Current:Home > MarketsWhat's making us happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and listening-VaTradeCoin
What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and listening
View Date:2025-01-07 14:05:00
This week we celebrated the life of an icon, ranked the SNL musical guests, and talked with the composer of the Succession soundtrack.
Here's what the NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour crew was paying attention to — and what you should check out this weekend.
You're the Worst
"It's this FX show from 2014, it ran 'till 2019. It's kind of a rom-com laced with arsenic ... [with] two, frankly, reprehensible people at the center. You had this struggling alcoholic novelist played by Chris Geere, and then you have this very self-destructive PR executive played by Aya Cash.
And what I love about this show is it, not for a moment, asks you to love these two characters. They are fully set with being themselves in that way. And it's really funny. Ultimately it's a show about finding your person. If you're looking for an unconventional rom-com that will kind of stick to the tropes but also undercut them and really unpack them and interrogate them, I think You're the Worst would be a good choice." — Marc Rivers
60 Songs that Explain the '90s
Well, I'm a couple years late to this, but I have been binging 60 Songs that Explain the '90s, the really fun podcast hosted by Rob Harvilla. Each episode is a different song from the '90s and he digs into their origins, a little bit of back story about the artists, and I just really enjoy it. The first episode from a while back was focused on Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know." He's covering some songs I wasn't very familiar with — or I knew but couldn't tell you who actually performed them — like Gin Blossoms, Geto Boys' "Mind Playing Tricks on Me." And actually the show recently returned with a new episode and it's focused on "Smells Like Teen Spirit." He also has an interview with Courtney Love in that episode. — Aisha Harris
Little Moon winning the Tiny Desk Contest
We just announced the ninth annual winner of our Tiny Desk contest. We've had winners of this contest go on to be nominated for best new artist at the Grammys, like Tank and the Bangas. We've had winners of this contest that have won multiple Grammys, in the case of Fantastic Negrito. And this year's winner is a wonderful band from Utah called Little Moon, which manages to blend this kind of late aughts indie, big band qualities with some real, like, kind of Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom, kind of eccentricity. Like it's fragile but very forceful in really interesting ways. We're going to send them out on a little tour, so watch for tour dates in your area.
This Tiny Desk contest has really unearthed a ton of wonderful music. There's not just the winners. The bands that we discover along the way often wind up playing Tiny Desk concerts later, we've had entries go viral. It's such a wonderful kind of community that has been built out of these contests every year. Every year 5,000 to 6,000 artists enter. So we get so much great music out of it. But I'm really, really, really happy about this year's winner. — Stephen Thompson
More recommendations from the Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter
By Linda Holmes
I am currently listening to the audiobook of the Jenny Jackson book Pineapple Street, about a wealthy Brooklyn family, and it is very engrossing. (This is a book that comes from a division of Penguin Random House; a different division publishes my books.)
Also recently in my book-listening ears: Adam Sternbergh's twisty, complicated The Eden Test, about a couple who gets in way over their heads on a marriage retreat undertaken to reconnect them.
Eric Deggans shared some thoughts about the future of Max as it took over some of the branding from the former HBO Max.
NPR's Tilda Wilson adapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment "What's Making Us Happy" into a digital page. If you like these suggestions, consider signing up for our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
veryGood! (484)
Related
- NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Bobby Allison dies at 86
- Olivia Rodrigo announces 2024 arena world tour with The Breeders, Chappell Roan, PinkPantheress
- Niger’s junta released a French official held for 5 days
- Earth is outside its ‘safe operating space for humanity’ on most key measurements, study says
- Mississippi expects only a small growth in state budget
- 30 years after Oslo, Israeli foreign minister rejects international dictates on Palestinian issue
- Mississippi should revive process to put issues on ballot, Secretary of State Watson says
- Escaped murderer planned to flee to Canada, says cops almost stepped on him
- Jason Kelce Offers Up NSFW Explanation for Why Men Have Beards
- Escaped murderer planned to flee to Canada, says cops almost stepped on him
Ranking
- Teachers in 3 Massachusetts communities continue strike over pay, paid parental leave
- Jalen Hurts, Eagles host Kirk Cousins, Vikings in prime time again in their home opener
- Firefighters fear PFAS in their gear could be contributing to rising cancer cases
- Prime-time headache for NFL? Aaron Rodgers' injury leaves league's schedule in tough spot
- Michelle Obama Is Diving Back into the Dating World—But It’s Not What You Think
- Analysis: Iran-US prisoner swap for billions reveals familiar limits of diplomacy between nations
- Botulism outbreak tied to sardines served in Bordeaux leaves 1 person dead and several hospitalized
- Horoscopes Today, September 13, 2023
Recommendation
-
Gavin Rossdale Makes Rare Public Appearance With Girlfriend Xhoana Xheneti
-
Former suburban Detroit prosecutor gets no additional jail time in sentence on corruption charges
-
Maluma on dreaming big
-
Chevron reports LNG outage at Australian plant as strike action escalates
-
Bradley Cooper and Gigi Hadid Enjoy a Broadway Date Night and All that Jazz
-
Firefighters fear PFAS in their gear could be contributing to rising cancer cases
-
Supporters of effort to repeal ranked voting in Alaska violated rules, report finds
-
Manhunt following shooting of Iowa police officer ends with arrest in Minnesota