Fwd This
In the latest installment of our series on forwarded emails, Kurt Andersen gushes over a nine second video in which 500 kilovolts of electricity light up the Nevada sky.
What's in a Name?
The hero of Colson Whitehead's new novel Apex Hides the Hurt is an advertising executive with a natural gift for branding new products. Kurt Andersen asked Whitehead why he gave his character the strange gig of renaming a small town with a troubled history.
Friedhofer
In some ways, the career of film composer Hugo Friedhofer was a typical Hollywood story. He was a brilliant musician who created some of the most memorable scores -- like the soundtrack to The Best Years Of Our Lives -- but never got the fame he deserved. WNYC's Sara Fishko has this appreciation.
- Read a review of Hugo Friedhofer's film music
- Read a reminiscence of Hugo Friedhofer by the composer David Raksin
- Buy The Best Years of Our Lives on DVD
Everything That Rises
Lawrence Weschler sees amazing patterns and provocative echoes in images that shouldn't share anything in common -- like a photo from Ground Zero and a Rembrandt painting. The results are eerie and possibly profound -- but Weschler wants us to figure out what it all means.
Aha Moment: Born to Run
When Tom Long first heard the song "Born to Run" in the summer of 1976, he realized he was just like a character in a Bruce Springsteen song; living a life of quiet desperation in a dead-end job. So Tom joined the army.
I Am Caveh Zahedi
Caveh Zahedi's films are auto-biographical, to say the least. His new film I Am a Sex Addict follows his previous indie films I Was Possessed by God and I Don't Hate Las Vegas Anymore. Producer Jonathan Mitchell thinks we can learn something from watching the filmmaker's self-absorption.
Chili Gumbo
Many of the New Orleans musicians who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina decided to make Austin, Texas their new home. In some ways, Austin and New Orleans are a natural fit: they're both big music towns with a reputation for tolerance. But their signature styles of music might as well be from different coasts. Ginger Miles samples the new musical stew. With production assistance from Marisa Montoya.
- Buy Sing Me Back Home by The New Orleans Social Club
- Buy Live! Down the Road by Marcia Ball
- Buy New Orleans Cookin' by Cyril Neville
