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Ask Me Another
1:45 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

Soft Rock Cafe

Originally published on Fri February 22, 2013 12:03 pm

Plenty of famous musicians own eateries: Jimmy Buffett's Cheeseburger in Paradise and Flavor Flav's House of Flavor, to name a few. But there are some artists whose names practically demand a dining establishment. In this game, puzzle guru Art Chung describes musical acts and restaurant chains that share a word. See you guys at Taco Bell Biv Devoe!

Ask Me Another
1:45 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

Misquoting Mark Twain

Originally published on Fri February 22, 2013 12:03 pm

As Mark Twain once said, "I cannot believe it is not butter!" Wait, that wasn't him. Host Ophira Eisenberg runs a game to clear up all those quotes commonly (or not so commonly) misattributed to the Artist Formerly Known as Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

Ask Me Another
1:45 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

One Or More

Originally published on Fri February 22, 2013 12:03 pm

You say "I love Prince!" and I respond, "Yes, paisley is my favorite!" Confusing, until I realize you did not mean "p-r-i-n-t-s." In this game, host Ophira Eisenberg quizzes contestants on pairs of English homonyms that, when spoken out loud, can sound either singular or plural.

Ask Me Another
1:45 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

Fifty/Fifty

Originally published on Fri February 22, 2013 12:03 pm

Quick: Who wrote "Summer of 69," Ryan Adams or Bryan Adams? Did you know it was Bryan, or did you flip a coin? In this week's Ask Me One More final round, puzzle guru Art Chung gives our finalists a range of trivia questions with two possible answers. Decisions, decisions.

Ask Me Another
1:45 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

Let's Get Randy

Originally published on Fri February 22, 2013 12:03 pm

Songwriter Randy Newman has written some of the most beloved and memorable movie theme songs, like "You've Got a Friend in Me." But what if he applied his folksy talents to the theme of "Goodfellas"? In this quiz, guest musical raconteurs Paul and Storm grant our fondest wish by subjecting various movies to the Randy Newman theme treatment.

Movie Reviews
1:20 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

Voting Pinochet Out Was More Than Just A Yes Or 'No'

Credit Sony Pictures Classics
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as an advertising man in Chile under Pinochet in the 2012 film No, which is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Originally published on Wed February 20, 2013 1:40 pm

These days politics and advertising go hand in hand. Mayors stage photo ops. The Bush administration compared the Iraq war to rolling out a new product. And just last year, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney spent nearly a billion dollars running for president. If you're an American, such wall-to-wall marketing has come to seem a natural phenomenon, like Hurricane Sandy or LeBron James.

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Books
1:20 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

Jake Tapper: 'The Outpost' That Never Should Have Been

Originally published on Wed February 20, 2013 3:10 pm

As the White House correspondent for ABC News, Jake Tapper covered the war in Afghanistan from what he calls "the comfort of the North Lawn of the White House."

"I had not been a war reporter in any sense other than debates about the war in Washington, D.C.," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

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Books
1:04 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

Finding A Path For Pakistan At The Karachi Literature Festival

Originally published on Wed February 20, 2013 4:26 pm

Friends in Karachi had me over for a beer Sunday evening. It wasn't hard for them to do. Alcohol is broadly outlawed in Pakistan, but with so many exceptions and so little enforcement, you can usually find something — in this case, tallboy cans of Murree's Millennium Brew from a Pakistani brewery.

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Book Reviews
7:03 am
Wed February 20, 2013

Undercurrents Of Unease In Kasischke's 'Stranger'

Originally published on Wed February 20, 2013 10:18 am

As writers churn out novels about zombies and the apocalypse — books that portray our shared anxieties about the early 21st century — Laura Kasischke's first collection of stories, If a Stranger Approaches You, describes a world haunted, not by the undead, but by the phantoms of unemployment, increased airport security and missed credit card payments. The signature confluence between realism and the uncanny found in much of Kasischke's writing, both as poet and novelist, makes this book an important addition to her own body of work and to the contemporary literature of end times.

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Books
7:03 am
Wed February 20, 2013

Beyond Visible: LGBT Characters In Graphic Novels

Credit Fantagraphics
The Heart of Thomas, by Moto Hagio, was one of the first Japanese comics to deal with same-sex relationships.

OK, yes: To gay comics fans like me, DC Comics' decision to hire an anti-gay activist like Orson Scott Card to write Superman — an iconic character who exists to represent humanity's noblest ideals of justice and compassion — is deeply dispiriting.

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