The Colin McEnroe Show

There's something almost romantic about airships--from zeppelins to dirigibles to little Goodyear Blimps. The image of a giant, floating aircraft feels both nostalgic and futuristic. In the early 20th century, airships were on the leading edge of aviation; today, they mostly live on in the domain of steampunk art and speculative fiction.But a number of companies are betting they can bring airships out of the history books and into modern real-world applications like cargo transport and military uses. This hour, we talk with speculative fiction author Ken Liu, as well as a journalist and the leader of a modern hybrid airship company about airships, real and imagined. GUESTS: Ken Liu - Speculative fiction author and futurist, the author of the Dandelion Dynasty, an epic fantasy featuring airships Jeanne Marie Laskas - Journalist; she wrote a piece for The New Yorker in 2016 on modern airships Nick Allman - Chief Operating Officer of Hybrid Air Vehicles Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Facebook announced Thursday that its umbrella company will rebrand as “Meta.” Mark Zuckerberg said that the new name reflects the full breadth of the future the company wants to help build: “Now we have a new North Star: to help bring the Metaverse to life. From now on, we’re going to be Metaverse first, not Facebook first.” And: Do we want TV shows (and movies and books, etc.) to acknowledge the pandemic? It’s an odd conundrum. When shows deal with it, it seems intrusive. When they don’t, it seems unrealistic. And finally: Dune: Part One is the fourth screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s book series that dates back to the 1960s. It is directed and co-written by Denis Villeneuve, and it debuted in theaters and on HBOMax on October 22. A sequel was officially greenlit this week. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Mort Sahl, Whose Biting Commentary Redefined Stand-Up, Dies at 94 A self-appointed warrior against hypocrisy, he revolutionized comedy in the 1950s by addressing political and social issues. There’s No Dave Chappelle or Hannah Gadsby Without Mort Sahl Before Sahl, who died at 94 on Tuesday, intellectual arguments and controversial stances were off-limits to stand-ups seeking mass acceptance. James Michael Tyler death: ‘Friends’ star who played Gunther dies from cancer, aged 59 ‘If you met him once you made a friend for life,’ family says of actor The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Leaf Blowers Photos Are Too Flattering Now An ode to the bygone days of blurry, poorly lit images What happens when your favorite thing goes viral? A 2002 song by the Mountain Goats about a doomed divorce is suddenly big on TikTok. Why? Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, And Jeff Lowe’s Complicated Saga Continues In The First Trailer For “Tiger King 2” The big cat owners and their bigger rivalries will return to Netflix next month. There is a consistency to the debate over book censorship: Distress about change The Alec Baldwin shooting has some people calling for only computer-generated gunshots. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Creating a realistic muzzle flash is a key part of the problem Gwyneth Paltrow, Jada Pinkett Smith Declare Porn ‘Harmful to Women’ Chappelle is unapologetic in his first public statement on ‘The Closer’ controversy The 37-Year-Olds Are Afraid of the 23-Year-Olds Who Work for Them Twenty-somethings rolling their eyes at the habits of their elders is a longstanding trend, but many employers said there’s a new boldness in the way Gen Z dictates taste. GUESTS: Helder Mira - Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College Join the conversation on Facebook (I’m pretty sure it’s still called that) 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 realized a few years ago that — basically because Colin and I are fraidy cats — The Nose doesn’t cover very much horror stuff. So we started doing an annual Halloween special that tackles horror head-on, in a vaguely Nose-ish way. This year: Could it be that the one genre with a certain amount of immunity from the Disneyfication, the cinematic universeification of everything… is horror? And: There’s an ongoing renaissance in Black horror dating back to Jordan Peele’s Get Out in 2017. This year’s best example is probably Nia DaCosta’s Candyman reboot/remake/sequel (co-written by DaCosta and Peele). But horror’s creeping (you see what I did there) reckoning with racism is having its share of ups and downs, too. And finally: We have a largely arbitrary tradition of spending a chunk of this show on a horror classic that’s celebrating, specifically, its 40th anniversary. Previously, it’s been Halloween, Alien, The Shining. This year: An American Werewolf in London. GUESTS: Raquel Benedict - Claims to be the most dangerous woman in speculative fiction; she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast David Jesudason - A freelance writer and journalist Rich Johnson - Writes about movies; he’s the host of two movie podcasts: Film & and Mondo Moviehouse Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An entrenched anxiety is taking hold throughout America. You can feel it in the air and see it in the rise of guns, doomsday preppers, and mask wars. The deep economic and social insecurity at the root of our anxiety comes from political decisions made since 9/11 that starve the public to benefit the private. The elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the Black Lives Matter movement, the global pandemic, and our endless war on terror have exposed our failures and electrified our anxiety. Today, we talk about the cost of our public discontent and endless war. GUESTS:  Evan Osnos - A staff writer at The New Yorker, a CNN contributor, and a senior fellow at Brookings Institution; his most recent book is Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury Samuel Moyn - Teaches law and history at Yale; his most recent book is Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Cat Pastor and Colin McEnroe contributed to this show. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From ancient scrolls to modern toner cartridges, ink (in one form or another) has been around for millennia. And while we may take it for granted now, for much of that time, it was a precious and coveted substance. Ink makers closely guarded their recipes; spy agencies developed secret, invisible ink formulations; and even now, billions are spent to create the perfect printer inks. This hour, we look back at the history of ink and ask whether its heyday might be coming to a close. GUESTS: Ted Bishop - Author of Ink: Culture, Wonder And Our Relationship With The Written Word Kristie Macrakis - Author of Prisoners, Lovers, & Spies: The Story of Invisible Ink from Herodotus to al Qaeda Kyle Wiens - Founder of iFixit Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired August 9, 2017.