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Culture

Friday

Trevor Noah's 'Daily Show' departure hints at deeper problems in late night TV

Trevor Noah announced Thursday that he'd be leaving The Daily Show after seven years. "My time is up," he said. "But in the most beautiful way." Noah is pictured above in Los Angeles in September 2021. Rich Fury/Getty Images hide caption

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Rich Fury/Getty Images

Opinion

Television

Trevor Noah's 'Daily Show' departure hints at deeper problems in late night TV

Noah increasingly looked like a performer who was growing beyond the grind of a late-night Comedy Central show. If he doesn't find a new perch in the genre, the industry will be all the worse for it.

Trevor Noah's 'Daily Show' departure hints at deeper problems in late night TV

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Space

'Mercury Rising' explores treacherous U.S. attempts to control space

Fresh Air

Historian Jeff Shesol recalls the early days of the space program, when Cold War fears ruled and no one knew if John Glenn would survive America's first orbital flight. Originally broadcast June 2021.

'Mercury Rising' explores treacherous U.S. attempts to control space

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Raymond Antrobus uses spoken word poetry to portray a diverse experience of sound

Album cover for The First Time I Wore Hearing Aids. Ian Brennan hide caption

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Ian Brennan

Raymond Antrobus uses spoken word poetry to portray a diverse experience of sound

The First Time I Wore Hearing Aids aims to make sound more inclusive for listeners by broadening the way in which we experience it.

Raymond Antrobus uses spoken word poetry to portray a diverse experience of sound

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In a bio-engineered dystopia, 'Vesper' finds seeds of hope

Raffiella Chapman stars as Vesper, a 13-year-old bio-hacker. Courtesy of IFC Films hide caption

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Courtesy of IFC Films

Review

Movie Reviews

In a bio-engineered dystopia, 'Vesper' finds seeds of hope

In the sci-fi drama Vesper, the title character is a 13 year old bio-hacker who lives in a future where humankind has wiped out all edible plants.

In a bio-engineered dystopia, 'Vesper' finds seeds of hope

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How one Filipino American artist influenced the work of a generation of others

A participant sings karaoke inside "TNT Traysikel," a mobile artwork by Paolo Asuncion and Michael Arcega, two students of Carlos Villa. The piece is part of the Villa retrospective at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Chloe Veltman/NPR/Chloe Veltman/NPR hide caption

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Chloe Veltman/NPR/Chloe Veltman/NPR

How one Filipino American artist influenced the work of a generation of others

When Carlos Villa asked about Filipino artists as a student he was told: there weren't any.

How one Filipino American artist influenced the work of a generation of others

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Billy Eichner's 'Bros' is a gay rom-com aimed at the masses

Luke Macfarlane and Billy Eichner star in Bros. Universal Pictures hide caption

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Universal Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Billy Eichner's 'Bros' is a gay rom-com aimed at the masses

In the grand tradition of the modern rom-com, stories about queer couples are still few and far between. Which is part of what makes the new movie Bros so special: Billy Eichner stars as a lanky intellectual who boasts a proud aversion to romance until he has a meet-cute with his polar opposite, a hyper-masculine gym rat played by Luke Macfarlane. Eichner co-wrote the movie, and Judd Apatow is a producer, so unsurprisingly, the jokes can be broad and raunchy. But there's plenty of heart here, too.

Billy Eichner's 'Bros' is a gay rom-com aimed at the masses

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Thursday

'Blonde' director says the unhappiness of Marilyn Monroe should come as no surprise

Adrien Brody as The Playwright & Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. 2022 © Netflix hide caption

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2022 © Netflix

Movies

'Blonde' director says the unhappiness of Marilyn Monroe should come as no surprise

The Netflix adaptation reimagines the inner life of one of Hollywood's most enduring icons.

'Blonde' director says the unhappiness of Marilyn Monroe should come as no surprise

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Where are the Black musicians in the country's largest orchestras?

The Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2016. Jessica Rinaldi/Boston Globe/Getty Images hide caption

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Jessica Rinaldi/Boston Globe/Getty Images

Deceptive Cadence

Where are the Black musicians in the country's largest orchestras?

In 2014, a study found that only 1.4% of orchestra musicians were Black. In 2022, it's hard to know if that number is better or worse.

Where are the Black musicians in the country's largest orchestras?

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'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' is a smash — SMASHING THE PATRIARCHY, THAT IS!!!

Tatiana Maslany stars in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Marvel Studios hide caption

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Marvel Studios

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' is a smash — SMASHING THE PATRIARCHY, THAT IS!!!

In the Disney Plus series She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, Tatiana Maslany plays Jennifer Walters, an ambitious, eager lawyer. She's also the Hulk's cousin, and accidentally acquires some of his powers after an accident. So now she has to juggle her career as a lawyer with the fact that she sometimes turns into a super-strong green giant.

'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' is a smash — SMASHING THE PATRIARCHY, THAT IS!!!

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Editing Reality
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Throughline

Editing Reality

We live in divided times, when the answer to the question 'what is reality?' depends on who you ask. Almost all the information we take in is to some extent edited and curated, and the line between entertainment and reality has become increasingly blurred. Nowhere is that more obvious than the world of reality television. The genre feeds off our most potent feelings – love, hope, anxiety, loneliness – and turns them into profit... and presidents. So in this episode, we're going to filter three themes of our modern world through the lens of reality TV: dating, the American dream, and the rage machine.

Editing Reality

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