Search results for

That's what the Pokini family of Maui did after they won a Guinness record for the world's heaviest avocado. Most avocados weighs less than half a pound. The one they grew was more than 5.6 pounds.

The El Paso Zoo will name a cockroach after someone's ex, and feed it to a meerkat, a primate or a bird. Last year, scorned lovers submitted 6,000 names.

A password management company estimates 3 million users pick one of the following passwords: 1,2,3,4,5,6. Password. iloveyou. NordPass says each of these passwords could be cracked in under a second.

Gospel singer MARION WILLIAMS. Her trademark, a long-lasting high A-flat "whooo," has been adopted by most gospel and soul singers singers like Little Richard and Aretha Franklin. A self- proclaimed "Holy Roller", WILLIAMS received the Kennedy Center Honars Award this month in Washington for her lifetime achievement in the arts. When she's not performing, WILLIAMS sings traditional gospel at the African-Methodist-Episcopal church in Philadelphia--the first black church formed in America. Her new album is "Can't Keep It To Myself" (Schananchie). (Rebroadcast from 12/6/93).

Psychiatrist PETER D. KRAMER. Kramer has written "Listening to Prozac" (Viking Books): an examination of the larger issues behind drugs that reshape temperament. Prozac is the most widely prescribed antidepressant today, with some four and a half million users since its introduction in 1987. Kramer raises serious questions about this "miracle mood enhancer": are we headed into an age of cosmetic pharmacology? If a pill is not used to alter an illness, but rather personality, what then is "the self"? And what are the social ramifications for women, in light of the Valium and Lithium use of the 1960's? (REBROADCAST. Originally aired 6

Actor PETER COYOTE. It was once said of him that he "came from nowhere and was working his way back." COYOTE was active in San Francisco street theater during the 1960's, and was part of the diggers, a group who ran a free store and gave out free meals in Golden Gate Park. He was Chairman of the California Arts Council for eight years and returned to acting in films during the 1980's, ("Jagged Edge," "E.T.," and "Outrageous Fortune." ) Lately, COYOTE can be seen in films from Europe: Roman Polanski's "Bitter Moon" and Pedro Almodovar's "Kika." REBROADCAST FROM 9/6/90.

2: Novelist, PAUL AUSTER. AUSTER has been called "America's most spectacularly inventive writers." AUSTER recently "broadened his creative reach" with his work on two films, "Smoke" and "Blue in the Face", in a double collaboration with director Wayne Wang , who also directed "The Joy Luck Club." AUSTER has a BA and an MA in English and Comparative Literature from Columbus University. His novels include Moon Palace, The Music of Chance, Leviathan, and Mr. Vertigo. His film "Blue in the Face" is now out in theaters. (REBROADCAST from 6

Noah talks with Wayne Watkins from Capitol Records. He's the executive producer of a new six-CD set called "Ultra Lounge" -- recordings from the era of lounge music, the 1950s and early 1960s. Performers like Martin Denny, Bobby Darin, Julie London -- music which evokes smooth, smoky images of martinis, leopard skin, mambo, and the like. Watkins says lounge music has become popular among many young adults, who are dressing the part at nightclubs and listening to the music their parents might have played on their hi-fis.(6:00) (IN S

Speech Therapist SAM CHWAT. Chwat's "New York Speech Improvement Services" attracts 200 to 250 clients a week. He taught Robert DeNiro how to gain an Appalachian accent for his role in "Cape Fear." Julia Roberts sought him out to relearn her southern drawl for "Steel Magnolias." He helped another southerner, Andie McDowell, after her lines for "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan" were dubbed by Glenn Close. In addition to the stars, Chwat assists people in business, politics, and communications to lose their accents and or to learn Standard American English. (Rebroadcast. Originally aired 6/27/94.

Legendary American filmmaker, MARTIN SCORCESE. As part of a retrospective of his work by the Film Society of Lincoln Centerthis summer, The Department of Cinema Studies at Tisch School of the Arts presented "An Evening With Martin Scorcese," a wide ranging question and answer session taped live before an audience at New York University. We play a portion of this discussion, where Scorcese examines the art of cinema and his own body of work. SCORCESE has recently funded the restoration of the Hollywood Classic "El Cid" and released his new film, "Age of Innocence". REBROADCAST FROM 6