The Colin McEnroe Show

Damien Chazelle's big musical La La Land won a record seven awards at this year's Golden Globes. The New York Times says the movie "makes musicals matter again." Colin, on the other hand, calls it "a really terrific, creative, big budget Prius commercial." The Nose gets into it.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaws, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones. Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan. Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. And the list goes on.Steven Spielberg is very simply the most successful filmmaker in the history of filmmaking.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been over 160 days since Donald Trump last gave a press conference. On Wednesday, as he holds his first as President-elect, questions abound regarding the type of president he'll be.Certainly Trump's cabinet picks, promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and remarks on nuclear weapons will be among the many items asked about. But whether he gives clear, informed answers rather than the off-script, stream of consciousness he's become known for remains to be seen.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you ever think about the people who make sure the medicine you're taking is safe for you to take? If your like most of us, probably not. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  His followers were “impressionable voters” duped by “radical doctrines and quack remedies,” claimed The Washington Post. Now that Hitler actually had to operate within a government the “sober” politicians would “submerge” this movement, according to The New York Times and Christian Science Monitor. A “keen sense of dramatic instinct” was not enough. When it came to time to govern, his lack of “gravity” and “profundity of thought” would be exposed.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To say virtual reality is finally here is inaccurate -- it's been here for decades. What is finally here is the right combination of low cost, high powered computing necessary for the technology to shine. And with the stage set for a revolution in how we interact with the digital world, businesses and investors are taking notice.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea just won three awards at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards (which Colin attended, because he's a big fancypants) on Tuesday night. And it's nominated for five Golden Globes, including Best Picture -- Drama. So The Nose went to see what all the fuss is about.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  Vin Baker was an Olympic basketball player and four-time NBA All Star. The journey from University of Hartford to professional basketball got him rich quick, but it was a lifestyle he couldn't keep up with.Baker's struggle with alcoholism is well-documented, as is the fact he blew through $100 million. He lost his home and restaurant.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Molly McKew says the liberal world order of democratic values is unraveling. In its place, Vladimir Putin is building a new world order with the primary goal of weakening America and NATO. He's waging a quiet war of subversion rather than domination and we've been slow to catch on. Yet, we see it all around us in Americans loss of faith in its democratic institutions. Is a new Cold War what America needs? We're already in the war - whether we want it or not. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While basketball didn't take up residence in the White House in January 2009, the game nonetheless played an outsized role in forming the man who did, according to Sports Illustrated's Alexander Wolff, author of The Audacity of Hoop: Basketball and the Age of Obama.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clive James called Dick Cavett one of the great intellectuals who shaped the 20th century. Cavett combined wit with serious discussion for ninety-minutes each night as host of  The Dick Cavett Show, welcoming a staggering roster of cultural icons that spanned the worlds of art, culture, literature, music, and politics: Groucho Marx, Laurence Olivier, Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Richard Burton, Orson Welles, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Noel Coward, Salvador Dali, Ingmar Bergman, Mel Brooks, Mort Sahl, Angela Davis, Marlon Brando, Katherine Hepburn, Carol Burnett...the list goes on. Even today, no one comes close - not even Stephen Colbert.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the third year in a row, "Big Al" Anderson and Jim Chapdelaine sing some songs and tell some stories as we usher out 2016. Anyone in the WNPR newsrooom who isn't still home for the holidays will become for one day only, the Dankosky Tabernacle Choir and sing their hearts out after such a tumultuous year.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.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every year, an all-star panel of musicians and critics join the show to go through a painfully short list of the best jazz of the year. Will this year be vocalist-heavy? Any repeat winners, or any newcomers? Is there an overall sound to the year?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scientists say that the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia four years ago was a rare event, unlikely to happen more than every 100 -200 years. But a research in the scientific journal Nature said the earth should expect and plan to get hit by Chelyabinsk-sized asteroids more often -  maybe every decade or two! And we thought the election was rough. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rogue One is the eighth live-action Star Wars movie. It's the first movie in the Star Wars anthology series, and its story happens between Star Wars Episodes III and IV, which is to say that it happens just before the very first Star Wars movie.Confused yet? That's okay. We'll explain.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everybody knows the Boy Scouts. They're the scouts who don't sell cookies. (That's the Girl Scouts.) But for more than a century the Boy Scouts have been an organization devoted to, in their own words, keeping boys "physically fit, mentally awake, and morally straight."Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump's election last month was the culmination of a venom-filled campaign that was nastier than almost any in recent memory. The mean-spirited comments tossed to voters eager to "lock her up" fell just shy of the malicious rhetoric coming from Thomas Jefferson's presidential campaign in 1796. Jefferson's hatchet-man called John Adams a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  The way we listen to music has been changing for years: iPods replaced Walkmans, playlists replaced albums, and streaming services replaced shopping for music altogether. And as our listening habits have changed, so has the business of being a musician.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Voice of ​America is a U.S.- funded and independent source of news that airs in societies that don't have a free press. Last week, Congress decided to shift oversight from an independent board to one person chosen by the president. President Obama embraced the shift from an unwieldy part-time advisory board to a professional CEO. Do we trust Donald Trump, a man who has threatened to change libel laws to better control the U.S. press, with this responsibility?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In case you missed it, there was a major summit in Manhattan earlier this week, a meeting of the minds at Trump Tower: Kanye West went to see the President-elect.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If there's one thing we've never been good at, it's limiting ourselves. We eat too much junk food, watch too much T.V., and engage in all manner of self-indulgence. So why then, do we continue to adhere to the limitations of monogamy? If love is so grand, why not celebrate a lifestyle which encourages loving multiple partners?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Electoral College.There's a pair of words you've maybe heard once or twice recently.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Felix Funicello walks into the historic Garde Arts Center in New London to prepare for his Monday night film class. He takes a moment to appreciate the splendor of the old building and consider the talented performers who have played at the Garde. He then climbs the staircase lined with movie posters from films as far back as 1926 to enter the production room at the top of the landing. That's where Felix finds not one, but two ghosts. