Tagged: History

We spoke with Linda Rodriguez McRobbie about the history of boredom. Not surprisingly, scientists avoided studying the subject until the last century.  Studies suggest that boredom can lead to depression and other adverse health conditions, even death.  

To keep the doctors away, we've curated a motley assortment of "boring" film and television clips.

Word of Mouth's weekly program. This week's show features an art blog that uses Google Earth images to show the battlefields of drones, a radio show produced in an an insane asylum, Ty Burr's "Gods Like Us," and history's badass-iest nuns. Plus, webcast funerals!

Part 1:

After researching our segment on the unknown origins of Monopoly, we decided to keep looking for other games with surprising backstories.  We hope that they will inspire your game-based holiday gift-giving.

I hate Monopoly. Always have. The reason is simple: it's impossible to play the game and feel good, even if you win. Monopoly, simply put, is all about crushing  your fellow players through bankruptcy, even if they're your own kids. Turns out, there might be a reason for my hatred of Monopoly.

The most popular game in the world, according to this amazing article in Harpers, is, simply put, theft. And it has an incredible, almost unbelievable history:

If you don't know the name, Dayton Duncan, you'll most likely be familiar with his work. He's an award winning writer and filmmaker who has been Ken Burn's right hand man for decades. The two have collaborated on multi-hour films on topics that have ranged from Lewis and Clark to the Civil War to Baseball to our National Parks. Last Fall, I spoke with Duncan before a live audience in Keene about his long time collaboration with filmmaker Ken Burns, what it takes to put together these multi-hour collaborations and gained some insights on some of his latest projects.