The Stories of the Top 100 American Songs (NPR)

Seems an interesting blog series looking at the 100 most important american works (songs) and the stories behind them.

10 Ideas that Changed the World in 2012 (The Atlantic)

Article in the Atlantic on world changing ideas from 2012

Poland not immune to Euro Crisis as growth slows (NYT Article)

NYT article on growth slowing in Poland.

Polish growth is expected to slow to as little as 1.5 percent next year, according to World Bank estimates, from 2.1 percent this year. That still compares favorably with the neighboring euro zone, where most countries are either in recession or just barely growing. With a gross domestic product of €369.7 billion in 2011, according to the European data agency Eurostat, Poland ranked ninth among the 27 E.U. countries, just below Belgium and a rung above Austria.

Poland's Sikorski Challenges Euroskeptics at a Dinner in England

Sikorski argues that Britain should stay within the EU as it suits their best interests. The article is from the NY Times.

The Euro Crisis (Economist Podcast)

The latest on the Euro crisis and the decision for limited debt mutualisation and the beginnings of a banking Union as well as the ECB alllowing for unlimited debt purchases.

The euro crisis

America's Continuing Role in the Middle East (Economist Podcast)

A podcast looking at the need for America to continue to exert an influence in the Middle East.

America and the Middle East

Freakonomics podcast on media bias

Podcast on media bias in the us papers

http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/02/16/how-biased-is-your-media/

Top 50 films (sight and sound poll)

Hundreds of critics give their top film choices to put together a top50 films of all time. From the look of the list most of them don't make it past the sixties.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time

Economist Podcasts on A Possible EURO breakup

The Economist imagines what a possible EURO breakup might look like considering doing nothing, a Greek Exit, and a larger exit of Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Greece and Cyprus.

The euro Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:32 AM PDT This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Breaking up the euro area Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:32 AM PDT This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

BBC Podcast on Immortality and Evil

What looks to be an interesting podcast on immortality and evil from the BBC.

• TA 11 July 12: Immortality - Evil (BBC Podcast: Thinking Allowed)

  Wed, 11 Jul 12
  Duration:
  29 mins
  Immortality; Laurie Taylor explores the ways in which human beings have resisted the idea of mortality, with philosopher, John Gray and cultural historian Marina Warner. Also Barry Smith, Director of the institute of Philosophy in London explores contrasting analyses of 'evil' within modern thought.
  Download 14MB (right click & "save target as / link as")

Guardian article on financial crisis

Guardian article giving an overview of the financial crisis and the systemic problems that keep it going. These myths being the anglo/ Saxon myth that big finance is good, the German myth that austerity will fix everything and the third myth that nothing is really wrong with the system.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2012/aug/05/economic-crisis-myths-sustain

Simon Schama's: Power of Art (8 artists)

Here is an episode list of Simon Schama's: Power of Art


Season 1 Episode 1
Caravaggio The historian recounts the stories of high drama behind the making of eight masterpieces, beginning with Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's David with the Head of Goliath. He returns to Rome in 1603, where the Italian Baroque painter broke with artistic convention by creating earthy, realistic images using models taken from streets, taverns, markets and brothels

Season 1 Episode 2
Bernini The broadcaster and historian recounts how Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 17th-century sculpture The Ecstasy of St Theresa restored the artist's failing fortunes and breathed new life into the art of sculpture. Battling for supremacy with his rival Francesco Borromini, Bernini carved the marble model for the Cornaro family chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, where it still mesmerises flocks of devotees

Season 1 Episode 3
Rembrandt The historian turns his attention to Rembrandt's painting of The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis. The masterpiece, intended as a decoration for the halls of Amsterdam Town Hall, was the bankrupt artist's opportunity for a comeback, but was not what the commissioners wanted him to create - meaning the painter was left to die in poverty

Season 1 Episode 4
David Jacques-Louis David's painting of The Death of Marat. The artist had made his name working for the French king and was popular among aristocrats, but turned his talents to help the newly installed revolutionary government, painting the outspoken journalist who was stabbed to death in his bath as a martyr and `friend of the people'

Season 1 Episode 5
Turner Turner's painting The Slave Ship, which courted controversy in its portrayal of slave traders throwing their dying cargo into the sea to claim the insurance money. The work demonstrates the artist's move from traditional styles to a determination to test the limits of both technique and acceptable subject matter

Season 1 Episode 6
Van Gogh The historian recounts the inspiration behind Vincent van Gogh's Wheat Field With Crows - a work created in the summer of 1890 that saw him hailed as a visionary genius only weeks before he killed himself. Schama charts van Gogh's early life as an art dealer, teacher and preacher, and Andy Serkis plays the troubled artist in a dramatisation of events

Season 1 Episode 7
Picasso The historian recounts artist Pablo Picasso's attempts to create a `modern history' painting, based on the bombing of the ancient town of Guernica by the Luftwaffe. Instead of making a literal social commentary, he wanted to depict accurately where he felt the horrors of the world came from - the human psyche

Season 1 Episode 8
Rothko The historian recounts the story behind the creation of Mark Rothko's suite of paintings, commissioned in 1958 for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York's Seagram Building. The artist declared he wanted to ruin diners' appetites by creating work that demanded their attention - an attempt he saw as the ultimate test of art's power in the modern world

Time Magazine: Top 10 Books of all time

In what i think is a review of a book Time has released the top 10 books of all time. See what you think:

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

The Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Documentaries that look interesting ... a list

Here are the names of a few documentaries that look interesting, mostly historical, with links to watch the videos on youtube. The list comes from topdocumentaryfilms.com.

