美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Monkey See' Highlights Small Bright Spots In Pop Culture This Year

'Monkey See' Highlights Small Bright Spots In Pop Culture This Year

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Once a day until December 25, the Monkey See blog is highlighting a small good thing that happened in pop culture this year. And we do mean small - a moment from a movie or TV show, a passage from a book or poem, a panel from a comic. It's called the pop culture advent² calendar. NPR contributor Glen Weldon is the brains behind this project, and he joins me now to talk about it. Welcome to the studio, Glen.

GLEN WELDON, BYLINE³: Thanks, Audie.

CORNISH: All right, so we obviously associate the advent calendar with Christmas. I don't know if you grew up religious, but why this format⁴?

WELDON: Well, I grew up with not one but two advent calendars in the house, both on the fridge, the one that was one verse of the Nativity story every day, and the other one that my brother and I called the fun one, which - let's slap a big old asterisk⁵ on that word fun because it was just...

CORNISH: OK (laughter).

WELDON: It was a picture of a different toy. It was a picture of a ball or a picture of a rocking horse. And...

CORNISH: ...Right, you open these little windows...

WELDON: Exactly.

CORNISH: ...And behind it was an image.

WELDON: So with this project, if I can give people the same amount of joy a 10-year-old feels when he opens up that door and he sees a picture of a rocking horse, then I think my work will be done here.

CORNISH: So you're already a few days into this. Give us some examples of some good pop culture moments that you've chosen to highlight.

WELDON: Yeah. I mean, as you said, I was going for small, specific and good. So not necessarily uplift, not necessarily sentimental⁶ because that's not really how I roll. But let's take - for example, the very first one was the opening image from the sixth episode of the television show "Atlanta." That opening shot, which is the back of a woman's head who is sitting in a very fancy restaurant, doesn't look like anything else in the series. It just signifies to us that we're about to jump into somebody else's head for the first time.

CORNISH: Another moment came from a movie that flew under the radar⁷ for a lot of people. It's called "The Lobster⁸." The actor Colin Farrell is in it, also Rachel Weisz. I think the plot of the film is a world where people must fall in love by a certain time, and if they fail to make that deadline they are turned into the animal of their choice (laughter).

WELDON: Classic Hollywood plot, really.

CORNISH: Did I get that right?

WELDON: You did.

CORNISH: Rom-com for the ages?

WELDON: It's this incredibly dryly absurd and absurdly dry comedy that I just love. And in this scene, Colin Farrell is talking to the hotel manager, Olivia Colman, and he's explaining his choice of, well, where the title comes from.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE LOBSTER")

OLIVIA COLMAN: (As Hotel Manager) Now, have you thought of what animal you'd like to be if you end up alone?

COLIN FARRELL: (As David) Yes, a lobster.

COLMAN: (As Hotel Manager) Why a lobster?

FARRELL: (As David) Because lobsters⁹ live for over 100 years, are blue-blooded like aristocrats¹⁰ and stay fertile all their lives. I also like the sea very much. I waterski and swim quite well since I was a teenager.

COLMAN: (As Hotel Manager) I must congratulate you. The first thing most people think of is a dog.

CORNISH: (Laughter).

WELDON: You can't argue with his logic¹¹.

CORNISH: That's a moment.

WELDON: Right.

CORNISH: There are also moments that aren't kind of set in the art, but outside of it. Lin-Manuel Miranda and his Tony acceptance speech makes the cut of your advent calendar as well. We've all heard a ton about "Hamilton" this year. Obviously, it's, like, one of the big art stories of the year. But why this moment?

WELDON: Because it happened as a response to a tragedy. The Tonys took place the day after the shooting in Orlando at the Pulse nightclub. And the Tonys are a place that felt like it could speak to that. And so when he went up on stage to accept the Tony for Best Score, he rapped his acceptance speech. And there's a very crucial moment that is a response of defiance¹² that I really liked.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA: When senseless acts of tragedy remind us that nothing here is promised, not one day, this show is proof that history remembers. We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger. We rise and fall and light from dying embers remembrances that hope and love lasts longer. And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love - cannot be killed or swept aside.

CORNISH: Yeah.

WELDON: Yeah.

CORNISH: I remember that moment.

WELDON: And that's what I wanted to do with this. So 2016 was a very punishing year for a variety of reasons. We lost a lot of good people. The election certainly was divisive. I wanted to remind people that there are these moments scattered¹³ throughout the year where something good came out of popular culture. There's a challenge in that because I'm finding lots of stuff from the last three months, but I want to go all the way back, all the way back to the beginning of the year to find these things. Which is one reason a lot of the research I'm doing is going back over things like the NPR Book Concierge¹⁴, which just launched today, which has over 300 recommendations of books.

CORNISH: Which is crazy.

WELDON: It is.

CORNISH: Three hundred-plus books (laughter).

WELDON: Yeah. Recommendations from NPR staff people and from freelance critics. And it's just fantastic. And it's really helping¹⁵ me do a lot of this research because I want to not just do movies and television. I want to find poems. I want to find specific passages from books, as you mentioned, panels from comics. I want it to be as diverse as possible.

CORNISH: Well, Glen Weldon, good luck with your mission (laughter).

WELDON: Thanks. Thanks.

CORNISH: Glen Weldon. He is an NPR contributor and panelist on the podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

5 asterisk   

n.星号，星标

参考例句：

• The asterisk refers the reader to a footnote.星号是让读者参看脚注。
• He added an asterisk to the first page.他在第一页上加了个星号。

6 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

7 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

8 lobster   

n.龙虾，龙虾肉

参考例句：

• The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
• I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾，但它不适宜于我的健康。

9 lobsters   

龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉

参考例句：

• I have no idea about how to prepare those cuttlefish and lobsters. 我对如何烹调那些乌贼和龙虾毫无概念。
• She sold me a couple of live lobsters. 她卖了几只活龙虾给我。

10 aristocrats   

n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many aristocrats were killed in the French Revolution. 许多贵族在法国大革命中被处死。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To the Guillotine all aristocrats! 把全部贵族都送上断头台！ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

11 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

12 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

13 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

14 concierge   

n.管理员；门房

参考例句：

• This time the concierge was surprised to the point of bewilderment.这时候看门人惊奇到了困惑不解的地步。
• As I went into the dining-room the concierge brought me a police bulletin to fill out.我走进餐厅的时候，看门人拿来一张警察局发的表格要我填。

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。