(today's zomby) WITH ITS OWN "THIS AMERICAN LIFE"-TYPE SOUNDTRACK!

Hey, kids.

Do you listen to This American Life on NPR? I'll admit that I do. Call me a pretentious hipster zombie doucheburger if you must, but I find that TAL really helps calm me down after a long day of being chased by gun-toting rednecks. Anyway, one of the things that most amazes me about the show is the thematically-appropriate background music they always find to go with the stories. In particular, they always find some amazingly apt song to play immediately after the last story. I don't know how they do it. Host Ira Glass always credits someone named Jessica Hopper (presumably this Jessica Hopper) with the vague credit of "music help," but there's no real explanation of their music-vetting process.

Anyway, I thought I'd try it myself today with this coffee-themed Zomby! cartoon. Imagine that this cartoon had been a very well-produced, 5-to-10-minute-long audio documentary about a zombie going into a Starbucks (or "Stabrux" if you must) and encountering a generic female functionary. Are you there with me? Okay, then this is the song that would play after the story was over and Ira was reading the end credits.

Incidentally, one of NPR's patron saints, David Sedaris, contributed a story to Episode 319 of This American Life which actually did reference the living impaired. LISTEN TO IT HERE!

(today's zomby) AND A WEIRDLY COMPELLING INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD CARPENTER

I don't know whether you heard it or not today, but NPR aired an oddly fascinating interview with 1970s pop star Richard Carpenter (of The Carpenters), conducted by Terry Gross. It's the 40th anniversary of the Carpenters signing with A&M Records (the label co-founded by Herb Alpert), and there's a new CD compilation being released called 40/40 to commemorate the occasion. Anyway, Richard Carpenter talks about all the usual subjects: the band's formation and early years, the Carpenters' unique sound, the stories behind their big hits, etc. But the interview takes a left turn around the 26:10 mark. Terry admits that she used to find the Carpenters' music "corny" and asks Richard what he thought of Sonic Youth's remake of "Superstar." The results are unexpectedly entertaining.