PHOTOS: South Africa’s Zip Zap Circus Brings A Big Heart To The Big Top
by Tommy Trenchard and Aurelie Marrier D’Unienville Editor’s note: This story was reported and photographed from February 2019 to March 2020. The text has been updated to reflect the activities of the circus during the pandemic. Phelelani Ndakrokra prefers not to talk about his past. But what the 23-year-old acrobat will say is that if →
‘You Had Me At Hola’ Had Us Right From The Beginning
by Kamrun Nesa Alexis Daria’s You Had Me at Hola had me at Latinx representation, sexy soapy plot, and a →
Asher Gamedze’s Astral Jazz Will Carry Your Soul To Utopia
by Marcus J. Moore Asher Gamedze‘s music is meant to realign your spirit, to carry you from melancholy to utopia. On his debut album, Dialectic Soul, the South African drummer makes elegant, astral jazz seemingly informed by John Coltrane, Lonnie Liston Smith and Brother Ah. At the height of free jazz and spiritual jazz in the late 1960s, Black →
‘Black Is King’: A Beyoncé Film With A Disney Twist
by Stephen Thompson, Kiana Fitzgerald and Soraya Nadia McDonald Last summer, Beyoncé Knowles released an album called The Lion King: The →
PHOTOS: Living Tree Bridges In A Land Of Clouds
by Prasenjeet Yadav It was a cloudy monsoon afternoon, and I had been trailing my guide Bah Drong for over an hour. Despite the slight but persistent drizzle, Bah Drong marched along unfazed, his seasoned calf muscles carrying him swiftly along the rough, mountainous trail. I had to hurry to avoid falling behind. Every now →
Why Forgiving Someone Else Is Really About You
by Stephanie O’Neill Forgiveness has a PR problem. Think about all those useless idioms used to describe it. →
An Oral History Of How Barbie Lost The Presidency Yet Again
by Danielle Kurtzleben On July 28, 2020, Mattel announced it would be releasing its seventh presidential Barbie. They have released one in nearly every cycle since 1992, but of course, America has yet to see Barbie in the Oval Office. But this year, for the first time, Mattel gave her a campaign team. Candidate Barbie 2020 →
In ‘Intimations,’ Zadie Smith Reflects Back To Us The Early Days Of Now
by Ericka Taylor If narrative and storytelling are among our most essential tools for making meaning of the →
The Modern All-Stars: A Newport Jazz Festival Special
by Nate Chinen and Alex Ariff Christian McBride was 19, a vigorous young bassist just making his name on the scene, when he paid his first visit to the Newport Jazz Festival as a member of Jazz Futures. Skip ahead some 30 years, and McBride is the artistic director of the festival, as well as →
Like Her ‘Radioactive’ Elements, Marie Curie Didn’t ‘Behave’ As Expected
by Leila Fedel Like the elements that she discovered — polonium and radium — Marie Curie was “unruly,” →
Prize-Winning Phone Pix Dial Up Moments Of Freedom And Serenity
by Malaka Gharib Jumping through the air, floating in the wind, a firework shooting off — these scenes evoke a sense of freedom that so many of us staying home due to the pandemic haven’t felt in a long time. But we can feel them vicariously in some of the winning entries of this year’s iPhone →
Saucy, Slimy, Super-Secret: Behind The Scenes With ‘Floor Is Lava’ Star … Lava
by Matt Kwong If you’ve already watched the hit Netflix gameshow Floor Is Lava, you know the rules: “Don’t fall in,” host Rutledge Wood warns contestants, as they enter an obstacle course filled with 80,000 gallons of gurgling goop, “because the floor … is … lava!” It’s a goofy grown-up take on a kids’ playtime staple, →
App Lets You Destress By Screaming Into Icelandic Wilderness
by Emily Alfin Johnson and Lisa Weiner 2020 has been a lot. And we’re barely halfway through. Luckily, →
‘I May Destroy You’ Let Michaela Coel Explore Dangerous Areas In A Safe Place
by Terry Gross Note: This interview discusses, and the show contains, scenes depicting, and stories about, sexual assault. →
4 Decades Of Seascapes From A Color Photography Innovator
by Catie Dull In the foreword to Harry Gruyaert’s photography book Edges, sculptor Richard Nonas sums up the work of his good friend. “Harry Gruyaert ignores the grammar of center and edge, finds the blurred boundaries of overlapping life, the places where one thing has begun to be another thing,” Nonas writes. “He photographs processes, not results. →
Opinion: An Ode To Manny’s Cafeteria And Delicatessen In Chicago
