The Colin McEnroe Show

Humans have long been interested in the possibility of extraterrestrial life. This hour, a look at why that interest has persisted. Plus, we talk to a scientist who is looking for extraterrestrial life and a linguist who is preparing in case we ever receive communications from extraterrestrials. GUESTS: Kate Dorsch: Historian, philosopher of science, and the associate director of the philosophy, politics, and economics program at the University of Pennsylvania Amanda Rees: Historian of science based at the University of York Seth Shostak: Senior astronomer at the SETI Institute and host of the radio show and podcast Big Picture Science Sheri Wells-Jensen: Associate professor of English and linguistics at Bowling Green State University and a member of the board of directors of METI International 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired June 2, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Nose is off this week. In its place: The movie musical died a long, slow death a long time ago. Right? Well, except that there’s Spielberg’s West Side Story. And Hamilton and In the Heights and Tick, Tick… Boom! And A Star Is Born and The Greatest Showman. And Annette and Cyrano. Oh, and Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman and Elvis. And Encanto. And those are just from the last five years. And I could keep going. This hour, a long look at the long-dead movie musical. Long live the movie musical. Some stuff that happened this week, give or take: Irene Cara, ‘Fame’ and ‘Flashdance’ Singer, Dies at 63 Ms. Cara was a child star from the Bronx who gained fame in the 1980s as a singer of pop anthems and as the star of the movie “Fame.” Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mac Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 79 The greatest film of all time: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles For the first time in 70 years the Sight and Sound poll has been topped by a film directed by a woman — and one that takes a consciously, radically feminist approach to cinema. Things will never be the same. Glass Onion Is Expected To Gross $15 Million In Its One-Week Theatrical Preview This Was the Worst Thanksgiving Weekend in Box-Office History. Yes, Disney’s animated “Strange World” is a bomb — but without Netflix’s “Glass Onion,” the weekend would have been even worse. Was ‘Glass Onion’ a Success? Peeling Back the Layers on Netflix’s Box Office Gambit Top Gun: Maverick Is Being Re-Released In Theaters Before Avatar Comes For The Box Office Crown Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny Trailer Breakdown: Where There’s A Whip, There’s A Way ‘Nasty, vile, want to unsee’: Mum sparks debate over multi-use of ‘family sick bowl’ Social media is split Brian Robinson’s BIG HAT deserves all caps because it’s a BIG HAT It’s BIG HAT world, and we’re living in it. Cocaine Bear: the trailer for 2023’s wildest film is everything and more The Elizabeth Banks-directed caper, based on a true story, looks to be exactly what the internet wants it to be The 2023 Oscars Will Televise The Presentation Of All 23 Awards Categories A teary Will Smith opens up to Trevor Noah about the ‘rage’ behind his Oscar slap Nicole Kidman Receives Standing Ovation at Broadway’s ‘The Music Man’ After Bidding $100,000 for Hugh Jackman’s Signed Hat Why has the internet invented a fake Martin Scorsese film? Thousands of Tumblr users have been making posters, soundtracks, drawings and fan fiction for a 1973 Scorsese film starring Robert De Niro — but it never existed A man won the legal right to not be ‘fun’ at work after refusing to embrace ‘excessive alcoholism’ and ‘promiscuity’ Video games for dogs aim to help aging canine brains Aubrey Plaza Is Leveling Up—and Still Pranking Her Costars The famously deadpan Aubrey Plaza is reaching new heights with a star turn in the new season of The White Lotus and a mega Francis Ford Coppola project on the horizon. Helena Bonham Carter: Good on young men for finding middle-aged beauty sexy The London Library’s first female president on why she thinks Johnny Depp has been ‘vindicated’ and the ‘horrendous’ treatment of JK Rowling ‘Avatar’ and the Mystery of the Vanishing Blockbuster It was the highest-grossing film in history, but for years it was remembered mainly for having been forgotten. Why? Rolling Stone: The 100 Greatest TV Theme Songs of All Time From Seventies sitcoms with expository jams to modern prestige classics with experimental scores, from ‘Sanford and Son’ to ‘Succession,’ from ‘Match Game’ to ‘Game of Thrones’ Poynter: We asked, you answered: Here are your favorite journalism movies We’ve published our own list before, but we wanted to hear from you. Legendary Entertainment Formalizes Sony Deal After Cutting Ties With Warner Bros. Adults Are Spending Big on Toys and Stuffed Animals—for Themselves The Last Real American Dictionary Scrabble’s new edition is full of delightful new words. But are there enough of them? Kylie Jenner’s Humongous Christmas Tree Has Pissed Off A Lot Of People, But I’m Just Trying To Figure Out What