This American Life

I adore the radio program "This American Life" (you too?!). I love Ira Glass, I love the music they choose, I love the stories. I love it all. I'm not super familiar with the television show (mostly because I don't get Showtime), but what I've seen of it I love. Of course a show as beautiful as this would produce beautiful merchandise and tour posters and product design, so I thought today we'd enjoy a handful. The first three shots are of our beloved Ira from the television show.



Visit the shop of TAL to purchase some of these items and to see what else they've got available. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast (for FREE) on itunes. It's so, so good.

PS. The squirrel is from here and use to be available on a t-shirt.

I Heart NPR

If the radio is on, it's tuned to National Public Radio. I love Morning Edition and the World Cafe and Science Friday, but what I really, really love is the weekend programming. Car Talk is fantastic on my way to work on Saturday morning - and if I'm getting a particularly late start I catch the first half of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. I usually miss This American Life but am an avid podcast listener to make up for it. I've never gotten into their website much, but on a recommendation from A Cup of Jo I ended up over there this morning.
You know I'm a sucker for nostalgia (see my census post a little over a week ago), so this gallery on the jobs of yesteryear was right up my alley. Head over there to read the whole thing. And take a look around why don't you?

(All images from Getty) From top left: typist in a typist pool (1955); typesetter (1947); (second row) lector (1909) and pinsetter (1910). The lector was very interesting to me and one I wasn't familiar with. Apparently cigar makers in New York and Miami would contribute money to pay someone to read to them while they worked—mostly left of center newspaper articles or political papers. This originated in Cuba where it still happens. Awesome, right? Awesome. You can also hear people talking about these jobs—some of which actually filled the positions. Again, awesome. Good weekend all!