Scary Short Film Fest

This week in Studio 360, using music to change the world. Pete Seeger, who died this week at age 94, told Kurt Andersen a few years ago about his most important work: singing at college campuses for bus fare. And when the Black Panthers wanted to spread their message, they formed an R&B band, complete […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]