Arts

‘SNL’ has always taken on politics. Here’s what works – and why

8:00am September 28, 2024

As a historic election looms, Saturday Night Live faces an ongoing challenge to make America laugh – and process an increasingly strange political world. Jean Smart hosts the show’s 50th season premiere on Saturday.

France Cannes 2024 Megalopolis Photo Call

‘The movie tells you how to make it’: After decades, Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ is here

7:00am September 28, 2024

“Every movie I make involves passion,” writer and director Francis Ford Coppola says. “The Godfather is very classical. Apocalypse Now is very wild.” His latest, Megalopolis, is a Roman epic – set in New Rome, a futuristic New York City.

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LL COOL J Passion Press Photo (Photo Credit - Cory Grimes).jpeg

Golden-age rappers make a digital-age leap — and survive

5:00am September 28, 2024

On surprising new albums, '80s trailblazers LL Cool J and MC Lyte sound thrillingly revitalized, thanks to sharp production choices and a willingness to bend their signature styles toward the moment.

Arts

A stranded machine transforms through motherhood in Chris Sanders' 'Wild Robot'

5:59pm September 27, 2024

by Bob Mondello

A shipwrecked robot named Roz is accidentally activated by the wild animals on an otherwise uninhabited island in The Wild Robot, an animated adventure from the makers of How to Train Your Dragon.

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Arts

What's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and reading

5:00pm September 27, 2024

Each week, guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: The show How to Die Alone, the book You Gotta Eat, and Batman on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Arts

Celebrating 25 years of 'The West Wing'

10:55am September 27, 2024

by Terry Gross

The critically acclaimed drama went behind the scenes at a fictional White House. We listen to archival interviews with show creator/writer Aaron Sorkin and actors Allison Janney and John Spencer.

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Sharp-tongued, indomitable, and beloved actress Dame Maggie Smith dies at 89

10:08am September 27, 2024

Oscar, Emmy, and Tony-winning actress Maggie Smith played everything from wistful ingenues in Shakespeare to Harry Potter's Prof. McGonagall and the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey.

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Arts

Book recommendations for Hispanic Heritage Month

5:21am September 27, 2024

National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. Lupita Aquino, also known as "Lupita Reads" on social media, shares a few book recommendations by Latino authors.

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Words, sounds and the art of listening with Aja Monet

5:00am September 27, 2024

The self-described “surreal blues poet” savors the significance of words and the noisy poetry of city life.

A mysterious hum and a charismatic leader stoke chaos in Missy Mazzoli's opera

5:00am September 27, 2024

In The Listeners, a seductive cult leader and an unexplainable noise divides an innocent community and warps reality. Mazzoli's opera receives its U.S. premiere in Philadelphia.

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