Also we remember mystery novelist Joseph Hansen, who we just learned died last month at the age of 81. He created one of the genre's first gay protagonists, the private eye Dave Brandstetter.
Actor Hank Azaria stars in the new Showtime series Huff, about an urban psychiatrist with troubles of his own. Azaria does the voices of Apu the convenience store owner, Moe the bartender and Chief Wiggum, among others, on The Simpsons. He directed and starred in the film Nobody's Perfect, and has acted in many other movies, including The Birdcage, Eulogy, and Shattered Glass.
Suketu Mehta's new book is Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found. It's an exploration of Mehta's hometown, where he returned after a 21-year absence. Born in Bombay, one of the world's most populous areas, Mehta still believes it's the city of the future.
Mehta now lives in New York. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Conde Nast Traveler and The Village Voice. He co-wrote a Bollywood movie called Mission Kashmir.
A new documentary from filmmakers Calvin Skaggs and David Van Taylor describes the emergence of evangelical Christianity as a powerful political force. With God on Our Side: George W. Bush and the Rise of the Religious Right is being broadcast on the Sundance Channel. Van Taylor and Skaggs run the documentary company Lumiere Productions.
Rock historian Ed Ward tells us about the middle years of Little Richard's career, when he left pop music for a while, sang gospel, and then returned to rock 'n' roll.
The latest book by Israeli author Amos Oz is A Tale Of Love And Darkness, a memoir of growing up in Jerusalem in the turbulent 1940s and '50s, when a war-torn Israel was achieving statehood. Oz's home life was as intense as the world outside.
The book follows Oz through his mother's suicide to a growing interest in politics and writing. Along the way, he chooses a new name for himself — Oz, the Hebrew word for strength — over his family's name, Klausner.
The new biopic Kinsey takes on the story of scientist Alfred Kinsey, who pioneered research in human sexuality in the 1940s and 1950s. For the project, director Bill Condon — who also wrote the script — interviewed many of the scientist's colleagues.
The film stars Liam Neeson and Laura Linney as Alfred Kinsey and his wife, Clara McMillen, along with Peter Sarsgaard and John Lithgow. The researcher's life — and American society — were forever changed by his 1948 book, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.
We remember the gay journalist who was the founder and first president of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. He died Sunday at age 70. He worked at The Washington Post for 14 years, with posts as bureau chief in New York and Los Angeles.
We remember fireman turned writer Larry Brown. He died last week. He was 53. At the age of 29, Brown decided to become an author, and taught himself fiction writing. He moved from short stories for motorcycle magazines to critically acclaimed works in literary journals to a novel, Dirty Work.
The complete 45-episode series of the TV show Pee-Wee's Playhouse is now out on DVD. Reubens originally created the Pee-Wee character at the Los Angeles improv group called The Groundlings. Pee-Wee's Playhouse went on the air in 1986. It ran on CBS for 5 years, garnering 22 Emmys.
Some of classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz's favorite movie themes just happen to belong to films just released on DVD. He reviews four of them: Gone with the Wind, Freaks, I Vitelloni, and The Golden Coach.
His new book is In Search of Paul: How Jesus' Apostle Opposed Rome's Empire with God's Kingdom. Crossan looks at the life of Paul, and describes how the most important Christian value is justice. Crossan is professor emeritus of De Paul University, and is considered by some to be the foremost scholar of historical Jesus. His The Historical Jesus is an alternative and fact-based look at the life of Christ.
Actress Sandra Oh, now seen in the film Sideways, is becoming a familiar face to both TV and movie audiences.
Oh began her career on Canadian television before coming to the United States. She gained notice as an intrepid assistant on the HBO series Arli$$, for which she won a Cable Ace award. Her films include Under the Tuscan Sun, Bean, and The Red Violin. She has also appeared in episodes of Six Feet Under and Judging Amy.
After a chart-topping and occasionally controversial music career, she is now turning out children's books, publishing four in just over a year. Her latest is The Adventures of Abdi. The others are The English Roses, Mr. Peabody's Apples and Yakov and the Seven Thieves. Her fifth, Lotsa de Casha, is due out in April 2005.
Ken Tucker reviews Kimya Dawson's 'Hidden Vagenda' and finds her hidden agenda might be to sing about death. He says she taps into childhood's honesty to achieve maximum adulthood.
As part of the first cast of Saturday Night Live, Dan Aykroyd helped bring the Coneheads and the Blues Brothers to life.
He went on to star in a number of films, including Trading Places and Grosse Pointe Blank. He also received an Academy Award nomination for his role in Driving Miss Daisy.
We talk with Aykroyd about his two latest projects: the book Elwood's Blues: Interviews with the Blues Legends and Stars, and the upcoming movie Christmas with the Kranks.
