I listen to a lot of podcasts about poetry, about writing poetry, about writing in general. But I also get a lot ideas from listening to podcasts concerning other creative people, their processes, their lives, etc. Here are a few I recommend:
1) WTF with Marc Maron. This is an interview show focused on comedians. I find it extremely compelling, particularly the parts about people's career paths, their ways of being original and/or finding original material, how they perform under pressure, etc.
2) Meet the Composer with Nadia Sirota. Sponsored by WQXR New York, this show is an interview format featuring contemporary composers and showcasing their work. I love hearing about the problems they encounter in composition and how they go about solving them.
3) Radiolab hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich. I've raved about this podcast before, and its still great. Stimulating science stories for everyone. New material to bounce around in your brain. I've had several poem ideas come from what I've heard on this show.
4) The Arcade the podcast of Hazlitt Magazine, hosted by Anshuman Iddamsetty. This show from Canada's Hazlitt Magazine weekly interviews someone from popular culture. Often it's someone literary, which is useful, but which doesn't necessarily fit the category of this list. It's the other interviews, particularly the cartoonists, that have surprised me with comments that I've found helpful in considering creative problems of my own.
Showing posts with label Robert Krulwich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Krulwich. Show all posts
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Thursday, September 19, 2013
More Science in Song!
Check out this amazing 23-year-old musician and scientist Tim Blais (introduced here by Robert Krulwich of Radiolab fame) explaining string theory to the tune of Bohemian Rhapsody. (For a better show, bigger screen, click on the link just under my embedding of the video.)
And here's a link to A Capella Science, Blais' YouTube channel showcasing his other songs.
And if that isn't enough wonderful stuff for one day, the Easter Island heads have bodies! (Found this out about this article in The Wall Breakers by following poet Sandra Beasley on Twitter. Who knew!)
And here's a link to A Capella Science, Blais' YouTube channel showcasing his other songs.
And if that isn't enough wonderful stuff for one day, the Easter Island heads have bodies! (Found this out about this article in The Wall Breakers by following poet Sandra Beasley on Twitter. Who knew!)
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Science Pods
Stephen King tells would-be writers to read widely, read everything. Kay Ryan reads philosophy to get started writing. Reading outside of one's genre can be as important as reading within it (and I do believe that reading poetry is an extremely important part of writing poetry, but so is reading other stuff).
I've found that reading popular science helps me write poems. It provides me with images and vocabulary, and with just plain wonder that stimulates creativity.
In the past couple of years, I've started listening to science podcasts in addition to my reading regimen. Reading is still better, but since I walk for a couple of hours a day, this is a way to make the time productive and enjoyable. And since I miss hearing the English of native speakers at an adult level, podcasts also comfort me.
So today, I want to share some of my favorite science podcasts. (All of these are available in iTunes, by the way, as well as at their links.)
1) My absolute favorite is Radiolab, but I've blogged about it already, so I will just link to my old post and leave it at that for now. Sadly new episodes come out only twice a month.
2) Another good one is Science Friday with Ira Flatow. For two hours every Friday, Ira Flatow podcasts about diverse topics in science and technology, interviewing all the people in the know regarding timely science topics. For example, this week's podcast has Ira discussing World Toilet Day and interviewing engineers about the grants being given for revolutionary toilet designs that might bring the technology to the 1/3 of the earth's inhabitants without flush toilets or healthy sanitation. Flatow also learns the secrets of keeping the floats afloat in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade by sending his video editor to interview the "balloonatics". He also investigates the costs of embryonic stem cell research. And more!
And here's a hint. If instead of subscribing to the Science Friday podcast, you instead subscribe to the NPR Topics: Science podcast, you will get all science-related podcasts aired by NPR sent to you, including Science Friday in individual story units instead of a 2-hour block, so you can skip ones you aren't interested in.
3) Stuff You Should Know podcast, hosted by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, covers topics in science and any other field that suits the fancy of the hosts. Diverse subjects covered in the past include: the chemistry of Silly Putty, sweating colored sweat, the physics of roller coasters, how fossils are formed, etc. This podcast is twice a week, but as I said, while not all topics covered are science-related, they are all more or less fascinating.
