The Colin McEnroe Show

Seriously: a show about towels. There's the history of towels, towels in Christianity, Terrible Towels, Towel Day. Oh, and there are actual towels too. Because when has a bad idea ever stopped us before? GUESTS: Marcel Danesi - The author of Of Cigarettes, High Heels, and Other Interesting Things: An Introduction to Semiotics John Dankosky - Host of The CT Mirror's Steady Habits podcast and news and special projects editor for Science Friday Jackie Reeve - Bed and bath writer for Wirecutter; her blog about quilting and crafting and cooking and traveling and things is The Orange Room Jem Roberts - Comedy historian and the author of The Frood: The Authorised and Very Official History of Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired December 6, 2018.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're so caught up in fetishizing (mostly) female breasts in film, literature, art, and in the anatomy-defying breasts of comic book heroines, that we overlook the breast as a vital source of food and and as a body part vulnerable to cancer, including young women under forty. How often should we get that mammogram? To breastfeed - or not? Lastly, how come men can go topless in America but women can't? Florence Williams - Author of Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History and The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, which will be published in February and her Audible podcast Breasts Unbound, debuts in December  Dr. Christine Rizk - Breast surgeon, director of the Comprehensive Women’s Health Center at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center Lina Esco - Actress, producer, activist, director of the documentary, Free the Nipple and leader of the Free the Nipple movement. You can join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.  Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.  This show originally aired on October 4, 2016. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No one likes a cloudy sky. A cloud on the horizon is seen as a harbinger of doom. We feel like clouds need to have silver linings. But here's our thesis: Clouds are unfairly maligned. Consider this: From almost any vantage point (literally -- any vantage point in the universe), clouds are planet Earth's defining characteristic. They're what changes, what moves. They're what's going on on our pale blue dot. Clouds are, after all, the vehicle that spreads the sun's energy across the planet, an "expression of the atmosphere's moods." This hour, an appreciation of clouds. GUESTS: Gavin Pretor-Pinney - Founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society, author of The Cloudspotter's Guide and The Cloud Collector's Handbook David Romps - Assistant professor of Earth & Planetary Science at the University of California, Berkeley; runs The Romps Group, which studies clouds and climate Karolina Sobecka - An interdisciplinary artist and designer whose work has focused repeatedly on clouds Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Betsy Kaplan contributed to this show, which originally aired July 6, 2016.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

André Gregory has directed and acted in the theater for more than 50 years. He has appeared in a number of movies, including Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, Woody Allen's Celebrity, Brian De Palma's The Bonfire of the Vanities, Peter Weir's The Mosquito Coast, and many more. He has starred in three movies about the theater with the playwright, actor, and comedian Wallace Shawn: A Master Builder, Vanya on 42nd Street, and the iconic My Dinner with Andre. Gregory's memoir is This Is Not My Memoir. He joins us for the hour. Note: I apologize for the flagrant hackiness of the "joke" of the headline here. I feel your scorn and must suffer through my shame. There are times when a work is so iconic one doesn't have a choice but to make reference to it. And so here we are. GUEST: André Gregory - An actor, writer, director, teacher, and painter; his new book, written with Todd London, is This Is Not My Memoir Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're not the same people today that we were before covid upended our lives last spring. We found ways to survive a deadly and invisible virus, even as it threatened our survival. We learned to work from home, sew masks, Zoom, and create new words to describe our unique situation. And scientists developed vaccines so we could adapt faster than the virus could mutate.  Now, we're realizing that we don't want to leave behind all of our new "normal" as we prepare to return to the routines of our pre-pandemic "normal." We talk about that and play some of your essays.  GUESTS:  Devon Powers is an associate professor at the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University and the author of On Trend: The Business of Forecasting the Future. (@devjpow) Olga Khazan is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World. (@olgakhazan) Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hartford native Sol LeWitt was one of the giants of conceptualist and minimalist art. As an artist, he abandoned the long histories of painting and drawing and sculpture in favor of his Wall Drawings and Structures. And as an art figure, he abandoned the conventions of celebrity and resisted ever even having his picture taken. This hour, a look at Connecticut's own Sol LeWitt. GUESTS: David Areford - Associate professor of art history at the University of Massachusetts Boston Lary Bloom - The author of Sol LeWitt: A Life of Ideas Andrea Miller-Keller - Was the Emily Hall Tremaine Curator of Contemporary Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum from 1968 to 1998 Cary Smith - An artist who makes abstract paintings Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired May 9, 2019.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Americans like to believe we live in a meritocracy but the odds are stacked in favor of the already lucky and fortunate. We congratulate the "winners" and humiliate the "losers," who are told to better themselves or carry the burden of their failure.  The 2016 election of Donald Trump was decades in the making.  Like other populist leaders around the world, Trump gave voice to the resentment directed toward “elites” who devalue the hard work and dignity of workers without college degrees. Ronald Reagan was the first president to tell every American they could "go just as far as their dreams and hard work will take them." Yet, his administration's economic policies made it hard for those without college degrees to get ahead, no matter how hard they worked. Little has changed.   GUEST:  Michael Sandel teaches philosophy at Harvard University. His most recent book is The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? His BBC Radio 4 series, The Public Philosopher, explores the philosophical ideas behind the headlines. You can join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 8, 2020.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The jury will begin deliberations later today on whether George Floyd's death was caused by his inability to breathe under the weight of Derek Chauvin. Breathing is so automatic that we don't think about it until lung disease, dirty air, poor breathing habits and, now, COVID-19 and police brutality make it hard to do. We take breathing for granted; we don't breathe deep enough, we breathe too much, and we often breathe through our mouths instead of our noses.  We can't take all the blame. The tradeoff of humans evolving to have bigger brains is that our larger brains squeezed our noses, sinuses, tongues, and jaws into smaller spaces. That's why humans are the only species of 5,400 mammals to have misaligned jaws, overbites, underbites, and crooked teeth.  This hour, the science, art, and politics of breathing. GUESTS: James Nestor - A journalist and author; his most recent book is Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art Dahlia Lithwick - A senior editor for Slate and the host of Amicus Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired June 18, 2020.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taylor Swift has announced plans to re-record six of her previous albums in order to own master recordings of her older catalogue. Fearless (Taylor’s Version), which came out last Friday, is the first of these six re-recordings to be released. Fittingly, this would appear to be the sixth Nose that is substantively about Taylor Swift. And: If you're socially anxious (and who isn't, really?), you're gonna miss Zoom when it's gone. Oh, and speaking of social anxiety, meet Prancer, the Chihuahua who hates almost everyone. