RADLIBS: THIS AMERICAN LIFE EDITION

The Man himself...Mr. Ira Glass

It's been almost a year since I first blogged about NPR Podcasts. (http://petechat.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-obsession.html) And I still really love them. This American Life is my favorite NPR show. How do you describe This American Life? Well I think Summer from the OC and the Onion did a pretty good job from Wikipedia:

This American Life was referenced in the television series The O.C., prompting the character Summer to respond, "Is that that show by those hipster know-it-alls who talk about how fascinating ordinary people are?" and, with a dismissive snort, "Gawd!" This reference was itself repeated in a segment of the 2007 Live Tour episode, when Glass, a self-confessed shameless fan of the teen soap opera, described his experience responding to the aforementioned line.
The Onion, a parody newspaper, published a satirical story on April 20, 2007, entitled "This American Life Completes Documentation Of Liberal, Upper-Middle-Class Existence".

So I saw this link on Radar (another website I like to check) where it would make a TAL mad lib for you. I did it and it really made me laugh. So here is what I got.

In today's This American Life ...
Act 1: Peter , an expatriate Filmmaker and regular This American Life contributor, finds out he has Elephantiasis when he's about to go on a road trip to Whittier, CA. He takes the road trip anyway.

Act 2: Ira talks about sorting mail when he was a kid, and how the experience taught him the importance of Trusting one's instinct. Years later, this lesson comes in handy, as it figures prominently in a commencement speech he gives at Yale.

Act 3: When a crew of Factory Workers who are also practicing Mormons find out that refugees from Sweden have been forced to settle in their hometown of Dallas, Texas, they decide to buck the trends and bring them into the small-town fold. Cross-cultural understanding blooms in unexpected ways, as the two groups meet nightly in the local PF Chang's to discuss a shared love for A-Team reruns.

Finally, Act 4: Ira talks to Hannah, who was raised as an orthodox Jew and who made a pivotal break with her faith at a Boston Red Sox game.

The Crazy thing is that this sounds like an real episode they would have.So be a little bit of a hipster and try it out. I know it's not for everyone.

http://thislife.org/

http://radaronline.com/features/2008/06/this_american_life_stories_ira_glass_create_your_own.php