The Colin McEnroe Show

It’s been a long, strange year. (Aren’t they all at this point?) And so, how is our popular culture dealing with it all? The Nose has a number of questions. Will movies and TV ever really deal with COVID? Whatever happened to sympathetic characters? Whatever happened to comedies? Did anybody watch any standup comedy this year that wasn’t Bo Burnham or Dave Chappelle? Why do we cry at everything we watch? Isn’t Don’t Look Up great? Isn’t Don’t Look Up terrible? Why are we so stuck on old music? Do we even share a common popular culture anymore? Why are there so many good music documentaries all of sudden? Why don’t ALL the movies come directly to our houses now? Will we ever go back to movie theaters for real? And other ones. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: The 50 Wildest Pop Culture Moments of 2021 Literally how did this all happen in one year. Box Office: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Soars to Record $260M U.S. Opening, $600.8M Globally The superhero pic scored the No. 2 domestic debut of all time as moviegoing returned to pre-pandemic levels for the first time despite omicron. But not all are celebrating: ‘Nightmare Alley’ found coal in its Christmas stocking. The Oscars Shortlist Contenders Have Been Announced, And Palme d’Or Winner Titane Was Left Out Hollywood Tests the Limit of Marquee Names a Single Film Can Hold Boldface names have always mattered at the movies, but a number of recent casts have been full of them. That hasn’t always helped at the box office. The Best Music of 2021: Lil Nas X is the boundary-smashing pop revolutionary of 2021 Winnie-the-Pooh and more works will enter the public domain tomorrow GUESTS: Raquel Benedict - Claims to be the most dangerous woman in speculative fiction; she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast Rebecca Castellani - Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Sam Hadelman - Hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn James Hanley - Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Rich Hollant - Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College Bill Yousman - Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To round out the year, we round up the best jazz of the year. We’ve done this every year for at least the last eightyears. Here are our 2021 picks: “Dark Blue Residue” from Afrika Loveby Alchemy Sound Project “Homeward Bound (for Ana Grace)” from Homeward Bound by Johnathan Blake “Movement 6” from Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and The London Symphony Orchestra “It Come ’Round ’Gin” from The Democracy! Suite by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Septet with Wynton Marsalis “Relentless Mind” by Jihye Lee Orchestra featuring Sean Jones and Alan Ferber from Daring Mind by Jihye Lee Orchestra “Leone” from Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World, Volumes 1–10 by The Music of William Parker “Shortie’s Portion” from Raise Up Off Me by Ralph Peterson “Gotham” by Andrew Renfroe featuring Marquis Hill, Braxton Cook, Taber Gable, Rick Rosato, and Curtis Nowosad from Run in the Storm by Andrew Renfroe “Wings” by Scott Robinson and Elan Mehler from Kimbrough by various artists “White Out” from Two Takes, Vol. 1: Quintet by Jared Schonig “The Sports Page” from This Bitter Earth by Veronica Swift “Up North” from Reverso: Live by Frank Woeste, Ryan Keberle, and Vincent Courtois GUESTS: Jen Allen - A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator Noah Baerman - A pianist, composer, and educator Gene Seymour - A film, television, and music critic Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever considered lifting lipstick from Sephora, only to wonder why? Did you feel the rush of valor when Indiana Jones breached Russian defenses to nab an enchanted skull for the sake of humanity? This hour on the Colin McEnroe Show, our guests invite our inner thieves to reveal themselves and shine light on why we steal. We look at thefts through history and culture, discuss how a common villain gets made in times of uncertainty, and talk about the push for museums to restore ties between Native communities and their sacred belongings through artifact repatriation. GUESTS: Robert Tyminski - Psychologist and psychoanalyst in the Jungian tradition, author of “The Psychology of Theft” and “Loss: Stolen and Fleeced”  Lisa Feldman Barrett - Neuroscientist and psychologist at Northeastern’s College of Science, and author of “Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain”  Chip Colwell - Founder of Sapiens magazine and podcast, anthropologist, former senior curator at the Denver Museum of Earth and Science, and author of “Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits”  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring hit theaters 20 years ago this month, on December 19, 2001. This hour, a look back at the Lord of the Rings books and movies and their impact. GUESTS: John Garth - Author of The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien: The Places that Inspired Middle-earth and Tolkien and the Great War, among other books Molly Ostertag - Graphic novelist, TV writer, and author of the article “Queer Readings of The Lord of the Rings are Not Accidents” Susana Polo - Entertainment editor for Polygon Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 12, 2021.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re back from the holiday weekend. We’re looking forward to the holiday weekend. As we start this holiday interregnum week, we figured you might want to talk. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour… about anything at all. 888-720-9677. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this special Christmas Eve Eve edition, The Nose is not pretending to be any age. And Just Like That… is an HBO Max original limited series revival of Sex and the City. Set 11 years after the events of the 2010 movie Sex and the City 2, the series is said to have had the most-watched debut on HBO Max to date. And: Yellowjackets is an hour-long Showtime drama created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson. Here’s how Showtime describes it: “Wildly talented high school girls’ soccer players descend into savage clans after their plane crashes in the remote northern wilderness. Twenty-five years later, they discover that what began in the wild is far from over.” This month, Yellowjackets was renewed for a second season. GUESTS: Taneisha Duggan - A director, producer, and arts consultant Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every year since 2014, we’ve done some version of this show. Ideally, we’d do it in person, but these aren’t ideal times. But our holiday spirit remains, dauntless. “Big Al” Anderson and Jim Chapdelaine and the band are back together over at Jim’s studio. Colin’s hermetically sealed up in our studio. We sing some songs, tell some stories, have some surprise celebrity cameos, and somehow we wind up with a holiday special. It’s an hour of joyous nonsense for Christmas Eve Eve Eve, an audio Happy Holidays from us to you. GUESTS: “Big Al” Anderson - Vocals, guitar, songwriter Jim Chapdelaine - Guitar, vocals, songwriter, mixer, engineer, producer, etc. Illeana Douglas - Movie and TV star Lorne Entress - Drums and vocals Paul Kochanski - Bass guitar and vocals Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Gene Amatruda, Natalie Frascarelli, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When was the last time you had fun? I mean the kind of fun where you lost track of time, you didn’t care what others were thinking of you, and you felt connected to the people you were having fun with. We all know what fun feels like, so why don't we make time for it? We tend to think of fun as a side dish, something to eat if you’re not too full. That’s wrong. Fun should be the main course. Fun nourishes our mind and body as much as healthy food and productive work. This hour, we talk about fun, including why we’re not having it, why we need more of it, and how to have it. GUESTS: Catherine Price - Science journalist and the author of several books including The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again Julia Pistell - Founding member of Sea Tea Improv, host of the Literary Disco podcast, a freelance producer at Connecticut Public, and a freelance writer Liliana DeLeo - A certified laughter yoga master trainer and the founder of Living Laughter Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At 10 years old, M. Leona Godin began losing her vision. Her experience with sight and blindness is detailed in her new book, There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness. In it she also explores blindness throughout literature, and through key figures and inventions throughout history. This hour, we’re joined by Godin to discuss “the vast, dappled regions between seeing and not-seeing, blindness and sight, darkness and light.” GUEST: M. Leona Godin - Author of There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 8, 2021.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Nose is off this week. In its place, America’s Greatest Living Film Critic, David Edelstein, joins Colin to talk about the year in movies and television and, well, everything. GUEST: David Edelstein - America’s Greatest Living Film Critic Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.