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Frank Jacobs, Mad Magazine Writer With a Lyrical Touch, Dies at 91He deftly mocked pop culture, politics and more for 57 years. He also wrote new lyrics for familiar songs, which led to a lawsuit from Irving Berlin and others. Phoebe Bridgers' smashed 'Saturday Night Live' guitar is up for auctionOrganised by the 2021 GLAAD Media Awards, which had nominated Bridgers as Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist LeVar Burton steps up his Jeopardy! campaign: "It just makes sense" Catherine Zeta-Jones Is Enjoying Herself Hollywood loves making excuses for bullies. Here are some of the most damaging George Clooney did some of his best work in Steven Soderbergh's reviled Solaris Adam McKay on How To Be Political and Entertaining and Not Destroy the World 'Dune' Director Denis Villeneuve Blasts HBO Max Deal ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres to Close Why Are Women on TikTok Asking to Get Peed On?On PissTok, memes about golden showers and accidental-on-purpose jellyfish stings abound You Can Be a Different Person After the PandemicOur personalities are not set in stone. They are more like sand dunes. Pure perfection: North Texas pitcher Hope Trautwein strikes out all 21 batters in perfect game In the minors, a major change as the Atlantic League plans to move the mound back a foot The Long Tail of Aphex Twin's 'Avril 14th'A song released 20 years ago continues to inspire curiosity and covers by classical, experimental and pop artists. 'NCIS' Renewed for Season 19 With Mark Harmon to Return Colorful coffins lighten mood at New Zealand funerals GUESTS: Gorman Bechard - Novelist and filmmaker Rebecca Castellani - Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently wrote a column proclaiming that "America Is Not Made for People Who Pee." It hit a nerve. People responded with stories that all seemed to agree with him. So, why don't we complain about locked doors, long lines (for women), or the lack of a public toilet where one should be? Lezlie Lowe might say that we don't like to talk about bodily functions that are perceived as kind of, well, gross. This hour, we talk about public toilets, including one that people like. GUESTS: Lezlie Lowe - Teaches journalism at the University of King's College and is the author of No Place To Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs Evan Madden - Sales manager for The Portland Loo Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Popeye. The World According to Garp. Good Morning, Vietnam. Dead Poets Society. Awakenings. The Fisher King. Aladdin. Mrs. Doubtfire. Jumanji. The Birdcage. Good Will Hunting. What Dreams May Come. One Hour Photo. Death to Smoochy. Insomnia. Night at the Museum. And that's just a super-abbreviated version of Robin Williams's filmography. And it completely ignores his career as one of the all-time great standup comedians. And it ignores Mork & Mindy. And Comic Relief. And so much more. This hour: A look at Robin Williams, who would've turned 70 this year. GUESTS: Dave Itzkoff - A culture reporter for The New York Times and the author of Robin Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer, and she is the founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired in a different form June 21, 2018.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During his remarkable career with the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams earned many nicknames: The Kid, The Splendid Splinter, Teddy Ballgame... but the only nickname that he ever wanted was "the greatest hitter who ever lived." And maybe he really was? He's baseball's all-time leader in on-base percentage, and he's second behind only Babe Ruth in both slugging and on-base plus slugging percentages. He's the last guy to hit .400, and that was 80 years ago. And on top of all that, he lost close to five full seasons (and three of them in the prime of his career) to serve in two different wars. This hour, a look at the man, the hitter, and the pitchman (you see what I did there) that was Ted Williams. GUESTS: Jim Baumer - A Maine-based writer and the author of Moxie: Maine in a Bottle Nick Davis - Produced and directed Ted Williams: "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived" Sam Miller - National baseball writer at ESPN Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, which originally aired July 19, 2018.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fox News broadcast the first episode of Greg Gutfeld's new late-night show, Gutfeld!, earlier this month. They're betting that Gutfeld can turn his talk show format into a successful late-night comedy show for conservatives. The problem is that conservatives don't do political satire any better than liberals do opinion talk radio. Dannagal Young believes that opinion talk is political satire for the right and political satire is opinion programming for the left. They serve the same purpose; both formats are responses to a lack of trust in mainstream media. Which one appeals to each of us depends less on how "smart" we are and more on how we process information. GUEST: Dannagal Young - Professor of communication and political science at the University of Delaware and the author of Irony and Outrage: The Polarized Landscape of Fear, Outrage and Comedy in the United States Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At Connecticut Public, there's a smallish corner conference room thing that we think of as The Crying Room. I, personally, haven't ever seen anyone cry in there, but I've had my suspicions. In any case, where people go to cry is part of the essential geography of the modern office. On the other hand, do we even have offices anymore? And: Hemingway is a three-part PBS documentary directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. It premiered this week, and all 5½ hours are streamable now. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Gary Bimonte, owner of Pepe's Pizza in New Haven has died R.I.P. SNL writer and Square Pegs creator Anne Beatts Prince Philip, Husband of Queen Elizabeth II, Is Dead at 99The Duke of Edinburgh, who married the future queen in 1947, brought the monarchy into the 20th century, but his occasional frank comments hurt his image. What Will Happen to Friendships When We Crawl Out of Our Pandemic Hidey Holes?A year of isolation has left our lives strewn with carcasses of friendships once held sacred -- but can reopening revive them? In Computero: Hear How AI Software Wrote a 'New' Nirvana SongComputer-generated artificial tracks by Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse and Jim Morrison highlight a new project that helps bring attention to mental illness Yahoo Answers Is Ending, So Here Are 31 Of The Funniest Posts To Ever Exist ThereYahoo Answers, you will be missed. 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' has ruined Marvel movies forever -- and that's a good thing Low-rise jeans are back. Don't panic.Millennials are terrified of the return of low-rise jeans and Y2K fashion. But what if they looked different this time around? Long-Awaited Muon Measurement Boosts Evidence for New PhysicsInitial data from the Muon g-2 experiment have excited particle physicists searching for undiscovered subatomic particles and forces An Interview With the Man Who Keeps Uploading My Feet to WikiFeet Taylor Swift Drops 'Mr. Perfectly Fine'From the Vault: Why Fans Think It's About Joe Jonas or Jake Gyllenhaal With "Mr. Perfectly Fine," Taylor Swift Got Ahead Of Her Least Original CriticsThere doesn't have to be drama. There can just be bops. Pino Palladino, pop's greatest bassist: 'I felt like a performing monkey!'One of the world's most celebrated bass players has worked with everyone from Adele to Elton John, the Who and D'Angelo. But the Welsh musician has hidden from the spotlight -- until now Why Are Furio's Shirts So Good on The Sopranos?An appreciation of the most intoxicating silk tops to hit prestige TV. An Interview With the Guy Who Yells "Mortal Kombat" in the Theme for Mortal KombatNearly three decades later, he's still got it. I Work in a Bookstore. Why Am I Still Shelving "Mein Kampf"?There are historical and scholarly reasons to preserve Hitler's manifesto -- but that doesn't mean anyone needs to own it Aaron Rodgers Could Actually Be the Next Host of Jeopardy!He has no right to be as good at this as he is. "Everyone Just Knows He's an Absolute Monster": Scott Rudin's Ex-Staffers Speak Out on Abusive BehaviorEven as other Hollywood bullies are being sidelined, the uber-producer behind 'The Social Network' and Broadway’s 'To Kill a Mockingbird' has been given a pass for his volcanic temper. Now, former employees open up about a boss who left many traumatized: "It was a new level of unhinged." This man is looking for the friends who shipped him overseas in a crateThe book The Crate Escape details how Brian Robson's scheme almost killed him America is facing a ketchup packet shortage GUESTS: Taneisha Duggan - Artistic producer at TheaterWorks Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joni Mitchell's album Blue turns 50 this year. It may not have the artistic sophistication of her later albums, but Mitchell's vulnerability endeared her to fans, if not early critics unused to such intimate storytelling. That was okay with Mitchell. She said her "music is not designed to grab instantly. It's designed to wear for a lifetime, to hold up like a fine cloth." She was right. