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EAST MEETS WEST PART FOUR:
CULTURE IN THE CROSSROADS

Program 07-11-25-A

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Celebrated "Bollywood" filmmaker Mira Nair talks about the risks and joys of making cross-cultural movies like "Monsoon Wedding" and "The Namesake." Also, a Pakistani comedian finds the funny side of losing his faith in Islam and an Iraqi heavy-metal band risks their lives to feel the noise.

SEGMENT 1:

Kumail Nanjiani is a Pakistani standup comedian living in Chicago and performing a one-man show called "Unpronounceable." He talks with Steve Paulson about his culture shock upon moving to America and how he came to lose his faith in the Koran. And we hear a clip from his show. Also, Rachel DeWoskin wrote a book called "Foreign Babes in Beijing" about her role in a wildy popular Chinese TV soap opera. She tells Jim Fleming what she was doing in Beijing, and what it was like to play a foreign stereotype.

SEGMENT 2:

Acrassicauda means Black Scorpion and is the name of an Iraqi heavy metal band. Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi of Vice Magazine and VBS.TV befriended them and eventually went to Iraq to see how they were doing. They filmed their adventures for a documentary called "Heavy Metal in Baghdad." We hear excerpts and they tell Jim Fleming about the trip. And we hear lots of music. Also, David Kalat, author of "J-Horror: The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond," tells Steve Paulson what these Japanese gore-fests have in common.

SEGMENT 3:

Anne Allison is the author of "Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination." She talks to Anne Strainchamps about the universal appeal of Japanese pop culture. Also, Indian film-maker Mira Nair talks with Jim Fleming about being a woman director, and combining stories from East and West. Nair's latest film (from which we hear a clip) is "The Namesake."

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 07-11-25-A.

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Books:

Anne Allison, Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination (California)
David Kalat, J-Horror: The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond (Vertical)
Rachel DeWoskin, Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China (Norton)
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake (Houghton Mifflin)

Websites:

• -- Kumail Nanjiani
  http://www.myspace.com/5kumails
  http://www.lakeshoretheater.com/show_kumail.html
  http://www.timeout.com/chicago/article/20933/culture-shock-therapy
  
• -- Rachel DeWoskin
  http://www.wwnorton.com/catalog/spring06/032859.htm
  
• -- Eddy Moretti Suroosh Alvi/"Heavy Metal in Baghdad"
  http://www.heavymetalinbaghdad.com/
  
• -- David Kalat
  http://www.vertical-inc.com/
  http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781932234084
  
• -- Anne Allison
  http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/CA/anne.allison
  http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10475.html
  
• -- Mira Nair
  http://www.mirabaifilms.com/

Film Clips:

• -- from "The Ring" DVD (Dreamworks Video)
  http://www.dreamworks.com/dreamworks_home.html
  
• -- from "Kwaidan" DVD (Criterion Collection)
  http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=90
  
• -- from "The Namesake" DVD (Fox Home Entertainment)
  http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thenamesake/

Music:

• Series Theme Music:
  Ikarus, Touched the Sun
  http://www.ikarusmusic.at/
• -- "Fuse Box -- Alexkid's Dub Remix"
  from the CD, "Monsoon Wedding Original Soundtrack" (Milan)
  Original Music by Mychael Danna
  http://www.milanrecords.com/index.php]
  
• -- "Losing My Religion"/R.E.M.
  from the CD, "Out of Time" (Warner Bros./WEA)
  
• -- "Fuse Box -- Alexkid's Dub Remix"
  from the CD, "Monsoon Wedding Original Soundtrack" (Milan)
  Original Music by Mychael Danna
  http://www.milanrecords.com/index.php]
  
• -- Music used in Black Scorpion Mix:
  - "Between the Ashes"/Acrassicauda
  - "Massacre"/Acrassicauda
  -- "Spooky"/Money Mark
  from the CD, "Mark's Keyboard Repair" (MoWax Records/A&M)
  http://www.moneymark.com/
  
• -- "Sixth Synth"/Money Mark
  from the CD, "Mark's Keyboard Repair" (MoWax Records/A&M)
  http://www.moneymark.com/
  
• -- "The Khaleegi Stomp"/Transglobal Underground
  from the CD, "Impossible Broadcasting" (Triloka Records)
  http://www.t-g-u.com/
  

Distribution dates: week of 11/25/2007 - hour 1

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