Weekends on All Things Considered's series, Movies I've Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.
For writer-director Lawrence Kasdan, whose credits include The Big Chill, The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, the movie he can't get enough of is Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past. Kasdan says that the 1947 movie is a great piece of film noir cinema.
The alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four other men charged with helping launch those attacks ended their first day in a military commission arraignment by saying they would wait to enter their pleas.
The day was contentious. The men refused to answer routine questions from Judge James Pohl, refused to participate in the proceedings, and even refused to listen to the simultaneous Arabic translation of what was going on all around them.
Jason Mraz's 2008 single "I'm Yours" was a multiplatinum global hit. In fact, it set a record by staying on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for 76 weeks — more than any other song in the magazine's 51-year history.
Although Mraz's new record, Love Is a Four Letter Word, was written on the heels of a breakup, the songs are mostly sunny and positive. Mraz says he was more interested in making something relatable than in zeroing in on his own experiences.
Although it always seems fashionable to forecast the downfall of classical music, enterprising musicians both young and not so young continue to make deeply satisfying recordings. For this visit to weekends on All Things Considered, I was delighted to uncover the little known (at least in this country) Jorge Luis Prats, a terrifically talented Cuban pianist whose once uncertain career appears to be resurging — at 55, he has signed a handsome record deal. Then there's The Knights, a young chamber orchestra with a postmodern take on Schubert.
The Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia announced today that he is removing five priests from ministry. Charles Chaput said investigations into other priests accused of abuse will continue.
But as NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports, victims' advocates are not satisfied.
Pam and Robert Champion hold their son's drum major hat from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Robert Champion Jr. died after a hazing incident in November.
Credit Don Juan Moore / AP
Champion performs during halftime of a game against Howard University on Oct. 8. Champion became ill and died due to a hazing incident after a game the following month.
Charges filed this week against 13 people in connection with a hazing death at Florida A&M University have thrust the hazing culture into the spotlight.
Florida has one of the toughest anti-hazing laws in the country, but legal experts say prosecuting the crime can be tricky.
State attorney Lawson Lamar, who is leading the prosecution in the death of drum major Robert Champion, acknowledges the case is complicated.
Detail of cover art from the 1974 album Marvin Gaye Live!
Credit Becky Lettenberger / NPR
Left to right: Youth Radio participants Evan Childress, 21; Brandon McFarland, 26; Rayana Godfrey, 18; and Skylar Tye Bryant, 18, pose in front of a portrait of Marvin Gaye at the Washington, D.C., restaurant Marvin.
If you listen to my story above, you'll know that hot sauce production is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States.
And you'll learn that research finds chili-heads — people who love the burn of spicy food — tend to have a penchant for sensation-seeking. Think rollercoasters and action flicks.
So you wanna jump in, but you're new to the hot sauce world?
