The Colin McEnroe Show

Asteroid City is Wes Anderson’s 11th feature film. It’s written and directed by Anderson from a story by Anderson and Roman Coppola. It’s a comedy-drama, sort of sci-fi thing with a play-within-a-TV-show-within-a-movie structure. The ensemble cast is predictably ridiculous and includes the likes of Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, and Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, and Hope Davis. There are more. I didn’t even mention Willem Dafoe or Steve Carell or Margot Robbie. Or others. And: The OceanGate Titan disaster isn’t the sort of thing The Nose usually covers. But collective internet obsession is, and so The Nose is interested in the internet’s collective, dark, ongoing obsession with the OceanGate Titan disaster. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: America Is… What one piece of culture captures the true spirit of our country? We asked 17 columnists to find out. The Case Against Travel It turns us into the worst version of ourselves while convincing us that we’re at our best. How Review-Bombing Can Tank a Book Before It’s Published The website Goodreads has become an essential avenue for building readership, but the same features that help generate excitement can also backfire. If you love film, you should be worried about what’s going on at Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies Is a National Treasure The channel has an astounding degree of control over a crucial part of American cinema. It should become a public resource available to all. Want to suffer Hollywood’s wrath? Mess with TCM, you dirty rats! Few things are sacrosanct in streaming TV’s chaotic revolution. But as Warner Bros. Discovery’s top exec recently learned, Turner Classic Movies is still zealously protected. This Broadcast TV Genre Continues to Thrive. (What Are Game Shows?) “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy!” and “Family Feud” continue to attract big audiences even as streaming upends viewing habits. Fifty Years of Hip-Hop in a World That Could Not Exist Without It The musical genre of sociopolitical change, cultural transformation, excess, and fabulousness enters its next half century. Virginia Woolf classic joins growing list with ‘ludicrous’ trigger warnings To the Lighthouse from 1927 now carries warning that the book ‘reflects the attitudes of its time’ It’s Getting Hard to Stage a School Play Without Political Drama At a time when lawmakers and parents are seeking to restrict what can and cannot be taught in classrooms, many teachers are seeing efforts to limit what can be staged in their auditoriums. A ‘Cage Match’ Between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg May Be No Joke Talks over a matchup between the two tech billionaires have progressed and the parameters of an event are taking shape. GQ Editor Who Pulled Critical David Zaslav Story Is Producing Movie for Warner Bros. GUESTS: David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why do humans cry? This hour, we look at the science of crying and discuss what it does for us, emotionally and culturally. Plus: musician Dar Williams on why some songs make us cry. And: We investigate “crocodile tears” with a crocodile biologist. GUESTS: Benjamin Perry: Minister at Middle Church and the author of Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter Kent Vliet: Recently retired from his position as coordinator of laboratories at the University of Florida; he is an expert in crocodilian biology Dar Williams: Singer-songwriter The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Stacey Addo, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s an old Latin saying from the early Middle Ages: Verba volant, scripta manent — What is written remains, what is spoken flies away. Essentially, it means you should write down your contracts. But according to Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading, the phrase can be interpreted in a different way: What is written is stuck to the page. It’s only when you give it a voice that it acquires wings and can fly. This hour: reading out loud. We look at the history of the practice and talk to people who make reading expressive, communal, and loud. GUESTS: Taneisha Duggan: Director, producer, arts consultant, and an artist working at the crossroads of performance and creative leadership Dennis Duncan: Lecturer in English at University College London Drew John Ladd: Blogger, activist, and the author of Wolfsong Beloved Alberto Manguel: Director of Lisbon’s Center for Research into the History of Reading Robin Miles: An audiobook narrator and a producer, director, teacher, and actor for theater, television, films, and museums Brooke Steinhauser: Programs director at the Emily Dickinson Museum Chion Wolf: Host of Audacious on Connecticut Public The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. 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’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing — calls about grammar, gardening, long-distance dialing, autotune. Anything. Everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888–720–9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Nose is off this week. In its place: Why do we have so much trouble remembering all the TV we watch? This hour, a look at why episode recaps are so popular, what makes them so useful, and what their prevalence can tell us about the current TV landscape. Plus: the evolution of the “previously on” television recap sequence. GUESTS: Wilma Bainbridge: Assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Chicago Alison Herman: Television critic for The Ringer Genevieve Koski: Senior TV editor for New York magazine Jason Mittell: Professor of film and media culture at Middlebury College The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 5, 2023.