Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen

Evolution (Studio 360)

studio360@wnyc.org (Public Radio International/WNYC) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:00:00 -0800

Studio 360 puts evolution to the test. 2009 is Darwin's bicentennial, and this week marks 150 years since "On the Origin of Species" was published. Darwin's descendent, Ruth Padel, writes poems about her famous relative. Spencer Wells gathers DNA around the world to determine where we came from. An amateur paleontologist finds a way to believe in both God and the fossil record. Plus the world premiere of a short science fiction story by Lydia Millet, imagining the downside of messing too much with genes.

Almodóvar, In Verse, Precious (Studio 360)

studio360@wnyc.org (Public Radio International/WNYC) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:54:00 -0800

Movies make it all better. Pedro Almodóvar says his new film "Broken Embraces" is an ode to cinema itself. Gabourey Sidibe, the star of "Precious," reflects on her life-changing role as a troubled Harlem teenager. In her Broadway show, Carrie Fisher makes peace with her career-making role as Star Wars' Princess Leia. And in the second installment of Studio 360's "In Verse" series, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey writes about the lives of two of her relatives, coping with the aftermath of Katrina in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Hockney, In Verse, Paper Airplanes (Studio 360)

studio360@wnyc.org (Public Radio International/WNYC) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:00:00 -0800

Studio 360 waits for David Hockney. The artist returns to the English countryside where he grew up, to paint some of the most vivid landscapes of his career. In the documentary "Waiting for David Hockney" outsider artist Billy Pappas hopes his idol, Hockney, will come to see a single drawing Pappas has been working on for eight years. And we'll meet the struggling single moms of Troy, NY through the eyes of a poet and a photographer.