Hometown Baghdad is a series of vignettes about a group of 20-something friends living in a war zone. These short episodes, co-produced by Iraqi filmmakers, are as candid as they are insightful. They're also frequently funny. Episodes are available via hometownbaghdad.com, as well as YouTube, and iTunes.
Gene Weingarten's article in the Washington Post on Joshua Bell's subway performance incited numerous conversations about the impact of context on the way we evaluate art. In a live discussion the next day, Weingarten starts by saying, "This story got the largest and most global response of anything I have ever written, for any publication. I think the enthusiastic classical-music blogosphere helped give it a viral life, as did the availability of quality video."
If we could turn the population of the earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping the same proportions we have today, it would look something like this...
Low Morale: Creep by Laith Bahrani Low Morale: Creep is a music video of Radiohead's 'Creep' song. The animation is a cathartic opus that aims to express the despair caused by a soul-destroying job and the pain of a broken relationship. Warning: may cause depression. The Party by Eric Maierson In The Party, a middle-aged man tries to share his sadness with an adolescent woman - a colleague's daughter - that he's just met at a company party. A short, fictional film about honesty and everything that gets in the way, written and directed by Eric Maierson.
This video, Ira Glass on Storytelling #1, is the first part in a four-part series available on YouTube in which Ira Glass, host of National Public Radio's This American Life, discusses the essential building blocks of a good broadcast story. The following are links to each part in the series: Ira Glass on Storytelling #1 Ira Glass on Storytelling #2 Ira Glass on Storytelling #3 Ira Glass on Storytelling #4