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, we’re celebrating things that are so bad, they’re good — the underdog ideas that fail so hard, they become successes. We’ll talk about contests that give awards for bad writing, perfumes that smell like animal butts, and a happy marriage that started with a comically awful first date. Plus: a chance to vote on what "bad" show idea we should produce next! To enter our contest or vote on the upcoming episode, email colinshow@ctpublic.org. GUESTS: Adam Cadre: Writer in a wide variety of media who created the Lyttle Lytton Contest in 2001 Haldane King: Science writer and air quality researcher Katy Kelleher: Author of The Ugly History of Beautiful Things Betsy Kaplan: Senior producer emeritus for The Colin McEnroe Show Jennifer LaRue: Freelance producer for The Colin McEnroe Show Carolyn McCusker: Producer of this very episode of The Colin McEnroe Show Jonathan McNicol: Producer for The Colin McEnroe Show Lily Tyson: Senior producer for The Colin McEnroe Show Colin McEnroe, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show. Thanks to scent consultant Tracy Wan. Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode. Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Has everything original been done? It’s a question that’s been asked about storytelling, music, fine art, movies, and so much more. This hour, we attempt to answer that question and discover if everything has already been done. Along the way, we explore the idea of originality and our tolerance for novelty and talk to artists who are reckoning with these questions. GUESTS: Martha Buskirk: Professor of art history and criticism at Montserrat College of Art and author of Is It Ours? Art, Copyright, and Public Interest, among other books Jill Magid: Artist, writer, and filmmaker Kirby Ferguson: Filmmaker and a creator of the Everything Is a Remix series Brian Slattery: Arts editor for the New Haven Independent The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired December 8, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ethics and the Supreme Court are back (still?) in the news and in question. This hour, we are revisiting a show we did just over a year ago around the leaked draft of the Dobbs decision. In it we look at how the Supreme Court got so much power, why we have nine justices, how journalists cover the court, and the viability of proposed potential reforms. GUESTS: Akhil Reed Amar: Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, and author of The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840, among other books. Emily Bazelon: Lecturer in Law, Senior Research Scholar in Law, and a Truman Capote Fellow at Yale Law School, a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, and a co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest.  David Folkenflik: NPR’s media correspondent. Tara Leigh Grove: Professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, who was a member of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour: spelling — what it is, why it matters, and why some of us actually find it fun. There will be a test. GUESTS: Deb Amlen: Crossword columnist and senior staff editor of the crossword column Wordplay for The New York Times Richard Gentry: Education consultant and the author, most recently, of the Spelling Connectionsseries Peter Sokolowski: Editor at large at Merriam-Webster and a member of the Word Panel for the Scripps National Spelling Bee The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Taylor Doyle, Jacob Gannon, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired December 6, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the second movie in the Spider-Verse film series and the 14th (not a typo) Spider-Man feature film. It has made more than half a billion dollars worldwide, and it is the fourth-highest grossing movie of 2023 so far. A third Spider-Verse movie, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, is expected to come out next year, and a Spider-Woman spinoff film is in development. And: “Whether you have spent the past decade and a half avoiding Marvel movies like scabies or are in so deep that you can expound on the Sokovia Accords, it is impossible to escape the films’ intergalactic reach,” according to Michael Schulman in The New Yorker. And it’s hard to argue that he’s wrong. The Nose looks at “How the Marvel Cinematic Universe Swallowed Hollywood.” Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Sheldon Harnick, ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ Lyricist, Dies at 99 His collaborations with the composer Jerry Bock also included “Fiorello!” — which, like “Fiddler,” was a Tony winner — and “She Loves Me.” Young People Have No Idea What We Used to Do After Work. Let Me Regale You. “I never knew what time it was, so I was constantly buying watches and losing them.” Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ Falls Flat, Adding to Worries About the Brand The original animated film took in $29.5 million at the box office, by far the worst opening in Pixar’s three-decade history. “The Flash,” from Warner Bros., also struggled. The Troubling Pixar Paradox Recent misses and low expectations for ‘Elemental’ beg the question: Has Pixar lost its magic touch? Perhaps the answer is that original animation is now a smaller business—one that can’t necessarily support the unique culture and $200 million budgets that made Pixar great in the first place. Pixar Boss Pete Docter Says the Studio ‘Trained’ Families to Expect Disney+ Debuts, ‘Elemental’ Buzz at Cannes Was ‘Confusing’ Richard Kind Just Doesn’t Want to Be Left Out Maybe that’s why everyone in Hollywood has this master of comedy and tragedy on speed dial. Apple Is Taking On Apples in a Truly Weird Trademark Battle Apple, the company, wants rights to the image of apples, the fruit, in Switzerland—one of dozens of countries where it’s flexing its legal muscles. The 100 Most Significant Political Films of All Time Not “best.” Not “favorite.” Not “most likable.” Most significant. Some are obvious. Some obscure. A few will be controversial. Let the debate begin. Come for the Broadcast, Stay for the Mets Game SNY already had some of the best announcers in baseball. John DeMarsico, the network’s director, has made every game feel like a trip to the movies. GUESTS: Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.