This week in 1989, two respected electro-chemists, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischman, announced they'd discovered science's holy grail: a process for generating clean fusion energy at low temperatures. The media called it a miracle... but was it too good to be true? Listen to the tale and then experiment with this custom cocktail.
Sadie Stein and the geodesic dome
Dwell Magazine deputy editor Aaron Britt tells us about a geodesic dome worth a whopping $100,000… if you can pry it off its base.
Rodney Ascher on Monsters
Filmmaker Rodney Ascher says monsters get thirsty, too. (Later you'll hear Rodney talk about his new doc "Room 237" - a profile of the fanaticism surrounding "The Shining.")
Playlist: Episode 196
Music in this week's show: The Sea & Cake - "The Argument" Aphex Twin - "Boy/Girl Song" Tipsy - "Liquordelic" Stuttgart Piano Trio - Franz Schubert: "Piano Trio No. 1 - III. Scherzo: Allegro" Stars - "Set Yourself On Fire" Wildlife - "Matches" Benoit & Sergio - "Lipstick & Lace" Lambert & Hendricks and Ross - "Twisted" Ben Sidran - "Back Nine" Ben Sidran - "Sixteen Tons" John Hendricks - "Old Folks" Charles Wuorinen - "Bearbeitungen uber das Glogauer Liederbuch: VI. Gross Ssenen" Barry Adamson - "Something Wicked this Way Comes" PHOBiC - "Dark Corners of Hell" Fantastic Mr. Fox - "Rat Theme" Paul Anka & Frank Sinatra - "My Way" Paul Anka - "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" Johnny Pearson - Monday Night Football Theme "Heavy Action"
Tim Wendel, ‘Summer of 68’
Tim Wendel has written several acclaimed books on baseball, and his latest is Summer of '68: The Season that Changed Baseball - and America - Forever. It follows the Detroit Tigers' tumultuous '68 campaign -- complete with players being drafted, riots in the streets, a city's massive expectations (and ultimately) a World Series win. With this year's baseball season just underway, Tim and Rico chat about how - in many ways - we're all still feeling the heat of that summer.
Paul Anka says you never correct Putin
Singer and songwriter Paul Anka is responsible for some of the biggest hits of the last half-century: "Put Your Head on My Shoulder," "She's a Lady," and, perhaps most famously, "My Way." This week he releases both the album Duets and his much-anticipated book, My Way: An Autobiography, which features (among other highlights) some *very* steamy Rat Pack stories. He talks to us about his Canamerican roots, indulging Putin, and pranking Don Rickles.
Pigtails you can eat
It's the ultimate, literal example of "nose-to-tail" cooking: chefs are now serving pigs' tails. The braised tail is somewhere between pork belly and a spare rib - and it's best if you're unfazed by fat...or phallic symbols. Rico heads to Los Angeles restaurant The Spice Table to chat about the unusual offering with chef Bryant Ng.
Ben Sidran: Jazz Man
Ben Sidran has played piano for Van Morrison, Diana Ross, and Steve Miller, among others - but he's been a jazz-man since the age of six when he started playing in his hometown in Wisconsin. In addition to writing, producing, and performing music, he hosted NPR's Peabody Award-winning Jazz Alive. His newest record Don't Cry for No Hipster got him thinking about his Beatnik days and what it means to be "hip."
Actress Julia Stiles on eating lipstick instead of brunch…and other ‘disaster’s
Actress Julia Stiles became a star with the 1999 teen flick Ten Things I Hate About You, which made Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew a hit with the MTV set. Since then, she has appeared in films like Save the Last Dance, The Bourne Identity, and Silver Linings Playbook. Her newest film, It's a Disaster, opens this weekend. The dark comedy about a couples brunch set during the apocalypse is already earning impressive reviews. Julia spoke with Brendan about anti-brunch clubs, instant stardom, and eating lipstick.
Dave Willis & Casper Kelly burn through some images of hell
Dave Willis and Casper Kelly - the minds behind the hugely popular and totally surreal Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Stroker & Hoop - have teamed up to create a new Adult Swim show, Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell. (It airs Thursdays at midnight.) The "demon workplace comedy" creates a pretty unusual version of underworld, so we asked them to list some other "hells on earth."