Podcast appearances and mentions of Wesley Morris

A few weeks ago, “Cannonball” hosted its first live show at the 2026 Tribeca Festival. Wesley Morris thought to himself, “What could we talk about in front of a bunch of New Yorkers that would be interesting to them?” And then the answer came to him: New York movies! Movies about New York City. Joining him for the conversation is Cynthia Nixon, one of our great New Yorkers. She's made iconic work in the city (like, of course, “Sex and the City”) and is a fierce advocate for the TV and film industry to continue making work here. Also, no big deal, she ran for governor in 2018. Together, Wesley and Cynthia chat about three N.Y.C. movies of their choice: “Breakfast at Tiffany's,” “The Taking of Pelham 123" and “The Wiz.” Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Gabfest's end is nigh but we've still got a few bits of culture to gab upon. This week, Steve and Dana are joined by longtime Gabfest star pinch hitter Dan Kois. First up for consideration: Pixar's Toy Story 5. In this fifth installment of the computer animation studio's flagship franchise, the threat to the vital bond between toy and child are computers themselves. Will Pixar, of all entities, save us from the threat of screentime? Maybe not. Is it nice to be back with Woody, Buzz, Jesse and the gang of plushies, dolls, and various transitional objects? Maybe so.Next, the panel drops into the indie comedy ecosystem of the streaming service Dropout TV and talks about its chaotic cult hit game show Game Changer, now in its eighth season. Does the goofy hijinks therein offer a framework for the future of TV? They discuss. Finally, supreme, very special friend of the program (SVSFOP) Wesley Morris joins to talk about the New York Times' package on the six sentences that define America and his essay in it about Nina Simone's “Mississippi Goddam.”In our bonus episode, Wesley sticks around to theorize with Steve, Dana, and Julia about the point of even having podcasts about culture.EndorsementsDana: "What Steven Spielberg Taught Me About Fear, Catharsis, and Being Human" by Wesley Morris in The New York Times as well as, maybe for the first time ever for Dana in Gabfest history, a piece of technology: the MacBook Neo.Julia: The ongoing career—after composing the Gabfest theme—of the composer Nicholas Britell including his work for the NBA and particularly the composition "Agape" on the film score of If Beale Street Could Talk. Wesley: The potato salad recipe in Pearl Bailey's cookbook Pearl's Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook.Dan: Writing fan mail to authors whose work you love. Also, the music of the recently departed South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, particularly the album Mindif.Steve: The semi-fictionalized documentary about David Hockney A Bigger Splash and Philip French's review of it for BFI. Also, David Denby's 1990 New York Review of Books essay "The Real Thing" about the documentarian Frederick Wiseman. --Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com. Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Gabfest's end is nigh but we've still got a few bits of culture to gab upon. This week, Steve and Dana are joined by longtime Gabfest star pinch hitter Dan Kois. First up for consideration: Pixar's Toy Story 5. In this fifth installment of the computer animation studio's flagship franchise, the threat to the vital bond between toy and child are computers themselves. Will Pixar, of all entities, save us from the threat of screentime? Maybe not. Is it nice to be back with Woody, Buzz, Jesse and the gang of plushies, dolls, and various transitional objects? Maybe so.Next, the panel drops into the indie comedy ecosystem of the streaming service Dropout TV and talks about its chaotic cult hit game show Game Changer, now in its eighth season. Does the goofy hijinks therein offer a framework for the future of TV? They discuss. Finally, supreme, very special friend of the program (SVSFOP) Wesley Morris joins to talk about the New York Times' package on the six sentences that define America and his essay in it about Nina Simone's “Mississippi Goddam.”In our bonus episode, Wesley sticks around to theorize with Steve, Dana, and Julia about the point of even having podcasts about culture.EndorsementsDana: "What Steven Spielberg Taught Me About Fear, Catharsis, and Being Human" by Wesley Morris in The New York Times as well as, maybe for the first time ever for Dana in Gabfest history, a piece of technology: the MacBook Neo.Julia: The ongoing career—after composing the Gabfest theme—of the composer Nicholas Britell including his work for the NBA and particularly the composition "Agape" on the film score of If Beale Street Could Talk. Wesley: The potato salad recipe in Pearl Bailey's cookbook Pearl's Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook.Dan: Writing fan mail to authors whose work you love. Also, the music of the recently departed South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, particularly the album Mindif.Steve: The semi-fictionalized documentary about David Hockney A Bigger Splash and Philip French's review of it for BFI. Also, David Denby's 1990 New York Review of Books essay "The Real Thing" about the documentarian Frederick Wiseman. --Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com. Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's no secret that Steven Spielberg is fascinated with the cosmos. His latest aliens-are-among-us action thriller, “Disclosure Day,” follows a TV weatherperson (Emily Blunt) and an encryption specialist (Josh O'Connor) as they attempt to understand their connection to life beyond this planet. In doing so, they get entangled in a government cover-up. Ahead of the movie's release, Wesley Morris spent time with Spielberg and wrote a profile of him for The New York Times Magazine. The 79-year-old director's appetite for telling stories on the big screen is undiminished — he's preparing to make his first western — but Wesley writes that as Hollywood adapts to the streaming era, “the idea of a Steven Spielberg has felt endangered.” And so, there's only one person for Wesley to call when a new Spielberg drops: Eric Hynes, Wesley's pal and former co-worker from Kim's Video in New York City. They started their Spielberg conversation over 25 years ago as young cinephiles. On today's episode, it continues. Together, they consider the evolution of aliens in Spielberg's work, relive memorable onscreen sequences and think about the strength of the filmmaker's more-than-half-century canon. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Disclosure Day is the 35th commercially released feature film directed by Steven Spielberg. It’s his 10th sci-fi movie and his fifth specifically about alien encounters. It is written by David Koepp from a story by Spielberg, and it stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colman Domingo, and Colin Firth. And then: We did a whole show about Steven Spielberg when he turned 70. With his 80th birthday coming later this year, The Nose looks at Spielberg more generally through the lens of Wesley Morris’ recent profile. GUESTS: James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each spring, in the months leading up to the Tony Awards, Wesley Morris tries to see as many Broadway shows as he can. And this season's spree (including “Ragtime,” “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” “Proof,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Giant") left him with the question: Where are the challenging shows? There were some great performances, but the productions seemed designed to reflect his values and make him feel good. Doesn't the best theater raise uncomfortable questions, and not give clear answers? Shouldn't the shows vying for Broadway's top awards be a bit more difficult? To work through these feelings, and to help wrap his head around this season, Wesley invites Helen Shaw, The Times's chief theater critic, to compare notes. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” ends this week. When CBS announced the show's cancellation last summer, the network said in a statement that it was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” There's still some debate around what happened and why, but for Wesley Morris, the demise of the long-running franchise brought up feelings about another late-night show: “Saturday Night Live.” Maybe, after 51 years, “S.N.L.” should end too. So Wesley invited Jason Zinoman, a Times critic at large, to discuss “S.N.L.” and the beleaguered state of late-night television. What is worth saving? Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wesley Morris liked “The Devil Wears Prada 2” more than he thought he would. He didn't need this sequel, but it captures the spirit of the original well enough. Miranda and Andy, played by Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, are the same. Miranda still queen and Andy still a grunt. But this time around Andy is a grunt with a staff and a little bit power. She moved on up! This got Wesley to thinking: What happened to the stories about working class people? Ones about folk with basic, common man smarts being just as good (if not better) than elites at the top? Blue collar workers and the middle class used to dominate the screen. Now their bosses are taking center stage. And so, Wesley looks back on how one onscreen trend led to the other. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this week's episode of "Cannonball," Jon and Joe sit down with Wesley Morris and Sasha Weiss to discuss how The New York Times Magazine's 30 Greatest Songwriters list came together. They rehash their biggest debates from the process, react to the perceived snubs, engage with reader comments and share some of their personal regrets. - Watch the video episode here. - Read the full list here. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“Michael,” the new Michael Jackson biopic, knows what it's doing. That's clear from the opening shot: high-water pants and white socks pushed down to a pair of black penny loafers. It's appealing to a very specific version of our memories of Michael Jackson. The version some of us prefer to hold onto. But in doing so, it avoids the truth. Our qualms with the King of Pop? Forget about that. Be horrified by Joe Jackson's abusive parenting. Where's Janet Jackson and Diana Ross? Nevermind them. Look, it's Bubbles the chimp! The child molestation allegations? Eh, let's just play another No. 1 hit instead! Besides, moviegoers are not complaining. “Michael” crushed box office records. With the best opening weekend for a biopic ever, it's a hit. None of this comes as a shock to Wesley Morris, but he's left with some complicated feelings. His pal, the film curator Eric Hynes, shares these feelings, too. Together, they review the movie and wrestle with the Michael Jackson biopic that could have been. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

