Bird’s Eye: You don’t have time to keep up with everything, so that’s where Tikkunista comes in. If you watch TV, you might want to check out Sherlock (the 21st century BBC update, available for the next month via PBS’ online service). Certainly the most exciting podcasts we’ve come across recently are from BBC radio 4: The History of the World in 100 Objects. The book is a best seller, but you can download the podcasts for free, and listen to them on iPod, or CD, or whatever. Each is between 10 and 15 minutes, so the total is about 25 hours… perfect for the long lineups at airports. And the winners of the Brass Crescent for best Muslim blog this year is Muslim Matters, which looks fascinating in it’s depth, and wonderful for its breadth.
Two men who couldn’t be more different — united by ADVENTURE! Blowing away the fog of the Victorian era, the world’s most famous detective enters the 21st century. Three shows available to watch online. (%%$$#@!!! US viewers only…)
* A History of the World in 100 Objects
“In these programmes, I’m travelling back in time, and across the globe, to see how we humans over 2 million years have shaped our world and been shaped by it, and I’m going to tell this story exclusively through the things that humans have made: all sorts of things, carefully designed, and then either admired and preserved, or used, broken and thrown away. I’ve chosen just a hundred objects from different points on our journey, from a cooking pot to a golden galleon, from a Stone Age tool to a credit card….”
Maev Kennedy of The Guardian described the programme as “a broadcasting phenomenon”, while Tim Davie, head of music and audio at BBC radio, commented that “the results have been nothing short of stunning”, exceeding the BBC’s wildest hopes for the programme. At the time of the writing of Kennedy’s article, just before the start of the last week of the series, the radio broadcasts regularly had up to four million listeners, while the podcast downloads had totalled 10,441,884.
Runner up for last year’s Best Blog, Muslim Matters is “worth visiting” for its “variety and depth.” “I just open it and there is always something of interest to me.”
