This week, we’re talking about a new way of looking at old photos: looking beyond their primary subjects and bringing the background details into focus. Under close observation, almost every vintage postcard or photo album that comes into the shop inadvertently reveals a wealth of information about the texture of daily life at the time that it was taken. From the fashions and hairstyles of passersby to the style of cars and the prices in shop windows, these images act as a fascinating window into the past. We’ll also discuss the worrying lack of these valuable artifacts from the present and the more recent past—as more and more photographs remain online only and as AI introduces an element of doubt into everything we see—on this snappy new #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #109 - Where's Ken's Book? (audio fixed)
Edit: Sorry about the technical difficulties! The episode should work now.
Ken tells great stories, and he’s around books all day, so people sometimes ask him, “Why don’t you write a book of your own?” It’s a nice idea, but, unfortunately, being good at selling books doesn’t necessarily translate to being good at writing them. Jordan, on the other hand, has just published a memoir: ON-AIR: My 50-Year Love Affair with Radio, which he wrote with the help of an editor friend (learn more about Jordan’s book here: https://www.jordanrich.com/book.shtml).
Today we’ll talk about the mysteries and difficulties of the writing process, how hard it is to stay focused when writing feels like a chore, and why the funniest story in the world can come out so flat when you put it down on the page. Think of this episode as Ken’s séance for ghostwriters: Are you out there? Can you hear us trying to summon you?