This American Life

- Season 1

(2007)

Three stories of people who hatched plans in the hopes of making their dreams come true, but were snapped back to reality by unpleasant outcomes.

Four segments that explore the cost of stubbornness, including a man who refuses to acknowledge some important events in his wife's life; a politician who attempts to win an election without ever lying.

Stories where the faithful and the not-so-faithful cross paths, and where unexpected things happen when people try to get closer to God through pictures: hundreds of Polaroid camera-toting believers gather in the Mojave Desert each month hoping to see God. And an artist, his Jesus model, the model's atheist girlfriend, and her religious father face off on The Last Supper.

This episode is devoted to a single story by way of G.J. Echternkamp. G.J. spent years filming his mother and stepfather. In the '80s, his stepfather, Frank Garcia, was the bassist in a briefly-famous band called OXO. G.J.'s mom, Cindy Brown, met him at the height of his success, when the band's one Top 40 hit, "Whirly Girl," was on the charts. Twenty years later, they're still together, but living a life they probably wouldn't have imagined back then. G.J. started filming them as a joke, but over time, his reasons changed, and the way he saw both his parents changed ...

What do you do if you're unhappy with where you are in life? Some people simply will themselves to the next stage.

Three stories of the unexpected consequences of trying new things including scientists that accidentally discover a way to erase memories and later get surprising requests from people who want their own minds wiped clean.