4) NPR's Hmmm.....Krulwich on Science is one of my favorite science podcasts, but it comes out too infrequently, not even once a month and not on any schedule I can fathom. It's an insightful look into the history of science as well as science stories that cause you to marvel (this being Krulwich's specialty), and I envy you because you can now enjoy the few in the archives for your first time. Happily, Krulwich's blog, Krulwich Wonders, comes out more regularly.
5) Story Collider is a cross between The Moth and a conversation with your chemistry lab partner. It's people telling stories about how science has affected their lives, and many of the stories are hilarious, especially to scientists and PhD program dropouts. This is a fun podcast, with some talented storytelling, and some less so, but it's worth wading through them all to find the absolute gems.
6) Finally, TED Talks, which you undoubtedly already know about. TED stands for technology, entertainment, and design, so you will hear plenty of science-related pieces if you listen. Pretty much everything discussed at TED is interesting, science-based or not.
So, enjoy!
I've found that reading popular science helps me write poems. It provides me with images and vocabulary, and with just plain wonder that stimulates creativity.
In the past couple of years, I've started listening to science podcasts in addition to my reading regimen. Reading is still better, but since I walk for a couple of hours a day, this is a way to make the time productive and enjoyable. And since I miss hearing the English of native speakers at an adult level, podcasts also comfort me.
So today, I want to share some of my favorite science podcasts. (All of these are available in iTunes, by the way, as well as at their links.)
1) My absolute favorite is Radiolab, but I've blogged about it already, so I will just link to my old post and leave it at that for now. Sadly new episodes come out only twice a month.
2) Another good one is Science Friday with Ira Flatow. For two hours every Friday, Ira Flatow podcasts about diverse topics in science and technology, interviewing all the people in the know regarding timely science topics. For example, this week's podcast has Ira discussing World Toilet Day and interviewing engineers about the grants being given for revolutionary toilet designs that might bring the technology to the 1/3 of the earth's inhabitants without flush toilets or healthy sanitation. Flatow also learns the secrets of keeping the floats afloat in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade by sending his video editor to interview the "balloonatics". He also investigates the costs of embryonic stem cell research. And more!
And here's a hint. If instead of subscribing to the Science Friday podcast, you instead subscribe to the NPR Topics: Science podcast, you will get all science-related podcasts aired by NPR sent to you, including Science Friday in individual story units instead of a 2-hour block, so you can skip ones you aren't interested in.
3) Stuff You Should Know podcast, hosted by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, covers topics in science and any other field that suits the fancy of the hosts. Diverse subjects covered in the past include: the chemistry of Silly Putty, sweating colored sweat, the physics of roller coasters, how fossils are formed, etc. This podcast is twice a week, but as I said, while not all topics covered are science-related, they are all more or less fascinating.
4) NPR's Hmmm.....Krulwich on Science is one of my favorite science podcasts, but it comes out too infrequently, not even once a month and not on any schedule I can fathom. It's an insightful look into the history of science as well as science stories that cause you to marvel (this being Krulwich's specialty), and I envy you because you can now enjoy the few in the archives for your first time. Happily, Krulwich's blog, Krulwich Wonders, comes out more regularly.
5) Story Collider is a cross between The Moth and a conversation with your chemistry lab partner. It's people telling stories about how science has affected their lives, and many of the stories are hilarious, especially to scientists and PhD program dropouts. This is a fun podcast, with some talented storytelling, and some less so, but it's worth wading through them all to find the absolute gems.
6) Finally, TED Talks, which you undoubtedly already know about. TED stands for technology, entertainment, and design, so you will hear plenty of science-related pieces if you listen. Pretty much everything discussed at TED is interesting, science-based or not.
So, enjoy!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Radiolab is Pure Genius
I've been meaning to blog about some of my favorite podcasts for a few weeks now, and today I have the perfect impetus to get started because...Jad Abumrad, one of the hosts and producers of my all-time favorite podcast Radiolab, has won a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant (putting him in the good company of poets Kay Ryan and A. E. Stallings, also winners this year).
