Month: June 2015

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The Gist - The Following Story Is Based on Real Presidents

Today on The Gist, the return of “Names in the News!” Plus, Brad Melzer from the Lost History TV series explains how real presidential lore and relationships influenced his new novel The President's Shadow. You can hear Brad’s previous appearance on The Gist here. For The Spiel, Mike unwraps how Obama’s heartfelt eulogy in Charleston was an insight into his political strategy. Today’s sponsor: Volvo. Have a month’s payment on Volvo and spend your summer doing the things that matter to you. Plus get up to five years full coverage, including wear and tear. Go to volvocars.com/us. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.

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Start the Week - Alan Watts and the Way of Translation

On Start the Week Andrew Marr discusses the legacy of the philosopher Alan Watts with the writer Tim Lott and psychotherapist Mark Vernon. Watts popularised Buddhism and Eastern philosophy in the West and in Tim Lott's latest coming-of-age novel set in the 1970s he reflects on the power of self-discovery, while Mark Vernon questions how therapy has appropriated Buddhist ideas. The writer and translator Maureen Freely looks back at her itinerant upbringing in America, Turkey and Greece, and explores how she became the translator of other people's words and worlds, including the Nobel-prize winning author Orhan Pamuk. It's a 150 years since the first Welsh settlers established a community in Patagonia in Argentina, and the theatre director Marc Rees looks at how his countrymen retained their welsh identity in an alien landscape.

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

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Start the Week - Alan Watts and the Way of Translation

On Start the Week Andrew Marr discusses the legacy of the philosopher Alan Watts with the writer Tim Lott and psychotherapist Mark Vernon. Watts popularised Buddhism and Eastern philosophy in the West and in Tim Lott's latest coming-of-age novel set in the 1970s he reflects on the power of self-discovery, while Mark Vernon questions how therapy has appropriated Buddhist ideas. The writer and translator Maureen Freely looks back at her itinerant upbringing in America, Turkey and Greece, and explores how she became the translator of other people's words and worlds, including the Nobel-prize winning author Orhan Pamuk. It's a 150 years since the first Welsh settlers established a community in Patagonia in Argentina, and the theatre director Marc Rees looks at how his countrymen retained their welsh identity in an alien landscape.

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

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the memory palace - Episode 67 (Every Night Ever)

Music

 

* Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score.

* Then, we have the most obvious crickets/summer night song ever: the fantastic, perpetually delightful Green Arrow from Yo La Tengo's I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, which has soundtracked many crickety summer nights for me over the years. 

* The cops roll in to a loop of the very beginning of the epic Ptah, the El Daoud, the title track to Alice Coltrane's album from 1970.

* Then we have a mix of two improvisations from Charles Cohen's Brother I Prove You Wrong: Cloud Hands and The Boy and the Snake Dance.

* There's a brief dip into Dorian, by Fang Island.

* The jaunty accordion, typewriter thing is Biking is Better on Wintergatan's eponymous album.

 

Notes

I researched this one primarily through old newspapers. The easiest place to find a number of them is to read the excellent site, The Museum of Hoaxes' page on this event. Also: if you're in the Atlanta area and ever want to have yourself a day, you can see the actual monkey. It's preserved in a jar at the Georgia Bureau of Investigations museum in Decatur Georgia.

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The Gist - 1990: The Year Before Music Changed Forever

Today on The Gist, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick explains the vulnerability of Friday’s SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage, and a favorite Scalia moment from the arguments. She’s the host of the Slate podcast Amicus. Plus, our regular guest Chris Molanphy suffers recalling the wide range of hits from 1990. For The Spiel, the tragedy of Bristol Palin, who recently announced that she’s expecting. Read more of Slate’s coverage of same-sex marriage at the Supreme Court.  Today’s sponsor: Vegas.com. With Vegas.com, your summer vacation is just a click away. Find great deals on hotels, shows, tours, and VIP treatment at top clubs. Go to Vegas.com, and enter the promo code GIST for 10 percent off everything but air-hotel packages. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Biggest Movies

The film Jurassic World broke the record for the biggest opening weekend taking $511m. It?s a record that has been broken once already this year and most of the top ten films with the biggest opening weekends were released in the last five years. So in an age where the competition is fierce for cinemas why are these films doing so well?

Bees and the British Royal Family For reasons best known to the editors, one British newspaper decided to ask the question: ?Who brings more to the British economy ? the British Royal Family or bees. The answer? Bees of course. More or Less takes a look and finds the methodology is as bee-musing as the initial comparison.