That Potato Sack Thing Is Another day, another drama. This time about a Christmas tree. Planes, Trains and Automobiles at 35: An Oral History of One of the Most Beloved Road Movies Ever Made Starring Steve Martin and John Candy, the John Hughes road trip comedy had a nearly four-hour runtime at one point. Hear from cast, crew, and Hughes’ family about the classic. ‘Wednesday’ Summons Record-Breaking Debut Week On Netflix With 341.23M Hours Viewed NYC is hiring a rat czar. ‘General aura of badassery’ required. GUESTS: Jeanine Basinger: Founder of the Department of Film Studies at Wesleyan University and the author of many books on film; her latest is Hollywood: The Oral History Steve Metcalf: Director of the University of Hartford’s Presidents’ College 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 5, 2020.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Touch, grip, read, dance, gesture — what can’t they do? Our fingers are so vital to our everyday life, sometimes it seems they have minds of their own. This hour, a look at the hidden language of finger gestures, the future of Braille, and the joys and challenges of animating fingers for the movies. GUESTS: Kensy Cooperrider: Cognitive scientist, writer, and host of the Many Minds podcast Jonathan McNicol: Producer of The Colin McEnroe Show Sile O’Modhrain: Professor at the University of Michigan studying sound and touch and the ways in which they interact Carlos Fernandez Puertolas: Animator with DreamWorks 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 31, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the one hand, calling something “medieval” carries with it negative connotations of outdated times. But lately there has almost been a nostalgia for life in the Middle Ages. This hour, we look at what life was really like in that time period and why we remember it the way we do. Plus, a look at the medieval origin of environmental anxiety and student debt. GUESTS: Jenny Adams: Associate professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Courtney Barajas: Author of Old English Ecotheology: The Exeter Book Martha Bayless: Director of folklore and public culture at the University of Oregon; her books include Sin and Filth in Medieval Culture: The Devil in the Latrine and A Cultural History of Comedy in the Middle Ages 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 23, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We use zippers all the time, whether on clothes, shoes, bags, tents … the list goes on. Zippers keep our belongings secure, they keep us warm, they help keep out the elements, and they make it easier to get dressed. This hour: the zipper — its history and significance, its role in fashion … and why so many zippers say “YKK.” GUESTS: Robert Friedel: Professor emeritus of history at the University of Maryland and the author of Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty Emma McClendon: Fashion historian, curator, and author Jim Reed: President of YKK Corporation of America 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 14, 2022. Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The humble tambourine is the underrated, understated, unsung hero of contemporary music. This hour we shake our assumptions about this surprisingly enduring and ubiquitous instrument. GUESTS: Ira Elliot: Percussionist best known as the drummer for the band Nada Surf Erin Elstner: Percussionist and professor of percussion at Webster University Tim Kubart: Musician, songwriter, and performer known world-wide as The Tambourine Guy 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Michayla Savitt, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 17, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s Nose has enrolled itself as an ultrasonic epistemic dissident. Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story is a new memoir by Bono. It’s largely illustrated essays telling the stories of particular songs (40 of them, one imagines). It’s currently No. 2 on The New York Times Hardcover Best Sellers List. As such, Bono has been everywhere lately. As such, The Nose got to thinking about the tension between Bono, the actual big-deal important figure, and Bono, the guy who seems to mostly annoy everybody all the time. And: Tár is Todd Field’s third feature film as writer and director, his first in 16 years. It stars Cate Blanchett as the iconic fictional musician and conductor Lydia Tár, and it won Blanchett the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at this year’s Venice International Film Festival. GUESTS: Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour: recipes. We talk with someone who makes recipes found on gravestones, and we consider what makes an effective recipe, the history of the modern recipe, and the art of the recipe introduction. Plus, a look at the phenomenon of pop culture cookbooks. GUESTS: Dinah Bucholz: Author of The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook and The Unofficial Narnia Cookbook Rosie Grant: Posts gravestone recipes and cemetery stories on her TikTok and