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Blue the third-greatest album on its 2020 list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time," a move up from No. 33 in 2017. We talk with musicians and critics about the album Blue and more. GUESTS: Peter Kaminsky - Professor of music theory and associate department head of undergraduate studies at the University of Connecticut Steve Metcalf - A journalist, music critic, pianist, and composer, and director emeritus of Presidents' College at the University of Hartford Carolann Solebello - A singer-songwriter, a founding member of the Americana trio Red Molly, and a member of the Jack Hardy Songwriters Exchange; she tours with the folk quartet No Fuss and Feathers Join us on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elvis left two legacies. Musically, he pulled several American musical traditions out of the shadows, braided them together, and made them mainstream. Personally, he created a far darker template for the way a musical celebrity could be devoured by the very fame he avidly sought. Recorded live in front of an audience -- long before the pandemic hit -- as part of Colin's Freshly Squeezed series at Watkinson School, an hour about the artist who defined the birth of rock and roll and was the genre's first superstar. GUESTS: Jim Chapdelaine - Guitar and vocals Latanya Farrell - Vocals Steve Metcalf - Piano and vocals Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. This show originally aired February 20, 2019.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

humor = tragedy + time OK, but then the logical next question is: How much time? If it's OK, at this point, to joke about, say, The Spanish Inquisition... what about, for instance, the Holocaust? Or AIDS? September 11th? The #MeToo movement? ...Derek Chauvin? There's a line there somewhere, right? Or are some topics just never going to be funny? GUESTS: Mike Bent - Teaches writing in the Comedic Arts program at Emerson College, and he’s a performing comedian and magician Shawn Murray - A stand up comedian and writer and a host of Fantasy Filmball Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer Ferne Pearlstein - A documentary filmmaker who directed The Last Laugh Caleb Warren - Assistant professor of marketing at the University of Arizona Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Catie Talarski, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired February 21, 2018.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We'll be taking your calls during this hour -- and during more of our Monday shows moving forward. We'll still invite guests when we think it's important. Otherwise, we want to talk to you. Call us today at 888-720-9677 between 1 and 2 p.m. EDT. I'm not sure what you want to talk about today, but consider this: Nicholas Kristof, opinion writer for The New York Times, complained that "America Is Not Made for People Who Pee." It's great that President Biden wants to rebuild highways, fix aging schools, and upgrade our electrical grid, but what about public toilets? Have you had to search for a public toilet, especially during the pandemic? If so, you're not alone. Talk to you soon. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So celebrities and their giant water bottles: It's a thing, I guess. And then there's the ABC Carpet couches email thread. Plus: Netflix's dwindling, dying DVD library. And then: Godzilla vs. Kong is the fourth movie in Legendary's MonsterVerse. It's a direct sequel to both Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and it's the 12th King Kong movie and the 36th Godzilla movie, overall. Godzilla vs. Kong's theatrical opening (both internationally and domestically) has been the largest of any movie's during the pandemic. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Lil Nas X, Clapback ChampThe rapper's new single, video and sneaker were merely the prelude to a brilliantly orchestrated main event: a virtuosic performance on Twitter. Unpacking Chet Hanks' Complex 'White Boy Summer' TaxonomyHe calls out prejudicial beliefs against anyone from a different background than you, while encouraging his viewers to "keep suck-a-duckin." G. Gordon Liddy, undercover operative convicted in Watergate scandal, dies at 90 'Game of Thrones' Play in the Works for Broadway, Will Revive Iconic CharactersGeorge R.R. Martin is developing a live stage spectacular for Broadway, West End and Australia that will bring fan-favorites like Ned Stark and Jaime Lannister back to life while dramatizing a legendary event in Westeros history Volkswagen of America lied about rebranding to 'Voltswagen'From the company that brought you Dieselgate... The Timeless Fantasy of Stanley Tucci Eating Italian FoodIn CNN's culinary travel series, Italy is beautiful and the food of Italy is beautiful. Not insignificantly, Tucci is beautiful, too. Comic-Con Unveils Fall Dates For In-Person Convention; Confab Returns To San Diego For First Time Since 2019 I Like That The Boat Is StuckIt's bad that the boat is stuck. It's bad for lots of people and for lots of reasons. I know that. Please don't think that me liking the stuck boat is an ideological stance. This is not an opinion I have about boats, or about canals, or about things generally being stuck. How "A Drive Into Deep Left Field by Castellanos" Became the Perfect Meme for These Strange TimesThe infamous on-air apology derailed by a Nick Castellanos home run has found life beyond Weird Baseball Twitter -- and it may be here to stay A new energy drink will debut in New Haven. It was developed by 3 Yale students. I Am Obsessed With Anthony Hopkins' Truly Bizarre Social Media PresenceI love him? Nickelodeon Removes SpongeBob Panty-Raid Episode for Being Too Horny for Kids GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani - Handles social media marketing and event planning for Quiet Corner Communications Sam Hatch - Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on Sunday nights on WWUH Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Dunton started the first advice column in 1690. He called it the Athenian Mercury. John, a bookseller, and his four "experts" wanted to answer "all the most Nice and Curious Questions proposed by the Ingenious of Either Sex." One person wondered why they would trouble themselves "and the world with answering so many silly questions." But it was a hit. People have always been drawn to advice columns. They're a public forum for private thoughts; they're communal, yet anonymous; they reveal human strength, yet vulnerability. Despite their popularity, until recently, most readers in the recent decades have been white women. That's changing. Are you an advice junkie? Join us. GUESTS: Jamie Fisher - A writer and researcher with The New York Times Danny M. Lavery - Slate's Dear Prudence, co-founder of The Toast, and the author of Texts From Jane Eyre, The Merry Spinster, and Something That May Shock and Discredit You Christine Pride - A writer, book editor, and content consultant; her advice column, Race Matters, is on A Cup of Jo, and her debut novel, We Are Not Like Them, is available for preorder Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did you get enough sleep last night? If you're like most Americans, probably not. You might feel pretty good after six hours of sleep and a strong cup of coffee, but the physical and mental toll of sleep deprivation is high. We become more impulsive and less mentally agile, and we make more mistakes. Long term, lack of sleep (six hours or less per night) can mess with mood, hormones, and immune systems, and it can increase our risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. There are lots of things we can't control that keep us up too late, such as crying babies and shift work. But there are lots of things we can control, like how much caffeine we consume and whether we take our phone to bed. But somewhere along the way, our culture made less sleep a matter of personal virtue and moral judgement. Even naps are frowned upon for all but the youngest and the oldest among us. GUESTS: Maria Konnikova - A journalist, professional poker player, and the author of The Confidence Game and Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes Dan McNally - A doctor with the Sleep Disorders Center at UConn Health Todd Pitock - Journalist Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, which originally aired March 18, 2020.