Show for Oct. 23, 2011: Filmmaker Errol Morris on Photography and Truth
Errol Morris’s passion for sleuthing dates back at least to his days as a private detective and runs through his work as a documentary filmmaker in movies like The Thin Blue Line and his most recent, Tabloid. In his new book, Believing is Seeing, he turns his magnifying glass on photography. Through close inspection, Morris shows how much photos can mislead, and how much we tend to misread. He and I discussed (and occasionally debated) the veridical nature of photography, the impact of digital retouching and the truth value of his own films. Then, in the second half of the show, an excerpt from my 2009 interview with documentarist Jonathan Stack on his film Iron Ladies of Liberia. It’s about the presidential administration of Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who shared in this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The film’s title refers to the gutsy resolve of Sirleaf and her female colleagues, not their governing style, which is more velvet glove than iron fist.
Two versions of photographer Roger Fenton’s “Valley of the Shadow of Death” from the Crimean War. In the more famous image at bottom, cannonballs litter the road. In another shot (top), they don’t. Historians have long disputed which is the earlier, more “authentic” image. Errol Morris offers an ingenious solution in Believing is Seeing.
You can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for Feb. 20, 2011. The Past Isn’t Even Past: Kinan and Luis Valdez
Luis Valdez, playwright and founder of El Teatro Campesino, and his son Kinan, also a writer, actor and theater director, discuss Luis’s play Mummified Deer. The play is currently being directed by Kinan for the Theater Arts Department at U.C. Santa Cruz. It’s a story of family secrets, the return of the repressed—including a bloody and little-known chapter of Mexican history—and the complexities of identity. Luis and Kinan also talk about their own family history, their lives in the theater and Luis’s aesthetic of rascuachismo (listen to the interview for the translation).
Click the “play” arrow above to listen to the interview, or download the MP3 here.
More on Mummified Deer performances at UC Santa Cruz.
Visit El Teatro Campesino’s website.
Bonus info: during the interview, Kinan Valdez mentioned the influence of the carpa tradition. Read about it here.
Show for Dec 19, 2010: Crafting with Amy Sedaris
We first had Amy on the show a couple of years ago, when she was touring with her book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. She recently paid us a return visit with her latest book of demented domesticity: Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. Also, a brief excerpt from our Christmas 2005 interview with John Waters.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen, or download the MP3 here.
Show for Oct. 17, 2010. From Prison to the Stage: The Poetic Justice Project
The Poetic Justice Project is a theater company for the formerly incarcerated, presenting stories of prison and jail by people who’ve been there. Members of the project discuss their lives behind bars and after parole, the impact of prison art programs and their performances in a new musical drama, Off the Hook, that’s been touring California.
Click the “play” arrow above to listen, or download the MP3 here.
Show for June 20, 2010. The Computer As Creator: David Cope’s Algorithmic Music
It’s been almost 30 years since composer David Cope began teaching computers to write music. His experiments remain some of most startling examples of machine intelligence treading on traditional human turf. Cope’s programs can analyze and replicate the styles of actual composers, from Bach to Rachmaninoff, and also create original modernist pieces. His experiments have delighted some listeners and enraged others, who say he is mechanizing music. In any case, his work raises serious questions about creativity, inspiration and human uniqueness. In this interview, Dave Cope shares his music (including his latest CD), describes his methods and aims, and speculates on why some people find it all so very unsettling.
Click the arrow above to listen. If you don’t have Flash player or have other playback problems, click this link for the MP3.
Show for June 13, 2010. Psychologist Paul Bloom: How Pleasure Works
Developmental psychologist Paul Bloom investigates the nature of human pleasures, from sex and food to art, music and fantasies. He says that what we like depends on what we think, and there may be no such thing as purely physical pleasure. He discusses his new book, How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like.
Click the arrow above to listen. If you don’t have Flash player or have other playback problems, click this link for the MP3.
Richard Mayhew (subject of the Feb. 21, 2010 show).
Show for Feb 21, 2010. Richard Mayhew: Portrait of the Artist as a (Perpetually) Young Man
An interview with Richard Mayhew, noted landscape painter (though the label’s not quite right, for reasons he explains) about his life and work. Born in Long Island in 1926, joined the NYC art scene at the height of abstract expressionism, had a second career as a jazz singer, studied in Europe, helped found the Spiral collective of African-American artists (with Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis and others). Continues to paint tirelessly.
Show for Oct 25, 2009. Art Spiegelman’s Breakdowns
A rebroadcast of our 2008 interview with comics auteur Art Spiegelman. Art talks about Breakdowns, the recent collection of his work from the 1970’s, and looks back on his life in cartooning and comics, from skin mags and Garbage Pail Kids to Maus and the New Yorker.
Click the arrow above to listen. If you don’t have Flash player or have other playback problems, click this link for the MP3.
