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Culturetopia: Tools in the Trunk Edition
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This week: Crime novelist George Pelecanos cases easy-to-break-into houses in Washington, D.C., with an accomplice: NPR reporter Elizabeth Blair.
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| (Published: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:00:00 -0400) |
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Octavia Spencer: You Can't 'Help' But Feel This Film
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If you are uncomfortable watching The Help, that's appropriate, says actress Octavia Spencer: "People lived this discomfort." Spencer, who plays an African-American maid in 1960s Mississippi, talks about civil rights on-screen and responds to the movie's many critics.
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| (Published: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:34:00 -0400) |
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Remembering RFK's Visit To 'The Land Of Apartheid'
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In June of 1966, just two years before he was shot and killed, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy went to South Africa to speak out against apartheid. Filmmaker Larry Shore documents that journey in RFK In the Land of Apartheid.
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| (Published: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:56:00 -0400) |
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They're Just Best Friends. That's It. Seriously
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After an online petition calling for the two puppets to get married drew thousands of signatures, Sesame Workshop and PBS released a statement that says once and for all that Bert and Ernie aren't headed for the altar.
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| (Published: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:44:00 -0400) |
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German Exhibit Reveals Secret Spy Photos
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Marking the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall, photographer Simon Menner has exhibited pictures he found deep in the archives of East Germany's secret police. They provide a glimpse of the flip side of surveillance — a rare view of the watchers, rather than the watched.
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| (Published: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:21:00 -0400) |
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Writer Robert Stone Relives Counterculture Years
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Award-winning novelist Robert Stone hung out for many years with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. He recounts the group's cross-country road trips and experiences taking hallucinogenic drugs in his memoir, Prime Green.
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| (Published: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 11:44:00 -0400) |
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Ken Kesey On Misconceptions Of Counterculture
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The new documentary Magic Trip follows the late Ken Kesey and the Merry Band of Pranksters as they criss-crossed across the United States during the tumultuous 1960s. Kesey joined Terry Gross in 1989 for a conversation about the counterculture movement and his writing.
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| (Published: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 11:42:00 -0400) |
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Tom Wolfe: Chronicling Counterculture's 'Acid Test'
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Tom Wolfe wrote about Ken Kesey's LSD experiments in the book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. In 1987, Wolfe spoke to Terry Gross about following Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.
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| (Published: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 11:41:00 -0400) |
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Poet Laureate Philip Levine Reads From His 'Work'
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America's new poet laureate, Pulitzer-Prize winner Philip Levine, reads some of his work from What Work Is, his 1992 collection of poems about the working class. This segment was originally aired in 1991.
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| (Published: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 11:09:00 -0400) |
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'3-D Sex And Zen': Hong Kong Action, With An Added Erotic Dimension
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The film that proved well-endowed at the Asian box office has arrived in America for a titillating limited release. If you like your softcore skin flicks with lots of fight scenes, phallus-mishandling and cheesy 3-D effects (of the non-perverted variety), maybe this carnal curio is for you.
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| (Published: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 10:05:00 -0400) |
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'30 Minutes Or Less': Veggie Supreme, Hold The Bomb
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A pizza-delivery guy is forced into a bank robbery by two thugs who strap a bomb to his chest in a witless action-comedy based on a real-life tragedy. Director Ruben Fleischer and star Jesse Eisenberg can't decide on a suitable rhythm for their needlessly complicated spectacle. Don't tip them.
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| (Published: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:00:00 -0400) |
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'Senna': The Fast-Paced Life Of A Champion Racer
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Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna was a gifted racer and a national hero whose death on the track shook the sports world to its core. A new documentary by Asif Kapadia tackles the gripping story of Senna's life with expert construction and aplomb. (Recommended)
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| (Published: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:00:00 -0400) |
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Tourists Find Unlikely Destination In 'Littlerock'
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Japanese siblings search for meaning in the California small town where they've become stranded in Mike Ott's mesmerizing feature, a dreamy meditation on the barriers — some cultural, some personal — that separate us all.
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| (Published: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:00:00 -0400) |
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Wrestling With 'Watch The Throne'
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Fans and critics are speaking volumes about Jay-Z and Kanye West's new album. Guest host Allison Keyes speaks with NPR Music's Ann Powers and Frannie Kelley about why the album is such a big deal, and how some of lyrics reflect themes of family, gender roles and race.
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| (Published: Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:00:00 -0400) |
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'Storm Chaser' Reed Timmer Plays 'Not My Job'
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As a host of Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers, Timmer has driven directly into some (extremely) extreme weather. But can he handle the wrath of the NPR news quiz? We ask Timmer three questions about the life and times of Oprah Winfrey.
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| (Published: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:43:00 -0400) |
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Only The Super-Rich Can Rescue Nader's Fictional World
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Host Scott Simon talks to consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader about his novel, Only The Super-Rich Can Save Us! The 733-page book follows some of the country's wealthiest people, like Warren Buffet, Ted Turner and Bill Cosby, as they hold secret meetings to plot an overhaul of American society.
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| (Published: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0400) |
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Anime Festival Not Just For Otakus
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This weekend, New York hosts a festival celebrating Japanese animation, or anime. Host Scott Simon talks to festival organizer and anime expert (or "otaku") Lance Festerman, about the event.