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a period of about 50 years, many of America's top cartoonists and illustrators lived within a stone's throw of one another in the southwestern corner of Connecticut. Comic strips and gag cartoons read by hundreds of millions were created in this tight-knit group -- Prince Valiant, Superman, Beetle Bailey, Hägar the Horrible, Hi and Lois, Nancy, The Wizard of Id, Family Circus... I could keep going. This hour, a look at the funny pages, and at Connecticut's cartoon county. GUESTS: Bill Griffith - The creator and author of the daily comic strip Zippy Henry McNulty - A writer and editor who worked for the Hartford Courant for more than 25 years Cullen Murphy - Editor-at-large for Vanity Fair and the author of Cartoon County: My Father and His Friends in the Golden Age of Make-Believe Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Kevin MacDermott, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired January 11, 2018.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A number of media critics gave poor grades to reporters questioning President Biden at his first formal press conference last week. Is there a disconnect between what the media cares about, such as the filibuster and the 2024 election, and what people care about? Also this hour: An Amazon executive set off a firestorm after boasting on Twitter that Amazon was the "Bernie Sanders of employers." Workers weighed in on whether a company was progressive if workers felt they had to urinate in a bottle in order to meet production quotas. How will all this attention influence whether workers at an Alabama Amazon warehouse decide to unionize? Lastly, the first dogs are home, sweet home. GUESTS: Dan Froomkin - The editor of Press Watch Ken Klippenstein - An investigative reporter for The Intercept focusing on national security Rachel Treisman - A production assistant on NPR's Digital News Desk Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As with all weeks, it's been a strange week. First there were the Cinnamon Toast Crunch shrimp tails. And then an enormous container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal. And now there might be another toilet paper shortage. Which would be bad for the Amazon drivers who have to poop in their trucks. Maybe it's been an especially strange week. Separate from all that: For All Mankind is Ronald D. Moore's alternate history of a world where the space race never ended. It's six episodes into Season Two on AppleTV+. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: George Segal, Veteran of Drama and TV Comedy, Is Dead at 87He is best remembered for his Oscar-nominated dramatic role in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and was later a familiar comic actor. "Arrested Development" Star Jessica Walter Has Died At 80Walter was best known for playing Lucille Bluth on Arrested Development and voicing Malory Archer in Archer. R.I.P. Talladega Nights actor Houston Tumlin Ronnee Sass, Veteran Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Publicist, Dies at 72 The Extended Universe: What the Snyder Cut Means for the Future of FandomThe campaign demanding the release of Zack Snyder's 'Justice League' got its payoff with the release of the four-hour movie last weekend. Does it mean anything for similar movements for 'Suicide Squad' and 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'? Justice League's Epilogue Is Its Messiest, Most Dangerous Indulgence 5 widescreen videos to watch instead of the 4:3 Snyder Cut of Justice League'That's no moon' High school baseball: How Juab beat Provo 29-28 in the highest-scoring game in state history Dr. Oz is hosting Jeopardy! and everyone hates it Every DC Comics Movie, Ranked How Beeple Crashed the Art WorldAn N.F.T., or "non-fungible token," of the digital artist's work sold for sixty-nine million dollars in a Christie's auction. It's good news for crypto-optimists, but what about for art? 'Black Widow' Will Hit Disney+ and Theaters on July 9, 'Shang-Chi' Delayed, and More Disney Release Date Changes An Interview With Mike Birbiglia About Pizza And Only Pizza 'Superstore' Was the Perfect Comedy for Less-Than-Funny TimesThis week's series finale closes out a delightful sitcom that didn't shy from the challenges faced by America's low-wage workers, including the current pandemic. Dave Chappelle to perform at Foxwoods with rapid COVID testing at the door The Definitive Ranking of Ducks Beyond Peak TVIt's no longer enough to flood the zone with new television in general. Now, the zone is flooded with specific individual brands -- over and over again. Oscar Producers Facing Backlash And Logistical Headaches After Requiring Nominees To Attend Ceremony In Person, Not On Zoom Not-So-Special Characters: The Biggest Grifters, Frauds, and Outright Nobodies on Today's Typographical Scene Johnny Depp denied appeal in case that found 'wife beater' article about him 'substantially true' Here's Why Taylor Swift Is Re-Releasing Her Old Albums Is the guitar solo dead in the 21st century? GUESTS: Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer; founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Pedro Soto - President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies Coach Catie Talarski - Senior director of storytelling for Connecticut Public Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On March 6, Lou Ottens died in Duizel in the Netherlands. He was 94. I don't think I had ever heard of Ottens before, but the news of his death quickly filled my social media feeds. Ottens, you see, invented the compact cassette in the 1960s. There's a certain romance to the cassette tape, right? They're more fun than mp3s, for sure. And it turns out they're having a little mini resurgence right now. Last year, cassette sales hit their highest mark since 2003. Some old, hard to find tapes sell for crazy prices. Blank tapes still sell well. There are cassette-only record labels. There are even podcast episodes out on tape. This hour, a look at the long past and surprising present of the cassette tape. GUESTS: Joe Carlough - Runs This And That Tapes Lory Gil - A writer in the tech industry Sommer McCoy - Founder of The Mixtape Museum Zack Taylor - Director of Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a year of pandemic, we're all itching to break from the restrictions of the pandemic. We want to travel and explore. It makes sense; we're hard-wired to explore. Our ancestors would not have survived absent the drive to seek food and safety from the dangers of the day. Safe and satiated, they later sought new lands to conquer and later still, to escape the constraints and cruelties of rapid industrialization. If the recent pandemic left you yearning to explore, you might be inspired by this show we first aired in 2017.  GUESTS: David Grann - Staff writer for The New Yorker, author of The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon and most recently, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI Hugh Thomson - Writer, filmmaker and author of many books including The White Rock: An Exploration of the Inca Heartland and A Sacred Landscape: The Search for Ancient Peru Kathryn Schulz - Staff writer for The New Yorker and author of Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week's violence at three spas in Georgia, followed a year of escalating violence against Asian Americans, some of it captured on videos that went viral. Despite visual evidence, New Yorker writer Hua Hsu, writes that this current moment stresses the "in-between space Asian Americans inhabit." It's hard to prove bias when we lack a historical understanding of what Asian American racism looks like.  The 21-year-old man who killed eight people last week, six of whom were Asian women, told investigators that he attacked the spas because he was struggling with a “sex addiction” and wanted to eliminate the “temptation” of buying sex. Psychologist Joshua Grubbs writes that religion is deeply intertwined with perceptions of sexual behavior and moral beliefs about sexuality.  