NPR Staff appears in the following:
Director Justin Lin Shifts The Identity Of 'Fast & Furious'
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The movie Fast & Furious 6 hits theaters tomorrow. It is director Justin Lin's fourth film in the franchise, and is far different from his very first film, Shopping for Fangs, which starred a young John Cho and became a cult classic among Asian-American indie film fans.
Or is it ...
My Social Security Number Is Posted Where?
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Sensitive personal information belonging to thousands of applicants to a government phone program was exposed to the public on the Internet, according to a new investigative report from Scripps Howard News Service.
The federal program is called Lifeline, and it reimburses phone companies for providing service to low-income ...
Courtside Chemistry: How NBA's Phil Jackson Won 'Eleven Rings'
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Phil Jackson is famous not only for coaching stars — Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen with the Chicago Bulls, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal with the L.A. Lakers — but also for his distinctive "zen" approach to basketball. He introduced his teams to yoga and meditation, and regularly assigned his ...
After Crashing In Canadian 'Abyss,' Four Men Fight To Survive
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
On the night of Oct. 19, 1984, Erik Vogel was uneasy about flying. It was snowing; his plane's de-icer and autopilot weren't working; and his co-pilot had been bumped to fit one more passenger on his 10-seater. But the young pilot was behind schedule and he felt like his job ...
Decades Later And Across An Ocean, A Novel Gets Its Due
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Sometimes you need some distance to appreciate a classic.
That was certainly the case for John Williams' novel Stoner. When it was originally published in 1965, the only publication to mention the book at all was The New Yorker, in its "Briefly Noted" column. The novel received admiring reviews over ...
Deke Sharon Makes A Cappella Cool Again
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The movie Pitch Perfect has plans for a sequel in 2015; NBC's reality show The Sing-Off is coming back for its fourth season after being cancelled, and Pentatonix has millions of hits on YouTube for making awesome videos like "The Evolution of Music."
The days of doo-wops and ...
Unacceptable Anger From 'The Woman Upstairs'
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The main character of Claire Messud's novel, The Woman Upstairs, is a good woman. Nora is a 37-year-old elementary school teacher — responsible, kind and reliable. She is also very, very angry.
Her dreams of being an artist have been suppressed; she is seething inside with rage and resentment. But ...
Boom Or Bust? Saving Rhode Island's 'Superman' Building
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Rhode Island is home to beautiful beaches, top-notch universities and a thriving arts scene. Beneath the surface, however, the state faces challenges similar to other parts of the country: shrinking revenues, lost jobs and general economic malaise.
In Rhode Island, the issue has come to a head around the future ...
One Couple, Nearly 20 Years, All 'Before Midnight'
Sunday, May 19, 2013
In 1995, an unintended cult-classic trilogy was born with a film that centered on a simple, romantic premise. Two strangers in their early 20s spend a spontaneous night together in Vienna. The characters, Jesse and Celine, split ways in Before Sunrise, but they reunited nine years later for a sequel, ...
Laura Mvula: A Soulful Voice That Once Answered Phones
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Less than two years ago, Laura Mvula was a receptionist honing her phone-answering skills at a music organization in Birmingham, England. Now, she's got a record deal and critical acclaim, and she's touring the U.S. with her debut album, Sing To The Moon.
She even stopped at NPR last ...
Siblings' Separation Haunts In 'Kite Runner' Author's Latest
Sunday, May 19, 2013
There was a time around 2003, before e-books and e-readers, when it seemed that everywhere you turned — in an airport, on a bus or anywhere people read — people were lost in The Kite Runner. An epic tale set in Afghanistan, the book sold more than 7 million copies ...
Marques Toliver: An R&B Crooner With Strings Attached
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Marques Toliver is an R&B singer, but his music is equally anchored around the violin, on which he is classically trained. He says he discovered the instrument on the first day of his fifth-grade music class — and in a way, the violin chose him.
"There were just tons of ...
Stories Of Hope Amid America's 'Unwinding'
Sunday, May 19, 2013
According to New Yorker writer George Packer, there used to be a kind of deal among Americans — a deal in which everyone had a place.
"People were more constrained than they are today, they had less freedom," he says, "but they had more security and there was a sense ...
She Works: Standing Up And Speaking Out
Sunday, May 19, 2013
For our series on the Changing Lives of Women, we're asking NPR women about their careers — and inviting you to join the conversation. This question goes to NPR's Rachel Martin, the host of Weekend Edition Sunday, who was a longtime foreign correspondent in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Question: When ...
Impossible Choice Faces America's First 'Climate Refugees'
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Climate change is a stark reality in America's northernmost state. Nearly 90 percent of native Alaskan villages are on the coast, where dramatic erosion and floods have become a part of daily life.
Perched on the Ninglick River on the west coast of the state, the tiny town of Newtok ...
Alzheimer's Cases Rise, But Hope Remains
Saturday, May 18, 2013
More than 5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's disease, and the National Institute on Aging estimates that that number is going to triple by 2050 — in part due to aging baby boomers.
The cost of coping with the disease — currently estimated at $215 billion — is ...
'Waiting To Be Heard' No More, Amanda Knox Speaks Out
Saturday, May 18, 2013
When 20-year-old Amanda Knox left for Italy in August 2007, it was supposed to be a carefree year studying abroad.
No one could have foreseen it ending in her being accused, tried and convicted in the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.
The case, and Knox, became an international media ...
Internships: Low-Paid, Unpaid Or Just Plain Illegal?
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Summer is almost here, and with it comes the army of interns marching into countless American workplaces. Yet what was once an opportunity for the inexperienced is becoming a front-line labor issue.
More and more, unpaid and low-paid interns are feeling their labor is being exploited. Some are even willing ...
Ana Popovic Shreds The Belgrade Blues
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Ana Popovic's fiery technique on her Fender Telecaster has earned her an impressive nickname: "The Serbian Scorcher."
Popovic grew up playing the blues in Belgrade during the turbulent time of the fall of communism and the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Her furious fret work and singing brought her to the attention ...
Dan Brown: 'Inferno' Is 'The Book That I Would Want To Read'
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Robert Langdon is back. The Harvard art professor in custom tweeds — and an ever-present Mickey Mouse watch — wakes up in a hospital after getting grazed in the head by a bullet, wondering how he ended up in Florence. He's got a sinister artifact sewn into his coat and ...