Jad Abumrad (along with Robert Krulwich) tackles topics weaving science, philosophy, and often sounds and music (Abumrad is a composer) in this fascinating show that teaches you something in each episode. If you don't like science, don't worry. This is for the thinking person, but not necessarily the tekkie. Everything is clearly explained, and the bigger questions behind them are explored in historical contexts.
For me, reading and listening to popular science books and shows generates new ideas. It was from a Radiolab episode about (among other things) the chemist Dmitri Mendelev (who organized, or invented, the correct verb is debated during the podcast, the periodic table) that I came up with the idea for a poem about Mendeleev.
Some other favorite Radiolab episodes are about symmetry, a world without words, the edge of human limits, the relationship between music and language, how cities are fundamentally different, numbers, will power, memory and forgetting, the walls of Jericho, sperm, randomness...well, clearly I could go on and on.
There's pretty much nothing they don't discuss on Radiolab. For instance, here's an episode featuring poet Mark Doty. Krulwich even gave the commencement address at my alma mater.
Available only twice a month, each episode of this show is impatiently awaited by a growing audience. You should join us!
Jad Abumrad (along with Robert Krulwich) tackles topics weaving science, philosophy, and often sounds and music (Abumrad is a composer) in this fascinating show that teaches you something in each episode. If you don't like science, don't worry. This is for the thinking person, but not necessarily the tekkie. Everything is clearly explained, and the bigger questions behind them are explored in historical contexts.
For me, reading and listening to popular science books and shows generates new ideas. It was from a Radiolab episode about (among other things) the chemist Dmitri Mendelev (who organized, or invented, the correct verb is debated during the podcast, the periodic table) that I came up with the idea for a poem about Mendeleev.
Some other favorite Radiolab episodes are about symmetry, a world without words, the edge of human limits, the relationship between music and language, how cities are fundamentally different, numbers, will power, memory and forgetting, the walls of Jericho, sperm, randomness...well, clearly I could go on and on.
There's pretty much nothing they don't discuss on Radiolab. For instance, here's an episode featuring poet Mark Doty. Krulwich even gave the commencement address at my alma mater.
Available only twice a month, each episode of this show is impatiently awaited by a growing audience. You should join us!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Obsessions (& Numbers), but I Repeat Myself
So I have finally finished reading Moby Dick (yay, I know you are thinking, no more annoying page number updates). What I had always heard was a tale about Ahab's obsession with a particular white whale seems to be more Ishmael's obsession with whales in general. After all, which character could cite every court case in history involving whales? who knew a plethora of literary and historical references to whales from ancient times forward? who could describe the anatomy of every kind of leviathan, both inside and out?
Ahab's obsession was with revenge, not whales. And Melville's obsession, what was it about? Here's one of my favorite quotes from the book, and a clue to what I think Melville's obsession is: "And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar."
And my obsession, what is it that I should have finished this book after all?
I once read a quote about a writer with an obsession being the luckiest writer of all. Naturally I cannot locate that quote now that I want it, but instead I found a video clip from Big Think of John Irving answering a question about his own apparent obsession with bears and death.
Basically John Irving defends his use of bears as commonplace given his surroundings, and says his obsessions tend NOT to be about what HAS happened to him in his life, but what HASN'T, and what he fears WILL happen, his biggest FEARS, in fact. As Irving points out, you don't control your obsessions; by definition they control you.
And so I will now segue into one of my biggest obsessions: numbers (This will not surprise you, given how carefully I've kept track of which page number of Moby Dick I was on). I love to think about numbers, and recently I heard a podcast by Robert Krulwich (one of the hosts of my alltime favorite podcast, Radio Lab, though this particular podcast isn't a Radio Lab production, but a Krulwich Wonders piece.) In this clip he is interviewing mathematician Alex Bellos, who is irked by always being asked what his favorite number is. (Here's the NPR blog if you prefer to read about it than listen to it.) So Bellos, like any good scientifically-minded person, decided to do a little research and set up a website asking, "What's your favourite number?" (using the British spelling because, well, you figure it out). Respondents also have to answer WHY a certain number is their favorite.