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, we’re joined by Kelefa Sanneh, author of Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres. We talk about music genres and look back at the history of music. GUESTS: Kelefa Sanneh - Author of Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres and a staff writer at The New Yorker  Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. 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 week, BBC Culture dropped its list of “The 100 Greatest TV series of the 21st Century.” No. 1 is exactly what you’d think it’d be, but below that, there’s plenty to argue about. (Deadwood at 18?! Horse pucky.) The Nose, over the years, has covered many of the shows on the list, by the way: Atlanta, Black Mirror, Fleabag, Game of Thrones, The Good Place, I May Destroy You, Mindhunter, OJ: Made in America, The Queen’s Gambit, Schitt’s Creek, Stranger Things, The Underground Railroad, Watchmen… to name a few. And, speaking of shows: Maid is a Netflix limited series inspired by Stephanie Land’s memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, and created by Molly Smith Metzler. Netflix describes it this way: “After fleeing an abusive relationship, a young mother finds a job cleaning houses as she fights to provide for her child and build them a better future.” Its 10 episodes dropped on October 1. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Alec Baldwin Fired Prop Gun That Killed Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, Injured Director Hartford names city’s first troubadour and flow artist; Khaiim Kelly and Lael Marie Saez will serve three-year terms The Many Decades of Bond “How has someone who is a borderline rapist, murderer, and potential sociopath, endured through all these decades?” Michael Caine Says His Latest Film Is His Last, but He’s Not Retired The 88-year-old screen legend says he’s transitioning to writing, while his representatives walk back his remarks. Americans Are Overworked And Over Work “As I’ve gotten older, work is definitely [still] really important, but I think I’ve started to see it less as my identity.” ​​It’s Quitting Season ‘I Screwed Up’: Netflix’s Ted Sarandos Addresses Dave Chappelle Fallout Netflix Staff Raised Concerns About Chappelle Special Before Its Release The company is dealing with an internal outcry unprecedented in its history. Dave Chappelle’s views on gender are problematic and hurtful Addison Rae Was Permanently Banned From TikTok For Literally Like A Day, So I Guess She Can Go Back To Dancing Now “Time to get a job.” Why ‘Y: The Last Man’ Was Abruptly Canceled Six years after landing at FX for development, the drama based on the beloved comic series was axed before it could even finish its first and (possibly) only season. Y: The Last Man Might Get Resurrected On HBO Max The Huge Box Office For Halloween Kills Seemingly Says A Lot About Peacock Succession at Scholastic Seemed to Be a Shock, Even to the New Chairwoman The powerhouse children’s publisher, known for Harry Potter, had been passed from father to son until Iole Lucchese, a top executive, was given control. Top 40 New Wave Albums The Believer Literary Magazine Shutting Down Issue No. 139, due out in February 2022, will be its last Kanye West is now officially ‘Ye’ ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Author Margaret Atwood Faces Backlash for Gender Neutrality Tweet MLB Just Tried a Bunch of Experimental Rules in the Minors. How Well Did They Work? Several minor leagues served as the guinea pig for ideas that could improve the pace of play, including robo umps, pushing the mound back, and bigger bases. Were they effective? ‘The Sopranos’: WarnerMedia In Talks With David Chase About HBO Max Prequel Series Why Groundhog Day Left Harold Ramis And Bill Murray’s Friendship In Shambles Royal Caribbean to offer 274-night cruise — the world’s longest GUESTS: Rand Richards Cooper - A fiction writer, contributing editor at Commonweal, and the restaurant critic for the Hartford Courant Mercy Quaye - Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project 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.

Rust is all around us. It’s in our cars, our homes, our infrastructure. It’s also the subject of Jonathan Waldman’s book Rust: The Longest War, which introduces us to the people who fight it. This hour, Waldman joins us, and we hear from a visual artist who has found a way to incorporate rust into her work. GUESTS: Esther Solondz - A Rhode Island-based visual artist Jonathan Waldman - Author of Rust: The Longest War Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired March 25, 2015.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows most weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. The last few times, we haven’t even started with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. And those shows have been fun. So we’re doing that again. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jews have a long history of resistance against antisemitism that has sought to eradicate their literal existence. The power of their resistance lies in Jewish cultural and spiritual unity and the resulting close-knit communities that have survived and thrived in response to hate. This hour, we talk about how Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood came together in 2018 after a shooter killed eleven Jewish worshippers in a synagogue as they were preparing for their Saturday morning services. We also talk about the thousands of Jewish ‘family camps’ and partisan fighters who survived and triumphed in the forests of Eastern Europe during World War II. Some of their descendants settled in Connecticut. Resistance can take many forms beyond warfare. Photo Courtesy Of The Langerman And Lazowski FamiliesBeryl Sakier, Tania, Miriam, Rochel, Morris, and Luba Rabinowitz after arriving in Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy GUESTS:  Mark Oppenheimer - Senior Editor at Tablet, where he hosts the podcast Unorthodox; he is the author of five books including, most recently, Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood Rebecca Frankel - A journalist and author; her most recent book is Into the Forest: A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love 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.