Read. Watch. Listen. introduces you the personal side of our faculty, staff and alumni. Participants are asked to answer three simple questions about their reading, viewing and listening habits – what one book or newspaper/magazine article is grabbing your attention; what one movie or television show has caught your eye; and what album/song, podcast or radio show are you lending an ear to.
Douglas Keddy is Associate Director, Research Promotion & Profile.
Today, he takes his turn on Read. Watch. Listen.
Read
Incredibly on-brand for someone with a serious case of wanderlust, I just finished Around the World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every Country on Earth by Albert Podell. He has visited a few more countries than I, though (all of them). I’ve hopefully got some time left, at least. Unfortunately, Podell’s storytelling also seems to wander as aimlessly as he did at times.
Watch
I’m considered movie illiterate and don’t have cable, but just watched the Netflix series, Churchill’s Secret Agents: The New Recruits. By having participants undergo British Special Operations Executive (SOE) training, the program makes an interesting effort to combine the theatrics of a reality show with educational programming. It helps that WWII-era SOE spies were similarly plucked from all walks of life.
Listen
For years, I have loved how American band Beirut incorporates musical sounds from around the world into its folky-pop brand of music that is both familiar (largely thanks to singer Zach Condon’s voice and the use of brass instruments) and different with each album (which are, at times, heavily influenced by France and Belgian singer Jacques Brel; other times, Mexico or Eastern Europe). Lately, I’ve been very intrigued by the fuzzy sounds of Toronto-based Alvvays and the rambling folk-rock of Lord Huron.
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If you have a suggestion for someone you would like to see in Read. Watch. Listen., or would like to participate yourself, drop a line to inside.western@uwo.ca.