American life

The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain
$25.95
Judith Horstman's book Day in the Life of Your Brain is front and center in my collection of books on the "isness" of things - Why is things as they is? The author, an award winning journalist, understands the tentative nature of science, which is very important to us science folk. In addition, she writes with a charm that commonly brought a smile to my lips which is also important.
The very first chapter answered a question I had been pondering for almost 50 years. While in college, I was living with my gravely ill grandmother. I was both amazed and puzzled that I would perceive her distress while in a sound sleep, become instantly awake and functioning to assist her. It turns out our brain "has an app for that". It is called the RAS and is part of the more primitive area of our brain and originally evolved to detect the sound of a leopard's claws on the trunk of the tree where our ancestors fled for night safety. Mothers of newborns are familiar with this capability. I highly recommend this book to all who are even remotely interested in how their brain works. I also found it an easy yet substantive read. (A neat trick.)

This American Life: Season Two
$19.99
I love This American Life on the radio, so I had to try it on DVD. I love the show, but I still prefer to listen while I'm driving or having breakfast.

American Life
$30.98
'American Life' builds upon some of the more radical experiments of 'Music', most notably Madonna's collaborations with French techno "genius" Mirwais, as well as the incorporation of more introspective and acoustic elements. The result is an album that feels like almost nothing Madonna has done before. With a title like 'American Life' and release in the post 9-11/War On Terror world, the album was hyped as a political record, but that's not quite true. While there is some social commentary on the album, Madonna satirises Amercian culture, celebrity and society in general. There are also plenty of very introspective personal reflections and acoustically-based songs here. After two decades of hearing multi-tracked Madonna singing over dance beats, hearing her unadorned voice over simple acoustic instruments is a refreshing change.

So there are some good ideas here, certainly. There's also a few ideas that are not so good, but still interesting. And in the hands of a different producer, this might have been a real artistic breakthrough. Unfortunately, Mirwais was not the right choice. While Madonna has to accept ultimate responsibility for this (it's her album, after all), I point the finger squarely at the producer, for two reasons:

1) Mirwais is a one-trick pony, and that trick was already wearing thin on 'Music'. At least on that album, it provided a contrast to the poppier songs. Here, Mirwais drags out his stuttering beats, droning synths, and vocal tweaks for nearly every song.

2) This layered production just does not suit the songs Madonna has written. Both her pointed barbs and intimate reflections are more suited to a less cluttered, stripped-back arrangement. The wash of surface gloss robs the album of its impact, meaning too many songs fall flat instead of hitting hard emotionally.

It's hard to pick the best songs here, since nearly all of them suffer from Mirwais' heavy hand. I personally have always liked the title track, 'Hollywood', and the more reflective 'Nobody Knows Me'. On the other hand, I think most people agree 'Die Another Day' is the least impressive song.

As it stands, the album probably doesn't deserve 3 stars, but I'm prepared to cut Madonna some slack. She genuinely tries to push her music and lyrics forward, and for an artist as massive as her to take that risk is admirable. If only she'd found someone to better translate her ideas into practise, this could have been one of her best albums.

This American Life - Season One
$19.99
Quality of the transfer to the DVD is subpar, they decided to cram everything (if you can call a little over 2 hours everything). Not really a lot of extras if thats your thing. The stroies were great though - I watched all 1 disk of this in a single sitting and I laughed and cried, sometimes at the same time. Its shows like this that make paying for cable worthwhile.