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Culture

Friday

That's So Random: The Evolution Of An Odd Word

The use of the word random as slang found its way into Amy Heckerling's 1995 hit film, Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone. Paramount/The Kobal Collection hide caption

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Paramount/The Kobal Collection

Pop Culture

That's So Random: The Evolution Of An Odd Word

NPR's Neda Ulaby investigates the etymology of random, a word comedian Spencer Thompson calls "the most misused ... of our generation." It turns out that Thompson's frustration is a bit misplaced — random has been around since the 14th century, and its usage shows how life, like language, evolves.

That's So Random: The Evolution Of An Odd Word

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Science

SciFri Book Club Has 'The Right Stuff'

This month the book club takes to the skies with the Tom Wolfe classic The Right Stuff, a behind-the-curtain look at the 20th century's most famous test pilots--including Chuck Yeager. Yeager joins the club to talk about his long career, and what he considers "the right stuff."

SciFri Book Club Has 'The Right Stuff'

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Science

Glacier Photographer James Balog on 'Chasing Ice'

Photographer James Balog on Climate Change and 'Chasing Ice' — In the new documentary "Chasing Ice," photographer James Balog attempts to capture how the world's glaciers are being affected by climate change. As the film debuts across the country, Balog discusses the project, and what needs to be done to save Earth's shrinking glaciers.

Glacier Photographer James Balog on 'Chasing Ice'

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Jake Tapper Of ABC News Plays Not My Job
Ely Brown/Little, Brown and Company

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Jake Tapper Of ABC News Plays Not My Job

We've invited ABC's longtime chief White House correspondent to answer three questions about a real tapper: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

Jake Tapper Of ABC News Plays Not My Job

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The High And The Low In Holiday Movies

Matchmaker Santa is only one of many cornball films in which Santa (Donovan Scott) helps a woman (Lacey Chabert) find a boyfriend (Adam Mayfield). This is the one where the vanilla extract was key. Carin Baer/Hallmark Channel hide caption

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Carin Baer/Hallmark Channel

Pop Culture Happy Hour

The High And The Low In Holiday Movies

A discussion of highbrow holiday movies collides with admissions of gorging on cornball Christmas fare where Santa brings people love and magic happens.

The High And The Low In Holiday Movies

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Pop Culture Happy Hour: This Is Your Life, And TV Pool Knockouts
NPR

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy Hour: This Is Your Life, And TV Pool Knockouts

On this week's show, we use a certain Lindsay Lohan vehicle as a jumping-off point to talk about how you make a good biopic. Then, we'll let you know how we're doing on our fall television pool, and we'll close with what's making us happy this week.

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Mark Rice-Ko: Where Food and Rothko Meet In Delicious Harmony

After coloring, styling and photographing the rice, chef and food stylist Caitlin Levin made coconut rice. "It taste the same," she says. Henry Hargreaves hide caption

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Henry Hargreaves

The Salt

Mark Rice-Ko: Where Food and Rothko Meet In Delicious Harmony

Troubled artist Mark Rothko famously hated the rich and glamorous. These were the same people who were expected to see his art in New York's Four Seasons restaurant in a project commissioned back in the 1950s; he never completed the work. Recently, two modern artists decided to interpret these Rothko works in colored rice for the rest of us.

The Peony Pavilion: A Vivid Dream In A Garden

A garden serves as the stage in the opera. Zhang Yi hide caption

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Zhang Yi

Deceptive Cadence

The Peony Pavilion: A Vivid Dream In A Garden

Peony Pavilion is one of China's most famous operas, but uncut performances of this romantic 16th century work can take more than 22 hours. An adapted version of the dream-like opera will take place at the Metropolitan Museum.

The Peony Pavilion: A Vivid Dream In A Garden

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Thursday

Taking To The Waves As The World Catches Fire

Otelo (Jafta Mamabolo, right) and his best friend, New Year (Thomas Gumede), grow up in South Africa during the violent years toward the end of apartheid. Indigenous Film Distribution hide caption

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Indigenous Film Distribution

Review

Movies

Taking To The Waves As The World Catches Fire

The South African film Otelo Burning tells the story of black teenagers who escape the world of apartheid by learning to surf. Critic Joel Arnold says the film presents its characters with a choice between hoping for the impossible and accepting the unfortunate.

From A Rom-Com Director, A Subtle Kung Fu Flick

Donnie Yen stars as Liu Jinxi, a quiet mountain-village family man who turns out to have a complicated past, in Dragon. Radius/The Weinstein Co. hide caption

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Radius/The Weinstein Co.

Review

Movies

From A Rom-Com Director, A Subtle Kung Fu Flick

Director Peter Ho-Sun Chan is better known for romantic comedies than for action movies. Critic Mark Jenkins says his film Dragon reflects multiple influences — from classic kung fu to Guy Richie's Sherlock Holmes -- that come together to create an eye-catching mood piece.

Brad Pitt, 'Killing Them Softly' (And With Style)

Brad Pitt's Jackie Cogan is a midlevel mob enforcer in Killing Them Softly, adapted by Andrew Dominik from the 1974 novel Cogan's Trade. Melinda Sue Gordon/The Weinstein Co. hide caption

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Melinda Sue Gordon/The Weinstein Co.

Review

Movies

Brad Pitt, 'Killing Them Softly' (And With Style)

As a wiseguy charged with enforcing the rules after a couple of two-bit hoods knock over a mob-run card game, the actor wears his character's back story on the inside — which is where it belongs.

A Sturdy 'Collection' Of Horror's Goriest Tropes

Abby (Erin Way) becomes another player in the Collector's (Randall Archer) deadly game. LD Entertainment hide caption

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LD Entertainment

Review

Movies

A Sturdy 'Collection' Of Horror's Goriest Tropes

The Collection, a sequel to 2009's The Collector, dives back into the world of a serial killer and his growing body count. Critic Ian Buckwalter says it's self-aware of the genre's indulgences — and unlike in most horror franchises, the open ending is its strongest feature.

A Rocker's 'Solo' Slide, Intimately Chronicled

Flying 'Solo': Robert Carlyle plays a burnout Britpop veteran drinking his way through a second career among the farmers markets of Southern California — until a DUI bust sends him into a tailspin. Matthew Barnes/Strand Releasing hide caption

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Matthew Barnes/Strand Releasing

Review

Movies

A Rocker's 'Solo' Slide, Intimately Chronicled

Robert Carlyle (Heroes, Once Upon a Time) plays a past-his-prime guitarist whose dissolution deepens when a DUI arrest raises the possibility of deportation. Critic Ella Taylor says it's a modest but satisfying story of self-destruction and redemption.

'Inventing Wine': The History Of A Very Vintage Beverage
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Author Interviews

'Inventing Wine': The History Of A Very Vintage Beverage

Fresh Air

In his new book, author and oenophile Paul Lukacs traces the 8,000-year history of our original alcoholic beverage — from ancient times, when wine was believed to be of divine origin, to the sauvignon blanc you find in your supermarket today.

'Inventing Wine': The History Of A Very Vintage Beverage

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'Flight' Takes On Questions Of Accountability

Denzel Washington stars in Flight, the latest film from writer-producer-director Robert Zemeckis. Robert Zuckerman/Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Robert Zuckerman/Paramount Pictures

Movie Interviews

'Flight' Takes On Questions Of Accountability

Fresh Air

In the Robert Zemeckis film starring Denzel Washington, a pilot with a secret substance-abuse problem successfully crash-lands an airplane while high on drugs and alcohol. He must then ask himself some tough questions about whether his act of heroism is undermined by his addiction.

'Flight' Takes On Questions Of Accountability

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