GUESTS:  Hua Hsu is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific. He is an associate professor of English at Vassar College (@huahsu) Joshua Grubbs is an assistant professor of psychology at Bowling State University. His research is primarily concerned with the scientific study of addiction, personality, and morality (@joshuagrubbsphd) Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It might just be that the pandemic is starting to wind down. Advertisers are anxious to act like it is. We're all maybe anxious to get some hugs back into our lives, or maybe we'll all just always be anxious about hugs. And: How does this all work for half-vaccinated couples? Plus: The Nose sees some parallels in the sexlessness of superheroes. And: Promising Young Woman is Emerald Fennell's feature-film debut as a writer, director, and producer, and it's made her an Academy Award-nominated writer, director, and producer. The movie is nominated for five Oscars overall, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Carey Mulligan. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Yaphet Kotto, Bond Villain and 'Alien' Star, Dies at 81Well known for playing hardened personalities, he was also seen in movies like "Midnight Run" and the TV show "Homicide: Life on the Street." Boxing great Marvelous Marvin Hagler dies at 66 Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez Announce They Are Still TogetherLess than a day after E! News confirmed reports that Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez were going their separate ways, the music superstar and actress and retired MLB star issued a joint statement How Hollywood Is Complicit in the Violence Against Asians in AmericaReducing Asians, women and sex workers to flat punchlines isn't just degrading -- it's dangerous 'Avatar' Overtakes 'Avengers: Endgame' As All-Time Highest-Grossing Film Worldwide; Rises To $2.8B Amid China Reissue 2021 Oscar Stats: Two Female Filmmakers Are Up for Best Director for the First Time; Plus Historic Nods for Viola Davis, Riz Ahmed, Steven Yeun, More The Winners and Losers of the 2021 Oscar NominationsThe good: 'Minari' and 'Nomadland' leading a far less local slate. The bad: Delroy Lindo getting snubbed. Razzie Awards 2021: Robert Downey Jr., Adam Sandler, Anne Hathaway Among Nominees Movies That Would Have Been Better with Richard Kind in Them The Mound Is Too Damn CloseFor nearly 130 years, the distance between pitchers and batters has remained the same. But as pitchers get better and bigger -- and balls in play become increasingly rare -- MLB could benefit from giving hitters some space. Prominent NCAA tournament players launch '#NotNCAAProperty' protest as March Madness begins Why Channel 37 Doesn't Exist (And What It Has to Do With Aliens)Since the advent of analog TVs, channel 37 has always been static. Here's why. '60 Songs That Explain the '90s': The Ugly Beauty of ToolUp next on our trek through the decade: "Stinkfist," one of the hardest, crudest songs from one of rock's hardest, crudest bands Sanitary CultureExperts brightly offer to help create a society so safe, clean, inoffensive, and nontoxic art disappears. Show them the door. Teen Vogue Editor Resigns After Fury Over Racist TweetsThe hiring of Alexi McCammond, who was supposed to start at the Condé Nast publication next week, drew complaints because of racist and homophobic tweets she had posted a decade ago. Topps removes Garbage Pail Kids collectible sticker card featuring bruised BTS after backlash NYC man sells fart for $85, cashing in on NFT craze If You Look at Your Phone While Walking, You're an Agent of ChaosAn experiment by Japanese researchers revealed how just a few distracted walkers really can throw off the movements of a whole crowd. Is This Going To Be The Horniest Summer Of All Time? GUESTS: Tracy Wu Fastenberg - Development officer at Connecticut Children's Bill Yousman - Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Catie Talarski contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Writer and essayist Lauren Oyler, joins Colin to talk about Fake Accounts, her new novel on internet culture. They'll also talk about literary fiction, cultural criticism, ghostwriting, and her staunch defense of semicolons, among other things. Lauren Oyler will be at the Mark Twain House & Museum, Tuesday, March 23, 7-8 pm. The event is free. You can register at marktwainhouse.org GUEST: Lauren Oyler’s essays have appeared in the London Review of Books, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Bookforum, New York Magazine’s The Cut, and elsewhere. Her first novel is Fake Accounts. (@laurenoyler) Find us on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Gene Amatruda contributed to this show. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every year around this time, there's a big-old college basketball tournament. So every* year around this time, for every* year that this show has been on the air, we've put together a big-old hour of radio about said big-old college basketball tournament. Until last year, of course. Last year, we were right in the middle of getting this show together when quarantines started, when we closed our building to the outside world, when sports seasons were suspended and canceled, when we all suddenly switched to working remotely. Last year, the NCAA basketball tournaments were canceled, so we had to cancel this show. And so we're very excited to be doing this show again this year. We're still working from home, but that's no reason not to do an hour of radio about basketball with an improv comic and an ex-politican-turned-political-pundit. There are a bunch of other reasons not to do that, but we don't care about any of them very much. *Our best guess is that this is the 11th version of this show we've done. It might be the 10th, maybe the ninth. But we're going with 11th. It could be that one of the 11 was a show more about birds than it's about basketball, but whatever. GUESTS: Bill Curry - Playing the part of Bill Curry Julia Pistell - A founding member of Sea Tea Improv, among a number of other things Gregory S. Woodward - President of the University of Hartford Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the one hand, obituaries are an amalgam of a bunch of different kinds of journalism: they're feature stories, they're profile pieces, they cover history, and they're hard news too. On the other hand, the subject is always... dead. This hour, a look at the art of obituaries and obituarists. GUESTS: Kate Cimini - A reporter for The Salinas Californian and CalMatters Vanessa Gould - Produced and directed the documentary Obit. Heather Lende - Obituarist for the Chilkat Valley News in Alaska and the author of Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer Bruce Weber - Retired New York Times obituarist Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired August 24, 2017.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeopardy! has been part of the fabric of American TV, in a couple different forms and across a couple different breaks, since 1964. It is the longest-running nationally-televised game show in U.S. television history. At the 2015 Emmys, John Oliver quipped, "The sun could burn out, humanity could flee to another galaxy, time as we know it could cease to exist, but Alex Trebek will still be there scolding librarians from Ames, Iowa, to answer in the form of a question." Except, of course, Alex Trebek died last year. And before that, Jeopardy!'s long-time executive producer and its long-time contestant coordinator both left at the end of last season. So what's in store for this quiz show institution? The Nose is off, but that doesn't mean some other stuff didn't happen this week, give or take: 'Phantom Tollbooth' Author Norton Juster Dies At 91 The Best Movie Performances of the Century So Far 'Nomadland,' 'Rocks' Lead 2021 BAFTA Awards Nominations Steven Spielberg to Direct a Movie About His Own Childhood; Michelle Williams to Star People are Using Dating Apps to Find Doctors, Drugs, and ProtestersAs the world gets weirder, dating apps are expanding from attracting horny singles to even being a marketplace for everything but love. The Internet Is Making Lots Of Jokes At The News That Instagram Is Launching A "Lite" Version Of Its App"Does Instagram Lite have less calories than the other competitors?" GUESTS: Sherri Cohen - Former Jeopardy! contestant Claire McNear - Staff writer at The Ringer and the author of Answers in the Form of Questions: A Definitive History and Insider's Guide to Jeopardy! Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer, and founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 18, 2020.