https://m.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?sid=tindogpodcast&_pgn=1&isRefine=true&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l49496 Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated science fiction adventure film directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Tab Murphy. Produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, it stars Michael J. Fox, James Garner, Cree Summer, Don Novello, Phil Morris, Claudia Christian, Jacqueline Obradors, Florence Stanley, David Ogden Stiers, John Mahoney, Jim Varney, Corey Burton and Leonard Nimoy. Set in 1914, the film follows young linguist Milo Thatch, who gains possession of a sacred book, which he believes will guide him and a crew of mercenaries to the lost city of Atlantis. Development of the film began after production had finished on The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Instead of another musical, directors Trousdale and Wise, producer Hahn, and screenwriter Murphy decided to do an adventure film inspired by the works of Jules Verne. Atlantis: The Lost Empire was notable for adopting the distinctive visual style of comic book artist Mike Mignola, one of the film's production designers. The film made greater use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) than any of Disney's previous traditionally animated features and remains one of the few to have been shot in anamorphic format. Linguist Marc Okrand constructed an Atlantean language specifically for use in the film. James Newton Howard provided the film's musical score. The film was released at a time when audience interest in animated films was shifting away from traditional animation toward films with full CGI. Atlantis: The Lost Empire premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on June 3, 2001, and went into its general release on June 15. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Budgeted at around $90–120 million, Atlantis grossed over $186 million worldwide, $84 million of which was earned in North America; its lackluster box office response was identified as a result of being released in competition with Shrek, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Fast and the Furious and Dr. Dolittle 2. As a result of the film's box office failure, Disney cancelled a planned spin-off animated television series, Team Atlantis; an underwater Disneyland attraction; and a volcanic Magic Kingdom attraction based on it. Atlantis was nominated for several awards, including seven Annie Awards, and won Best Sound Editing at the 2002 Golden Reel Awards. The film was released on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002, and on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013. Despite its initial reception, reception in later years became favorable and has given Atlantis a cult following[5] and reappraisal from critics as a mistreated classic, due in part to Mignola's unique artistic influence.[6][7] A direct-to-video sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return, was released in 2003. Plot In 1914 Washington, D.C., archaeo-linguist Milo Thatch obsesses over finding the legendary lost city of Atlantis, believed to have sunk thousands of years ago. His employers ridicule his theories, but he gains an unexpected ally in eccentric millionaire Preston B. Whitmore, a friend of Milo's deceased adventurer grandfather who also sought the city. Determined to honor his old friend's quest, Whitmore recruits Milo for an expedition to Atlantis, having recently uncovered the Shepherd's Journal, an ancient Atlantean manuscript that contains directions to the lost city. Aboard the submarine Ulysses, Milo meets his teammates: Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke, Lieutenant Helga Sinclair, demolitions expert Vincenzo Santorini, geologist Gaetan "Mole" Molière, medical officer Joshua Sweet, mechanic Audrey Ramirez, radio operator Wilhelmina Packard, mess cook Jebidiah "Cookie" Farnsworth, and a platoon of mercenaries. Upon reaching a cave entrance leading to the lost city, the submarine is destroyed by a massive mechanical leviathan, killing most of the crew. Milo and the survivors escape in smaller craft, navigating through the cave to emerge among ancient ruins. Milo translates the journal, guiding the team through caves beneath a dormant volcano until they reach the worn remains of Atlantis. There, they are greeted by Princess Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh, who, despite being around 8,500 years old, has the appearance of a young woman. She leads them to her father, King Kashekim, who orders them to leave. Learning that Milo can read their language—a skill lost to the Atlanteans over millennia—Kida asks for his help in uncovering their forgotten history and highly-advanced technology, without which the city has declined and resources have dwindled. Milo learns that Atlantis is powered by the Heart of Atlantis, a massive crystal that grants longevity and health to its citizens through the smaller crystals they carry. Rourke betrays Milo and the Atlanteans, revealing his true intention to steal the Heart for profit, despite knowing the Atlanteans will perish without it. He mortally wounds the King while seizing control and uncovers the crystal's hidden location beneath the city. Sensing the danger, the crystal merges with Kida, who is then captured by Rourke. He departs with the crystallized Kida and his mercenaries, except for Vincenzo, Molière, Sweet, Audrey, Packard, and Cookie, who refuse to take part in the Atlanteans' destruction. Before dying, the King reveals that Atlantis was devastated by a megatsunami after he attempted to weaponize the crystal's vast power. To protect the city, the crystal merged with a royal family member, Kida's mother. This created a protective dome over the city's inner district, shielding it from total destruction as Atlantis sank beneath the waves, but Kida's mother never returned. To prevent the crystal from ever merging with Kida, the King hid it, inadvertently accelerating Atlantis' decline. He warns Milo that Kida will be lost forever if she is not soon separated from the crystal and pleads with him to save her. Alongside his allies, Milo rallies the Atlanteans to reactivate their long-dormant flying machines. Together, they eliminate Rourke and his mercenaries in the volcano. Milo and the others fly the crystallized Kida back to Atlantis as the volcano erupts. Kida ascends into the air and awakens Stone Guardians, who erect a barrier that shields the city from the lava flow. With Atlantis saved, the crystal separates from Kida and remains suspended in the sky. Milo chooses to stay in Atlantis with Kida, having fallen in love with her. Before returning to the surface, Vincenzo, Molière, Sweet, Audrey, Packard, and Cookie each receive a small crystal and a share of treasure. The six reunite with Preston on the surface and agree to keep their adventure a secret to protect Atlantis. Preston opens a package from Milo containing his own crystal and a note thanking him. The newly crowned Queen Kida and Milo carve a stone effigy of her father to join those of past rulers floating beside the Heart of Atlantis, as the city stands restored to its former glory. Voice cast Production layout sketch of Milo and Kida. Milo's character design was based in part on sketches of the film's language consultant, Marc Okrand. Michael J. Fox as Milo James Thatch, a linguist and cartographer at the Smithsonian who was recruited to decipher The Shepherd's Journal while directing an expedition to Atlantis. James Garner as Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke, the leader of the band of mercenaries for the Atlantean expedition. Cree Summer as Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh, the Princess of Atlantis and Milo's love interest. Natalie Strom provided dialogue for Kida as a young child. Summer also voiced the unnamed Queen of Atlantis, Kida's mother and Kashekim's wife who was "chosen" by the Crystal during the sinking of the city. John Mahoney as Preston B. Whitmore, an eccentric millionaire who funds the expedition to Atlantis. Lloyd Bridges was originally cast and recorded as Whitmore, but he died before completing the film. Mahoney's zest and vigor led to Whitmore's personality being reworked for the film.[8] Claudia Christian as Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair, Rourke's German-born second-in-command. Don Novello as Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini, an Italian demolitions expert. Phil Morris as Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet, a medic of African-American and Arapaho descent. Jacqueline Obradors as Audrey Rocio Ramirez, a Puerto Rican mechanic and the youngest member of the expedition. Corey Burton as Gaetan "Mole" Molière, a French geologist who acts like a mole. Jim Varney as Jebidiah Allardyce "Cookie" Farnsworth, a Western-style chuckwagon chef. Varney died in February 2000, before the production ended, and the film was dedicated to his memory. Steven Barr recorded supplemental dialogue for Cookie. Florence Stanley as Wilhelmina Bertha Packard: an elderly, sarcastic, chain-smoking radio operator who is also the expedition's photographer. Leonard Nimoy as Kashekim Nedakh, the King of Atlantis and Kida's father. David Ogden Stiers as Fenton Q. Harcourt, a board member of the Smithsonian Institution who dismisses Milo's belief in the existence of Atlantis. Production Development The production team visited New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns to get a sense of the underground spaces depicted in the film. The idea for Atlantis: The Lost Empire was conceived in October 1996 when Don Hahn, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, and Tab Murphy lunched at a Mexican restaurant in Burbank, California. Having recently completed The Hunchback of Notre Dame,[9] the producer, directors and screenwriter wanted to keep the Hunchback crew together for another film with an "Adventureland" setting rather than a "Fantasyland" setting.[10] Drawing inspiration from Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), they set out to make a film which would fully explore Atlantis (compared to the brief visit depicted in Verne's novel).[11] While primarily utilizing the Internet to research the mythology of Atlantis,[12] the filmmakers became interested in the clairvoyant readings of Edgar Cayce and decided to incorporate some of his ideas—notably that of a mother-crystal which provides power, healing, and longevity to the Atlanteans—into the story.[13] They also visited museums and old army installations to study the technology of the early 20th century (the film's time period), and traveled underground in New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns to view the subterranean trails which would serve as a model for the approach to Atlantis in the film.