MEMETERIA by Thomas May

Arts & Culture Stories from NPR

• The prosecutor drops charges against 'Rick and Morty' co-creator Justin Roiland
  The district attorney's office told NPR charges were dropped against Roiland "as a result of having insufficient evidence" to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
• Kind words from a stranger helped Laura Holmes-Haddad While undergoing chemo
  In this week's My Unsung Hero, Laura Holmes-Haddad got some much-needed kind words from a stranger.
• The U.S. is threatening to ban TikTok? Good luck
  TikTok is on trial as U.S. authorities consider a ban. There's just one problem: it's not only an app for silly videos anymore, it is now entwined with our culture.
• It's impossible to fit 'All Things' Ari Shapiro does into this headline
  Shapiro co-hosts All Things Considered, co-stars in a cabaret act with Alan Cumming, and sings with the band Pink Martini. Now, he's written a book, a memoir called The Best Strangers in the World.
• 'Better Call Saul' star's new series 'Lucky Hank' makes a midlife crisis compelling
  Bob Odenkirk strikes gold again in his latest TV series, Lucky Hank. Playing to type, he makes the laconic, dissatisfied and restless title character likable and relatable.
• How these art sleuths reunited a family after centuries apart
  In 1626, a father and son sat for a portrait. Nearly 400 years later their story is still being examined by experts in Europe.
• In 'Old God's Time,' Sebastian Barry stresses the long effects of violence and abuse
  Sebastian Barry's relentlessly bleak, stunning new novel follows his character Tom, a retired police detective, as his life is thrown into disarray when he's confronted with a past he'd rather forget.
• 'Like a living scrapbook': 'My Powerful Hair' is a celebration of Native culture
  Author Carole Lindstrom follows Caldecott-winning We Are Water Protectors with another children's book featuring Native culture. She says she hopes it helps kids "see themselves in a positive way."
• 'Succession' returns for a fourth and final season of family back-stabbing
  The creators are holding Season 4 close to the vest for obvious reasons. But the Roy family is back and off to an emotionally complicated, darkly funny, bantering, betraying, punch-packing start.
• Gwyneth Paltrow appears in a Utah court for a trial over a 2016 ski crash
  The trial has been seven years in the making, and on Tuesday, the Oscar-winning actress appeared in Park City for a jury trial that will determine who was at fault in the 2016 crash.