MEMETERIA by Thomas May

Arts & Culture Stories from NPR

• CBS Paid Eliza Dushku $9.5 Million After Alleged Sexual Harassment, Termination
  Days after confronting actor Michael Weatherly, a huge star for the network, Dushku was written off Bull. An investigation determined the company often protected itself at the expense of victims.
• Lin-Manuel Miranda On 'Mary Poppins Returns' And Writing His Way Onstage
  Though best-known for his auteur work, the mastermind of Hamilton and In the Heights says it was his dream to be offered a part in someone else's musical.
• Swahili Speakers Debate Disney's Trademark of 'Hakuna Matata' For T-Shirts
  The song title from the film The Lion King has been trademarked by Disney since 2003. In recent weeks, Africa media has launched a discussion on whether that's cultural appropriation.
• 'Beale Street' Is A Heart-Stopping, Beautiful Story Of Love And Injustice
  Moonlight director Barry Jenkins returns with a new drama about young lovers in 1970s Harlem whose lives are thrown into turmoil when one of them is falsely accused of a crime.
• Well-Versed: 'Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse' Is A Fun, Warm-Hearted Treat
  Many Spider-Men and -Women meet up in this "graphically dazzling, generously imaginative, nakedly optimistic, mercilessly funny" and refreshingly inclusive animated film.
• 'Mortal Engines' Internally Combusts
  Long on CGI but short on any real inspiration, this adaptation of a fantasy series about giant cities that roam a post-apocalyptic landscape quickly runs out of gas.
• In The Luminous 'If Beale Street Could Talk,' A Perfect Love Meets An Imperfect World
  Director Barry Jenkins follows up Moonlight with this exquisite film adaptation of James Baldwin's novel about the clash between love and racial injustice.
• In Grisly, Sadistic 'The House That Jack Built,' Lars von Trier Deconstructs Himself
  This uber-violent film about a remorseless serial killer (Matt Dillon) requires an iron stomach, but it's a "thoughtful, honest onscreen meditation on morality and personal culpability."
• A Boy Grows Up Fast On The Streets Of Beirut In The Dickensian 'Capernaum'
  A tough, wise-beyond-his-years 12-year-old (Zain Al Rafeea) leaves the misery of his home life, only to take on the responsibility of caring for an even younger child.
• This 'Broken Ornament' Led To Christmas Magic
  Award-winning illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi got the idea for his new children's book when his own daughter accidentally dropped a beloved Christmas ornament, and he made up a story to comfort her. W