Culturetopia: Must-Listen Arts & Entertainment (Bruiser Edition)

Your podcast of NPR's best arts and culture stories brings you deep into the heart of a suburban mall movie theater this week, as roller derby girls roll out in force for the new movie Whip It. (Linda discusses her prediction that the movie will age gracefully into a beloved classic for thirteen year old girls of the future.)

Littler children of today may cherish the latest excursion to the Hundred Acre Woods. Lynn Neary talks with the creator of the first-ever sanctioned sequel to the story of Winnie the Pooh. You'll hear about some of the animals he considered — and rejected — as new characters.

Two of the more riveting characters filling movie screens this fall include a vicious abusive mother and her obese, near-illiterate daughter. They're the heart of the upcoming movie Precious, set in Harlem in the 1980s. I went to the Toronto Film Festival to interview the film's director — and Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, both executive producers. A podcast exclusive: my regrets about what I didn't include.

We've also got a look at the Broadway play Superior Donuts, penned by Tracy Letts, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama last year with his August: Osage County. Finally, the Bicycle Diaries of former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. The avowed cyclist describes bicycle riding as faster than a walk, slower than a train and slightly higher than a person. But is it as good as a big white suit?

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