[14] The filmmakers wanted to avoid the common depiction of Atlantis as "crumbled Greek columns underwater", said Wise.[15] "From the get-go, we were committed to designing it top to bottom. Let's get the architectural style, clothing, heritage, customs, how they would sleep, and how they would speak. So we brought people on board who would help us develop those ideas."[16] Art director David Goetz stated, "We looked at Mayan architecture, styles of ancient, unusual architecture from around the world, and the directors really liked the look of Southeast Asian architecture."[17] The team later took ideas from other architectural forms, including Cambodian, Indian, and Tibetan works.[18] Hahn added, "If you take and deconstruct architecture from around the world into one architectural vocabulary, that's what our Atlantis looks like."[19] The overall design and circular layout of Atlantis were also based on the writings of Plato,[18] and his quote "in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea"[20] was influential from the beginning of production.[9] The crew wore T-shirts which read "ATLANTIS—Fewer songs, more explosions" due to the film's plan as an action-adventure (unlike previous Disney animated features, which were musicals).[21] Language The Atlantean letter A, created by artist John Emerson. Kirk Wise noted that its design was a treasure map showing the path to the crystal, "The Heart of Atlantis". Main article: Atlantean language Marc Okrand, who developed the Klingon language for the Star Trek television and theatrical productions, was hired to devise the Atlantean language for Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Guided by the directors' initial concept for it to be a "mother-language", Okrand employed an Indo-European word stock with its own grammatical structure. He would change the words if they began to sound too much like an actual, spoken language.[16] John Emerson designed the written component, making hundreds of random sketches of individual letters from among which the directors chose the best to represent the Atlantean alphabet.[22][23] The written language was boustrophedon: designed to be read left-to-right on the first line, then right-to-left on the second, continuing in a zigzag pattern to simulate the flow of water.[24] The Atlantean [A] is a shape developed by John Emerson. It is a miniature map of the city of Atlantis (i.e., the outside of the swirl is the cave, the inside shape is the silhouette of the city, and the dot is the location of the crystal). It's a treasure map. — Kirk Wise, director[25] Writing Joss Whedon was the first writer to be involved with the film but soon left to work on other Disney projects. According to him, he "had not a shred" in the movie.[26] Tab Murphy completed the screenplay, stating that the time from initially discussing the story to producing a script that satisfied the film crew was "about three to four months".[27] The initial draft was 155 pages, much longer than a typical Disney film script (which usually runs 90 pages). When the first two acts were timed at 120 minutes, the directors cut characters and sequences and focused more on Milo. Murphy said that he created the centuries-old Shepherd's Journal because he needed a map for the characters to follow throughout their journey.[28] A revised version of the script eliminated the trials encountered by the explorers as they navigated the caves to Atlantis. This gave the film a faster pace because Atlantis is discovered earlier in the story.[29] The directors often described the Atlanteans using Egypt as an example. When Napoleon wandered into Egypt, the people had lost track of their once-great civilization. They were surrounded by artifacts of their former greatness but somehow unaware of what they meant. — Don Hahn, producer[30] The character of Milo J. Thatch was originally supposed to be a descendant of Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard the pirate. The directors later related him to an explorer so he would discover his inner talent for exploration.[31] The character of Molière was originally intended to be "professorial" but Chris Ure, a story artist, changed the concept to that of a "horrible little burrowing creature with a wacky coat and strange headgear with extending eyeballs", said Wise.[32][33] Don Hahn pointed out that the absence of songs presented a challenge for a team accustomed to animating musicals, as action scenes alone would have to carry the film. Kirk Wise said it gave the team an opportunity for more on-screen character development: "We had more screen time available to do a scene like where Milo and the explorers are camping out and learning about one another's histories. An entire sequence is devoted to having dinner and going to bed. That is not typically something we would have the luxury of doing."[16] Hahn stated that the first animated sequence completed during production was the film's prologue. The original version featured a Viking war party using The Shepherd's Journal to find Atlantis and being swiftly dispatched by the Leviathan. Near the end of production, story supervisor John Sanford told the directors that he felt this prologue did not give viewers enough emotional involvement with the Atlanteans. Despite knowing that the Viking prologue was finished and it would cost additional time and money to alter the scene, the directors agreed with Sanford. Trousdale went home and completed the storyboards later that evening after visiting a strip club where he boarded the new sequence on a napkin.[34] The opening was replaced by a sequence depicting the destruction of Atlantis, which introduced the film from the perspective of the Atlanteans and Princess Kida.[35] The Viking prologue is included as an extra feature on the DVD release.[36] Casting Kirk Wise, one of the directors, said that they chose Michael J. Fox for the role of Milo because they felt he gave his characters his own personality and made them more believable on screen. Fox said that voice acting was much easier than his past experience with live action because he did not have to worry about what he looked like in front of a camera while delivering his lines.[37] The directors mentioned that Fox was also offered a role for Titan A.E.; he allowed his son to choose which film he would work on, and he chose Atlantis.[38] Viewers have noted similarities between Milo and the film's language consultant, Marc Okrand, who developed the Atlantean language used in the film. Okrand stated that Milo's supervising animator, John Pomeroy, sketched him, claiming not to know how a linguist looked or acted.[24] Kida's supervising animator, Randy Haycock, stated that her actress, Cree Summer, was very "intimidating" when he first met her; this influenced how he wanted Kida to look and act on screen when she meets Milo.[39] Wise chose James Garner for the role of Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke because of his previous experience with action films, especially war and Western films, and said the role "fits him like a glove". When asked if he would be interested in the role, Garner replied: "I'd do it in a heartbeat."[40] Producer Don Hahn was saddened that Jim Varney, the voice of Jebidiah Allardyce "Cookie" Farnsworth, never saw the finished film before he died of lung cancer in February 2000, but mentioned that he was shown clips of his character's performance during his site sessions and said, "He loved it." Shawn Keller, supervising animator for Cookie, stated, "It was kind of a sad fact that [Varney] knew that he was not going to be able to see this film before he passed away. He did a bang-up job doing the voice work, knowing the fact that he was never gonna see his last performance." Steven Barr recorded supplemental dialogue for Cookie.[41] John Mahoney, who voiced Preston Whitmore, stated that doing voice work was "freeing" and allowed him to be "big" and "outrageous" with his character.[42] Dr. Joshua Sweet's supervising animator, Ron Husband, indicated that one of the challenges was animating Sweet in sync with Phil Morris' rapid line delivery while keeping him believable. Morris stated that this character was extreme, with "no middle ground"; he mentioned, "When he was happy, he was really happy, and when he's solemn, he's real solemn."[43] Claudia Christian described her character, Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair, as "sensual" and "striking", and was relieved when she finally saw what her character looked like, joking, "I'd hate to, you know, go through all this and find out my character is a toad."[44] Jacqueline Obradors said her character, Audrey Rocio Ramirez, made her "feel like a little kid again" and she always hoped her sessions would last longer.[45] Florence Stanley felt that her character, Wilhelmina Bertha Packard, was very "cynical" and "secure": "She does her job, and when she is not busy, she does anything she wants."[46] Corey Burton mentioned that finding his performance as Gaetan "Mole" Molière was by allowing the character to "leap out" of him while making funny voices. To get into character during his recording sessions, he stated that he would "throw myself into the scene and feel like I'm in this make-believe world".[47] Kirk Wise and Russ Edmonds, supervising animator for Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini, noted Vinny's actor Don Novello's unique ability to improvise dialogue while voicing the role. Edmonds recalled, "[Novello] would look at the sheet, and he would read the line that was written once, and he would never read it again! And we never used a written line, it was improvs, the whole movie."[48] Michael Cedeno, supervising animator for King Kashekim Nedakh, was astounded at Leonard Nimoy's voice talent in the role, stating that he had "so much rich character" in his performance. As he spoke his lines, Cedeno said the crew would sit there and watch Nimoy in astonishment.[49] Animation For comparison, the top image (panoramic view of Atlantis) is cropped to Disney's standard aspect ratio (1.66:1); the bottom image was seen in the film (2.35:1). At the peak of its production, 350 animators, artists and technicians were working on Atlantis[50] at all three Disney animation studios: Walt Disney Feature Animation (Burbank, California), Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida (Orlando), and Disney Animation France (Paris).[51] The film was one of the few Disney animated features produced and shot in 35mm anamorphic format. The directors felt that a widescreen image was crucial, as a nostalgic reference to old action-adventure films presented in the CinemaScope format (2.35:1), noting Raiders of the Lost Ark as an inspiration.[52] Because switching to the format would require animation desks and equipment designed for widescreen to be purchased, Disney executives were at first reluctant about the idea.