The Break-Up

Posted by Tom Fasano on August 26, 2008 – 9:49 pm

This American Life can be a little corny at times, but Ira Glass has a real talent for getting moving stories out of everyday people.

I discovered this absolutely compelling piece about Phil Collins (Against All Odds) and one of his biggest fans. Even if you are NOT a Phil Collins fan, check out this piece with him on the show.

It’s extraordinary radio. The episode starts with a simple premise — girl with a broken heart wants to talk to Phil about heartbreak, and then it evolves into something quite different. By the end, barriers come down, and its turns into one of the most personal and affecting interviews about loss I think I’ve ever heard.

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Olga Korbut: The Gymnast, Her Coach, Her Rival and the President

Posted by Tom Fasano on August 20, 2008 – 7:48 pm

Like everyone who watched the 1972 Munich Olympics, I was quite taken with Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut — the 4-foot-11, 85-pound sprite who performed a back flip off the uneven bars, danced on the four-inch-wide balance beam, and seduced a worldwide audience with her floor exercise routine “like a little kid playing in the sun,” in the words of ABC commentator Jim McKay. During the intervening years she has taken a tumble from the world’s stage, but her fans still love her.

NOTE: The above documentary film first aired on the BBC in August of 2001.


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