Terry Gross

Commentator Leslie Savan has some thoughts on Nissan's "Infiniti" and Toyota's "Lexus" car ads.

Cartoonist Matt Groening (pronounced GRAY-ning). He's the creator of the Simpsons, the all-too-real cartoon family featured on the Tracy Ullman Show. The Simpsons are starring in their own prime time Christmas special on the Fox network, and starting January 14th, "The Simpsons" will appear as a regular show...the first animated prime time series since "The Flintstones." Matt Groening also draws the comic strip, "Life In Hell," which appears in many alternative and college newspapers.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the movie, "Enemies, a Love Story," based on an Isaac Bashevis Singer novel, directed by Paul Mazursky and starring Angelica Huston, Lena Olin, and Ron Silver.

Actor Ed Begley, Jr. He's best known for his role as the bumbling Dr. Victor Erlich in the television show, "St. Elsewhere." Before that, he's appeared in "Spinal Tap," where he had a non-speaking role as a drummer during the "paisley period," in "The Accidental Tourist," and in "Scenes from a Class Struggle in Beverly Hills." He's also done stand-up comedy. He's starring in the new movie, "She-Devil," with Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr.

Knitwear designer Kaffe Fassett (the first name rhymes with "safe," the last name rhymes with "basset"). He's elevated needlework from a simple craft to an art form. Fassett started out as a painter, but while working in England he visited a Scottish wool mill, and was dazzled by the colors and textures he discovered there. He's since made tapestries, clothes, chairs, and other objects, and authored several books that have influenced textile designers.

Adventurer and author Tristan Jones. Tristan Jones is almost certainly the most intrepid sailor alive. At last count he's journeyed more than 450-thousand miles in small boats. That includes 20 crossings of the Atlantic, and 3 and a half circumnavigations. Many of those miles were racked up during the course of exceedingly dangerous, some would say foolhardy, adventures. Jones tried to sail as close as possible to the North Pole, and as a result spent a year frozen in the Arctic ice pack.

Poet Michael Ryan. Ryan's poems have earned him a Guggenheim Fellowship and a nomination for the National Book Award. He's just released his third collection of poems, called "God Hunger."

A live stereo concert with Lenny Pickett and the Borneo Horns. Pickett says the Borneo Horns play rhythmically compelling music using wind instruments, not percussion, to track the rhythm. He formed the band with horn players he met in David Bowie's band. These days, in addition to leading his band, Pickett is an accomplished composer and arranger, and he plays in the band on Saturday Night Live.

Writer John McPhee. He's a classic example of a "writer's writer," one whose style is endlessly studied and mimicked, and whose effortlessness in moving between subjects as diverse as Alaskan geology, oranges, and birch-bark canoes is the envy of every freelancer. He's worked at The New Yorker magazine since the late 60s and is one of its most popular contributors.

Author Terry McMillan. She's a black writer whose first novel was "Mama." Her new novel, "Disappearing Acts," is set in Brooklyn in 1982 and takes a look at what makes a relationship work. It's about an educated black man who falls in love with an uneducated black woman. (Rebroadcast. Original date September 13, 1989).