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Michael Kimball has been writing people's life stories in 600 words or less since April 2008. The writer, who lives in Baltimore, says he was inspired to start the postcard project on his blog by a friend who was curating a performance art festival. Kimball tells NPR the exercise has changed him.

A recent column posted on the online magazine Salon.com explores feelings some gay men have about some of the straight women who seek their friendship. In a column titled "Ladies: I'm Not Your Gay Boyfriend," writer Thomas Rogers puts such straight women on notice. Rogers says famous pop-culture duos such as TV's Will and Grace are out of style.

The National Theatre on the South Bank in London is broadcasting its first live play out to the world from Iceland to South Africa. Academy Award-winner Helen Mirren stars in the 17th century play Phedre, written in Alexandrine verse. At an ordinary movie theatre in the London suburb of Brixton, locals give their thoughts on the play.

The actors, secretaries and other workers who make up Hollywood's middle class have long relied on the industry-funded retirement home in Woodland Hills, Calif., to care for them in their golden years. But rising medical costs seem set to undo that promise.

The ABA Journal, the magazine of the American Bar Association, recently ranked the top 25 legal shows in television history. L.A. Law ranked at the top of the list, beating Perry Mason. ABA Journal editor and publisher Edward Adams offers his insight.

Gertrude Berg invented the family sitcom, first on the radio, then on television. She was the creator, writer and star of The Goldbergs and now is the subject of a new documentary film, Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg.

Seventy-two-year-old actor David Carradine was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok. He was best known for his role in Kill Bill: Vol 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2 and the Kung Fu TV series.

Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter are creators and stars of Michael and Michael Have Issues — a series about two neurotic sketch-comedy writers who can't stand each other.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen comes to theaters today, and you can bet the executives at the Hasbro toy company are excited. The first Transformers movie helped the company sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of toys and other merchandise.

Picturesque Agnes Scott College has long been a favored site for film shoots. But when production for a bad-boy comedy arrived at this women's college, it spawned student and alumnae backlash.

The Sopranos star debuts as the star of Nurse Jackie Monday on Showtime and says her character's life is complicated. "There are many aspects of it that are mutually exclusive," she says. Like being a nurse and popping many, many little red pills.

Allison Silverman, the executive producer and head writer of The Colbert Report, discusses the show's recent broadcasts from the combat zone in Iraq.

It's the era of Twilight, and pop culture is swarming with the undead. Terry Gross talks to Academy Award-winning actress Anna Paquin, star of HBO's vampire series True Blood.

Reviewer Alan Cheuse takes a look at three newly translated novels Leaving Tangier by Tahar Ben Jelloun and The Novel by Nawal El Saadawi. He says Jelloun's characters are as alienated and disturbed as any in contemporary literature. Cheuse calls The Novel "beautiful if flawed."

Actress, playwright and performer Anna Deaveare Smith talks about her new work, centering on health care, and her new position as artist in residence at the Center for American Progress. She says she will use that perch for her next work about change in Washington.

Hollywood has been shaken up by the recent merger of two big talent agencies. Endeavor and the William Morris Agency represent some of the biggest stars of film and television. The powerhouse behind the new company is Ari Emanuel — the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Kim Masters, host of the public radio show "The Business," talks with Steve Inskeep about Emanuel.

The maker of Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth has just released his first novel. The Strain merges the folklore of vampire tales with the very modern paranoia over pandemics.

Actor Ed Helms, co-star of the new film The Hangover, studied improvisation with The Upright Citizens Brigade and got his start in comedy with numerous sketch comedy groups. He currently plays Andy Bernard, the salesman who loves a cappella, on the NBC comedy series The Office.

Actor David Carradine was found dead Thursday in a Bangkok, Thailand, hotel room. The actor was best known for his leading role in the 1970s television series Kung Fu. Carradine was in Thailand shooting a movie, one of well over a 100 filmed during a long, eclectic career.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland bills itself as the world's biggest arts festival. The Fringe is the place where comedians, actors and playwrights go to be discovered. Each year, one play tends to grab the headlines and awards. This year it's Precious Little Talent by 24-year-old Ella Hickson. Last year, her play Eight got her noticed.

The co-star of the new HBO miniseries The No. 1 Ladies' Detectives Agency, earned a Tony for her work in the play Caroline, or Change and drew critical acclaim for her portrayal of "Maggie the Cat" in a recent Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Soon she'll be the voice of Disney's first black princess.

J.J. Abrams created the beloved and obsessed-over Lost, which had its season finale Wednesday night, and directed the new Star Trek movie. Neal Conan talks with Abrams.

"The Model As Muse" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York chronicles 50 years of models from the fashion industry.

Illinois writer Jean Thompson has a new book of stories out called Do Not Deny Me. It is a collection stories with wit, humor and a fictional primer on how Americans live day to day.

Critic John Powers reviews the Starz comedy series Party Down, which follows a group of oddball dreamsers who work for a Hollywood catering company.