This week, Taylor Swift delivered tortured poets, Quentin Tarantino had a change of heart, and at least one Oscar hangover went on and on.
Here’s what NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour the crew was attentive – and what you should check out this weekend.
Koreabooon Audible
Audible has a romantic fiction podcast called KoreaBoo this is so cute. Shayla is an English expat in Korea and you expect her to do the stereotypical romance thing and fall for a K-Pop idol, but she ends up falling for her landlord’s son. It’s incredibly cute, sweet and funny. It’s written by Shenee Howard. The episodes are about half an hour long – super easy, delicious and so joyful. — Joëlle Monique
The magician on Broadway
Wayne Brady as The Magician
Jeremy Daniel
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Jeremy Daniel
Wayne Brady as The Magician
Jeremy Daniel
I am delighted to say that the relaunch of The magician brought me so much joy. I saw it in previews and it just opened on Broadway. It’s a multicultural, multi-colored delight. People who go to see it will be asking for the cast recording album because, more than anything, I think what stood out to me was simply the wonderful vocal arrangements and orchestrations in this new version. I think people will really enjoy it. —Soraya Nadia McDonald
Balatro
Youtube
Balatro is a deck-building video game, which means it’s basically poker that you play alone. You are dealt this hand, then you try to create straights, flushes, etc. What makes it addictive is its elegant simplicity: in your hands you have the option to buy random jokers and other cards that do different things. . And as you progress through each game, the number of points you can get you need to win on that hand increases. So once you don’t succeed, that’s it. You start again, your Jokers go away, you start from scratch. You keep playing and playing and playing, because moments occur when the Jokers you’ve assembled interact with each other, and when they do, you see the points multiply exponentially and you feel completely invulnerable. Producer Liz Metzger mentioned this game so I checked it out and when I looked up it was the next day. -Glen Weldon
More recommendations from Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter
by Linda Holmes
Don’t miss Elizabeth Blair’s article for NPR marking Redbone’s 50th anniversary “Come and get your love.” It was the first song by an all-Native American and Mexican group to hit the Billboard Top 10, and it brings together some great memories. This is a very good piece to read and listen to.
With six million views on YouTube, the dance video of the CDK company performing Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” is no hidden gem. But the choreography is fascinating and highly recommended if you’re in the mood for a little mind-blowing movement.
The Hulu series Under the bridge is based on the true story of a teenager from Victoria, British Columbia, who was killed after going out to meet a group of other teenagers. And although this is a dynamic that has already been explored (going back at least to River bank), it is also the opportunity for recent followers of Lily Gladstone to see her play the cop determined to understand what happened. Riley Keough plays a journalist who grew up in Victoria and returned to write a book, only to find herself deeply embroiled in the case.
Beth Novey adapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment “What’s Making Us Happy” for the web. If you like these suggestions, consider subscribe to our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts And Spotify.
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