MEMETERIA by Thomas May

Arts & Culture Stories from NPR

• 'Raya And The Last Dragon' Soars
  A nuanced, flawed hero lends the latest Disney animated feature surprising depth, even if its grab-bag depiction of a world drawn from Southeast Asian cultures feels shallow.
• 'Coming 2 America': The Costumes Are Stunning
  More than three decades after the comedy classic Coming to America, much of the cast returns for an unnecessary sequel.
• With 'Write Here Write Now' Campaign, Canadians Lose An Excuse To Write To Grandma
  To help people connect with those they've lost touch with during the pandemic, Canada Post, the primary postal operator in the country, has sent every household a postage-paid postcard for free.
• Empty Desks At U.N. Represent Millions Of Children Who Have Missed School In Pandemic
  The 168 school desks make up an exhibit called "Pandemic Classroom." Each of the seats represents 1 million children living in countries where schools have been closed for almost a year.
• 'The Committed' Remains Uncommitted — And That's Its Strength
  Viet Thanh Nguyen's sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer finds our hero a refugee again, this time in Paris, and disillusioned with communism but not ready to embrace capitalism.
• 'Home Is Not A Country' Imagines The Lives We Could Have Led
  Safia Elhillo's novel follows a first-generation Muslim American girl who, bullied at school, longs for the homeland she's never really known and the alter ego who represents a more confident self.
• Animated Series 'Pacific Rim: The Black' Gets Grit In The Gears
  Netflix's new animated series takes the cheesiness out of Guillermo del Toro's giant-robots-vs.-giant-monsters franchise; more's the pity.
• 'Klara And The Sun' Is A Masterpiece About Life, Love And Mortality
  Narrated by a robotic "artificial friend," Kazuo Ishiguro's latest novel offers readers a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.
• 'Moxie' Says Some Things, But Not Everything, About High School Feminists
  Directed by Amy Poehler, the new Netflix film longs to stretch beyond its limits to be an inclusive look at feminism in teenagers, but its story works best when it keeps its ambitions modest.
• There Are So Many Flavors Of Potato Chips; 'Hooked' Looks At Why
  Investigative reporter Michael Moss explores how some food companies tweak their products to take advantage of evolved biology, creating room for novelty that triggers the brain to make us want more.