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| (Published: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0400) |
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'Aftermath' Illuminates Lives Of Uprooted Iraqis
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Composed almost entirely of interview transcripts, the off-Broadway play focuses on ordinary citizens whose lives have been upended by the conflict in their home country. It's a powerful look at conflict from the inside.
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| (Published: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400) |
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Francine Prose Explores Anne Frank's Literary Genius
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Anne Frank's diary is read and quoted around the world, by youngsters, statesmen and scholars alike. But novelist Francine Prose says it's time the diary was appreciated as literature — not just a historical document.
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| (Published: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:00:00 -0400) |
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From 'Blotto' To 'Betty Booped,' A Dictionary Of Drink
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There are almost as many words for inebriation as there are mixed-drink recipes. Author Paul Dickson presents 2,964 intoxicating euphemisms — including "eating dirt" and going "off me pickle" — in his new book, Drunk: The Definitive Drinker's Dictionary.
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| (Published: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:38:00 -0400) |
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In The Center Ring: Michael Moore Vs. 'Capitalism'
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Thoroughly one-sided — and riveting nonetheless — Moore's broadside is a barbed comic monologue with big jolts of pathos. And it's the film he's been building to in all his other polemics.
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| (Published: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:03:00 -0400) |
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The Men Behind AMC's Hit 'Mad Men'
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The reign of AMC's Mad Men continues with a new season and another Emmy. Terry Gross discusses the show's success with executive producer Matthew Weiner and actors Jon Hamm and John Slattery.
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| (Published: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:00:00 -0400) |
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Oliver Stone Profiles Power 'South Of The Border'
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In a new documentary, Stone goes behind the scenes with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez but doesn't ask the hard questions. NPR's Robert Smith says "never has a revolutionary strongman seemed so lovable and cuddly."
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| (Published: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:02:00 -0400) |
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Nation's Parks Star In Ken Burns' New Documentary
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Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of the country's most awe-inspiring locales, The National Parks: America's Best Idea is a six-part, 12-hour film by Ken Burns on the history of America's national parks that premiers on PBS this Sunday.
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| (Published: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:20:00 -0400) |
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'60 Minutes' Still Ticking After 41 Years
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If broadcast TV news is a dinosaur, then 60 Minutes is a prime-time T-Rex. The CBS newsmagazine draws 14 million viewers every Sunday evening and was television's 10th-highest-rated show in 2008.
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| (Published: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:00:00 -0400) |
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Comedian Ansari Enjoys Playing Sleazebag On TV
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Aziz Ansari was doing stand-up the entire time he was studying business at New York University. Now, he plays public servant and jerk Tom Haverford on NBC's new sitcom Parks and Recreation. Ansari says it's "always fun to play a dude who's kind of a sleazebag."
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| (Published: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:28:00 -0400) |
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Chasing 'Fame,' In The Clumsiest Possible Way
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A far cry from Alan Parker's original, Kevin Tancharoen's Fame remake shows the director's inexperience — and a scandalous screenwriterly laxity about story and character. Jeannette Catsoulis says this is a kind of Fame you can live without.
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| (Published: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:10:00 -0400) |
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'Brief Interviews' Get Muddled In Translation
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In his big-screen retelling of David Foster Wallace's stories about men's sordid emotional lives, writer-director John Krasinski faced a choice between honoring his inspiration and telling his own story. Critic Ian Buckwalter says the director shoots straight down the middle — and misses both targets.
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| (Published: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:00:00 -0400) |
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A Down-Under Tale, With A Trio Of Grieving Lost Boys
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After a sportswriter (Clive Owen) loses his wife, he and his two sons go through a painful process to become a family again. Unfortunately, says critic Mark Jenkins, director Scott Hicks spends more time on cinematography than characters in The Boys Are Back.
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| (Published: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:01:00 -0400) |
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Michael Moore's New Target: 'Capitalism' Itself
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Michael Moore is famous for skewering the excesses of American industry — and in his latest film, he goes looking (mostly on Wall Street) for the source of the trouble. Critic Kenneth Turan says that while Capitalism certainly has spirit, the pop-culture polemicist may have taken on more than he could chew.
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| (Published: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:00:00 -0400) |
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Round Two Contender: Ice
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"The nurse left work at five o'clock," said the young police officer, looking down at his small black notebook. "Her husband called her in missing at approximately 7:30, after she didn't make it home for dinner. Said she would never be that late without calling."
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| (Published: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:07:00 -0400) |
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Rethinking 'Othello' In The Age Of Obama
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Director Peter Sellars sets his modern take on the Shakespeare classic in D.C., and says he found inspiration in recent history: Obama's election and inauguration, and the nomination and confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. "In the age of Obama," Sellars says, "This play needs to yield new meanings."
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| (Published: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:51:00 -0400) |
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Illustrated Adaptation Of 'Ender's Game' Released
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Orson Scott Card's award-winning science fiction novel, Ender's Game and his subsequent book Ender's Shadow, have been turned into comics, released by Marvel. Card talks about the adaptation and about science fiction writing.
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| (Published: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:42:00 -0400) |
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| ( Source: http://www.npr.org/rss/rss.php?id=1008 ) |
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