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Criminal Minds. Mindhunter and Manhunt. Cracker and Profiler. Nearly the whole of the Hannibal Lecter universe: Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal (the movie and the TV series), Red Dragon, and now Clarice. It seems we're fascinated by forensic psychology, by criminal profiling, by... mindhunting. This hour, we look at three different criminal profilers: James Brussel, the psychologist who helped catch the Mad Bomber of New York in 1957; James Fitzgerald, the forensic linguist who caught the Unabomber; and Bill James, the father of sabermetrics, turns his data analysis on a century-old serial killer mystery that no one had even realized was a serial killer mystery before he and his daughter figured it out. GUESTS: Michael Cannell - Author of Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber, and the Invention of Criminal Profiling James Fitzgerald - Retired FBI agent, criminal profiler, and forensic linguist; he's the author of a series of memoirs, A Journey to the Center of the Mind Bill James - Former Senior Advisor on Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox; co-author of The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery Rachel McCarthy James - Co-author of The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired November 7, 2017.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The southeastern part of our state conjures images of casinos, submarines, and a blue-collar vibe that's just a little different from the rest of the state's image of leafy suburbs, clapboard homes, and town greens that show off Connecticut's colonial past. The southeastern corner has its own allure, challenging writers and artists mystified by this place that time left alone. It's quirky, a little unruly, and special in ways we can't fully define. Wally Lamb describes it as "more feisty than fashionable, more liverwurst than pate." We talk to three writers, including Wally Lamb, who have tried to capture the essence of this unique region of Connecticut. GUESTS: Wally Lamb - The author of I Know This Much is True, She's Come Undone, We Are Water, and I'll Take You There John-Manuel Andriote - A reporter and the author of Victory Deferred, Wilhelmina Goes Wandering, and Tough Love: A Washington Reporter Finds Resilience, Ruin, and Zombies in his ‘Other Connecticut' Hometown Stephen Dobyns - Poet of 13 volumes including Winter's Journey and Velocities and the author of Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired October 29, 2015.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, we talk about two Connecticut dance halls, each springing from the vision of two very different men who took their respective dance halls down very different paths. One's dream soared, bringing thousands of concert-goers to over 3,000 acts over an 11-year history. The other's dream stalled, his elaborate dance hall sitting idle for decades. Thrall Hall in East Windsor is a lot of things. By most accounts, it's a fascinating example of vernacular or folk architecture. Ed Thrall built the dance hall from materials he recovered from demolition projects, sometimes salvaging pieces of historical interest. He built it his own way following his own idiosyncratic ideas about architecture. Thrall Hall contains some engineering marvels including the use of recycled tractor trailer tires under the dance floor to give it adjustable bounce. What Thrall Hall is not is usable.  Ed is a peculiar and troubled man. He didn't work and play well with others, and you'll hear today an occasionally hair-raising account of his battles with the town. Catie Talarski shares this heartbreaking story of lost dreams, betrayal, and redemption. Thrall Hall was just about the only thing that could make the wild 11-year run of the Shaboo Inn in Mansfield seem pale by comparison. That's the second story we tell today.  Connecticut’s Shaboo Inn, a legendary 1970s and 1980s blues and rock concert dance hall, attracted over 100 top artists, including Bonnie Raitt, Miles Davis, The Police, Aerosmith, and Tom Waits, to the former silk mill in Mansfield. David "Lefty" Foster started Shaboo at the age of 19 when he wasn't yet old enough to be inside the building. He joins us to share stories from this long and storied Connecticut icon.  Read and listen to Catie Talarski's feature here. GUEST: David Foster - Co-founder of Shaboo Productions and the leader of the Mohegan Sun Shaboo All-Stars; he was inducted into the New England Music Hall of Fame in October, 2020 Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Betsy Kaplan, Catie Talarski, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired September 30, 2014.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We reair Colin's 2016 interview with Patti Smith at the Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford when she was in town for a Mark Twain House event. The church was filled to the rafters with a capacity crowd of 700 people who remained enraptured by her presence throughout the entire evening. If you don't know her, you may come to love her after hearing this very funny and endearing interview.  She looked back over her life as an artist, a lover of Robert Mapplethorpe, a wife and a mother, and as a person she says is a better friend in the abstract than in reality. Again, she's really funny.  GUEST: Patti Smith - Singer, songwriter, poet, and visual artist; she's released almost a dozen albums and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007; she won a National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids; her second memoir is M Train Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired November 10, 2016.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Week (or so) in Reassessing Not-Necessarily-Current Bits of Culture: Seuss enterprises pulled six mostly early Dr. Seuss books from future publication. Disney+ added content warnings to certain episodes of The Muppet Show. Amazon tweaked its app logo to look less like, uh, Hitler. Turner Classic Movies launched a new series called Reframed Classics that will, well, frame movies like Gone with the Wind and Breakfast at Tiffany's with discussions of their problematic aspects. And: Allen v. Farrow is a four-part HBO documentary series that chronicles the sexual assault allegation against Woody Allen by Dylan Farrow. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: "Degrassi" Actor Jahmil French Has Died At 29, And The Cast Is Sharing Emotional Memories Of Him"Bhandurner forever in my heart." Bunny Wailer, Reggae Pioneer With the Wailers, Dies at 73He was the last surviving original member of the group, which also featured Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Together they helped spread the music of Jamaica worldwide. Inside Joss Whedon's 'Cutting' and 'Toxic' World of 'Buffy' and 'Angel' The Marilyn Manson Reckoning From Britney Spears to Janet Jackson, the Era of the Celebrity ReappraisalMonica Lewinsky. Janet Jackson. Lindsay Lohan. Whitney Houston. We are living in an era of reappraisals. Opinion: Do we even need the Golden Globes? Rosamund Pike Says Body Was Photoshopped for Johnny English PosterThe "I Care a Lot" star said she was photoshopped on the poster for "Johnny English." The 101 Greatest Endings in Movies HistoryGood finales offer catharsis. The best deny us closure altogether. Critics Poll: 'Do the Right Thing' Named Best Film of the 1980s By Over 200 Critics, Filmmakers and Programmers E-mail Is Making Us MiserableIn an attempt to work more effectively, we've accidentally deployed an inhumane way to collaborate. First-ever space hotel slated to be operational by 2027 Disney CEO Bob Chapek Thinks Shorter Theatrical Windows May Be Here to Stay 'Soul' and 'Wolfwalkers' Lead the 2021 Annie Awards With 10 Nominations Each Reese's New Peanut Butter Cup Is (Almost) All Peanut ButterAfter decades of touting the taste of two flavors together, Hershey's will release a version without chocolate. 