[16] The production team found a simple solution by drawing within a smaller frame on the same paper and equipment used for standard aspect ratio (1.66:1) Disney-animated films.[52] Layout supervisor Ed Ghertner wrote a guide to the widescreen format for use by the layout artists and mentioned that one advantage of widescreen was that he could keep characters in scenes longer because of additional space to walk within the frame.[53] Wise drew further inspiration for the format from filmmakers David Lean and Akira Kurosawa.[16] The film's visual style was strongly based upon that of Mike Mignola, the comic book artist behind Hellboy. Mignola was one of four production designers (along with Matt Codd, Jim Martin, and Ricardo Delgado) hired by the Disney studio for the film. Accordingly, he provided style guides, preliminary character, and background designs, and story ideas.[54] "Mignola's graphic, the angular style was a key influence on the 'look' of the characters," stated Wise.[55] Mignola was surprised when first contacted by the studio to work on Atlantis.[56] His artistic influence on the film would later contribute to a cult following.[57] I remember watching a rough cut of the film and these characters have these big, square, weird hands. I said to the guy next to me, "Those are cool hands." And he says to me, "Yeah, they're your hands. We had a whole meeting about how to do your hands." It was so weird I couldn't wrap my brain around it. — Mike Mignola[56] The final pull-out shot of the movie, immediately before the end-title card, was described by the directors as the most difficult shot in the history of Disney animation. They said that the pull-out attempt on their prior film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, "struggled" and "lacked depth"; however, after making advances in the process of multiplaning, they tried the technique again in Atlantis. The shot begins with one 16-inch (40.6 cm) piece of paper showing a close-up of Milo and Kida. As the camera pulls away from them to reveal the newly restored Atlantis, it reaches the equivalent of an 18,000-inch (46,000 cm) piece of paper composed of many individual pieces of paper (24 inches [61 cm] or smaller). Each piece was carefully drawn and combined with animated vehicles simultaneously flying across the scene to make the viewer see a complete, integrated image.[58] Scale model of Ulysses submarine by Greg Aronowitz, used by digital animators as reference during production.[59] At the time of its release, Atlantis: The Lost Empire was notable for using more computer-generated imagery (CGI) than any other Disney traditionally animated feature. To increase productivity, the directors had the digital artists work with the traditional animators throughout the production. Several important scenes required heavy use of digital animation: the Leviathan, the Ulysses submarine and sub-pods, the Heart of Atlantis, and the Stone Giants.[60] During production, after Matt Codd and Jim Martin designed the Ulysses on paper, Greg Aronowitz was hired to build a scale model of the submarine, to be used as a reference for drawing the 3D Ulysses.[59] The final film included 362 digital-effects shots, and computer programs were used to seamlessly join the 2D and 3D artwork.[61] One scene that took advantage of this was the "sub-drop" scene, where the 3D Ulysses was dropped from its docking bay into the water. As the camera floated toward it, a 2D Milo was drawn to appear inside, tracking the camera. The crew noted that it was challenging to keep the audience from noticing the difference between the 2D and 3D drawings when they were merged.[62] The digital production also gave the directors a unique "virtual camera" for complicated shots within the film. With the ability to operate in the z-plane, this camera moved through a digital wire-frame set; the background and details were later hand-drawn over the wireframes. This was used in the opening flight scene through Atlantis and the submarine chase through the undersea cavern with the Leviathan in pursuit.[63] Music and sound Since the film would not feature any songs, the directors hired James Newton Howard to compose the score after they heard his music on Dinosaur. Approaching it as a live-action film, Howard decided to have different musical themes for the cultures of the surface world and Atlantis. In the case of Atlantis, Howard chose an Indonesian orchestral sound incorporating chimes, bells, and gongs. The directors told Howard that the film would have a number of key scenes without dialogue; the score would need to convey emotionally what the viewer was seeing on screen.[64] Gary Rydstrom and his team at Skywalker Sound were hired for the film's sound production.[65] Like Howard, Rydstrom employed different sounds for the two cultures. Focusing on the machine and mechanical sounds of the early industrial era for the explorers, he felt that the Atlanteans should have a "more organic" sound utilizing ceramics and pottery. The sound made by the Atlantean flying-fish vehicles posed a particular challenge. Rydstrom revealed that he was sitting at the side of a highway recording one day when a semi-truck drove by at high speed. When the recording was sped up on his computer, he felt it sounded very organic, and decided to use it in the film. Rydstrom created the harmonic chiming of the Heart of Atlantis by rubbing his finger along the edge of a champagne flute, the sound of sub-pods moving through the water with a water pick, while a ceramic pot from a garden store was used for the sounds of the movement of the Giant stone guardians.[66] Release Atlantis: The Lost Empire had its world premiere at Disney's El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on June 3, 2001[67] and a limited release in New York City and Los Angeles on June 8; a wider release followed on June 15.[4][61] At the premiere, Destination: Atlantis was on display, featuring behind-the-scenes props from the film and information on the legend of Atlantis with video games, displays, laser tag, and other attractions. The Aquarium of the Pacific also loaned a variety of fish for display within the attraction.[68] Promotion Atlantis was among Disney's first major attempts to utilize internet marketing. The film was promoted through Kellogg's, which created a website with mini-games and a movie-based video game give-away for UPC labels from specially marked packages of Atlantis breakfast cereal.[50] The film was one of Disney's first marketing attempts through mobile network operators, and allowed users to download games based on the film.[69] McDonald's (which had an exclusive licensing agreement on all Disney releases) promoted the film with Happy Meal toys, food packaging and in-store decor. The McDonald's advertising campaign involved television, radio, and print advertisements beginning on the film's release date.[70] Frito-Lay offered free admission tickets for the film on specially marked snack packages.[71] Home media Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002.[72] During the first month of its home release, the film led in VHS sales and was third in VHS and DVD sales combined.[73] Sales and rentals of the VHS and DVD combined would eventually accumulate $157 million in revenue by mid-2003.[74] Both a single-disc DVD edition and a two-disc collector's edition (with bonus features) were released. The single-disc DVD gave the viewer the option of viewing the film either in its original theatrical 2.39:1 aspect ratio or a modified 1.33:1 ratio (utilizing pan and scan). Bonus features available on the DVD version included audio and visual commentary from the film team, a virtual tour of the CGI models, an Atlantean-language tutorial, an encyclopedia on the myth of Atlantis, and the deleted Viking prologue scene.[72] The two-disc collector's edition DVD contained all the single-disc features and a disc with supplemental material detailing all aspects of the film's production. The collector's-edition film could only be viewed in its original theatrical ratio, and also featured an optional DTS 5.1 track. Both DVD versions, however, contained a Dolby Digital 5.1 track and were THX certified.[72][75] Disney digitally remastered and released Atlantis on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013, bundled with its sequel Atlantis: Milo's Return.[76] Reception Box office Before the film's release, reporters speculated that it would have a difficult run due to competition from Shrek and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Regarding the market's shift from traditional animation and competition with CG-animated films, Kirk Wise said, "Any traditional animator, including myself, can't help but feel a twinge. I think it always comes down to story and character, and one form won't replace the other. Just like photography didn't replace painting. But maybe I'm blind to it."[61] Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly noted that CGI films (such as Shrek) were more likely to attract the teenage demographic typically not interested in animation, and called Atlantis a "marketing and creative gamble".[77] With a budget of $100 million,[3] the film opened at #2 on its debut weekend, behind Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, earning $20.3 million in 3,011 theaters.[78] During its second weekend, it would drop into fourth place behind the latter film, Dr. Dolittle 2 and The Fast and the Furious, making $13.2 million.[79] The film's international release began September 20 in Australia and other markets followed suit.[80] During its 25-week theatrical run, Atlantis: The Lost Empire grossed over $186 million worldwide ($84 million from the United States and Canada).[4] Responding to its disappointing box-office performance, Thomas Schumacher, then-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time to not do a sweet fairy tale, but we missed."[81] Critical response Atlantis: The Lost Empire received mixed reviews from critics,[82][83][84] many of whom criticized its story.[85] The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 48% of 144 professional critics have given Atlantis: The Lost Empire a positive review; the average rating is 5.5/10. The site's consensus is: "Atlantis provides a fast-paced spectacle, but stints on such things as character development and a coherent plot".[86] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 29 reviews from critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[87] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[88] While critics had mixed reactions to the film in general, some praised it for its visuals, action-adventure elements, and attempt to appeal to an older audience. Roger Ebert gave Atlantis three-and-a-half stars out of four. He praised the animation's "clean bright visual look" and the "classic energy of the comic book style", crediting this to the work of Mike Mignola. Ebert gave particular praise to the story and the final battle scene and wrote, "The story of Atlantis is rousing in an old pulp science fiction sort of way, but the climactic scene transcends the rest, and stands by itself as one of the great animated action sequences."