MEMETERIA by Thomas May

Arts & Culture Stories from NPR

• From 'Buffy' Superfan To Pulitzer Prize, A Critic Celebrates TV On Her Own Terms
  Emily Nussbaum's new book, I Like To Watch, is a collection of essays that span her career and the age of prestige TV. She wants to "explode and expand" the types of shows we take seriously, she says.
• 'Endgame' Nears All-Time Record, And The Age Of The Disney Mega-Blockbuster Is Upon Us
  Critic Bob Mondello reviews the history of movie blockbusters and tracks how Disney's ownership of mega-blockbusting franchises is reshaping the multiplex.
• Comic Ramy Youssef On Being An 'Allah Carte' Muslim: 'You Sit In Contradictions'
  In the semi-autobiographical show, Ramy, Youssef plays a practicing Muslim who's torn between his faith and his desire to fit in. "Everyone has a code," he says of the compromises his character makes.
• 'Ask Again, Yes' Is A Profound Yet Unpretentious Family Drama
  Mary Beth Keane's novel opens in 1973 New York and follows two rookie cops and their families over four decades. Her closely-observed domestic tale transforms into something deep and universal.
• 'I Like To Watch' Is A Passionate, Brilliant Defense Of TV
  The collection of 32 mostly previously published essays by New Yorker TV Critic Emily Nussbaum includes a new consideration of the question "What should we do with the art of terrible men?"
• Marriage Is Passionate, Not Perfect, In 'The Most Fun We Ever Had'
  Claire Lombardo's sweeping family drama — fueled by power plays between spouses and between sisters — is a wonderfully immersive read that packs more heart and heft than most first novels.
• 'A Lot Of Gray Area': A Legal Expert Explains 'How To Read The Constitution'
  Inspired by the challenges to the current presidential administration, law professor Kim Wehle has written a guide to the founding document — and its susceptibility to interpretation.
• Ravelry, The Knitting Website, Bans Trump Talk And Patterns
  "We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy" Ravelry said. "Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy."
• 'I Couldn't Continue On': A Former Jehovah's Witness On Leaving The Faith
  "I felt like everything that had mattered to me was gone," Amber Scorah says of her decision to leave the Jehovah's Witness community she grew up in. Her new memoir is Leaving the Witness.
• Imagining A Dismal Future, 'Years And Years' Says Plenty About The Present
  The six-part BBC series airing on HBO follows one British family over the course of 15 years of upheaval, beginning in 2019. The unsettling show imagines the dismal future that liberals fear.