September 07, 2007
The Madarat Gallery is one of the only remaining art galleries in Baghdad. We sent journalist David Enders to visit the gallery and talk with owner and artist Hasan Nassar, who does everything he can to keep art thriving in a warzone. But before Enders got there, just traveling by car to the gallery became its own risky journey. Produced by Pejk Malinovski.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist sets her book Ten Days in the Hills in a fancy home high above Los Angeles. Sex, Hollywood, and soap opera-like personal drama give the novel a frenzied energy. And Smiley tells Kurt Andersen why she gave the book the tense backdrop of March 2003, the earliest days of the war in Iraq.
Though Hollywood was slow to portray the war in theatrical features, now a whole batch of Iraq movies are set to come out –- including Paul Haggis’ In the Valley of Elah. But as cultural critic Laura Miller tells us, one of the first, most surprising attempts to deal with the war was on TV. The latest incarnation of a cheesy sci-fi show from the 70s: "Battlestar Galactica." Produced by Eric Molinsky.
In the spring of 2006 some billboards appeared along a highway near Syracuse NY, not far from the Ft. Drum Army Base. On each billboard was an enormous close-up of a young man's head on a plain dark surface. Photographer Suzanne Opton tells us how she came to make her series of portraits she calls “Soldier.” It’s on view now at the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, PA. Produced by Sarah Lilley.
In 2006, a teenager named "Lonelygirl15" began posting her video diary on YouTube. Her series of video blogs was the first huge breakout success on YouTube -– by her sixth video, she was getting upwards of 500,000 views. One year ago, Lonelygirl15 was outed as a phony. The big reveal made national headlines. But that wasn't the end of Lonelygirl15. Produced by Brendan Baker.
Watch the "Season 1 Recap" video:
In France, the actor Thierry Desroses has a healthy side career dubbing nearly every movie where Samuel L. Jackson appears, like this year’s Black Snake Moan. Dersoses tells us what it takes to be an overdubbeur extraordinaire. Produced by Sarah Elzas.
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