About Nauru: This American Life

by Erik Olsen on

You may have noticed that we post fairly frequently here about things we hear on NPR. That’s because some stories on public radio are so well done, and so interesting, that we’d feel like we were cheating you out of a great experience if we neglected to mention them. That’s really what blogs are about, after all. Spreading the word about specific stories and ideas, bringing them to the attention of a wide audience. Bloggers are filters, editors, arbiters of good taste. You trust us to help you sift through the clutter. And MAN is there a lot of clutter these days.

So with that said I want to provide you with a link to a radio story by Jack Hitt that I know you’ll totally dig. It comes from a broadcast of This American Life that aired back in December of 2003. But don’t let that put you off. It ain’t stale. The story I want you to hear is the second piece in the broadcast about the island of Nauru. It’s a slice of history, a bit of intrigue, a dose of humor. But in the end you’ll be gratified. Now, chances are you have never heard of Nauru. But I guarantee you once you listen to the story here, you’ll never forget it. And if by chance in the future someone does mention Nauru, I’ll bet this story will come to mind.

Ben Hur Chariot Reenactments

by Erik Olsen on

A few years ago whle my wife was away for a week on work, I sat at home each night and watched the movie
Gladiator. Yup, I watched it like 8 times over the course of the
week. A bit odd, huh? What can I say, it was a momentary addiction, fleeting and a bit strange, but there was something
about the film (especially the battles scenes) that made we want to indulge in it again and again. This was, of course,
when Russell Crowe was better known for his sword play than for hurling phones at hotel workers.
Anyway, I kicked the habit, of course, and haven’t popped the DVD in for a while now, but I was reminded of this
peculiar moment of personal history when I read about the efforts of Stellan Lind in Jordan.

Lind is a Swede, a former executive in the pharmaceutical industry who was so entranced by the chariot scenes in the
film Ben Hur that he went to Jordan and petitioned the government to allow him to establish
a company that does
recreations of the
chariot races amid the ancient ruins of Jaresh, Jordan. The show is known as “The Roman Army and Chariot
Experience” or simply by its acronym RACE and features former Jordanian soldiers who play gladiators and compete in
chariot races.

Lind oversees the races wearing a toga and a purple sash (although he says adamantly that he in no way wants to be
regarded as emperor…sure he doesn’t). Orders are given in Latin and the goal, says an announcer before each
reenactment, is to destroy a “hoard of barbarians that deserve no mercy”. Odd, but you have to admit that you’d check
it out if you were in the neighborhood.

There is also a story about it on
NPR.

 

Ribbons of Highway Blog

by Erik Olsen on

Lori Hein runs this solid little blog called
Ribbons of Highway, which also happens to be the name of her book,
a story about her travels with her daughter across America. Her blog features posts about her travels around the world,
and includes some recent
posts about Nassau
and Moscow and St. Petersburg that I thought were really well done. She fills her posts with vivid details and
desriptions that really put you there.
Here, for example, she blogs
about a recent trip to the town of Aveiro on Portugal’s Silver Coast:

“The marble slabs held octopus, squid, gleaming, flashing fish of all sizes and types. Red just-cut salmon steaks.
Fishmongers wielding mallets and knives, pounding then slicing fresh fish flesh into various cuts, chunks and filets.
The sound of pounding and slicing permeated the wrought iron structure that housed the market.”

Nice writing. Give this blog a look.

Bill Bryson Intv. on WAPO

by Erik Olsen on

Bill Bryson, who quite handily won our “Who is your favorite travel writer?”
poll, is
interviewed on the
Washington Post Travel Section. Nothing too earth-shattering here, but always good to hear from the man
himself. 

Bryson waxes about his recent return to
Britain (though born here, Bryson has actually lived much of his adult life in Britain where he was a writer). He also
talks about ihs next book, a sort of travel book about his experience growing up in the ’50s in Iowa. Funny thing, too.
He says that he never really meant to be a travel writer, that it just kind of happened, and his next books may not be
travel books at all…which, to be honest, doesn’t bother me at all since I LOVED
A Short History.
It was one of my favorite books last year.

Scuba Core DVDs

by Erik Olsen on

The Long Tail promises the creation and easy
delivery of a cornucopia of niche content products to satisfy every want and whim. If you are a Star Wars fan in search
of a Yoga DVD taught by a guy in a Obi Wan Kenobi robe, well, chances are you probably just have to google it. The
digital age promises an unfathomable blossoming of individual producers who are churning out millions of courses,
films, home movies, instructional videos, porn and so on. The problem is, most of the stuff is bad. Really bad.

For scuba divers, I think, this is especially the case. Shooting video underwater takes not only a significant amount
of skill, but also a sizeable investment in good equipment. I’ve seen a few “professionally produced” diving DVDs that
would make Jacques Cousteau turn over in his watery grave.

But I’ve also seen some good ones, produced by small outfits who understand what’s required to shoot decent UW
footage, and who have put forth the effort to produce material in a tight, well-composed package. One such DVD I saw
recently was put together by a company called ScubaCore in California.

Calling their program a Transglobal Quarterly DVD Journal, the ScubaCore folks have assembled a thoughtful,
educational series of dive videos that would make a solid addition to your DVD library. Or an ideal gift for the diver
in your family. While a bit raw at times,  the DVDs take you to exotic (and some not-so-exotic) locales and not
only show you the beauty and diversity of the wildlife at these places, but also deliver a compelling dose of history,
providing the kind of useful context that all serious divers crave when they enter the water. The DVDs also provide
interviews with some of the top names in diving. One of the issues I watched
(Volume 1, Issue 2) featured an interview with one of our
favorites: Eric Cheng.

The DVDs are hosted by a perky, but passionate and well-informed young woman named Anat Grant who delivers the
voice-over for the various dives and features with a journalistic flair. Her discussion of the WWII wrecks in the Truk
Lagoon made me want to book my ticket, dust off my reg and head there with a history book under my arm. Her delivery is
especially impressive since she explained to me in an email that her background is in mechanical engineering and
physical acoustics…call her Katie Couric with a big brain.

Anyway, I was very impressed with the edition of this quarterly DVD journal that I watched and am eager to see more.
They are producing new versions all the time, with the third issue on its way to the marketplace as we speak. I urge
you to give them a look.