Thursday, July 22, 2010
There are an estimated 23,000 nuclear weapons in the world but we don’t even know where they are all. Lucy Walker is the writer and director of a new documentary, Countdown to Zero, that makes the case for worldwide nuclear disarmament. The film traces the history of atomic weapons, from their creation to the current debate in the Senate on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed by President Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in April. To see if Countdown to Zero is playing in your area, go to the Magnolia Pictures Web site.
50 years ago, Alabama native Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird hit bookstores across America, becoming an immediate bestseller and an American literary classic. In celebration of the book’s anniversary writer and filmmaker Mary McDonagh Murphy compiled interviews with over two dozen contemporary writers, historians, journalists and artists for her book Scout, Atticus, & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Thanks to whoever decides upon and adds the music for ending the To Kill a Mockingbird segment with "Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing". Brilliant. Loved the whole interview. Jennie R