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (BBC)
Byzantium: The Lost Empire
Civilisation: Is the West History (with Nial Ferguson)
Crash Course: World History
Guns, Germs & Steel (National Geographic)
Birth of Israel (BBC)
The Bloody History of Communism
The Greeks: Crucible of Civilisation (PBS)
The Kings: From Babylon to Baghdad (History of Iraq)
The Roman Empire in the First Century (PBS) 3hrs
An Islamic History of Europe (BBC) 90min
Islam: Empire of Faith (PBS) 3 Episodes 2hr 40min
Elusive Peace: Israel & The Arabs
Fall of Great Empires: Persia
Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism (Communism)
History's Turning Points
Footsteps of Alexander the Great
Iran: 7 Faces of Civilization
Legacy: The origins of Civilisation

Art
Simon Schama's The Power of Art

Economics
How the West went Bust (BBC) 2hrs

History Of Islam (PBS Documentary) Video

Islam: Empire of Faith

What is Islam? Who is Muhammad? This is a documentary narrated by Ben Kingsley about Islam and attempts to answer these questions. The first part deals with the life of the Prophet Muhammad, his early life, his encounter with God Almighty and the birth of the Islam.

1. Prophet Muhammad and the Rise of Islam. Islam would become the revitalizing force of a barbaric Arabia, returning people to God and bringing back the monotheistic message of Christianity and Judaism in its most powerful way. Islam Women were given rights over there husbands, racism was annihilated and the rich were made equal to the poor.

2. The Awakening. This part relates the golden age of Islam. A time of great learning when Europe was steeped in the Dark Ages. The building of great works of architecture, reading, writing, mathematics, medicine, and astronomy. Even before the printing press Muslims would have hundreds of scribes writing all at once so they would learn and reproduce the writings.

3. The Ottomans. This portion deals with the growing Ottoman Empire, which would control the bridge between 3 continents: Africa, Europe and Asia. This empire would begin at the close of the Crusades until World War I, from the 1300s to 1923. They would rule the entire Middle East and make there way into Europe. Before there was the state of Israel, there was great peace in the Holy Land regulated by the Ottomans.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 2 hours, 40 minutes)

Syria: The Prospect of International Criminal Cases (BBC Podcast)

• Docs: Syria - The Road To Justice

  Wed, 25 Jul 12
  Duration:
  24 mins
  The mass killings of civilians in Houla immediately led to calls for the ICC to investigate and for those responsible to be held to account. But in cases like this, how likely is it that international justice will eventually be done?
  Download 11MB (right click & "save target as / link as")

China's Internal Power Struggle (BBC Podcast)

• China's Battle of Ideas 09.07.12

  Mon, 9 Jul 12
  Duration:
  29 mins
  China's politburo experiencing an internal power struggle. It is about ideological more than personal rivalry. Mukul Devichand visits the People's Republic to investigate this battle of ideas.

Credit Crisis Explanation Video

Very nice simple explanation of the credit crisis. No doubt oversimplified, but then again I am simple so it's a match!

What exactly is a Derivative (Video) Economics

Also here are 50 Economics lectures to help in understanding things.

NPR Best songs of the Year so Far (Podcast)

Podcast from NPR's excellent All Songs Considered Podcast.

Discussion: NPR Our Favorite Music Of The Year (So Far)

Hear The Discussion

All Songs Considered

[1 hr 11 min 56 sec]

• Add to Playlist

 

Hear The Songs

Courtesy of the artists Clockwise, from upper left: Kishi Bashi, Simone White, Bobby Womack, Aleksa Palladino of Exitmusic, Sinead O'Connor.

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June 12, 2012

The biggest surprise of the year? Bob is into a Swedish pop song with the lyrics "You're from the 70's/but I'm a 90's b*tch." This week on All Songs Considered, Co-Hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton are joined by NPR Music's Stephen Thompson and Ann Powers to take a step back, catch their breaths and consider the past six months of music. They share their favorite new artists, biggest surprises, favorite albums and songs of 2012, so far.
Second to Bob's unexpected pop pick: the heated discussion on Carly Rae Jepson's sugary song of the summer "Call Me Maybe". This week's show features a batch of poptimistic, feel-good songs (along with a few tracks better heard alone in a dark, quiet room.) These favorite songs of the year are not necessarily the most delicately crafted, but the "awesomeist" songs. Particularly awesome is Japandroids' rebellious "Fire's Highway," with a shout-to-the-heavens chorus and brash guitar and drums. Bob and Robin's favorite new artist of the year so far, Kishi Bashi, uses layers and loops to create a radiant, uplifting soundscape in the song "Bright Whites."
Another theme of the year seemed to be artists who've been around for a while, like Sinead O'Connor and Bobby Womack, and made the list with triumphant comeback albums. Fiona Apple's record, The Idler Wheel...
You can listen to the entire discussion above and each track discussed below.