Leital has been with Studio 360 since it was hatching as a pilot in early 2000, and helped bring it to the airwaves with the launch team in 2001. In her decade at the show, Leital has worked as a producer, editor, reporter, and engineer, traveling as far as Tokyo and Cody, Wyoming for special editions of the program.She was the sound designer of the Peabody Award-winning episode of American Icons on Moby-Dick and won an AP award for producing Kurt Andersen's interview with musician-poet Patti Smith.She holds a master's degree in journalism from NYU and teaches a podcasting course at the School of Visual Arts’ Design Criticism program. She occasionally moonlights for other WNYC projects, like the Battle of the Boroughs talent competition, where she does her best Simon Cowell on the judges’ panel. Leital is a native Texan and got her start in radio at KVRX, the student station at the University of Texas at Austin.
Purikura
While Pejk and Jenny wandered the peaceful Yoyogi park, I hit the streets of Shibuya with our our freelance reporter Lisa Katayama. Lisa is working on a piece about a new generation of Japanese female artists who are playing with female archetypes – like the schoolgirl – in all kinds of fun and twisted ways. […]
She looks like an axelotl?
Today I joined Lisa Katayama for her interview with Erina Matsui, a 24-year-old artist who’s already gotten the attention of Takashi Murakami and other art world big-wigs. Erina paints playful and surrealistic self-portraits, which she says should make people laugh. So as we walked into the Yamamoto Gendai galley, I have to say I was […]
Design for the Real (Japanese) World
We (Americans) love to talk about how Japanese design – sushi, origami, bonsai trees – is amazing for its beauty and detail. And yes, those things are there. But as I’ve been walking the streets of Tokyo, a few things have caught my eye that are much more utilitarian. When we first got to our […]
Street festival for drummers, breakdancers
On the streets of Shibuya today: drum circles, drumming lessons, and breakdancing. We met a young radio reporter (Pejk spotted his DAT recorder) and he told us it’s the third annual Shibuya music festival, called Shibu-on. Some video highlights: first, breakdancing unplugged – to hand drums, pan flute and didgeridoo. (No patchouli or hacky-sacks sighted.) […]