[89] In The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell gave high praise to the film, calling it "a monumental treat", and stated, "Atlantis is also one of the most eye-catching Disney cartoons since Uncle Walt institutionalized the four-fingered glove."[90] Internet film critic James Berardinelli wrote a positive review of the film, giving it three out of four stars. He wrote, "On the whole, Atlantis offers 90 minutes of solid entertainment, once again proving that while Disney may be clueless when it comes to producing good live-action movies, they are exactly the opposite when it comes to their animated division."[91] Wesley Morris of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote positively of the film's approach for an older audience: "But just beneath the surface, Atlantis brims with adult possibility."[92] Other critics felt that the film was mediocre in regards to its story and characters, and that it failed to deliver as a non-musical to Disney's traditional audience. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+ rating, writing that the film had "gee-whiz formulaic character" and was "the essence of craft without dream".[93] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said the storyline and characterizations were "old-fashioned" and the film had the retrograde look of a Saturday-morning cartoon, but these deficiencies were offset by its "brisk action" and frantic pace.[94] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Disney pushes into all-talking, no-singing, no-dancing and, in the end, no-fun animated territory."[95] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon wrote of Disney's attempt to make the film for an adult audience, "The big problem with Disney's latest animated feature, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, is that it doesn't seem geared to kids at all: It's so adult that it's massively boring."[96] Rita Kempley of The Washington Post panned the film, calling it a "new-fashioned but old-fangled hash" and wrote, "Ironically Disney had hoped to update its image with this mildly diverting adventure, yet the picture hasn't really broken away from the tried-and-true format spoofed in the far superior Shrek."[97] In 2015, Katharine Trendacosta at io9 reviewed the film and called it a "Beautiful Gem of a Movie That Deserved Better Than It Got" and said that the film deserves more love than it ended up getting.[6] Lindsay Teal considers "Atlantis" to be "a lost Disney classic". Describing the film as highly entertaining, she praises the writing and characterisation – in particular, Sweet, Helga and Kida.[7] In particular, much praise has been given to the character of Kida.[98] Summer has regarded the character of Kida as one of her favourite roles and even considers the character among the official Disney Princess line-up. Themes and interpretations Several critics and scholars have noted that Atlantis plays strongly on themes of anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism. M. Keith Booker, academic and author of studies about the implicit messages conveyed by media, views the character of Rourke as being motivated by "capitalist greed" when he pursues "his own financial gain" in spite of the knowledge that "his theft [of the crystal] will lead to the destruction of [Atlantis]".[99] Religion journalist Mark Pinsky, in his exploration of moral and spiritual themes in popular Disney films, says that "it is impossible to read the movie ... any other way" than as "a devastating, unrelenting attack on capitalism and American imperialism".[100] Max Messier of FilmCritic.com observes, "Disney even manages to lambast the capitalist lifestyle of the adventurers intent on uncovering the lost city. Damn the imperialists!"[101] According to Booker, the film also "delivers a rather segregationist moral" by concluding with the discovery of the Atlanteans kept secret from other surface-dwellers in order to maintain a separation between the two highly divergent cultures.[102] Others saw Atlantis as an interesting look at utopian philosophy of the sort found in classic works of science fiction by H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.[103] Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water controversy When the film was released, some viewers noticed that Atlantis: The Lost Empire was similar to the 1990-91 anime Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, particularly in its character design, setting, and story.[104] The similarities, as noted by viewers in both Japan and America, were strong enough for its production company Gainax to be called to sue for plagiarism. According to Gainax member Yasuhiro Takeda, they only refrained from doing so because the decision belonged to parent companies NHK and Toho.[105] Another Gainax worker, Hiroyuki Yamaga, was quoted in an interview in 2000 as saying: "We actually tried to get NHK to pick a fight with Disney, but even the National Television Network of Japan didn't dare to mess with Disney and their lawyers. [...] We actually did say that but we wouldn't actually take them to court. We would be so terrified about what they would do to them in return that we wouldn't dare."[105] Although Disney never responded formally to those claims, co-director Kirk Wise posted on a Disney animation newsgroup in May 2001, "Never heard of Nadia till it was mentioned in this [newsgroup]. Long after we'd finished production, I might add." He claimed both Atlantis and Nadia were inspired, in part, by the 1870 Jules Verne novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.[106] However, speaking about the clarification, Lee Zion from Anime News Network wrote, "There are too many similarities not connected with 20,000 Leagues for the whole thing to be coincidence."[107] As such, the whole affair ultimately entered popular culture as a convincing case of plagiarism.[108][109][110] In 2018, Reuben Baron from Comic Book Resources added to Zion's comment stating, "Verne didn't specifically imagine magic crystal-based technology, something featured in both the Disney movie and the too similar anime. The Verne inspiration also doesn't explain the designs being suspiciously similar to Nadia's."[110] Critics also saw parallels with the 1986 film Laputa: Castle in the Sky from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli (which also featured magic crystals, and Atlantis directors Trousdale and Wise both acknowledged Miyazaki's works as a major influence on their own work)[104] and with the 1994 film Stargate as Milo's characteristics were said to resemble those of Daniel Jackson, the protagonist of Stargate and its spinoff television series Stargate SG-1 — which coincidentally launched its own spinoff, titled Stargate Atlantis; the plot of the 1994 film is also paralleled involving a group visiting an unknown world, a fictional language made for the other world's people, the main protagonist having apparent knowledge of the people's culture, falling in love with one of the female locals and electing to stay behind when the others return home.[111] Accolades Award Category Name Result 29th Annie Awards[112] Individual Achievement in Directing Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise Nominated Individual Achievement in Storyboarding Chris Ure Nominated Individual Achievement in Production Design David Goetz Nominated Individual Achievement in Effects Animation Marlon West Nominated Individual Achievement in Voice Acting – Female Florence Stanley Nominated Individual Achievement in Voice Acting – Male Leonard Nimoy Nominated Individual Achievement for Music Score James Newton Howard Nominated 2002 DVD Exclusive Awards[113] Original Retrospective Documentary Michael Pellerin Nominated 2002 Golden Reel Award[114] Best Sound Editing – Animated Feature Film Gary Rydstrom, Michael Silvers, Mary Helen Leasman, John K. Carr, Shannon Mills, Ken Fischer, David C. Hughes, and Susan Sanford Won Online Film Critics Society Awards 2001[115] Best Animated Feature Nominated 2002 Political Film Society[116] Democracy Nominated Human Rights Nominated Peace Nominated World Soundtrack Awards[117] Best Original Song for Film Diane Warren and James Newton Howard Nominated Young Artist Awards[118] Best Feature Family Film – Drama Walt Disney Feature Animation Nominated Related works Main article: Atlantis (franchise) Atlantis: The Lost Empire was meant to inspire an animated television series entitled Team Atlantis, which would have presented the further adventures of its characters. The series would have been akin to an animated steampunk version of The X-Files and feature a crossover with Gargoyles. However, because of the film's underperformance at the box office, the series was not produced.[119] On May 20, 2003, Disney released a direct-to-video sequel titled Atlantis: Milo's Return, consisting of three episodes planned for the aborted series.[120] Disneyland planned to revive its Submarine Voyage ride with an Atlantis: The Lost Empire theme with elements from the movie. These plans were canceled and the attraction was re-opened in 2007 as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, its theme based on the 2003 Pixar film Finding Nemo, which was far more successful commercially and critically.[121] In addition, after the Submarine Voyage's Magic Kingdom counterpart, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage, closed down in 1994, four years before Disneyland's, there were proposals of a new attraction that would take its place, with one of them a volcano attraction inspired by that film's Vulcania location, being approved for the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland area. Around 1999, during development of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, it was decided that it would be themed to the movie, with it taking place in 1916, two years after the film's events. The ride would have focused on Preston Whitmore, a character from the film, seeking to make Atlantis existence public and offer expeditions to visitors in newly developed vehicles. However, due to mishaps, the vehicles would be forced to make a detour through the lava-filled caverns of the volcano. The attraction would have used a unique hybrid ride system, in which it would start as a standard coaster before the trains hook up to a suspended track midway through to fly through the caverns. The attraction would have been accessed by a new canyon path in between Pirates of the Caribbean and a re-routed Jungle Cruise that would have led to a Whitmore Enterprises base camp at the edge of the Walt Disney World Railroad path, with the mountain itself being built outside the berm. However, like the previous Submarine Voyage retheme, the ride was cancelled due to the film's disappointment in the box office.[122]

