August 21, 2009
After writing two bestselling thrillers, George Dawes Green took a 14 year break. Now he's back with the suspense novel Ravens. "I love to write about urgent perilous situations," he tells Kurt, "because I think in those situations people's humanity will be revealed."
Take ordinary news footage and political commentary, send it through a software tool that makes you sound like a robot, and you have a viral internet hit. That's what the band The Gregory Brothers did with their series "Auto-Tune the News." Certain politicians and anchors are inherently musical, say the band members: "Katie Couric is the Queen of Auto-Tune." Produced by Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices.
VIDEO: Auto-Tune the News #5
Just out on DVD, "The Class" is French film that looks so real, you might think it's a documentary. The screenplay is based on a memoir by a teacher – who also stars in the movie. Sarah Elzas talked with the film's director, Laurent Cantet, who spent several months in a Paris high school in preparing for the film.
(Originally aired: February 20, 2009)
Lisa Kudrow didn't start out wanting to be an actor: she studied sociobiology in college and wanted to become a researcher. Plans changed, and she spent ten years playing flighty Phoebe on "Friends." Over the years she became more like her character: "I lost a lot of vocabulary."
VIDEO: Lisa Kudrow in "Web Therapy"
Mark Stewart ("Stew"), created a Tony-winning rock musical about a black teen who leaves LA to become an artist in Berlin. He talks with Kurt about the show, which takes on race, identity, and mother-son relationships. Spike Lee's film version opens this weekend.
(Originally aired: March 21, 2008)
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