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nancy Butler was first touched by God while listening to bible stories at the Methodist bible camp she attended when she was nine-years-old. By the end of the week, she was ready to give her life to God, first through through daily prayer and bible readings, later by founding one of the first inclusive evangelical churches that welcomed everyone regardless of sexual orientation.  God became the center of her life - but she kept it private from others. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My mom liked Moonlight. She compares it favorably to other movies she's liked like Brokeback Mountain. But she's not sure that she left the theater a different person from when she went in, that she was transformed by the movie, that it is transcendent.And so: Is it good enough to merely like a movie that the zeitgeist says is a masterpiece?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.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gustave Whitehead became a household name in Connecticut in 2013 when the editor of the highly-respected aviation magazine IHS Jane's All the World's Aircraft, declared Gustave Whitehead had been treated "shabbily by history." This comment came after Australian historian John Brown found a picture of a plane he alleged Gustave Whitehead flew in Bridgeport two years before the Wright brothers got their 1903 Flyer off the ground. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why is there something rather than nothing? This has been described as perhaps the most sublime philosophical question of all. Today, on The Colin McEnroe Show, we answer it. But as we do, we realize that it's not just a philosophical quandary; it's a scientific, cultural, and theological one as well.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump will make an announcement on December 15 that he will leave his business "in total" to focus on the presidency. This will likely mean he is transferring management responsibilities to three of his five children: Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric. But a transfer may be nearly impossible, given the wide-ranging and deep entanglements Trump's children have in his business. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many Americans were surprised by the results of the presidential election last month. During the early morning hours of November 9, half of America celebrated the ascension of the man (and not the first woman) that championed the needs of Americans who felt betrayed by those in power. The other half feared the election of a man with no experience in government and a stated desire to dismantle much of President Obama’s legacy.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine if you couldn't speak and had no capacity for learning language as we know it. You couldn't choose words to communicate your feelings and desires and needs. You wouldn't know words that help others understand the world in which you live.This isn't like vacationing in a country that speaks a different language where the words are different but still convey universal concepts. It's so difficult to understand a world without words, that we block the signals sending us non-verbal cues every day. This is completely foreign to most of us. What would you do? How would you communicate? How would you survive? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As social creatures we know that isolation can be emotionally difficult, but research shows that it can be psychologically damaging as well. So why then, would anyone live this way by choice? This hour, we hear two such cases of isolated living. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jerks. Jackasses. A-holes. Some people are just... the worst. Aren't they? But so: Why? And what do we do about it?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The charged language used by President-elect Donald Trump this election season may have emboldened people with open hostility toward blacks, gay people, Muslims, Mexicans, Jews, and women.How do we respond to incidents of hate and people who feel emboldened to hate? How do we teach our children to respond? How do we begin to see bigotry through a wider lens?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the last 18 months, we've kind of all seen Donald Trump's possible presidency as, well, implausible. As funny on its face. But guess what. It's a real thing that's going to actually happen.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why do we vote the way we do? The easy answer, of course, is that we pick the politician whose values, beliefs and opinions most closely resemble our own. But while that does play a part, there are other, less obvious influences as well.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin is back, and we've got some questions, and we're guessing you do too.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the men of Apollo 11 returned home to ticker tape parades, the women who made their journey possible worked quietly behind the scenes. Since its founding in 1958, NASA has been heavily reliant on the skills of such women, many of whom have gone unrecognized for their bravery and hard work.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are few genres of entertainment more American than the Western. But for a genre so steeped in the iconography of our past, its accuracy in portraying historical event leaves much to be desired. Many argue that the Western is more myth than reality, and that this myth is akin to revisionist history.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What can you say about the sun? It sits not only at the center of our solar system but has, over time, been at the center of religions, scriptures, songs, art and countless other aspects of our culture.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What makes a great audiobook? What makes a great audiobook narrator? (And, for that matter, what makes a not-so-great audiobook and audiobook narrator?)Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may have heard there was an election last week. You may have heard that the outcome... surprised some people. You may have heard that the press made some mistakes, here and there, in its coverage.This hour, we look at this election season's media winners and losers.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Okay, this show comes with a trigger warning.We talk about things people eat, and some of those things are not for the squeamish. This is a conversation about disgust, and specifically, how our reflexive response of disgust may get in the way of things we probably need to think about doing.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Patti Smith wasn't seeking fame when she landed in Manhattan in 1969.  She was a fan of the greats of the day - like Dylan, Mapplethorpe, Pollock, Ginsberg - who she followed and emulated, hoping to find her own creative space next to those she most admired. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The one thing we knew for sure was that by the time we got to today, yesterday would be over.And it is.And we have a new President-elect.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're all a little tired of this election. I vacillate between excitement, fear, anger, fatigue - sometimes all in the same hour. What will become of the country after this election?Will we accept the results? Will there be 'revolution?' Will Congress come together to legislate in the best interests of the country? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

American democracy is limping to the finish line this election week, dehydrated and injured from many stumbles during this race. Can it recover before Americans lose faith that America has the will or ability to help them? Can it recover before foreign friends and foes alike lose faith in America's sanity and stability? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He's an Academy Award winner, a Golden Globe winner, a BAFTA Award winner.He's the star of American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, What About Bob?, Mr. Holland's Opus, W., Madoff, and many more movies and TV shows.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

George Leonidas Leslie robbed the Manhattan Savings Institution of $3 million in 1878. At the time, it was considered one of the safest buildings in the world. He made detailed models of the bank and its vault from blueprints he charmed from a bank employee. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.