Every spring, Wesley Morris finds himself searching for music that captures the light and breezy feeling that comes with the end of winter. This year, there's an obvious soundtrack to the season: Harry Styles's new album, “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.” “These songs are like 12 beautiful little flowers,” Wesley says. “They're not supposed to last forever. They're just supposed to last for the season. And six weeks, that is a perfect amount of time for these songs to just blossom in your ears.” Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Ringer's Bill Simmons reacts to the Lakers taking down the Heat with Luka's 60-point game, the NBA expansion, and more (2:15). Then, Billy Gil hops on to recap the World Baseball Classic and to give his thoughts on Bam Adebayo's 83-point game (29:52). Finally, Wesley Morris joins Bill to react to the Oscar results, including Michael B. Jordan beating out Timothée Chalamet for Best Actor and ‘One Battle After Another' winning Best Picture (01:00:07). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Billy Gil and Wesley Morris Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo Sam's Club | Join The Club of Yes And #ULTRACourtside could get you closer to the game! https://michelobultra.com/courtside MICHELOB ULTRA® COURTSIDE '25 to '26. No Purchase Necessary. Open to US residents 21 plus. Begins on October 1, 2025 and ends on June 30, 2026 Multiple entry periods. See Official Rules at https://michelobultra.com/courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wesley Morris is an unabashed believer in the Oscars. That they genuinely matter. Every year, he has to re-convince his friend, Sasha Weiss, the culture editor for The New York Times Magazine. This year, of course, there's the “One Battle After Another” versus “Sinners” of it all. And there's a lot there. But also, what happened to “Marty Supreme” and poor Timothée Chalamet? And is it possible that “KPop Demon Hunters” took home Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song and still, somehow … got robbed? Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Calling all Loons! You've heated and reheated the rivalry, and now it's time for us to talk about what you should read between now and Season 2. We're joined by friend and fave of the pod, Christopher Rice, who writes m/m and sometimes m/m/m romance as C. Travis Rice. We talk about our feelings about Heated Rivalry, about the books and their impact, and about the transformational work of the show…and then we fill your to-be-read piles with books we thing deliver the same kind of emotions. We had a great time, and you will, too.If you want more Fated Mates in your life, or you want to talk more about Heated Rivalry & romance novels, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.Our next read along is The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.NotesWelcome back Christopher Rice who writes romance under the name C. Travis Rice. Christopher and his best friend Eric Shaw Quinn host a podcast called The Dinner Party Show. You can listen to their Heated Rivalry episode here, and Eric's tuna melt thoughts start around the 18:30 minute mark. Their episode with Dateline producer Josh Mankiewicz aired on March 1st. You can watch the documentary Anne Rice: An All Saints' Day Celebration for free at her website.Wesley Morris's essay in the New York Times, I'm so Used to Gay Tragedies That I Almost Missed Romance. The Heated Rivalry Crave social media feed highlighted the power of the adaptation by showing the cast reading from the books, juxtaposing scenes from the show with the text, and loving Rachel Reid!Good Will Hunting is 29 years old! Okay, I know that Ryan Coogler has made a couple of Marvel movies, but he's also writing dazzling original films like Sinners!Olympians in Italy ran through 10,000 condoms in 3 days and the Village needed to do some restocking. Here's one athlete's history of condoms at the Olympics.To be fair, adding a pitch clock and changing other MLB baseball rules have shortened the running time of most games.For more information about gay rodeo, follow the instagram of the International Gay Rodeo Association. Pick Up Men is the first book in the Pick Up Men series by LC Chase.SponsorsJayne Ann Krentz, author of The Shop on Hidden Lane, available in print or ebook. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.The Romantasy Letters, a new kind of romantic fantasy storytelling, delivered right to your door twice monthly. Use the code FATED to get 20% off your year's subscription. Learn more at RomantasyLetters.com.Blue Box Press, publishers of Jennifer L. Armentrout's Dream of You, a Wait for You novella. Available in print, ebook or audiobook from Amazon & Barnes & Noble.The RestFor even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It's so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates. Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough. If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

Sean and Amanda are joined by friend of the pod Wesley Morris for a very special episode! First, they react to the news that Paramount has won the bidding war for Warner Bros. and have an extensive conversation on the long-term ramifications for the industry (4:46). Next, they recap three recent awards shows with the ACE Awards, the PGAs, and the Actor Awards, and dissect what it means for the two-horse Best Picture race between ‘One Battle After Another' and ‘Sinners' (35:47). Lastly, they kick off their sixth annual Alternative Oscar awards (a.k.a. the Big Picks), in which they award alternative nominees and winners for the major Oscar categories, as well as some additional homemade categories which they believe should exist at the Academy Awards (1:30:00). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Wesley Morris Producer: Jack Sanders Production Support: Lucas Cavanagh Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan®️. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there®️. Visit us in stores and online https://Warbyparker.com/BIGPICTURE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Valentine's Day weekend is over, and we're left with a new film adaptation of Emily Brontë's “Wuthering Heights.” Audiences are hot, bothered and swooning. Can you blame them? The trailer had promised — and the film delivers — a stunning Margot Robbie, a seductive Jacob Elordi and a lot of sticky substances (like, a lot.) Wesley Morris knows sex and shock to be the director Emerald Fennell's specialty, and this flick is no different. But where's the actual substance? To confront his suspicion head on, Wesley takes a movie buddy, the culture editor Sasha Weiss, to see the film that's got everybody and their lovers in knots. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“We're living in protest-y times! Where are all the protest songs?”That was a question that Wesley Morris was asking in the time leading up to Bad Bunny's Super Bowl LX halftime show. He thinks the scarcity of direct protest art in this moment contributed to the intense speculation and anticipation about what Bad Bunny would do on that stage. Would it be a protest? And if so, what kind of protest?Well, now the show's over. So what did it turn out to be? To discuss, Wesley Morris sits back down with his friend Sasha Weiss, culture editor at The New York Times Magazine.They also think about the role of protest music more broadly. When does a song need to hit us over the head? And when is subtlety useful — or called for? Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“The Pitt” is back for a second season, and it's appointment viewing for Wesley Morris. Every Thursday at 9 p.m., the show serves up an emergency room's worth of maladies and realities — sparing us none of the naked truths about being a human in a vulnerable body. Sasha Weiss, the culture editor at The New York Times Magazine, joins Wesley to talk about how the show is making an old-school television genre feel not just contemporary, but vital. Plus, a conversation with the writer and novelist Taffy Brodesser-Akner about when loving a work of art becomes an obsession. And Wesley has an unexpected reaction to the Grammys. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Trevor sits down with Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Wesley Morris for a wide-ranging conversation that uncovers the hidden stories in everyday culture.From Carlos Alcaraz's accidental buzz cut becoming the real drama of the US Open (and why men rarely have to explain their appearance), to the deeper meaning behind dead baby names, looted ancient artifacts, and Trump's complicated relationship with museums.They dive into why blockbuster movies have abandoned regular human stories, how Superman reboots reflect America's shifting self-image, and why horror films and death-obsessed songs are dominating right now.Wesley breaks down the superpower of a “critic at large”: spotting trends everyone else misses and connecting them to what they really say about us.Thought-provoking, funny, and full of unexpected insights—this one will make you see the world a little differently. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rob Reiner, the classic film director, and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were killed on Sunday at their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. On Tuesday, prosecutors charged the couple's son, Nick, with first-degree murder.Julia Jacobs, an arts and culture reporter for The New York Times, explains what we have learned about the deaths, and Wesley Morris, a critic at The Times, discusses why many of Rob Reiner's films are so beloved.Guest:Julia Jacobs, who reports on culture and the arts for The New York Times.Wesley Morris, a critic at The New York Times who writes about art and popular culture.Background reading: Rob Reiner, the actor who went on to direct classic films, died at 78.Nick Reiner was formally charged on Tuesday with murdering his parents.Photo: Universal/Getty ImagesFor more information on today's episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

On this episode of The Look, Michelle is joined by journalist Wesley Morris for a live conversation at Sixth & I in Washington DC. Michelle talks about what the East Wing meant to her during her time in the White House, the daring dress choice she opted for at the end of the second term, and Wesley shares a surprising story Oprah shared with him about Michelle.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wesley Morris doesn't go for cheap jump scares or gratuitous gore. Instead, his favorite horror movies fill him with a sense of dread. This Halloween, he invites film curator Eric Hynes to rewatch scenes from some of the scariest movies they've ever seen — some you'll find in the horror section and some you won't. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.

