Former Talk Show Host Dick Cavett Plays Not My Job
Former TV talk show host Dick Cavett was born and raised in Nebraska, where he was encouraged to pursue the trade that had brought his family to the prairie years before: interviewing celebrities. The Emmy-winning television personality hosted a plethora of big names over the years, including Gore Vidal, Groucho Marx, Muhammid Ali and John [...]
Composing ‘The News,’ With A Musical Twist
JacobTV cried censorship. It was the autumn of 2011, and the Dutch avant-pop composer — real name Jacob ter Veldhuis — had arrived in Rome to discover that the gallery Maxxi Museo had yanked from its exhibition space a “video concerto” he’d created. The cause? It featured former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denying charges [...]
Keeping The Faith With A Less Than ‘Perfect Family’
Guilt can be a powerful force. In The Perfect Family, it’s also a self-perpetuating one. Director Anne Renton’s film puts on display a woman so obsessed with her place in the afterlife that for a guarantee of absolution, she’s willing to engage in morally questionable activities that are bound to cause her even greater guilt. [...]
Benedict Cumberbatch: ‘Sherlock,’ Smaug And Spying
Information that could ruin the British monarchy locked in a smartphone. A crime scene surveyed through the video camera of a laptop. A blogging Dr. Watson. This is the world Sherlock Holmes inhabits in the BBC series Sherlock, a modern spin on the classic tales by Arthur Conan Doyle that reached American audiences in the [...]
A Gershwin Biopic That Ain’t Necessarily So True
The movie Rhapsody in Blue, a biography of George Gershwin, was released only eight years after his death from a brain tumor at the age of 38. It’s a good subject: Gershwin wrote some of the best popular songs ever produced in this country, but he also had ambitions to be a serious classical composer [...]
Pop Culture Happy Hour: It’s Our Summer Movie Preview! Bring On The Sunscreen!
With The Avengers just opening in your local jillionplex, it seems like the right time to look ahead to summer movies and see what’s on our radar, both good and bad. Dark Shadows, Safety Not Guaranteed, Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World … well, you’ll hear them all. And because we want [...]
The U.S. Ambassador Inside Hitler’s Berlin
This interview was originally broadcast on May 9, 2011. In The Garden Of Beasts is now available in paperback. In March 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt approached politician James M. Cox to offer him what should have been a cushy gig: the ambassadorship to Germany. But Cox turned down the job. Germany was unstable and violent [...]
John Hodgman: How Much Does The Know-It-All Know?
Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg sits down for an enlightening chat with renaissance man and self-proclaimed know-it-all John Hodgman. The comedian, actor and author discusses some unusual past jobs, and describes his new book, That Is All, a satirical guide to the upcoming end of the world. Speaking of the final countdown, Hodgman claims [...]
The Pursuit Of Happiness
“The secret to happiness is realistic, modest expectations.” — Barry Schwartz Being happy is a universal human yearning, but this simple goal often eludes us. If we’re truly able to attain happiness, then how do we find it? Three TED speakers offer some big ideas for achieving happiness. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]
What Does Spaghetti Have To Do With Happiness?
Part 3 of the TED Radio Hour episode “The Pursuit of Happiness.” Watch Malcolm Gladwell’s full TEDTalk, “Spaghetti Sauce,” on TED.com. About Malcolm Gladwell’s TEDTalk Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry’s pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce — and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness. Detective [...]
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