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On Demand

The Leonard Lopate Show

Thursday, February 07, 2008
  • Tiger (Steve Winter/National Geographic Image Collection)
    (Steve Winter/National Geographic Image Collection)

    Thoughts Into Action

    Playwright Edward Albee and artist James Rosenquist explain how they channel their creativity into action. Also: a new novel about the great inventor Nikola Tesla. A new film set in 1970, during the military dictatorship in Brazil. And on Underreported: an important tiger conservation effort stretching from Bhutan to Malaysia.

    Write your own funny news headline - and editors from The Onion may evaluate it on The Leonard Lopate Show on Wed. Feb. 13! Submit your headline here.

Edward Albee and James Rosenquist: Turning Creativity into Action

Playwright Edward Albee and artist James Rosenquist explain how they channel their creativity into action. They’re featured in the new book, Creativity: Unconventional Wisdom from 20 Accomplished Minds, co-edited by Richard Gerstman.

Weigh in: Do you ever have a hard time turning your creativity into action? Tell us what your creative blocks are, and how you’ve overcome them.

Tesla

Imagining Nikola Tesla

Samantha Hunt spent 4 years researching Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest scientists of all time. Her novel The Invention of Everything Else imagines an unlikely friendship between Tesla and a young chambermaid in the Hotel New Yorker, where he lived out his last days.

Event: Samantha Hunt will be speaking and signing books
Thursday, February 7 at 7 pm
McNally Robinson Booksellers
52 Prince Street (between Lafayette and Mulberry Streets)

Explore Tesla through our Interactive Map

Weigh in: Tesla was known for his fantastic inventions. If you could invent an object that would do anything you wanted, what would it be?

Read an excerpt of The Invention of Everything Else
WNYC Culture Blog: Samantha Hunt guest blogs for two weeks
Tesla Interactive map

Mitt Romney Drops Out of Race

WNYC's political director Andrea Bernstein joins Leonard to discuss Mitt Romney's announcement that he's dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination.

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

Cao Hamburger’s film, "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation," is set in a Jewish neighborhood in Brazil in 1970, a year where Brazil was caught up in a military dictatorship and winning the World Cup in soccer. The film opens Friday, February 15 at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema (143 East Houston Street).

Official website for "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation"

Underreported: Tiger Corridor from Bhutan to Malaysia

Dr. Alan Rabinowitz of the Wildlife Conservation Society is helping to create a multi-national tiger conservation effort stretching from Bhutan to Malaysia. It’s a very complex undertaking, requiring the cooperation of businesses, NGOs, and governments – including the repressive military regime of Myanmar. Dr. Rabinowitz’s recent book is Life in the Valley of Death: The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed.

Event: Dr. Alan Rabinowitz will be in conversation with Robert Krulwich
Thursday, Feb. 7 at 8:15 pm
92nd Street Y
Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street
Tickets and info here or call (212) 415-5500

Wildlife Conservation Society website
SLIDESHOW: tigers

National Book Award Winners

The Leonard Lopate Show

A number of this year’s National Book Award winners have appeared on The Leonard Lopate Show. Click here to see the list!

Tributes: Jeanne-Claude

The Leonard Lopate Show

Jeanne-Claude created environmental works of art with her husband and fellow-conspirator/collaborator Christo. Together, they wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin, the Pont-Neuf in Paris, and created The Gates, with billowy orange drapes, in Central Park. Jeanne-Claude just died at the age of 74. You can hear Leonard Lopate’s last interview with them both, from July 19, 1999.

Please Explain: Eco-Labels

The Leonard Lopate Show

Your broccoli, shampoo, and air conditioner might bear labels declaring them to be organic, cruelty-free, or energy efficient, but what do those labels mean and are they true? Dr. Urvashi Rangan, Project Director for Consumer Reports' GreenerChoices.org and Consumers Union’s Senior Scientist for Policy Initiatives, and Dara O'Rourke, founder and CEO of GoodGuide.com, took a look at what eco-labels indicate, how standards are set, and what they mean for consumers and manufacturers around the world.

Our 3-ingredient Challenge wins a James Beard Award

The Leonard Lopate Show

On May 3, the Lopate Show won its third James Beard Award for our 3-ingredient challenge. In August, we asked our listeners to call in and name 3 ingredients and then challenged New York chef and 3-ingredient expert Rozanne Gold to whip up a recipe! You can listen to the 3-ingredient challenge and get some inspiration for simple, delicious, and unexpected dishes.