Here are a few interesting responses:
Because, says a 37-liker, "It looks mysterious, like a cloaked villain from a silent movie."
One person chose 17 because ... "It just seems like a colossal misfit. Many numbers, even some prime numbers, if they are not even, they still feel "round." Not 17, though. It's awkward and slightly difficult to deal with."
If you are interested in these responses, be sure to check out both the blog and the podcast, as they cite different examples of favorites with correspondingly convoluted reasonings. It turns out that most people have a preference for prime numbers (which I have to admit is a big factor in number-attractiveness for me), and there is a tendency to like one's own birthdate, but only for those born on odd-numbered days, interestingly enough.
If you want to be part of this project, go to Bellos's website; he is still gathering data, and you can make sure your favorite number gets counted.
So, back to Moby Dick. I know some of you are wondering why I have gone on this tangent about numbers, when there is so much to discuss about Melville's masterpiece. Well, having just finished it last night, let's say I'm a bit overwhelmed. I find it easier right now to discuss numbers, infinite though they are. So the several of you who wrote to me saying you were interested in discussing Moby Dick once I had read it, please write in and direct us in some discourse.
My favorite numbers, by the way, are 19, 56, and pi.
Ahab's obsession was with revenge, not whales. And Melville's obsession, what was it about? Here's one of my favorite quotes from the book, and a clue to what I think Melville's obsession is: "And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar."
And my obsession, what is it that I should have finished this book after all?
I once read a quote about a writer with an obsession being the luckiest writer of all. Naturally I cannot locate that quote now that I want it, but instead I found a video clip from Big Think of John Irving answering a question about his own apparent obsession with bears and death.
Basically John Irving defends his use of bears as commonplace given his surroundings, and says his obsessions tend NOT to be about what HAS happened to him in his life, but what HASN'T, and what he fears WILL happen, his biggest FEARS, in fact. As Irving points out, you don't control your obsessions; by definition they control you.
And so I will now segue into one of my biggest obsessions: numbers (This will not surprise you, given how carefully I've kept track of which page number of Moby Dick I was on). I love to think about numbers, and recently I heard a podcast by Robert Krulwich (one of the hosts of my alltime favorite podcast, Radio Lab, though this particular podcast isn't a Radio Lab production, but a Krulwich Wonders piece.) In this clip he is interviewing mathematician Alex Bellos, who is irked by always being asked what his favorite number is. (Here's the NPR blog if you prefer to read about it than listen to it.) So Bellos, like any good scientifically-minded person, decided to do a little research and set up a website asking, "What's your favourite number?" (using the British spelling because, well, you figure it out). Respondents also have to answer WHY a certain number is their favorite.
Here are a few interesting responses:
Because, says a 37-liker, "It looks mysterious, like a cloaked villain from a silent movie."
One person chose 17 because ... "It just seems like a colossal misfit. Many numbers, even some prime numbers, if they are not even, they still feel "round." Not 17, though. It's awkward and slightly difficult to deal with."
If you are interested in these responses, be sure to check out both the blog and the podcast, as they cite different examples of favorites with correspondingly convoluted reasonings. It turns out that most people have a preference for prime numbers (which I have to admit is a big factor in number-attractiveness for me), and there is a tendency to like one's own birthdate, but only for those born on odd-numbered days, interestingly enough.
If you want to be part of this project, go to Bellos's website; he is still gathering data, and you can make sure your favorite number gets counted.
So, back to Moby Dick. I know some of you are wondering why I have gone on this tangent about numbers, when there is so much to discuss about Melville's masterpiece. Well, having just finished it last night, let's say I'm a bit overwhelmed. I find it easier right now to discuss numbers, infinite though they are. So the several of you who wrote to me saying you were interested in discussing Moby Dick once I had read it, please write in and direct us in some discourse.
My favorite numbers, by the way, are 19, 56, and pi.
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