Just now getting ’round to listening to some podcasts downloaded way back last Autumn; though they’re a teeny bit dated now, I’ve got a few quite strong recommendations.
- From the September 6 Episode of Against The Grain, Chomsky fields questions from a lineup of prominent authors, filmmakers, journalists, and such. Won’t say there’s anything revelatory here for those familiar with his work; but the format does appear to’ve lent a new twist. Besides, no matter how familiar, he’s always worth a listen, as the depth and breadth of his knowledge is beyond compare. Pretty impressive that at eighty-three years of age, he’s still sharp as a tack, not to mention being (almost literally) up-to-the-moment current.
- Meanwhile, Tariq Ali, a notable speaker and thinker in his own right sounds in the December 19 Episode as though he’s channeling the late, very great, very lamented Eqbal Ahmad: holding forth in re developments in the Middle East with an eloquence and a passion that ought not be missed.
- Because you just couldn’t get enough of either, they’re actually double-featured in Episode #533 of Unwelcome Guests, each in talks given in the Spring of last year.
- Finally, of more recent vintage (i.e., just last month), John Virapen, a thirty-five year veteran of the industry interviewed by Patrick Timpone, drops the dime on the corruption of Big Pharm; including telling how he personally bribed a Swedish bureaucrat in order to get the go-ahead to sell Prozac there, plus much more concerning the unsavory behind-the-scenes shenanigans of Dr. Feelgood, Inc..