Wesley Morris didn't love Lady Gaga's new album “Mayhem.” Then Caryn Ganz, The Times's pop music editor, took him to see Mayhem — the tour — on its final night at Madison Square Garden. It totally changed the way both of them think about Gaga and what she's been up to all this time. In short: All hail Mother Monster. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Wesley Morris has been talking about movie stardom with Bill Simmons of The Ringer for as long as they've known each other. The actor and director Robert Redford is often invoked in their conversations as the definition of a movie star. In today's episode, Wesley invites Bill to remember the roles that made Redford a household name and to ruminate on the state of the movie star in 2025. Do we have any true stars left? Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Ariel Helwani to discuss whether the Knicks could ever land Giannis Antetokounmpo, Alex Pereira's dominant win at UFC 320, the future of the UFC, and more! (5:22). Then, Wesley Morris joins to talk about people returning to the movie theaters, Sean Penn's career, and Paul Thomas Anderson's ‘One Battle After Another' (01:06:15). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Ariel Helwani and Wesley Morris Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo This episode is sponsored by State Farm®. Don't settle for just any insurance when there's State Farm. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This season, “South Park” is taking on the Trump administration the only way it knows how: with stop-motion, expletives and jokes about the size of the president's penis. But how is the show getting away with it? Wesley Morris and the comedian Wyatt Cenac discuss the special sauce that is allowing "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to survive the political pressure that's come for their comedy peers. At least for now. Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Michael Dean — architect-turned-writer, O'Shaughnessy Fellow, and creator of Essay Architecture — joins the show to explore the hidden structures beneath nonfiction and why essays, like buildings, can be designed with patterns rather than left to inspiration. We discuss the origins of Essay Architecture, Michael's 27-pattern framework that maps essays across Idea, Form, and Voice, and how to make craft teachable and AI feedback useful without replacing the writer. Along the way, we dive into architecture school critiques, why publishable doesn't mean perfect, how editing rewires thinking, and the cultural risks if we keep treating writing as vibes instead of patterns. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that's interesting!”, check out our Substack. Important Links: Michael's Website Substack X/Twitter Profile Show Notes: The Architecture of Essays: from Design School to Writing Frameworks The Pattern Language: Idea, Form, and Voice Local Nuance vs Global Stylekits Fundamentals before Breaking Rules: Joyce, Picasso, the Beatles Quality Without a Name Leveling the College Playing Field The Two Sandboxes of Fundamentals and Amplification Gamification, Play and Motivation Beyond the Five-paragraph Essay: Emerson and AI in Education Scoring Great Essays: Why David Foster Wallace takes Three Top Spots How Writing Colonized the brain Editing as Belief-rewiring: Why Writers Avoid It and Why Math Helps The King of Biases: Confirmation Bias Michael as Emperor of the World Books Mentioned: Works on Wall Street; Jim O'Shaughnessy Essay Architecture (in progress) ; by Michael Dean A Pattern Language; by Christopher Alexander The Best American Essays 2024 Anthology; by Wesley Morris and Kim Dana Kupperman Consider the Lobster; by David Foster Wallace The White Album; by Joan Didion Shooting an Elephant; by George Orwell Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man; by James Joyce Finnegan's Wake; by James Joyce Towards a Golden Age; Paul Graham The Limits of Scientific Reasoning; by David Faust The WEIRDest People in the World; by Joseph Henrich    

On this week's show, Dana, Julia, and Steve are joined by special fourth guest host: Wesley Morris of the New York Times. The foursome wield their sharpest critical tools for a discussion of the horror hit Weapons. Whether the twisty thrill ride hits its intended target— and what exactly is said target— is up for debate. Next, they take up the latest Spike Lee joint Highest 2 Lowest which reunites the legendary director with Denzel Washington and riffs on an Akira Kurosawa classic. Finally, they examine the “Performative Male” trend popping up in TikTok, style sections, and costume contests around the globe. Is it an embodiment of real gendered anxiety or internet nonsense? In an exclusive Slate Plus bonus episode, the panel gets into all the shocks and surprises of Weapons's finale in a spoiler-filled conversation. Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Endorsements Steve: Music by the jazz pianist Bobo Stenson, specifically his album Serenity. Julia: Wesley Morris's stellar new culture podcast Cannonball, specifically the episode with Taffy Brodesser-Akner about And Just Like That. Wesley: Watching the great New York sporting event the US Open. If you can't make it to Flushing Meadows, you can watch on ESPN or stream on Fubo, and shop the enviable merch at the US Open Store. Dana: Akira Kurosawa's High and Low. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's show, Dana, Julia, and Steve are joined by special fourth guest host: Wesley Morris of the New York Times. The foursome wield their sharpest critical tools for a discussion of the horror hit Weapons. Whether the twisty thrill ride hits its intended target— and what exactly is said target— is up for debate. Next, they take up the latest Spike Lee joint Highest 2 Lowest which reunites the legendary director with Denzel Washington and riffs on an Akira Kurosawa classic. Finally, they examine the “Performative Male” trend popping up in TikTok, style sections, and costume contests around the globe. Is it an embodiment of real gendered anxiety or internet nonsense? In an exclusive Slate Plus bonus episode, the panel gets into all the shocks and surprises of Weapons's finale in a spoiler-filled conversation. Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Endorsements Steve: Music by the jazz pianist Bobo Stenson, specifically his album Serenity. Julia: Wesley Morris's stellar new culture podcast Cannonball, specifically the episode with Taffy Brodesser-Akner about And Just Like That. Wesley: Watching the great New York sporting event the US Open. If you can't make it to Flushing Meadows, you can watch on ESPN or stream on Fubo, and shop the enviable merch at the US Open Store. Dana: Akira Kurosawa's High and Low. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott-Free August continues as Kara is joined by host of The New York Times' Cannonball podcast, Wesley Morris. Kara and Wesley discuss President Trump's beef with the “woke” Smithsonian, The White House's new TikTok account, and South Park's latest Trump Administration burn. Then, Taylor Swift hits the podcast world. Listen to Cannonball here, or watch on YouTube here. Watch this episode on the ⁠⁠Pivot YouTube channel⁠⁠. Follow us on Instagram and Threads at ⁠⁠@pivotpodcastofficial⁠⁠. Follow us on Bluesky at ⁠⁠@pivotpod.bsky.social⁠⁠. Follow us on TikTok at ⁠⁠@pivotpodcast⁠⁠. Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or at ⁠⁠nymag.com/pivot⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Van Lathan, and Wesley Morris pop open a cold bottle of Irish beer as they revisit Ryan Coogler's instant classic, ‘Sinners,' starring Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, and Miles Caton. Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Ronak Nair, and Chris Wohlers Free eBooks library. It's on Prime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're off this week, but we're excited to bring you an episode of the New York Times's newest podcast, Cannonball, hosted by critic Wesley Morris. In this episode, Wesley and his friend, film curator Eric Hynes, discuss the Times's recently-published list of the 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century — what it gets right, what it's missing, and what they would put on their own best-of lists instead.

