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March is Women's History Month!

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Gravity' And The Thrill Of The Fiasco

NPR
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I cannot lie: I love this week's podcast very much, and only partly because I got to include a song I probably haven't heard in over 20 years and got our special guest Gene Demby to reveal one of those little things that makes him apoplectic.

We start with a discussion of Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, a film that's visually gorgeous but about which we had some script questions. (Regular listeners might be surprised by which of the bald men in the room has the most questions, however.) We talk about Sandra Bullock pro and con, George Clooney cowboy and not, and the importance of angular momentum.

And then ... oh, then, we jump into the world of fiasco, the result of ambition that exceeds competency or reality — or, as Glen says in one case, geography and physics. I strongly encourage you not to spoil yourself on the fiascoes we choose until you listen to them emerge yourself, but if you must know, Glen's are this, this, and this; Gene's is this, Stephen's is this, and mine is the amazing ... this.

As always, we close with what's making us happy this week. For Glen, it's a book to which he contributed and a podcast he's been enjoying. (Shocker, right?) Gene has been enjoying the return of Scandal, of course, but what he talks about with us is also a podcast. Stephen is happy about a band whose new song makes him happy and yet also sad, because that's his ideal state. And I am happy about a show I saw last week as well as my continuing travels in games (we taped on Monday, before I had this lovely evening with Journey; you can hear Glen quietly encouraging me to keep playing).

Find us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter: me, Stephen, Glen, Gene, Trey, producer Lauren Migaki and our esteemed producer emeritus and music director, Mike Katzif.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.