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43:01

Billy Eichner Makes A Career Out Of Love/Hating Celebrity Culture

Billy Eichner indulges his passion for all things pop culture as host of the truTV series, Billy on the Street. On the show, Eichner roams the sidewalks of Manhattan with a microphone, asking strangers open-ended questions about pop culture, and offering them a dollar if he likes their answers.

Comedian Billy Eichner laughs
05:18

'The Whole Nine Yards' Of What?

There are many theories about where the expression comes from — among them square-riggers with three masts, the amount of cloth in the queen's bridal train, the Shroud of Turin, and a prodigiously well-endowed Scotsman who gets his kilt caught in a door.

Commentary
06:10

A Waltz Through Depression-Era Art And Culture

Morris Dickstein's dazzling new cultural history of the Great Depression, called Dancing in the Dark, is one of those "everything but the kitchen sink" kind of books — that really works.

Review
30:24

Top 10 Cultural Trends of 2007

John Powers, Fresh Air critic at large, weighs in on the trends of '07: political campaigns, Iraq movies failing at the box office, HBO's The Sopranos, stories about hitting the road, the TMZing of America, jocks gone wild, hip sentimentality, the nightly ideological news, atheist chic and the writers strike.

Interview
06:46

Bruce Springsteen's 'Magic' Media Blitz

Magic, Bruce Springsteen's first studio album with the E Street Band in five years, came out earlier this month. The event has occasioned at least a pair of network-TV appearances — including a live morning concert on NBC's Today show and a mortifying 60 Minutes interview.

Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker says Springsteen's approach to promoting the album — and the way the news media are receiving it — says something about both the state of the media (precarious) and Springsteen's place in American pop culture.

Review
06:28

Wikipedia: Blessing or Curse?

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, is designed to take advantage of "the wisdom of crowds," meaning anyone can edit (and re-edit) the entries. The open-source approach brings with it a unique set of strengths — and limitations.

Commentary
05:34

Anna Nicole Smith's Fascinating Story

The famous, or perhaps notorious, model Anna Nicole Smith died last week, prompting a tsunami of media coverage. Here's a look at the reasons for all the hoopla. One shouldn't be embarrassed about finding her story fascinating.

Commentary
36:17

Remembering the Sixties with Robert Stone.

Novelist Robert Stone has written a new memoir that begins with a stint in the Navy in the late 1950s, continues through his work as a journalist in Vietnam and then includes his counterculture years in the 1970s, taking hallucinogenic drugs, cross-country road trips, and hanging out with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. His memoir is, Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties. Stone's novels include Dog Soldiers (which was adapted into the film Who'll Stop the Rain), and Outerbridge Reach.

Interview
32:47

Cultural Highlights of the Year

Fresh Air critic at-large John Powers will talk about the events that defined American culture this year. Highlights include the Borat movie, Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House correspondent's dinner, George Allen's use of a racial slur during the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Virginia, and the rise of YouTube.com as a mechanism for rapid dissemination of information. John Powers is also a critic for Vogue magazine.

Interview

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