KCRW's The Urban Man

Bright Clothes on Wheels

podmaster@kcrw.org (Marc Porter Zasada) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:44:00 EDT

Getting to the Story

podmaster@kcrw.org (Marc Porter Zasada) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:44:00 EDT

Yesterday, I missed most of the Oscar telecast. Yes, it's true. I didn't tune in until they got to Best Actor. I tried hard, but I was delayed by traffic, and right around the time Mo'nique was giving her potent speech, I was transitioning anxiously from the 15 to the 10, caught up in a massive 3D experience of taillights and Taco Bells...

The Ever-Hungry Gods

podmaster@kcrw.org (Marc Porter Zasada) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:44:00 EDT

The other night, my friend John explained why America is not ready for health reform. I've quoted John before. He's an unsung philosopher who works as a carpenter out in the Valley. Like carpenters of old, he often speaks in an oracular fashion....

The Well-Ordered Estate

podmaster@kcrw.org (Marc Porter Zasada) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:44:00 EDT

Like most Americans, I like to believe that capitalism operates with a kind of heavenly logic: that it ultimately makes sense for the whole society, and that the people at the top are not robber barons, but the guarantors of social order. I want to feel that their relentless efforts create not just prosperity, but a logical mansion in which we can all dwell at peace...

The Endless Avoid

podmaster@kcrw.org (Marc Porter Zasada) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:44:00 EDT

Here in L.A., we are all experts at avoiding people. In fact, a lot of folks move here because they don't really like people, and they can easily hole up in a small tract house with their big TV and cocoon-like car. If you telecommute, you don't even have to see people in the office. Go to a midnight club, and you can get all sweaty without actually touching a single sweaty other...

A Muchness of Tokyo

podmaster@kcrw.org (Marc Porter Zasada) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:44:00 EDT

Back in my hometown of L.A., we like to think we're experts in muchness. You know: Much entertainment. Much style. Much city. A muchness of muchness. But after spending the last 48 hours here in Tokyo, I have to report that Angelenos are pikers, maybe even posers. It's true: In Tokyo, they have achieved a muchness which Angelenos can only dream about or render digitally: more city, more people, much bright signage, and of course, multi-story, multi-use entertainment complexes...

Capturing the Tao

podmaster@kcrw.org (Marc Porter Zasada) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:44:00 EDT

Like most modern people, I figure that no matter what happens here in industrialized society, no matter what ugly freeways we build or late night TV we watch, there lives some saffron-robed monk on some Far East mountain who still has it all together, spiritually speaking; who grasps some eternal nameless truth we no longer grasp. Maybe he even calls it the "Tao." We think: "Hey, if only I could stand in that guy's Zen garden for five minutes..."

It's Going to Be Okay

podmaster@kcrw.org (Marc Porter Zasada) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:44:00 EDT

It's January 4, high time to offer my predictions for the coming year. As always, my methods are beyond reproach. You can be confident that I have consulted a selection of fairly important psychics and made several calls to second-year grad students at leading universities...

Looking for Hints

podmaster@kcrw.org (Marc Porter Zasada) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:44:00 EDT

It?s the holidays, and again this year I?ve gone looking for subtle hints that the universe really cares: not just about humankind, but about Angelenos. Nothing miraculous, mind. I?m not expecting something involving exactly eight jelly donuts at Factor?s deli. No stigmata appearing on a major male celebrity. No elves dancing across the La Brea Tar Pits...

Guaranteed Gifting

podmaster@kcrw.org (Marc Porter Zasada) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:44:00 EDT

Again this week we're exploring the Urban Man Signature Holiday Catalog, now online and cleverly designed to take the guesswork out of gifting...