The Colin McEnroe Show

A lot of interconnected things were happening in the 1990s, an oncologist and hematologist  named Mitchell Gaynor discovered trough a Tibetan monk, the so-called singing bowls and began incorporating them into the guided meditation and breathing work he did with his patients. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Led by Harry Potter, the last 20 years have unleashed a new wave of enthusiasm for the fantasy side  of magic. But, we've also seen an undeniable re-engagement with stage magic. In 2006 alone, there were two movies about magicians, "The  Prestige" and "The Illusionist." Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Monday. That means our show is The Scramble, where we make a lot of decisions on a last minute basis. We asked our super guest, Marc Tracy of The New Republic, to pick three topics about which Colin would quickly get up to speed. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was a fertile week for topics, but here at The Nose, we've boiled them down to four.First, the decision by NBC to capitalize on its live Sound of Music ratings hit with a revival of the live TV Peter Pan. No cast has been announced yet, so that allows us to do some "dreamcasting. "Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Dallas Buyer's Club" covers a lot of the same ground as an Oscar-nominated documentary about AIDS from last year, "How To Survive A Plague." Each film covers the time from mid-to-late 1980s when the disease struck, when there was no accepted or effective medical treatment, when the patients themselves had to push for better research and faster tracks to bring drugs to market. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scientists say that the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia this past February was a rare event, unlikely to happen more than every 100 -200 years. But a recent paper in the scientific journal Nature said the earth should expect and plan to get hit by Chelyabinsk-sized asteroids more often-- maybe every decade or two.This news sparked a flurry of talk about what that means for us on earth. How vulnerable are we and are we doing enough to detect and deflect asteroids?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Through no act of overarching planning, all three of our segments today will deal directly, or otherwise, with sports.In our first segment, we talk with Linda Holmes from the NPR culture blog, Monkey See. We also delve into the controversy over a recent New York Times column by former executive editor, Bill Keller. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I spent one night in the company of James Carville and Mary Matalin, in the course of being their onstage moderator at the Bushnell. My lasting impression was that these were two people whose primary loyalty was to each other. To an unusual degree, when there was down time, they wanted to be alone, together, door closed. I don't know how they sort out their extreme political differences, but I think the answer lies somewhere in what I just said.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Nose panel went to the movies this week to see the critically-acclaimed Spike Jonze film, "Her," about a future world in which it's not unusual for a man to fall in love with his artificially-intelligent operating system. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dying is easy, comedy is hard. But, why is comedy so hard, especially on the stage, and what makes something funny?The premise for a famously funny plot could easily sound like a tragedy.  An out of work actor is so desperate for employment that he dresses up like a woman and then falls in love with a beautiful co-star whom he deceives and betrays on several levels. That doesn't sound that hilarious. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.