'Playing With Power' Tackles the Unique Enigma That Is Nintendo GUESTS: Jacques Lamarre - A playwright and director of client services at Buzz Engine Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We produced our first show on masks in the spring of 2020. It was when most of us were isolated at home to sidestep the life-threatening illness we've come to call "COVID." The show was about how rapidly masks had become a statement of political identity. The intensity of the mask battles has begun to calm as we've acclimated to the pervasiveness of masks in our lives. Like them or not, they're here to stay, and they've begun to leave a lasting imprint on our culture. This hour, we take a longer view of how these objects that cover half of our faces have changed the way we perceive ourselves, how we interact with others -- and what masks might look like in the future. GUESTS: Kim Adrian is the author of Sock, The 27th Letter of the Alphabet, and, most recently, Dear Knausgaard Henry Alford is a humorist, journalist, and author; his most recent book is And Then We Danced: A Voyage Into the Groove Mollie Ruben is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Maine Elizabeth Segran is a senior staff writer at Fast Company and the author of The Rocket Years: How Your Twenties Launch the Rest of Your Life Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over just six years, from 1954 to 1960, Alfred Hitchcock made four movies -- Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960) -- that are routinely mentioned among the very best movies ever made. It's maybe an unparalleled run in the history of cinema. And that's just those four movies. Hitchcock's filmography is full of classics: Notorious (1946), Strangers on a Train (1951), The 39 Steps (1935), The Wrong Man (1956), The Birds (1963). The list goes on. At the same time, Hitchcock's relationship with his actors has been the subject of much discussion and debate for many decades. He's said to have thought of them as "cattle" and "animated props." He's said to have sexually harassed at least one of them. At the same time as that, Hitchcock's films earned eight of his actors nine Academy Award nominations and produced many more all-time-great screen performances, from Joan Fontaine in Rebecca (1940) to Tippi Hedren in Marnie (1964) and many others. This hour: a look at the work of Alfred Hitchcock... and his actors. GUESTS: Tom Breen - Managing editor of the New Haven Independent and the host of Deep Focus on WNHH radio Dan Callahan - Author of The Camera Lies: Acting for Hitchcock Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a theory that ours isn't the only universe. That there are, actually, infinitely many universes. That there are, then, infinitely many yous. That there are infinitely many different yous reading infinitely many different versions of this show synopsis. That there are infinitely many universes that don't even bother to include you. Or this show synopsis. Or even reading. Also, there's a theory that The Berenstain Bears prove the theory that ours isn't the only universe. So, this hour, in this universe, a show about all that. Or (at least) one version of a show about all that. GUESTS: Amanda Gefter - A physics and cosmology writer and the author of Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn: A Father, a Daughter, the Meaning of Nothing and the Beginning of Everything Mack Lamoureux - Night editor at Vice Canada Eugene Lim - Senior lecturer in theoretical physics at King's College London Alicia Lutes - Managing editor of The Nerdist Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Katie Glass, Cat Pastor, Chion Wolf, and Alan Yu contributed to this show, which originally aired December 8, 2016.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The theme of election fraud ran through this weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference. We talk about how "The Big Lie" is becoming a way for Republican leaders to rationalize the voter suppression measures making their way through state legislatures. Also this hour: In the short term, there seems to be a mortality gap between wealthier and poorer countries when it comes to COVID-19, with wealthier countries, such as the U.S., experiencing significantly more deaths than the least developed countries. But the long-term economic and public health toll on poorer countries could get much worse if wealthier countries don't step in to help. Lastly, what Rep. Deb Haaland's nomination to lead the Department of the Interior means to the Native American community. GUESTS: Ari Berman - A senior reporter at Mother Jones covering voting rights and the author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America Mushfiq Mobarak - Professor of economics at Yale University with concurrent appointments in the Department of Economics and in the School of Management; he’s the founder and faculty director of the Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale Jenni Monet - A journalist and media critic reporting on indigenous affairs; she's the founder of the weekly newsletter Indigenously Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Thursday, Hasbro announced that its Mr. Potato Head brand would drop the "Mr." in a move toward inclusiveness. But they also made clear, in a move toward not being yelled at by the internet, that the Mr. Potato Head character (and the Mrs. Potato Head character, for that matter) would continue. Also this week, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a new design for its mail trucks. The internet yelled about that some, too. And: Nomadland is Chloé Zhao's third film as writer and director. It is nominated for four awards at this weekend's Golden Globes, including two for Zhao (Best Director and Best Screenplay) and one for Frances McDormand (Best Actress in a Motion Picture -- Drama). Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Daft Punk Break UpThe legendary dance duo has called it quits 28 years after forming in Paris Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poet Who Nurtured the Beats, Dies at 101An unapologetic proponent of "poetry as insurgent art," he was also a publisher and the owner of the celebrated San Francisco bookstore City Lights. Kim Kardashian Broke Her Social Media Silence After Officially Filing For Divorce From Kanye WestAfter two days of radio silence, Kim returned to Instagram on Sunday night. Olivia Rodrigo's 'Drivers License' Is The New Longest-Running No. 1 Hit On The Global Chart, Beating BTS And Mariah Carey Justice League: The Shocking, Exhilarating, Heartbreaking True Story of #TheSnyderCutA demoralizing battle with Warner Bros. A devastating personal tragedy. A fan base he couldn't control. Zack Snyder tells V.F. why he quit Justice League, and why he’s returned to complete a cut that’s reached near-mythical status. Farewell Cinefex, you unlocked the magic of VFX for everyoneAfter 40 years, the legendary journal is shutting down. How Hollywood Is Beating Its Final Boss: Video Game AdaptationsWith 'Mortal Kombat,' 'Uncharted,' 'Halo,' and 'The Last of Us' leading an adaptation deluge, video game IP has finally leveled up Look upon Chuck's works, E. mighty, and Cheesepair 8 Comedians Break Down Their Favorite Stand-up Closers Ever Paramount+ TV Shows: 'The Italian Job,' 'Fatal Attraction,' and More Are Becoming Streaming Series Post Malone Covers Hootie and the Blowfish for Pokémon Day CelebrationArtist will perform his rendition at Pokémon anniversary virtual concert this Saturday 'Baseball Bugs' at 75: How a Looney Tunes classic wham-bammed America's pastime I found the Bay Area hill in Windows XP's iconic wallpaper Biden Revokes Trump-Era Executive Order On Brutalist Federal Architecture GUESTS: James Hanley - Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Elizabeth Keifer - Professor emerita of English at Tunxis Community College Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ghostwriting evokes an image of the writer who toils away in obscurity, secretly penning books credited to another. In reality, ghostwriters are just good at turning someone's undeveloped vision into a story that others want to read. Their services are in demand from people wanting help writing everything from celebrity memoirs to Instagram captions and online dating profiles. Self-publishing is on the rise as our fixation on the solitary author and the stigma of ghostwriting recedes. Even rap and hip hop artists are getting on board. This hour, we pull back the curtain on ghostwriting. GUESTS: Lisa Dickey - A book collaborator and the ghostwriter for 20 books, nine of which became New York Times bestsellers; she's the author of Bears in the Streets: Three Journeys Across a Changing Russia and a storyteller on stage, appearing at The Moth's GrandSLAM, among other shows Dan Gerstein - The founder and CEO of Gotham Ghostwriters; he was a speechwriter and communications director for former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, and he has been a contributing columnist to several publications including Forbes and Politico Khaiim the RapOet (also known as Self Suffice) - Performs internationally, is co-host of the SoundMinds podcast, and leads Make It Full Time, career coaching for professional artists; his use of hip Hop to educate was awarded by President Obama and recognized by The New York Times and NPR, among others Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thornton Wilder's Our Town debuted more than 80 years ago. