a fan of the brilliant beyond-hip This American Life. If you're not yet familiar with the Public Radio show and its ingenious host, Ira Glass, Lies, Sissies & Fiascoes will tickle your ears and engage your sense of wonderment. Underscored by adroitly chosen musical bits from Jonathan Richman to Liz Phair to Yo La Tengo, The Best of TAL springs into action illustrating the criterion for true fiasco with Jack Hitt's lively narrative of an uproariously bad production of Peter Pan. David Sedaris recounts reeling off insults and complaints in iambic pentameter as a teen bitten by the Drama Bug (which bites "Jews, homosexuals and plump women who wear their hair in bangs" the hardest). Dishwasher Pete tells how he duped the Letterman show, Scott Carrier gives a moving account of how his life unraveled and came back together during the season he conducted interviews with schizophrenics, and Ira Glass sounds off on getting over heartbreak. --Paige La Grone
Disc 1:
Peter Pan - Mr. Jack Hitt (An Interview)
Drama Bug - Mr. David Sedaris
Letterman! Cookies! - Mr. Dishwasher Pete
Mr. Loh's Not Afraid To Be Naked - Ms. Sandra Tsing Loh
This is my favorite I found this to be my favorite of the series. I like the story of Ira speaking of his break-up (getting over it) with her girlfriend. I could totally identify with "just friends" and understood exactly what he was saying.I laughed and was completely engrossed with what each story. I really like the story of the guy going to different houses giving interviews to the mentally challenged. This CD is worth getting. Oh if your a fan of David Sedaris then you will love his story on this series.
A few great ones, the rest mediocre I enjoy listening to T.A.L. whenever I'm able to catch it, which unfortunately isn't very often. I had anticipated that this disc would contain the show's very best segments, but it was a bit of a mixed bag.
For example, "Shooting Dad" by Sarah Vowell is a terrific essay about Sarah's relationship with her gunsmith father. Well-written, funny, sharp and poignant. But compare that with the dreck that follows: "Get Over It!" by host Ira Glass, where he mopes at length about his recent encounter with a former girlfriend. Sarah Vowell once stated in an interview that radio stories are "edited down within an inch of their lives", but Ira's segment -- full of his own deep sighs, his laughter at his own comments, his voice often choked with emotion -- seems to have undergone no editing whatsover. It reminded me of the scene in "Broadcast News" where William Hurt's TV reporter character inserts a shot of himself shedding a tear during an interview. It reeks of "look at me, aren't I so 'real'"; that is, until you realize that it was created with multiple takes.
As for the rest, I enjoyed Sedaris's "Drama Bug" and Bindler's "Hands on a Hard Body", but many of the others struck me as mediocre for one reason or another.
This American Life from PRI is fabulous! What a fantastic "best of" This American Life CD. It was the first and one of the best. I have been a fan of the program distributed to public radio by PRI, Public Radio International (NOT NPR) for years. This American Life describes such wonderful stories in such a unique way, and creates "driveway moments" for me! It truly is some of the best public radio has to offer and its story telling is up there with ANY medium.
Mostly good stories from NPR's radio show As a fan of NPR who no longer lives in the US, I jumped all over the chance to buy a best-of compilation of "This American Life". The 2-CD set is split into funny stories on the first disc and serious ones on the second, although I thought both "Hands on a Hard Body" and "Christmas Freud" had some nice funny bits. Also on the second disc are the very chilling pieces "Test" and "Apology Line".
The only segments I did not like in this set, in fact, are the first one on each disc; these happen to be the ones that feature the show's host Ira Glass. I found "Peter Pan" (a piece about a small town drama production that goes awry) to be patronizing and overly long; the remainder of the first disc was very funny. Opening the second disc is "Get Over It!", a segment in which Mr. Glass explores an awkward weekend with an ex-girlfriend for whom he still has feelings. Although it has a good ending, I thought that he was just begging for sympathy with this story, and I felt manipulated. It's admirable in a way that Mr. Glass is willing to showcase his private pain for our entertainment, but not if he's going to make it a pity party.
But otherwise I think the compilation is great and I thank him for creating and hosting the show. I recommend it for anybody who's been a fan of the show (and most of you will probably enjoy Mr. Glass's pieces more than I did).
disappointed baby boomer perhaps I'm too old to appreciate these stories. I was too impatient to hear several of them out to the end, though all I was doing was driving to a destination, without alot on my mind. A few were good, but not good enough to immortalize on a CD.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
