Frank Abagnale, who evolved from being a brilliant young mastermind of international deception and fraud into one of the world's most respected authorities on forgery and embezzlement, tells his life story. His intercontinental saga prompted Steven Spielberg to turn Abagnale's life into the movie *Catch Me If You Can* starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Heather Rae (producer of Frozen River) moderates a panel discussion about acting for independent films. Panelists include Amy Redford (director of The Guitar); Gillian Jacobs (of Choke); Summer Bishil (of Towelhead); Misty Upham (of Frozen River); and Jane Lynch (of Best in Show, A Mighty Wind).
Television writer and director Joss Whedon receives the third annual 2009 Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism. The award, previously presented to novelist Salman Rushdie and punk rocker (and evolutionary biologist) Greg Graffin, is sponsored by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard and the Harvard Secular Society. The creator of the long-running television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Whedon explores the moral foundation of a humanistic universe. **Joss Whedon** is the Academy Award and Emmy Award-nominated creator of the TV shows Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this past summer's media-redefining Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and the new Fox show Dollhouse. Whedon has a devoted following of fans, including the online web community whedonesque.com. In addition to his art, he has also been active in promoting women's rights through his work with Equality Now, an organization that honored him in 2006.
Philosopher and sociologist Slavoj Zizek discusses his new book, The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic?, and explains how the Christian concept of the "toxic neighbor" impacts political, economic, sexual, and cultural thought. This event is presented by the Harvard Book Store, in cooperation with the Brattle Theatre and the MIT Press.
Journalist and activist Barbara Ehrenreich discusses her book, *Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America*. She shares how her own experience dealing with breast cancer showed her that the dogma of the positive thinking movement can lead to individual self-blame, and how institutional disregard for possible negative outcomes led to the national housing crisis. Americans have a singular capacity for glossing over hardships with exhortations to "look on the bright side." The oft-prescribed power of positive thinking is certainly capable of altering our outlooks, but as Ehrenreich argues in her new book, this is not entirely for the better. This is Ehrenreich at her provocative best--poking holes in conventional wisdom and faux science, and calling for existential clarity and courage.
David Janssen, Edward Whitelock, and Josh Hunter discuss their books that link death and the musical genre that's still going strong- Rock'n'Roll. Janssen and Whitelock's book, *Apocalypse Jukebox*, leaps from David Koresh and Charles Manson through the music of Coltrane, Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Hunter's book, *The 27s*, sheds light on the coincidence of the deaths of several rock stars near their 27th birthdays. This event was hosted by Decatur CD.
Paul Butler, former federal prosecutor and Harvard University graduate, discusses his book, *Let's get Free*, which tells of his own false arrest and imprisonment. Butler contends that so many people are in prison, especially for nonviolent drug offenses, that incarceration causes more crime than it prevents. He offers innovative methods for citizens to resist complicity and stand up for their rights.
Steve Almond, *New York Times* best-selling author presents *Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life*, a musical extravaganza in celebration of his new book about obsessive fandom. The evening will include literary explorations of classic hits by Styx, Toto, and other bands you are now ashamed to admit you once loved, along with other selections from the book, which *Publishers Weekly* calls "a hilarious riff on the power of music." The show closes with a live set by the utterly rocking Boris McCutcheon & The Salt Licks.
With a life that’s spanned the phonographic era and the digital age, Steve Almond lives to Rawk. Like you, he’s secretly longed to live the life of a rock star, complete with insane talent, famous friends, and hotel rooms to be trashed. Also like you, he’s had to settle for the life of a rabid fan, one who has converted his unrequited desires into a (sort of) noble obsession.
Chuck Palahniuk acclaimed novelist discusses of his newest book, *Tell All*, a novel inspired by the life of Lillian Hellman. *Tell-All* is a Sunset Boulevard–-inflected homage to Old Hollywood when Bette Davis and Joan Crawford ruled the roost; a veritable Tourette’s syndrome of rat-tat-tat name-dropping, from the A-list to the Z-list; and a merciless send-up of Lillian Hellman’s habit of butchering the truth that will have Mary McCarthy cheering from the beyond. Our Thelma Ritter–ish narrator is Hazie Coogan, who for decades has tended to the outsized needs of Katherine “Miss Kathie” Kenton—veteran of multiple marriages, career comebacks, and cosmetic surgeries. But danger arrives with gentleman caller Webster Carlton Westward III, who worms his way into Miss Kathie’s heart (and boudoir). Hazie discovers that this bounder has already written a celebrity tell-all memoir foretelling Miss Kathie’s death in a forthcoming Lillian Hellman–penned musical extravaganza; as the body count mounts, Hazie must execute a plan to save Katherine Kenton for her fans—and for posterity.