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and, over the decades since, it has continuously been one of the most produced of American plays. It is known for its spare set -- just some chairs and tables, perhaps some ladders -- and lack of props and sometimes even costumes. It's known for its metatheatricality and its Stage Manager character, who addresses the audience directly and rarely participates in the action of the play, as much as there really is any. It is known as old-fashioned, sentimental, nostalgic and, simultaneously, obviously and intentionally not old-fashioned, sentimental, and nostalgic. This hour, a look at perhaps the quintessential American play: Our Town. GUESTS: Howard Sherman - The author of Another Day's Begun: Thornton Wilder's Our Town in the 21st Century Kate Powers - A stage director and the founder of The Redeeming Time Project; in 2013, she directed a production of Our Town at Sing Sing Correctional Facility Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The octopus has always been the stuff of spine-tingling legend, like that of the kraken, the many-armed sea monster believed to drag ships to the bottom of the sea after dining on the crew. Or Gertie the Pus, the giant Pacific octopus that lives under the Narrows Bridge connecting Tacoma, Washington, to Gig Harbor. In reality, the octopus is more benign but equally fascinating. Did you know the octopus has two-thirds of its brain neurons distributed throughout its eight arms? Or that the severed arm of an octopus can walk independently toward a food source and move it to where its mouth should be? The octopus was the only invertebrate included in The Cambridge Decision of Consciousness, a 2012 declaration by scientists expressing consensus on animal consciousness. But what does consciousness mean in an octopus and how does it drive the relationships Sy Montgomery and Dr. David Schell have with these alien beings? Scientists wonder if humans can even begin to understand the intellect and mystery of the octopus. So, should we be eating octopus? GUESTS: Sy Montgomery - The author of nearly 20 books for adults and children, including The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness David Scheel - A marine biologist and behavioral ecologist at Alaska Pacific University; he has a forthcoming book on the behavioral ecology of marine animals Silvia Killingsworth - Managing editor at The New Yorker Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired August 26, 2015.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The U.S. is about to surpass 500,000 deaths from COVID-19. That said, new cases are declining, hospitalizations and deaths are trending down, and vaccination rates are picking up, though inequities remain. We talk vaccines, variants, messaging, and more. Also this hour: A new study finds that House members who hold extreme views receive far more airtime on cable and broadcast news than their moderate counterparts. Changes in the media have incentivized elected officials such as Marjorie Taylor Greene to build a national brand at the expense of legislating for their local constituents. Last, welcome to Elizabeth Ann, a baby black-footed ferret cloned from Willa, who died more than 30 years ago. GUESTS: Leana Wen - An emergency room physician and visiting professor at George Washington University School of Public Health; she's a contributing columnist at The Washington Post and a medical analyst for CNN Joshua Darr - An assistant professor of political communication at Louisiana State University; his book is Home Style Opinion: How Local Newspapers Can Slow Polarization co-authored with Matthew P. Hitt and Johanna L. Dunaway Ben Novak - A de-extinction biologist and the lead scientist at Revive and Restore; he leads The Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a new essay for Harper's, filmmaker Martin Scorsese criticizes the current state of the movie business and all these new fangled streaming platforms and their algorithms. "We can’t depend on the movie business, such as it is, to take care of cinema," Scorsese says. And: Judas and the Black Messiah is a biopic of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton. It is director Shaka King's studio feature film debut, and it's nominated for two Golden Globe Awards. It is one of two movies nominated for Golden Globes this year that portray Hampton (along with The Trial of the Chicago 7). Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: If you use this emoji, Gen Z will call you old The First "Cruella" Trailer Is Here, And The Internet Already Has A Ton Of ThoughtsIs this Disney's Joker??? Failing Britney SpearsIt shouldn't have taken ten years to realize the discourse about her had been a hurtful, unhealthy constant. Buffy Deserves Better Than Joss WhedonHe wasn't the only person who made Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and he shouldn't be the one to take it down. Taylor Swift Misses the Old Taylor Swift, TooThe artist's first release from her re-recording project is much more than a nostalgia play. It's a love letter. Hockey Has a Gigantic-Goalie ProblemNever before in the NHL's history has the tail so wagged the dog. Why Is Everyone Talking About Clubhouse?The new social media app is tapping into the public's desperate need to connect -- and it's becoming a flashpoint in the culture wars So, you’ve been subtweeted by Turner Classic Movies. What do you do next? 'Paddington 3' Officially in the Works The Story of the DuckTales Theme, History's Catchiest Single Minute of MusicA woo-hoo heard around the world. 'You can smell the sweat and hair gel': the best nightclub scenes from cultureWriters and artists including Róisín Murphy, Tiffany Calver and Sigala on the art that transports them to the dancefloor during lockdown I have an important pop culture theoryYou will now read it and share it with others online as you see fit GUESTS: Taneisha Duggan - Artistic producer at TheaterWorks Lucy Gellman - Editor of The Arts Paper and host of WNHH radio's Kitchen Sync Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cartoonist Bill Griffith based his legendary character Zippy the Pinhead on Schlitzie, a real life sideshow 'pinhead' who appeared in Todd Browning's 1932 film Freaks. Early audiences were appalled by Browning's use of real sideshow characters to seek revenge on those who treated them cruelly. Griffith's graphic novel is his effort to understand Schlitzie and the sideshow family who cared for him. We talk to Griffith and a member of Schlitzie's sideshow family. Also this hour: the man who saved thousands of premature infants by exhibiting them in incubators at the Coney Island sideshow. GUESTS: Bill Griffith - Creator of the syndicated daily comic strip Zippy and author of two graphic memoirs, including, Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead Wolf Krakowski - Yiddish singer whose CDs are on Tzadik Records; Wolf has videotaped testimonies of Holocaust survivors for the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation Claire Prentice - Freelance journalist, editor, and writer; She's the author of two non-fiction books, including Miracle at Coney Island: How a Sideshow Doctor Saved Thousands of Babies and Transformed American Medicine Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired May 2, 2019.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We live in an "Everything Should Take Twenty Minutes" world. Movies are too long. SundanceTV has a show that airs in 10-minute episodes. Tierra Whack has a 15-minute album made of fifteen 60-second songs. Todd Rundgren's memoir has 183 one-page, three-paragraph chapters. So today, we turn our hour over to five short, little shows about short, little things. Here's a Spotify playlist of the albums reviewed on today's short, little episode of The Sam Hadelman Show. GUESTS: Carmen Baskauf - Produces Where We Live on Connecticut Public Radio Taneisha Duggan - Artistic producer at TheaterWorks Sam Hadelman - Host of The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Brandy Jensen - An advice columnist and editor at The Outline Jacques Lamarre - A playwright, and director of client services at Buzz Engine Vince Mancini - Senior film and culture writer for Uproxx Chion Wolf - Host of Audacious with Chion Wolf on Connecticut Public Radio Bill Yousman - Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Matt Farley contributed to this show, which originally aired July 18, 2019.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Senate voted to aquit Donald Trump Saturday after falling shy of the two-thirds majority required to convict him. Fifty-seven senators, including seven Republicans, voted to convict him for "incitement of insurrection" and 43 Republicans voted to acquit Trump for a variety of reasons.  Reliving the January 6 insurrection during last week's Senate impeachment trial has left many of us sorting through a gamut of emotions along with a lack of closure on the last four years. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.  Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.