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Pop Culture

Tuesday

Who Makes Stuff Up, And Why They Do It

Jonah Lehrer lost his job at the respected New Yorker magazine after admitting that he fabricated quotes by Bob Dylan in his book. He joins a long list of writers, journalists, bloggers and scientists who've crossed the line from fact into fiction.

Who Makes Stuff Up, And Why They Do It

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Monday

Friday

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Of 'Dark Knight,' Summer Games And Such
NPR

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Of 'Dark Knight,' Summer Games And Such

We walk gingerly up to the topic of The Movie and The Shootings, then turn to this summer's Olympic Games and the thoughts they inspire. Then as always, several things make us happy.

Listen To Pop Culture Happy Hour

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Thursday

It Was All A Dream (Or: Turns Out Spoilers Are Good For You)

A T-shirt with many of the most infamous spoilers from movies, books and TV. A new study suggests that spoilers actually increase our enjoyment rather than ruin it. Yaili/Flickr hide caption

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Yaili/Flickr

Pop Culture Happy Hour

It Was All A Dream (Or: Turns Out Spoilers Are Good For You)

The combination of instant commentary on Twitter and delayed viewing on DVRs and Hulu has made fans especially careful about spoilers. But according to one study, spoilers actually make you enjoy a work more than if you didn't know what was going to happen.

It Was All A Dream (Or: Turns Out Spoilers Are Good For You)

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At Bravo, A Pop-Culture Kingpin Works Day And Night

Andy Cohen on the set of his nightly Bravo talk show, Watch What Happens: Live. Cohen is also Bravo's executive vice president of development and talent, and has helped make Bravo a pop-culture heavyweight. Heidi Gutman/Bravo hide caption

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Heidi Gutman/Bravo

Television

At Bravo, A Pop-Culture Kingpin Works Day And Night

Andy Cohen made the cable channel an unlikely focus of water-cooler talk by developing the Real Housewives series. After work, he hosts a nightly talk show — and he's not looking to stop doing either anytime soon.

At Bravo, A Pop-Culture Kingpin Works Day And Night

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Wednesday

Tuesday

Sunday

Not Funny Enough? 'New Yorker' Gives 'Seinfeld' Cartoon A Second Chance

"I wish I was taller," was Elaine's caption in the 1998 episode of Seinfeld. Can it get funnier than that? You can try over on The New Yorker's Caption Contest page. Courtesy The New Yorker hide caption

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Courtesy The New Yorker

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Not Funny Enough? 'New Yorker' Gives 'Seinfeld' Cartoon A Second Chance

Fourteen years after Seinfeld's Elaine got her fictional cartoon published in The New Yorker, the magazine is asking you to make it funny.

Not Funny Enough? 'New Yorker' Gives 'Seinfeld' Cartoon A Second Chance

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'Who's On First?' The Sign Language Version

A screen grab from the MLB video, "Costas and Seinfeld on Network." MLB hide caption

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MLB

The Two-Way

'Who's On First?' The Sign Language Version

Abbott and Costello's famous "Who's on First?" routine still stands as one of the greatest comedy sketches of all time. It was a feat of rapid-fire dialogue, flawless comedic timing and devastating wit.But could you do it without saying a word?

'Who's On First?' The Sign Language Version

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Friday

'Techie Computer Programmer Guy' And The Website Reddit Deliver The News

Morgan Jones, an 18-year-old from Denver, gave minute-by-minute updates Friday on the movie theater shootings in nearby Aurora, Colo. Courtesy of Morgan Jones hide caption

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Courtesy of Morgan Jones

All Tech Considered

'Techie Computer Programmer Guy' And The Website Reddit Deliver The News

Shortly after the Colorado shootings, a Denver 18-year-old named Morgan Jones started a thread on the social media site Reddit. It built through the night into a minute-by-minute chronicle of tragedy.

Catharsis In A Cape: On Comic-Book Heroes And Real-World Violence

Emotional Armor: Superheroes like Batman (Christian Bale) function as talismans when our fears are darkest — symbols of good, and of justice, when we wonder whether either exists. Ron Phillips/Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Ron Phillips/Warner Bros. Pictures

Opinion

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Catharsis In A Cape: On Comic-Book Heroes And Real-World Violence

In the wake of the Aurora massacre, our comics blogger explores the meaning of the violence that's such an integral part of the Batman mythos — and suggests that in the face of real horror, our fictional heroes mean more than ever.

MSNBC Gets Academic: Meet Host Prof. Harris-Perry

Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC's newest host, is a Tulane professor with a Ph.D. in political science from Duke. She hosts the two-hour Melissa Harris-Perry show, which airs on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-Picayune /Landov hide caption

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Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-Picayune /Landov

Television

MSNBC Gets Academic: Meet Host Prof. Harris-Perry

The newly anointed cable host is a full-time political science professor at Tulane University. Melissa Harris-Perry says she refuses to check the weekly ratings of her show, but she knows she's being watched by more people than she could reach in a lecture hall.

MSNBC Gets Academic: Meet Host Prof. Harris-Perry

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