Pop Culture

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Our Hanukkah Special

6:01am December 20, 2017

by Linda Holmes

While you may have wrapped up your Hanukkah celebrations, we wanted to share a conversation about the role that Hanukkah plays for kids and adults, and some of the pop culture that surrounds it.

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Arts

A Slow-Moving Disaster Of Immodesty: Cameron's 'Titanic,' 20 Years Later

4:58pm December 19, 2017

by Linda Holmes

Twenty years ago today, the James Cameron movie "Titanic" opened in theaters in the U.S. It was a, forgive us, titanic success and, apparently, a cultural moment for many.

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Researcher Elizabeth Currid-Halkett says celebrity can be boiled down to a simple formula.

Arts

Never Go To Vegas, And Other Unspoken Rules Of Being An A-Lister

9:00pm December 18, 2017

It can seem arbitrary the way certain people fascinate us. But researcher Elizabeth Currid-Halkett says celebrity has a formula. So does being part of any social group — perhaps even your own.

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Arts

Reading The Game: This War Of Mine

7:00am December 16, 2017

by Jason Sheehan

Our occasional series on storytelling in video games returns with This War of Mine — a game about surviving during wartime that proved so wrenching, our critic couldn't bring himself to finish it.

Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell starred in the 1940 farce His Girl Friday, where a newspaper editor tries to win back his ex-wife, an ace reporter.

Arts

In A Crisis Of Sexual Harassment, Whither The Office Romance?

7:05pm December 15, 2017

by Neda Ulaby

Efforts to eliminate harassment in the workplace target a site where couples tend to meet and fall in love — but also a place where power can be abused.

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Cocktail avocados: adorable, seedless — safer for those who can't cut the kind with a pit?

Avocado Hand Injuries Are Real. Is A Seedless Fruit The Answer?

5:24pm December 15, 2017

by Maanvi Singh

Apparently people are showing up in the ER with nerve injuries from improperly cutting the pit out of an avocado. So now there's a cute new seedless variety.

Arts

How The TV And Movies Are Using Gen X Nostalgia

4:23pm December 15, 2017

NPR's Kelly McEvers and Pop Culture Happy Hour's Linda Holmes and Glen Weldon sit down to talk about this era of TV and movies, many of which are catering to Gen X nostalgia — from Stranger Things to the latest Star Wars film.

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A screenshot from Comic Relief's fundraising ad, featuring Ed Sheeran. He talks to a boy named J.D. in Liberia.

Stop Hating On Ed Sheeran's Fundraising Ad, Say Critics

2:57pm December 15, 2017

by Malaka Gharib

A Comic Relief spot starring the pop singer, raising funds for children in Liberia, was voted the worst charity ad of 2017. Some are saying the criticisms aren't warranted.

Omarosa Manigault Newman was cast as a villain in The Apprentice by Donald Trump, who then brought her to the White House.

Politics & Government

White House Aide Omarosa Manigault Newman Resigning

3:20pm December 13, 2017

by Brian Naylor

The former Apprentice contestant is stepping down effective Jan. 20, according to the White House, where she was the highest-ranking African-American.

Arts

Deathless Prose Added To Our Collective Memories In 2017

4:34pm December 12, 2017

Fred Shapiro, editor of the Yale Book of Quotations, talks about his top 10 quotes for 2017. The quotes span politics, Hollywood, sports and international affairs.

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