FanFare

We celebrate Bernie's victory in the Iowa Caucus. [more inside]
posted by JimBennett on Feb 5, 2020 - 5 comments

Note: this episode is a followup to "Chioke, Grain of Sand." If you haven't heard that episode, we suggest starting there. Chioke just wants to be transparent with you.
posted by eotvos on May 23, 2019 - 2 comments

I'm a big fan of Friends at the Table and would love to see it become a FanFare series, but I honestly don't know how to handle the previous seasons of the show. Thoughts? [more inside]
posted by flatluigi on Feb 1, 2018 - 2 comments

Andy is joined by Helen to look at a few stories of human endeavor, including: creation of the MAMMOPHANT, beauty spot stag do’s and traffic lights versus Darwin. What are we doing to prolong humankind? Not much AND too much.
posted by mandolin conspiracy on Feb 19, 2017 - 2 comments

Brexit resignations, Trump tantrums and MASSIVE CHICKEN NEWS. [more inside]
posted by mandolin conspiracy on Jan 7, 2017 - 7 comments

Would there be interest in adding discussions for a few political podcasts? With the size of the election threads on the blue quickly reaching into the thousands of comments, I thought maybe this might be a good way to have a more focused conversation. [more inside]
posted by the_querulous_night on Jul 22, 2016 - 5 comments

Ed Crawford had never been to a protest until he heard about the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Robert Cohen, a staff photographer with the St. Louis Post Dispatch, ended up taking a photograph of Ed that would be seen around the world, and change both of their lives.
posted by Potomac Avenue on Dec 12, 2015 - 2 comments

On this week's show, we explore Pixar's new exploratory movie about a girl's brain, and we talk about why pop culture often struggles to give parents rich, satisfying romantic lives. [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Jun 20, 2015 - 3 comments

Glen Weldon and Chris Klimek discuss Mad Max: Fury Road, director George Miller's cinematic return to a post-apocalyptic wasteland that boasts a weirdly thriving car culture.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on May 23, 2015 - 0 comments

On this week's show: Pitch Perfect 2 is just the beginning of our summer movie preview. Plus, books and music make an appearance as we talk about what's making us happy.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on May 22, 2015 - 1 comment

In this episode of “A Cast of Kings,” Joanna and David discuss the second episode of Season 5 of Game of Thrones, “The House of Black and White.”
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Apr 21, 2015 - 8 comments

The story of the Human Cannonball [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue on Mar 17, 2015 - 2 comments

In 2005, Nickelodeon premiered an animated series called Avatar: The Last Airbender, about a young boy and his friends who have to keep peace and balance in the world. It combined fantasy and martial arts, and ran for four seasons, won an Emmy and a Peabody, and in 2012, spawned a sequel called The Legend of Korra. This time, the story was about a girl, Korra, a teenager, and just as the characters were older and the world they inhabited was older, the themes of the show matured as well. In December 2014, after 4 seasons of its own, the series and franchise aired its finale. It made headlines for the final shot of the very last scene, where Korra and her female companion Asami come together as a couple, romantically. Composer Jeremy Zuckerman used a mix of Chinese and western instruments for the series. In this episode, he deconstructs the music he wrote, reflects on the significance of that scene, and also what it felt like to close the curtain on a franchise he'd been working on over the course of twelve years of his life. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue on Mar 2, 2015 - 2 comments

Meet our friends from down the hall. The podcast New Tech City about technology and human behavior has kicked off a fascinating project that anyone can join in on. And, we want you to know about it. This episode of New Tech City kicks off the Bored and Brilliant Project. The goal is to get you rethinking your relationship with technology and to start thinking more creatively by testing your tech habits in a series of challenges. Since the spread of smartphones began, boredom has become an endangered species. Spare moments where daydreaming used to manifest have become extra email checks or candies crushed. That might be a problem, because, as you will hear in the audio, boredom can in fact beget creativity. You can join the Bored and Brilliant Project, take the challenges, and even track your phone usage as you go through the process here. [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Feb 6, 2015 - 2 comments

This week, our friends Tanya Ballard Brown and Gene Demby join us to talk about Fox's hit show Empire and to follow up on a recent public discussion of the need for diverse radio voices. [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Feb 6, 2015 - 16 comments

In this Pop Culture Happy Hour extra, Linda Holmes and Stephen Thompson chat about the Oscar nominations. They'll discuss the idiosyncratic men up for nominations and the films, actors, and directors who the Academy decided not to recognize.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Jan 19, 2015 - 0 comments

This week on Pop Culture Happy Hour, NPR Monkey See's Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson, Glen Weldon and Bob Mondello discuss Disney's film adaptation of the Broadway musical Into The Woods. Then they'll discuss movie franchises--why do some take off while others never fail to leave the ground? All that, plus What's Making Us Happy.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Jan 14, 2015 - 5 comments

In this Pop Culture Happy Hour extra, Linda Holmes and Stephen Thompson talk about the Golden Globes. They'll talk about the surprising wins, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's final night as hosts, and much more.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Jan 14, 2015 - 4 comments