Instagram Francis Lam: Host of The Splendid Table and vice president and editor-in-chief at Clarkson Potter Chandra Ram: Cookbook author, food writer, and associate editorial director of food for Food & Wine Helen Zoe Veit: Associate professor of history at Michigan State 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the long timeline of long-distance communication technology that starts with the telegraph and leads all the way to the iPhone and beyond, there’s a particular, once-ubiquitous device that seems to have left an indelible mark on the culture while also disappearing nearly completely from it. This hour, the history and present? (and future??) of the fax machine. GUESTS: Jonathan Coopersmith: Professor of history at Texas A & M University and the author of Faxed: The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine Troy Kreiner: Design director at Use All Five, the firm that organized Artifax Kay Savetz: A tech historian; they co-host Antic: The Atari 8-Bit Podcast and run a number of websites, including Fax Toy and FaxZero 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 19, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s Nose has been attending various dinners and functions and telling what it’s learned about banks and troop movements, so on and so forth. Last night, Elon Musk’s “hardcore” Twitter “long hours at high intensity” ultimatum deadline passed, and hundreds of Twitter employees seemingly decided to leave. And then Twitter closed all of its offices until next week. And now people ON Twitter are pretty sure it’s going to start failing at any moment. The Nose is worried. And: Amsterdam is the ninth film written and directed by David O. Russell, his first in seven years. It is based on the Business Plot, an alleged interwar political conspiracy in the U.S. And despite its writer/director pedigree and ridiculously stacked ensemble cast — which includes Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, and many others — Amsterdam is a box office bomb. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: David Davis, a Force Behind Game-Changing ’70s Sitcoms, Dies at 86 A writer and producer, he worked with James Brooks and others on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and was a creator of “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Taxi.” Robert Clary, Corporal LeBeau on ‘Hogan’s Heroes,’ Dies at 96 The French actor and singer spent 31 months in a concentration camp but said he had no reservations about starring in a TV comedy about the Nazis. Jay Leno Has Been Hospitalized With Serious Burn Injuries After A Car At His Garage Reportedly Exploded The comedian was scheduled to perform at an event at Las Vegas on Sunday evening but canceled due to “a very serious medical emergency.” Dave Chappelle Apparently Tricked “Saturday Night Live” Staff By Performing A “Fake” Monologue In The Dress Rehearsal Before Revealing New Antisemitic Material Live On Air Chappelle’s 15-minute monologue included a number of jokes about the Jewish community and prompted accusations of him normalizing and popularizing antisemitism. Ticketmaster To Swifties: “It’s Me. Hi, I’m The Problem. It’s Me.” 🎶 I THINK THERE’S BEEN A GLITCH 🎶 Ticketmaster Cancels Sale of Taylor Swift Tickets After Snags After a presale for the pop star’s Eras Tour ended in chaos earlier this week, the ticket broker canceled its plans to sell tickets to the general public on Friday. Here Are The Grammy Nominees For 2023 Beyoncé led the way with nine nominations — and is now tied with husband Jay-Z as the most nominated artist of all time — but Kendrick Lamar, Adele, and Brandi Carlile were close behind. ‘Grey’s Anatomy‘ Sets Date For Ellen Pompeo’s Farewell Episode As Full-Time Cast Member – What’s Next For Meredith & ABC Series? You’re one in 8 billion The world population just hit a milestone. Here’s where you fit in. Here’s Every Person Pete Davidson Has Dated Ever Since He Became Famous — Like, I Was Not Expecting Some Of These It’s kind of wild that Pete only dated Ariana for five months, because I felt that relationship ruled our lives for years. We Need to Talk About Your Nirvana Shirt You can’t out-shoot a teenager: how to play first-person shooters if you’re over 30 Reflexes start to decline in your 20s, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be competitive at first-person shooters any more. Keith Stuart shares some hard-won knowledge Finally, a video game that lets you play as Jesus Christ Try not to develop a God complex. NASA’s Overshadowed Moon Launch After a successful takeoff, a crewless capsule is on its way to the moon. Where’s the fanfare? Watch Michael Jackson’s THRILLER in 4K The seminal music video has been restored, and the results are astonishing. GUESTS: Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction … and she hosts the Rite Gud podcast James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, a writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast 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! 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.