Linguist Geoff Nunberg on cultures that are missing words. The Oxford dictionary of quotations published its list of the top sayings of 2002. George W. Bush was quoted as saying to Tony Blair, "The problem with the French is that they have no word for entrepreneur." The British Prime minister denied that Bush said it, but the story is plausible because people are always saying similar things about other cultures.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Friendship, the new recording of trumpeter Clark Terry and drummer Max Roach (Columbia). The 1977 album Streams of Consciousness (Piadrum label) has also been reissued featuring Max Roach and Abdullah Ibrahim.
His new book is Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. It's the story of how the Oakland A's turned their team around and made history, winning 20 games in a row to set a new American League record. Lewis goes behind the scenes and finds a new kind of baseball knowledge. He is the author of the best selling books Liar's Poker and The New New Thing.
We celebrate the centennial of Bing Crosby's birth with jazz critic and writer Gary Giddins. His biography of Bing Crosby is called Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams — The Early Years, 1903-1940. In this first volume of the biography, Giddins chronicles the rise of Crosby's career. Giddins may be best known as a jazz columnist for The Village Voice. He won the 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award for his book Visions of Jazz. He was one of the experts featured in Ken Burns' Jazz series on PBS. This interview first aired on January 24, 2001.
She starred in the London production of Gypsy. When she was 17 she debuted in Gaslight, and was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Ingrid Bergman s Cockney maid. Lansbury also played opposite Judy Garland in The Harvey Girls, was Elvis Presley s mother in Blue Hawaii and the manipulative mother in The Manchurian Candidate. On stage she starred in Mame and was the baker of the worst pies in London in Sweeney Todd. For twelve years she starred in the TV series, Murder, She Wrote. This interview first aired November 28, 2000.
Tom Fontana is executive producer and writer of HBO's Oz, the realistic drama about life in an experimental unit of a maximum-security prison. Fontana also created Homicide: Life on the Street and the 1980s hospital drama, St. Elsewhere. The new DVD box set Homicide: Life on the Street collects the show's first two seasons, and includes special features.
He's best known for his cult films Tales From the Gimli Hospital (1998) and Careful (1992). In 1995, Maddin was the youngest person to receive the Telluride Medal for Lifetime Achievement. His short film The Heart of the World won a special award from the National Society of Film Critics and was voted one of the 10 best films of the year by J. Hoberman of The Village Voice and A.O. Scott of The New York Times. His new film, Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary, transforms the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's interpretation of Bram Stoker's classic story into a silent film.
His new book is Uncle Andy's: A faabbbulous visit with Andy Warhol. It's a children's story about going to visit Warhol, in which Warhola chronicles one of the many trips he took with his family from Pittsburgh to New York City.
Dr. Lynn Amowitz is a senior researcher for Physicians for Human Rights, specializing in internal medicine, women's health and epidemiology. She's just returned from a trip to Iraq looking into the condition of health care. Over the years Amowitz has worked in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Zaire and Nigeria.
Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews two new mysteries: Soul Circus by George P. Pelecanos (Little, Brown), and The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell (The new Press).
He won an Academy Award for his performance as John Laroche in the film Adaptation. His latest project is the HBO film My House in Umbria, starring Maggie Smith, which debuts May 25, 2003. Cooper is also in the soon-to-be-released Seabiscuit, and he had roles in American Beauty, The Bourne Identity, and The Horse Whisperer.
We remember singer June Carter Cash, who died Thursday at the age of 73. She was a Grammy-award winning singer, a songwriter, musician, actress and author. She was married to the legendary Johnny Cash, and she came from the Carter Family, the country music pioneers. June Carter Cash died of complications from heart surgery. (Original airdate: June 18, 1987.)
His book about breeding racehorses is now out in paperback. It's called Stud: Adventures in Breeding. Stud explores the process of creating champions, from the farms of Kentucky, where studs command $500,000 a pop, to the horse auctions, where the world's richest people compete for the top yearlings. Conley is an editor at The New Yorker. This interview first aired March 25, 2002.
Together they are known as "The Right Size," and are the actor/writers of the Broadway comedy, The Play What I Wrote. One critic described it as "full of music hall tricks, in jokes and surreal goonery." It was a hit in London before coming to New York. The duo's work is heavily influenced by Vaudeville and the sight gags of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. Their plays Stop Calling Me Vernon and Baldy Hopkins were hits at the Edinburgh Festival. Their play Do You Come Here Often? was an Olivier award winning comedy in England.
He's the creator of the Artemis Fowl series, featuring a 12-year-old millionaire criminal mastermind. Two of the three books in the series have been on The New York Times best seller list. The books are a combination of science fiction, fantasy, fairy tale and thriller. They are Artemis Fowl, Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident and Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code.
