Category: DailyShorts

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NPR's Book of the Day - Books by critic Kenneth Turan and actor Rupert Everett show two sides of Hollywood

Two books set in Hollywood show different sides of the film business, from industry-shaping success to the personal frustration of rejection. First, Louis B. Mayer & Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equation is a history of the duo behind MGM Film. The nonfiction book by Kenneth Turan, a regular critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR, follows the unlikely trajectory that led both men to the movies. In today's episode, Turan joins NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation that touches on early MGM films like Ben-Hur and Tarzan the Ape Man, antisemitism in Hollywood, and Mayer's complicated relationship with Judy Garland. Then, Simon speaks with British actor Rupert Everett, who's out with a new collection of short stories inspired by Hollywood rejection. The American No draws from film concepts and screenplays the actor pitched but never got the chance to make. In today's episode, he and Simon discuss Everett's autobiographical writing, his upbringing in a military family, and his early exposure to Julie Andrews.

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Curious City - How does honoring the dead impact the environment?

How should we decide what happens to our bodies when we die? And what implications does that decision have for the living? It’s common to think a burial at a cemetery is the final resting place for a loved one. But as we heard in our last episode, sometimes the need to progress as a society is in direct conflict with the desire to honor the dead. Today, we talk to one of the leaders of the Green Burial Council, funeral director Samuel Perry. His organization advocates and sets standards for “natural” burials, which he calls “the full body burial of the person directly in the ground with only biodegradable materials.” We talk about the practicality of natural burial in Chicago and the very personal and spiritual decisions that add complexity to this corner of the death care industry.
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Bay Curious - Fairy Houses And A Very Green Waterfall

A Bay Area artist in Richmond has been stealthily building and placing fairy houses around his neighborhood. His creations bring ‘endless fun and fascination’ to the East Bay town. And, across the Bay Bridge, a waterfall in Golden Gate Park is sometimes an "alarming shade of green." What's going on with the water there?


Additional Reading


Read the transcript for this episode.


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This story was reported by Pauline Bartolone and Chris Hambrick. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

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Everything Everywhere Daily - Lunar Eclipses

For as long as humans have been watching the night sky, they noticed that every so often, during a full moon, the moon would briefly go dark, or at least change color. 


They often created mythical explanations for the event.


Eventually, this ancient people began to record its occurrences and were able to calculate when it would happen. 


As we learned more about the universe, the explanation for the moon changing became less mythical and more scientific, but it was still a sight to behold.


Learn more about lunar eclipses and how they work on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.


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NPR's Book of the Day - Jennifer Finney Boylan’s latest memoir ‘Cleavage’ is a reflection on transgender life

Jennifer Finney Boylan's 2003 memoir She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders was about her new life as a woman. Since then, Boylan has become a prominent transgender voice. Her latest memoir, Cleavage: Men, Women and the Space Between Us, picks up where her last one left off. In today's episode, Boylan speaks with NPR's Robin Young about transgender rights in today's political climate. She also talks about how there is much more to a trans person's life than their transition, and the challenge of connecting "befores" and "afters" in order to live one life.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - How many times can you say uncertainty in one economic report?

Uncertainty. That's the word-of-the-moment with tariffs, market swings and lots of economic volatility. It's also showing up in the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book, featuring anecdotes across the U.S. economy. On our latest edition of the Beigies, what can a farmer from the Mississippi Delta tell us about uncertainty?

Related episodes:
How USAID cuts hurt farmers (Apple / Spotify)
Why Trump's potential tariffs are making business owners anxious (Apple / Spotify)

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