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588
June 3, 2016

Mind Games

People who try simple mind games on others and find themselves in way over their heads.

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Nina Leen/Getty Images

An updated version of an episode from 2005.

Prologue

Host Ira Glass interviews Lori Gottlieb about the time she sent a letter to a writer in a magazine, a letter packed with white lies. (5 1/2 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Lori Gottlieb
Act One

Act One

Lori Gottlieb's story from the prologue continues. One complication led to another and before long, the writer seemed to be lying to her. Or maybe he wasn't. It was hard to tell. Years later, she still isn't sure what happened. Gottlieb is the author of Marry Him: The Case For Settling For Mr. Good Enough and other books. (7 minutes)

By

Ira Glass

Song:

“Mr. Magazine” by The Knack
Act Two

The Spy Who Loved Everyone

A group called Improv Everywhere decides that an unknown band, Ghosts of Pasha, playing their first ever tour in New York, ought to think they're a smash hit. So they study the band's music and then crowd the performance, pretending to be hard-core fans. Improv Everywhere just wants to make the band happy—to give them the best day of their lives. But the band doesn't see it that way. (31 minutes)

By

Jorge Just
Act Three

Lonely Hearts Club Band...Of One

Musician David Berkeley has gotten a lot of requests in his life, but none quite like the offer his agent got last year. A fan wanted Berkeley to come to his house and help save his relationship by serenading the troubled couple with a personal concert. Ira Glass talks to Berkeley about why he took the gig, and what happened when he got there. Berkeley's newest album is called Cardboard Boat. (12 minutes)

By

David Berkeley
Ira Glass

Related

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542: Wait—Do You Have The Map?
Dec. 12, 2014

Act One: A Marriage of Inconvenience

This next story is about a couple in a relationship that’s unlike the homes either of them grew up in.
131: The Kids Are Alright
June 4, 1999

Act Two: When Czechs Bounce

If part of the impulse behind the Tiananmen Square uprising was the pure desire to feel like life had possibility, that the future had potential...that impulse was behind another movement.
420: Neighborhood Watch
Nov. 19, 2010

Act Three: Witness for the Poo-secution

Ira Glass tells the story of how science is being used to fight the ultimate neighborhood plague: Dog poop.

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The Giant Pool of Money

The surprisingly entertaining story of how the U.S. got itself into a housing crisis.

550
Mar. 13, 2015

Three Miles

What happens when of a group of public school students in the Bronx goes to visit an elite private school three miles away.

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