The Ringer's Bill Simmons and Wesley Morris drive 14 hours from Texas to Wyoming to rewatch Ang Lee's 2005 masterpiece ‘Brokeback Mountain' starring Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, and Anne Hathaway. Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Ronak Nair, and Chris Wohlers Book your next business trip at holidayinn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twenty-four years ago, Wesley Morris and the film curator Eric Hynes were just a couple of “cooler-than-you” cinephiles working at Kim's Video, the beloved New York City video store. They recently got together to dissect the trends, snubs and outliers on the Times's 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century list and to shed a few tears over their own top 10s, which we've shared below. FROM WESLEY MORRIS: Norte, The End of HistoryMad Max: Fury RoadThe Piano TeacherO.J.: Made in AmericaWall-EMoonlightThe Holy GirlInherent ViceLove and DianeMagic Mike XXLFROM ERIC HYNES:In the Mood for LoveThe Act of Killing and The Look of Silence (tie)A.I. Artificial Intelligence The New WorldHale County This Morning, This EveningSynecdoche, New YorkCameraperson 35 Shots of Rum Inside Llewyn Davis and A Serious Man (tie)Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Wesley Morris talks with Samin Nosrat, a chef and food writer, about her love-hate relationship with “The Bear,” a show that's always racing against the clock. She says the best moments, in the show and in our own kitchens, happen when things slow down.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

In the new HBO documentary “Pee-wee as Himself,” Paul Reubens, the creator of the iconic character Pee-wee Herman, comes out as gay. Reubens, who spent most of his career in the closet, had already come out years before but then returned to the closet during his time as the popular Saturday morning children's show host.On today's episode of “Cannonball,” Wesley Morris talks with the writer Mark Harris about Reubens's relationship to being closeted, and they discuss what it means for artists to publicly come out. Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs ended on Wednesday when he was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution but was acquitted of the most serious charges against him: racketeering and sex trafficking. Wesley Morris, our critic at large, attended some of the court proceedings over the past couple months, and he walked away with deep and complicated feelings about witnessing the drama of, as he put it, “yet another very famous Black man on trial.” On today's episode, Wesley wrestles with those feelings in conversation with our producer John White.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

A jury acquitted Sean "Diddy" Combs of the most serious charges he faced during his trial, federal racketeering and sex trafficking. He was found guilty on two prostitution-related counts. Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years in prison. A judge denied the music mogul's request for bail. CBS News political contributor Caroline Polisi joins "CBS Mornings" to break down the jury's verdict in Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal trial and the judge's decision to deny bail for the music mogul ahead of his sentencing. Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing four University of Idaho students in 2022. Kohberger will spend the rest of his life in prison as part of a plea deal that avoids the death penalty. CBS News' Carter Evans reports. While many Americans celebrate the Fourth of July, behind the scenes law enforcement will be on high alert across the country to keep everyone safe. CBS News' Nicole Sganga reports on security measures being taken. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Wesley Morris has a new podcast called "Cannonball with Wesley Morris." Each week, he sits down with a guest to discuss interesting pop culture topics in hopes of better understanding it and ourselves. Actor Justin Bartha stars in a new comedy, "Nuked," which is about a group of college friends who reunited at a lavish estate for a technology-free and cannabis-themed birthday party. Bartha speaks with "CBS Mornings" about the movie, what he wants the audience to take away from it and potential future projects. Award-winner Sanaa Kelley is a sound effects artist that uses everyday objects to create sound effects that people may not even notice, describing it as "acting with sound." CBS News' Vlad Duthiers gives a behind the scenes look at her studio and how she helps to bring movies and more to life. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Arts, Commentary, News, Culture, Society - The New York Times

A new weekly podcast, hosted by the critic Wesley Morris. Come on in, the culture's fine. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Unpacking the Ryan Coogler movie “Sinners,” starring Michael B. Jordan, and its relationship to music, genre and gatekeeping, with guests Wesley Morris, Reggie Ugwu and James Thomas.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The Ringer's Bill Simmons sympathizes with Mavericks fans after the report that Kyrie Irving will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL (0:00), before he is joined Peter Schrager to discuss the NFL combine, Matt Stafford remaining with the Rams, Aaron Rodgers's next team, several QB-desperate teams, possible scenarios at the top of the NFL draft (8:55), as well as worst-situation NFL franchises, newly optimistic teams, the Bengals' quest to pay all four of their star players, and more (36:20). Finally Bill talks with Wesley Morris about the Oscars (01:07:35), before remembering the great Gene Hackman (01:45:06). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Peter Schrager and Wesley Morris Producers: Kyle Crichton and Chia Hao Tat Get almost, almost anything. Order today in the Uber Eats app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2022, seven years after surviving a brain aneurysm that left her unable to sing or even speak, Joni Mitchell appeared onstage at the Newport Folk Festival. Singing alongside her were her supportive — and emotional — musician friends, including Brandi Carlile, Marcus Mumford, Wynonna Judd and Annie Lennox.Our critic Wesley Morris had his doubts. What was really happening here? Did Joni Mitchell even want this? Or were her younger adoring musician fans propping her up for their own reasons? When he learned this fall that Joni would be appearing onstage again, at the Hollywood Bowl, he bought a ticket to see for himself.On today's episode, Wesley talks with his editor Sasha Weiss about the concert, and what it's like to experience an 80-year-old in full command of her meaning.Guest: Wesley Morris, a critic at large for The New York Times.Sasha Weiss, the deputy editor of the The New York Times Magazine.Background reading: 50 Reasons to Love Joni Mitchell's “Blue”For more information on today's episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Whatever happened to selling out? The defining concern of Generation X has become a relic from another era. How that happened is best illustrated by one of the idea's last gasps, when in 2001, Oprah Winfrey invited author Jonathan Franzen to come on her show to discuss his new novel The Corrections. A month later, she withdrew the invitation, kicking off a media firestorm.The Oprah-Franzen Book Club Dust-Up of 2001 was a moment when two ways of thinking about selling out smashed into each other, and one of them—the one that was on its way out already—crashed and burned in public, seldom to be seen again.Some of the voices you'll hear in this episode include screenwriter Helen Childress; writer and musician Franz Nicolay; New York Times critic Wesley Morris, Oprah producer Alice McGee; Boris Kachka, author of Hothouse: The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America's Most Celebrated Publishing House, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux; Bethany Klein, author of Selling Out: Culture, Commerce and Popular Music; and Laura Miller, Slate's book critic.This episode was written by Willa Paskin and produced by Benjamin Frisch. It was edited by Benjamin Frisch and Gabriel Roth. Cleo Levin was our research assistant.Decoder Ring is produced by Evan Chung, Katie Shepherd, and Max Freedman, with help from Sofie Kodner. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you haven't yet, please subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends.If you're a fan of the show, please sign up for Slate Plus. Members get to listen to Decoder Ring and all other Slate podcasts without any ads and have total access to Slate's website. Your support is also crucial to our work. Go to slate.com/decoderplus to join Slate Plus today. Disclosure: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond's yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond's YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whatever happened to selling out? The defining concern of Generation X has become a relic from another era. How that happened is best illustrated by one of the idea's last gasps, when in 2001, Oprah Winfrey invited author Jonathan Franzen to come on her show to discuss his new novel The Corrections. A month later, she withdrew the invitation, kicking off a media firestorm. The Oprah-Franzen Book Club Dust-Up of 2001 was a moment when two ways of thinking about selling out smashed into each other, and one of them—the one that was on its way out already—crashed and burned in public, seldom to be seen again. Some of the voices you'll hear in this episode include screenwriter Helen Childress; writer and musician Franz Nicolay; New York Times critic Wesley Morris, Oprah producer Alice McGee; Boris Kachka, author of Hothouse: The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America's Most Celebrated Publishing House, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux; Bethany Klein, author of Selling Out: Culture, Commerce and Popular Music; and Laura Miller, Slate's book critic. This episode was written by Willa Paskin and produced by Benjamin Frisch. It was edited by Benjamin Frisch and Gabriel Roth. Cleo Levin was our research assistant. Decoder Ring is produced by Evan Chung, Katie Shepherd, and Max Freedman, with help from Sofie Kodner. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you haven't yet, please subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends. If you're a fan of the show, please sign up for Slate Plus. Members get to listen to Decoder Ring and all other Slate podcasts without any ads and have total access to Slate's website. Your support is also crucial to our work. Go to slate.com/decoderplus to join Slate Plus today.  Disclosure: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond's yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond's YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stevie Wonder may very well be our modern-day Mozart. A child prodigy, he joined Motown as a preadolescent, marketed as “Little Stevie Wonder.” He amazed audiences with his virtuosic command of the piano, harmonica, drums, and, of course, his vocals. At just 13, he achieved his first number one hit with “Fingertips Part II,” an unusual chart-topper that featured a live recording of mostly improvised music, with Wonder switching between instruments as the audience cheered him on. However, his talent far surpassed this early novelty. In the 1970s, Wonder broke free from the constraints of his initial recording contract, gaining both artistic and financial independence. Between 1971 and 1976, during what is now known as his "classic period," he released five of the most iconic albums in popular music, beginning with Music of My Mind and culminating in Songs in the Key of Life. These albums showcased his musical genius and included timeless songs that have become part of the modern pop canon, touching on themes of love, heartbreak, justice, and spirituality. Few child prodigies fulfill their potential as profoundly as Stevie Wonder. In this episode of Switched on Pop, with the help of Wesley Morris, NYT critic and host of the audio series The Wonder of Stevie, the show reflects on some of Wonder's most powerful compositions, exploring what makes him our contemporary musical maestro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The director of the Oscar-winning O.J. documentary, Ezra Edelman, has completed one of the greatest films ever made: a nine-hour epic about Prince. So why won't the artist's estate let this movie out of the vault? Pablo and New York Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris are two of the only people to have seen it. And they're finally able to reveal what they learned: about the hypothetical cancellation of an icon; Prince's actual scouting report as a basketball player; the disease of pop stardom; the cost of genius; and whether you will ever see this masterpiece, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The director of the Oscar-winning O.J. documentary, Ezra Edelman, has completed one of the greatest films ever made: a nine-hour epic about Prince. So why won't the artist's estate let this movie out of the vault? Pablo and New York Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris are two of the only people to have seen it. And they're finally able to reveal what they learned: about the hypothetical cancellation of an icon; Prince's actual scouting report as a basketball player; the disease of pop stardom; the cost of genius; and whether you will ever see this masterpiece, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to rewatch a movie called ‘Purple Rain.' The Ringer's Bill Simmons and Wesley Morris dive deep into Prince's 1984 acting debut, staring Prince, Apollonia, and Morris Day. Watch this episode on our Ringer Movies YouTube channel! Producer: Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices