美国国家公共电台 NPR The Long And The Short Of It（在线收听）

The Long And The Short Of It

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Let's meet our next two contestants. Amanda Chapin, you - what? - collect VHS tapes.

AMANDA CHAPIN: Yeah.

EISENBERG: What's going on there?

CHAPIN: Well, all the best - and by best I mean, like, worst - movies never got brought out onto DVD, so...

(APPLAUSE)

CHAPIN: And before, like, everything was online, you know...

EISENBERG: Yeah.

CHAPIN: ...You could only get them on VHS.

EISENBERG: And are you looking for something that will end your collection, like if you could just find this one specific VHS?

CHAPIN: There's a lot. Actually, there's like whole communities online where they, like, trade. And it's like - there's some that go on eBay for, like, $700. It's really crazy. Yeah.

EISENBERG: What's the last one you purchased?

CHAPIN: I don't know the last one. But my favorite one is "Nudist Colony Of The Dead." So...

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: That sounds like a French film.

CHAPIN: Yeah, it's musical.

EISENBERG: It's a musical?

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: It's fantastic. And Kevin Bianchi...

KEVIN BIANCHI: Yeah.

EISENBERG: ...You are on a mission to collect every Meryl Streep movie ever made.

BIANCHI: Sure am, sure am.

EISENBERG: OK, yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: How many do you own?

BIANCHI: I'm at about 40. I have, like, 20 left.

EISENBERG: What's the hardest one to find?

BIANCHI: So there's this, like, educational film that she made when she was still at Yale. And it goes for about $140 on Amazon. But I am determined to find it not on Amazon...

EISENBERG: Yeah.

BIANCHI: ...'Cause that's kind of cheating.

EISENBERG: Totally.

BIANCHI: And it's like...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Order it online...

BIANCHI: ...That's the easy way, you know? Like...

EISENBERG: So, like, you're going to...

BIANCHI: You've got to dig through those $5 bins and...

EISENBERG: Yes, I like it. OK, well, very good.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Well, you may or may not know this, E is the most commonly used letter in the English language. But you can never have too much of a good thing, am I right? So in this game, you'll insert the letter E into a common phrase and turn it into a completely different phrase. Let's go to our puzzle guru Art Chung to give us an example.

ART CHUNG: If I said after an hour of SoulCycle, I learned a lot about the bones in my back, you would answer spine class, adding the letter E to spin class.

EISENBERG: OK, so each clue will hint at both the original phrase and the new phrase that you get when you add an E. Let's see how it goes. This menacing figure comes with a scythe to collect the souls of the dearly dirty departed.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Kevin.

BIANCHI: The grime grim - grim grime?

EISENBERG: OK, you're close.

BIANCHI: The Grime Reaper.

EISENBERG: There you go, yes. I knew you could do it.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Yes. It's a place where exotic dancers collect dollar bills and place them in evenly spaced horizontal lines.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Amanda.

CHAPIN: Stripe club?

EISENBERG: Exactly, yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: This surprise test is administered to cardinals at the Vatican. Surprise test...

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Amanda.

CHAPIN: Pope quiz.

EISENBERG: Exactly.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: How about this one? This wearable gadget helps you lose weight by tearing at your flesh with its teeth. Wearable...

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Kevin.

BIANCHI: Is it a fitbite?

EISENBERG: It is a fitbite, yes.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: I think people would prefer that to steps.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: In high school, this student is clearly the instructor's favorite, probably because he's the lead guitarist of The Who.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Amanda.

CHAPIN: Teacher's Pete.

EISENBERG: Exactly, yes.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: A really bad choice for the Yankees new uniforms that the players keep tripping on this superhero cloak as they run.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Kevin.

BIANCHI: A baseball cape.

EISENBERG: Exactly, yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Sounds like something the Yankees would do, right? Most expensive capes in the league. All right, this is your last clue. This world renowned R&B group is famous for its song Midnight Drain to Georgia.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Kevin.

BIANCHI: Gladys Knight and the Pipes.

EISENBERG: That is absolutely correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Puzzle guru Art Chung, how did our contestants do?

CHUNG: It was a close game. It came down to the final question. Congratulations Kevin, you're moving on to the final round at the end of the show.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: If you want to come on stag to play our gams and win a Rubik's cub, apply to be a contestant on our show. Just go to tickets.org, and we will send you an email.

Coming up, do you know your plays? Do you know your movies? Do you know your plays that have become movies? Well, let's hope our guests do because I'll be talking with director Ira Sachs and actor Jennifer Ehle, so stay tuned. I'm Ophira Eisenberg, and you're listening to ASK ME ANOTHER from NPR.