pop culture
Three’s Company on Trial & Neneh Cherry’s Comeback
A stage play riffs on Three’s Company to talk about homophobia and drugs; is it fair use? Not to the copyright holder, who’s trying to block its publication. Kurt Andersen talks with comedian BJ Novak, who made his mark in The Office (as the know-it-all Ryan), and has published a book of sharp short stories […]
St. Vincent’s Art Pop & Meditating on Middlemarch
The powerhouse guitarist Annie Clark, also known as St. Vincent, calls her music a cross between pop and “lunatic fringe.” She tells Kurt Andersen how David Byrne and metal heroes Pantera inspired her new album. The author Rebecca Mead makes the case for George Eliot’s Middlemarch as the greatest novel of all time — all […]
Alfonso Cuarón & Laura Cantrell
Who is Oscar? (Hint: his real name isn’t Oscar.) This week, we reveal the man who inspired the Academy Awards’ iconic gold statue. Kurt Andersen talks with filmmaker Alfonso Cuarn, who explains why the astounding special effects in his movie Gravity (up for 10 Oscars) take second place to Sandra Bullock’s performance as an untethered […]
Spies on TV & Shakespeare in Haiti
This week in Studio 360, Kurt Andersen talks with a songwriter whose words are being sung by protesters in the deadly clashes in Venezuela — he gives a firsthand account of life trapped behind barricades. A playwright explains why he moved Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra from Rome to colonial Haiti. And a former CIA man […]
Son of God & Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Last Role
For the first time in a decade, Jesus is starring on the big screen, and the creators of Son of God are determined to avoid the bad blood from last time. Producers of the final Hunger…
Wes Craven’s Nightmare & Miyazaki’s Wind Rises
Hayao Miyazaki’s final film is about World War II and the designer of the legendary, destructive Zero airplane. Is the outspoken pacifist wavering in his position on the war? The young novelist Helen Oyeyemi blends folk tales and realistic fiction — her new book, Boy, Snow, Bird, places Snow White in 1950s small town America, […]
American Icons: I Love Lucy
It set the model for the hit family sitcom. Lucy’s weekly antics and humiliation entered the DNA of TV comedy: from Desperate Housewives to 30 Rock — writers can’t live without Lucy.
Rap Lyrics on Trial & Too Much Shakespeare?
Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare — the Bard would be 450 this month. But after centuries dominating the world’s theaters, could you give anyone else a place on the stage? Could we try Marlowe in the Park, or an Oregon Centlivre Festival? Plus, another rapper goes on trial for lyrics that prosecutors say constitute evidence of […]
Under the Skin & a Pop-Up Game of Thrones
If Scarlett Johansson pulled up in a van, would you get in? Jonathan Glazer’s sci-fi film Under The Skin casts the starlet as an alien prowling the streets of Edinburgh for human flesh. A paper engineer takes pop-up books into new territory with a Game of Thrones book (but it’s actually safe for kids). And […]
Nerding Out with Ken Burns & Rebranding Marijuana
This week, Kurt Andersen calls a listener named Ken in New Hampshire who turns out to be Ken Burns, the filmmaker. Burns has a few good words for our latest listener challenge, like “a reel of documentary filmmakers” and “a scratch of DJs.” We ask what a rebranding of marijuana for the age of legalization […]