Betty Woodman reveals how she keeps coming up with new ideas after 50 years. And Taylor Mead, our candidate for oldest living beatnik, tells of his life as an "extremely semi-famous" artist. Produced by Jonathan Mitchell.

It's become a holiday tradition: every year, hundreds of people gather with boomboxes to perform Phil Kline's ambient, techno Christmas carol called "Unsilent Night." Jonathan Mitchell went along for the ride.

What do we know about a particular war after we've seen it reenacted dozens of times in dozens of different films? The U.S. pulled out of Vietnam in 1975, and we've been watching movies about it ever since. Film historians Larry Suid and

American kids spend an average of seven hours a week gaming. But what about the grown-ups inside the industry, who play eight to ten hours -– and then leave the office and go home to play some more? Jonathan Mitchell asked game producer Marc ...

Sand sculptor Kirk Rademaker makes architecture out of sand -- fantastical structures as high as ten feet, with arches and balconies, and sloping curves that stretch all over the beach. He showed off his skills at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Produced by Jonathan ...

It’s crazy the things we will do for love. Movie director Michel Gondry, for instance, claims his drive to create such achievements as The Science of Sleep and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is fueled by his trouble finding a date. Produced by

There’s something of a formula to Hollywood’s most successful romantic comedies – it includes a scene screenwriters call the “meet cute.” That’s when “boy meets girl,” often in a surprising, memorable way that could only lead to true love. Produced by Jonathan Mitchell.

It's become a new holiday tradition: every year in New York (and a growing number of cities around the globe), crowds gather and hold boomboxes all cued up to the same song. That song is an ambient techno Christmas piece called "Unsilent Night," by the composer Phil ...

The composer John Corigliano has collected an impressive stack of awards for his music. He won an Academy Award for his score to the movie The Red Violin, and a Pulitzer Prize for his Second Symphony. Jonathan Mitchell asked Corigliano about the music that ...

Smells can be hard to describe, but a good writer can transport readers by pulling them in by the nose. Adam Haslett, author of the short story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here admires Thomas Mann's Death in Venice for its stench. Everything in the story, ...

Summertime presents a lot of choices, like picking the least disappointing blockbuster movies, finding the secret vacation spots, and making the most of a day at the amusement park. We asked Eddie Sotto, a former ride designer for Disney, what makes a well-designed theme park ride. Produced ...

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 ...

It used to be in popular music that you'd feel the bass line more than hear it. Today's bass players have to balance their crucial supporting role with increasing duties as a soloist. Bill Leigh of Bass Player magazine and Victor Wooten, a virtuoso ...

Meet "Reverend" Brendan Powell Smith. He's not an ordained minister, but he's applied all his creative energies and a vast collection of Legos to telling one story — one that features rape, incest, stoning, forbidden fruit, and rains of fire and brimstone. Produced by Jonathan Mitchell.

It's become a holiday tradition: every year, hundreds of people gather with boomboxes to perform Phil Kline's ambient, techno Christmas carol called "Unsilent Night." Jonathan Mitchell went along for the ride.

In 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini — like an evil sorcerer in a fairy tale — condemned Salman Rushdie for heresy, essentially marking the writer for death wherever he was. Rushdie left his family and went into hiding, and reached out to his young son through a new book, Haroun and ...

When Studio 360 asked producer Jonathan Mitchell to put together his audio impression of monsters he went to the movies...and to the TV news. Among his sources: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Werewolf, It!, The Terror from Beyond Space, CNN, and CNBC.

Christine Chapman has always been an actress, but she couldn't manage to perform with a full-time job and a family to care for. Her dream of being in theater got a shot in the arm from Dennis Quaid one afternoon in an empty movie theater. Produced by Jonathan Mitchell.

Angry battles of words — or beefs — have kept rap fans intrigued from the early days of hip-hop to this year’s conflict between The Game and 50-Cent. Three writers and fans explain how the beefs got started: William Eric Perkins in Philadelphia, Tricia Rose in Santa ...

Why does revenge show up so much in kids books? We hear from critic Leonard Marcus and Valerie Lewis, who owns a childrens bookstore in San Jose. Produced by Jonathan Mitchell.