Kristen Meinzer

Danny Boyle started off as an edgy, indy filmmaker with such hits as “Shallow Grave” and “Trainspotting.” But after several more well-received mainstream films, he launched into international superstardom with his Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire.” No doubt his newest movie "127 Hours" will continue to keep his names on everyone’s radar. It’s already getting a ton of buzz — including rumors of audience members passing out and vomiting during each screening.

Tech writer and Wired magazine co-founder Kevin Kelly has a new book. It’s called “What Technology Wants” — and even more intriguing than the title are the ideas inside. One chapter in particular that’s been getting a lot of buzz is about Amish hackers. Yes, you read that right: The same Amish famed for their barns and bonnets, in fact, know a thing or two about technology.

Kelly joins us to explain more about that, and some other surprising theories about how technology works, and what it wants.

A look ahead to the movies coming out over the holiday season, some of them hoping for love at The Oscars. Rafer and Kristen start from Saw-3D and quickly move on to the (better) films they're looking forward to in the next few months.

He descends from American music royalty, and is a celebrated recording artist in his own right, having fronted the Grammy-award winning Wallflowers and sold over six million records.

His name is Jakob Dylan, and he joins us in studio to talk about his second solo album, called “Women and Country.”

If you're familiar with Oscar-nominated performances, then you know the name Melissa Leo. In 2008, she starred as an impoverished single mother, trying to hold onto her home in “Frozen River.” Desperate and almost destitute, her character eventually takes to smuggling undocumented immigrants over a frozen river between the U.S. and Canada. The role earned Leo an Oscar nomination.

Leo also starred as Detective Kay Howard on “Homicide: Life on the Street” for most of the '90s and currently stars on HBO's "Treme." She has several movies that are soon to be released, including “The Fighter,” opposite Mark Wahlberg, and “Welcome to the Rileys,” which opens today.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States. During his two terms, he enlarged Social Security, signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, and declared racial discrimination a national security issue. And, of course, before all that, he was a five-star general in the United States Army and Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II.

Widely considered a great president and a great Republican, many people still can’t help but like Ike.

During the months leading up to the current end-of-campaign-season frenzy, it’s become commonplace for politicians and passionate Americans to invoke the Founding Fathers and the original Constitution. But as recent debates and high profile interviews have demonstrated, a lot of these same people don’t necessarily know the rights and responsibilities that the Constitution secures.

There’s a new movie hitting theatres this week called “Strange Powers.” It follows a band that, according to the film’s disclaimer, is iconic to some and completely unknown to others.

The band is called The Magnetic Fields. And though they’ve been making albums since 1989, their founding member, Stephin Merritt, is still a mystery to many.

Meritt and Claudia Gonson (who provides vocals and instrumentals for the band, and also serves as the band's manager) join us in studio, to give us a small glimpse into their lives, their music, and the film.

After the jump, an extended version of our studio interview with Merritt and Gonson.

We frequently talk about retired people living on limited budgets. But what about their adult children?

It turns out that many people with aging parents are struggling financially, and even facing professional setbacks. But are their sacrifices really for the best? And is there a time when they should just cut their aging parents loose to fend for themselves?

With special guest Mary Ann Winkowski, paranormal investigator, Rafer and Kristen talk about the ghosts that show up in Hollywood films.

More than a few famous people made themselves over in prison. Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Jesus Chris. In a way, so did Avi Steinberg.

A recent college grad who was floundering with his place in life and his career, Ari responded to an ad on Craigslist a few years back. The job listing was for a prison librarian at the Suffolk County House of Corrections in Boston. He was hired almost immediately.

"Paranormal Activity 2" is arguably the most highly anticipated horror movie sequel of the year. Like its predecessor, it follows regular people who are being haunted by menacing spirits. In an attempt to determine what’s really happening, the protagonists set up cameras in their home. But they inevitably find that the truth is scarier than anything they imagined.

The telling of history is a monumental task and responsibility that all historians hold sacred. Historian Thomas C. Holt has gained prominence as the one of the foremost respected historians of American and African-American History.

In addition to being the former frontman and drummer of the legendary band Genesis, Phil Collins has had one of the most coveted solo careers in the music industry — with record sales surpassing 150 million, and numerous awards under his belt, including an Oscar, seven Grammys, and two Golden Globes. His newest album is a collection of remakes called “Going Back.” John talks with Phil Collins about his inspiration for the album and his career with Genesis.

Why put off until tomorrow what you can postpone until next week? It’s the motto of many a procrastinator and something that most of us have said at one point or another.

Is procrastination such a bad thing? Don’t some of us actually work better under pressure?

And we're asking you: Do you procrastinate? And what do you do to overcome it? Weigh in and read the stories and tips.

Rafer and Kristin discuss Clint Eastwood's new film 'Hereafter' and the way American cinema deals with death and the afterlife.  

This weekend, some of Hollywood’s biggest stars have movie openings. To help help guide us through the weekend’s theatre picks, including "Red," "Conviction," and "Hereafter," we speak with Kristen Meinzer, co-host of The Takeaway podcast “Movie Date.”

Sixty-five years ago, the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, set to work seeking justice for the horrendous crimes committed by the Nazis during World War II. The Allies charged Hermann Göring, Martin Bormann, Rudolf Hess and 21 other members of the Nazi Party with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

As the proceedings began, film cameras clicked on and captured the entire trial. The lead prosecutor for the U.S., Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, used as evidence the Nazis' very own shocking films, movies showing the abuse and persecution of Jews under Nazi rule.

In 2007, Dinaw Mengestu became something of a literary star when his first novel – “The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears” – garnered him awards from the National Book Foundation, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, and other prestigious organizations.

His new book is called “How to Read the Air.” It centers on a young Ethiopian-American named Jonas. In a failed marriage, and seeking to better understand his family history, Jonas attempts to retrace the migration of his parents from eastern Africa to the American Midwest. Along the way, we see Jonas retelling and sometimes fabricating the histories of strangers, his parents, and himself.

Rafer and Kristen look at this week's "It's Kind Of A Funny Story" and the history of movies set in psych wards, insane asylums and cuckoo's nests.