This American Life, Live

Ira Glass, Live On Screen

When I first heard about the “live screening” of This American Life, I was skeptical. I’m not a fan of the TV show. I like the radio show as-is. And the idea of projecting the show live… wasn’t there something profoundly artificial about that? I mean, it’s not really live unless you’re there in the same room with the people doing the show. Right? I figured the real point must be to give radio listeners a chance to listen to (and, ugh, watch) their favorite radio show as a sort of social activity.

It’s worth mentioning that I attended this group activity by myself. A friend who couldn’t go gave me her ticket, and I didn’t know the person she had planned on attending with, so we didn’t sit together. Although, attending this sort of thing by myself is the sort of thing that I would do anyway. Living in LA cured me of any embarrassment at seeing movies alone – it’s not uncommon there, as everyone feels the need to keep up on what’s showing as a matter of professional pride – and after all, this event was a movie. Sort of. Well, not at all. But it did happen at BAM Rose Cinemas.

Ostensibly, the theme of the stories told was “return to the scene of the crime.” But what the “acts” really had in common was their sense of immediacy and self-awareness, and this jibed perfectly with the radio theater experience. Dan Savage, usually flippant and self-assured, choked up as a he described his struggle to re-explore his Catholic roots as a way of mourning his mother. Joss Whedon, a through-and-through behind-the-scenes guy known for his meta-narratives, Read the rest of this entry »