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WNYC's Five Favorites of 2002

Things that have entertained, intrigued, or otherwise caught our attention this year

As 2002 comes to a close, we've asked the WNYC staff to put on their critical thinking caps and consider some of the bright spots of the past year in the world of entertainment and the arts. They've selected five things that particularly captured their interest in 2002 - books, films, CDs, DVDs, videos, and other cultural experiences. Not surprisingly, the results are wildly diverse. We hope the following provides an interesting glimpse at some of the creative trends that defined the year - or at least, sparks some good water-cooler conversation.

Click on photos for background on the individual staff members.

More about the Five Favorites of 2002

Kurt Andersen
 Host, Studio 360

Theater Hairspray by John Waters Mark O'Donnell, Thomas Meehan, Jack O'Brien, Marc Shaiman, and Scott Wittman
CD Happiness, by Fridge
Film Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Book Atonement, by Ian McEwan
Book American Studies, by Louis Menand
Oscar Brand
Host, Folksong Festival

Television West Wing, NBC (The Decision To Run For Re-Election)
Radio NPR's Daniel Schor, Bush's Speech To The U.N.
Film Analyze That
CD Legacy, by Doc Watson (High Windy Audio)
Book Ben Franklin, by Edmund S. Morgan

Amy Eddings
 Reporter, WNYC News; Contributor, National Public Radio


Theater Hairspray
Television Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO
Book Pope John XXIII: A Penguin Life (Penguin Lives) by Thomas Cahi
CD All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2
Film Lord of the Rings

Sara Fishko
 Host, The Fishko Files

Book Arnold Schoenberg's Journey, by Allen Shawn
CD Heifetz Rediscovered (RCA)
Book Secrets, A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, by Daniel Ellsberg
Book Cut To The Chase, by Sam O'Steen's as told to Bobbi O'Steen
Film Standing in the Shadow of Motown

Hester Furman
 Music Director

CD Strauss, Four Last Songs (plus other songs); Soile Isokoski, soprano; Berlin Radio Sym Orch; Marek Janowski (Ondine)
CD Debussy, Pelleas et Melisande; Anne Sofie von Otter; Wolfgang Holzmair; Laurent Naouri; Orchestre National de France; Bernard Haitink (Naive)
CD Farnace (Antonio Vivaldi, 1727 complete; Franceso Corselli, 1739 fragments) Furio Zanasi, Adriana Fernandez, Sara Mingardo; Coro del Teatro de la Zarzuela; Le Concert des Nations; Jordi Savall (Alia Vox)
CD Schoenberg, Gurrelieder; Karita Mattila, Thomas Moser, Anne Sofie von Otter, Philip Langridge, Thomas Quasthoff, Berlin Philharmonic; Simon Rattle (EMI)
CD John Adams, Naïve and Sentimental Music; Los Angeles Philharmonic Esa-Pekka Salonen (Nonesuch)

David Garland
Host, Evening Music, Spinning on Air

CD Finally We Are No One, Múm (Fat Cat Records)
CD Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco (Nonesuch)
CD The Golden State, Mia Doi Todd (Columbia)
CD Reed Song, Will Holshouser Trio (Clean Feed Records)
CD Faux-Jumeaux, Pierre-Yves Macé (Tzadik Records)

Margaret Juntwait
Host, Evening Music


CD Anne Sophie von Otter sings Offenbach (Deutsche Grammophon)
CD Richard Strauss Orchestral Songs, Soile Isokoski (Ondine)
CD The Noel Coward Songbook, Ian Bostridge (EMI)
CD The Gents, The Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal (Channel Classics)
CD La Belle Marie: Songs to the Virgin from 13th-century France, Anonymous 4 (Harmonia Mundi)

Judith Kampfner
Cultural Reporter, WNYC News


CD Turn the Heat Up, by Shemekia Copeland (Alligator Records)
CD Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco (Nonesuch)
Book The Bulgari Connection, by Fay Weldon
Film The Quiet American
Book The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen

Brian Lehrer
Host, The Brian Lehrer Show

Book Empire City: New York Through The Centuries, ed. by Kenneth Jackson and David Dunbar
CD The Rising, by Bruce Springsteen
Live Performance Quartet for the End of Time, by Olivier Messiaen, performed by Myung-Whun Chung, Paul Meyer,
Renaud Capuçon, Jian Wang at Weill Recital Hall, Nov. 23, 2002
Op-Ed Piece The Cornification of America, by Michael Pollen, New York Times, July 19, 2002
Study Guide The New York State Fourth Grade Reading and Math Prep Tests

Leonard Lopate
Host, The Leonard Lopate Show

Art Exhibit The Prints of Vija Celminsat the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Food Store DiPalo's Fine Foods (Italian imports and a great selection of cheeses). They've moved recently to a larger location at 200 Grand St. (at Mott St.)
Theater The Exonerated, 45 Bleecker Theatre (near Lafayette St.)
CD Any record on which Ben Webster played ballads
Book Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage short stories by Alice Munro (Vintage paperback)

Brendan McDonald
Host, Evening News


Film Frailty, dir. Bill Paxton
CD Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco (Nonesuch)
Book What Just Happened?, by Art Linson
Theater TopDog/UnderDog, Susan-Lori Parks
Television Contest Searchlight, Comedy Central

Kerry Nolan
Host, Weekend Edition Saturday and Sunday; Contributor, National Public Radio


CD The Rising, Bruce Springsteen
Book The Case Against Lawyers, by Catherine Crier
Book Nigella Bites, by Nigella Lawson
Book Here Is New York, A Democracy of Pictures
Live Performance Mission of Burma at Irving Plaza, January 2002

Dean Olsher
Host, The Next Big Thing


Live Performance Tom Waits/Robert Wilson, Woyzeck (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
Live Performance Mahler Symphony #9; Boston Philharmonic/ Benjamin Zander, conductor (Carnegie Hall)
CD Modernistic, Jason Moran (Blue Note)
DVD Eat Drink Man Woman, by Ang Lee (MGM/UA DVD)
Book Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes, by Steve Olson

George Preston
Host, Overnight Music

Live Performance Angeles Blancas Gulin's New York debut in Opera Orchestra New York's production of Marino Falliero
Theater Metamorphoses on Broadway
Radio Soundcheck, WNYC
Film Frida

John Schaefer
Host, Soundcheck, New Sounds, New Sounds Live


CD Heathen, David Bowie (Sony)
CD Arnold Schoenberg/Gurrelieder (Simon Rattle/Berlin Philharmonic, et al.) (EMI)
Live performance/CD Osvaldo Golijov's Pasion Segun San Marco (Hanssler Classics)
Live Performance/CD Tribute to Jerry Garcia featuring Jorma Kaukonen
Book Catch Them Being Good, by Tony Di Cicco (coach of the US Women's Soccer team)

Jonathan Schwartz
Host, The Saturday Show and The Sunday Show

Book Atonement, by Ian McEwan
Film Talk To Her by Pedro Almodovar
CD Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim (Nonesuch)
Theater Frankie and Johnny, by Terrence McNally
Book The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen

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