By Scott Simon I’ve had lunch with politicians, clergy, reporters and people who’ve just been indicted at Manny’s Cafeteria and Delicatessen in Chicago, and there’s a code of silence over the clatter: it doesn’t count. The schmear of cream cheese thick enough to be a ski jump? No calories! Potato pancakes hefty as manhole covers? →
It’s A Good Time To Head To Mars
By Joe Palca If you’re planning a trip to Mars, now is the time to go. For a →
Good News: This Comet Won’t Cause A Mass Extinction In 2020. Also, It’s Really Pretty
by Geoff Brumfiel The first thing to know about a new comet that has appeared in the evening sky is that it’s one big ice ball: about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) across. “Just to put it into context, about 65 million years ago there was an asteroid or a comet that was thought to have →
In ‘Perry Mason,’ Matthew Rhys Lives Out His Boyhood Noir Fantasies
by Terry Gross As a child, Welsh actor Matthew Rhys fell in love with old American noir films →
How 6 Problem-Solvers Tackled Pandemic Challenges In Their Neighborhoods
Cardboard beds. Urban farms. Roving mariachi bands. These are some of the ways that regular folks are solving →
Nathan Allen – Playing Games
Check out this week’s video featuring Nathan Allen performing a smooth cover of Summer Walker’s Playing Games on McQsJazz.com →
Delroy Lindo: I Think Of ‘Da 5 Bloods’ As ‘A Love Story’
by Scott Simon Da 5 Bloods, Spike Lee’s new film, follows five friends who shed blood, sweat, and →
Elisabeth Moss Shines As Writer Shirley Jackson In This Smart, Surprising Film
By Justin Chang I first saw Shirley months ago, back in January. It’s strange to be revisiting it now. Like →
‘This Is One Way To Dance’ Explores A Life Straddling Congruent Realities
By Martha Anne Toll In 1921, my grandmother moved from the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan to Rochester, New →
‘The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes’ Is A Lackluster Prequel To ‘The Hunger Games’
by Annalisa Quinn With her Hunger Games novels, Suzanne Collins harnessed a combination of twisty plots, teen romance, dystopian worldbuilding →
DIY During Quarantine. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Plenty
By Martha Ann Overland Maybe your garbage disposal is broken or the fridge is slowly dying. Because of →
Video Of The Week – Chloe x Halle – Cool People
Check out this week’s video featuring Chloe x Halle performing Cool People on McQsJazz.com →
Saddled With Student Loans, Bestselling Author Worries, ‘I Don’t Want To Die Poor’
by Terry Gross Writer Michael Arceneaux has a tongue-in-cheek message for young people right now: “Please don’t be →
‘Wuhan Diary’ Brings Account Of China’s Coronavirus Outbreak To English Speakers
by Emily Feng In her now-world-famous writing, Chinese author Fang Fang implores: “The departed are gone, but the →
Playing ‘Death Stranding,’ Even In Isolation, You’re Not Alone
by Adam Frank If you were looking for a good reason to escape reality, the last six weeks of global COVID meltdown definitely fit the bill. And while pretending your dog is a sports heroor your family a famous work of art work for some, for many people only video games offer the much needed ticket out of →
‘She’s Challenging You’: Alison Saar’s Sculptures Speak To Race, Beauty, Power
By Susan Stamberg For Los Angeles sculptor Alison Saar, art came from both sides of the family. Her →
Pandemic Gardens Satisfy A Hunger For More Than Just Good Tomatoes
By Petra Mayer In this time of fear and uncertainty, people are going back to the land — more or less. Gardening might just be overtaking sourdough baking, TV binging and playing Animal Crossing as our favorite pandemic coping mechanism So here I am in my back yard, where I’ve got this lovely four foot by eight →
Murderbot Makes A Triumphant (And Cranky) Return In ‘Network Effect’
By Steve Mullis Murderbot. Murderbot. Murderbot. The name just rolls off the tongue, like a mascot for a →
It’s Not Just A Phase: ‘How To Build A Girl’ Is About A Teen Still Figuring It Out
By Ailsa Chang Beanie Feldstein does not like the way teenage experimentation and growth gets dismissed as just a phase. “There →
These ‘Little Eyes’ Watch The World Burn
By Jason Sheehan Samanta Schweblin is not a science fiction writer. Which is probably one of the reasons →
Brian Dennehy’s ‘Driveways’ Performance Is Gruff, Graceful — And A Goodbye
By Justin Chang When I first saw the lovely independent film Driveways last fall, I didn’t know that I was →
Can Riot Games Make ‘Valorant’ An Esports Success? Signs Point To Yes
By Kaity Kline As long as Riot Games has been around, they’ve been the League of Legends studio. They didn’t →
Make That At-Home Trim A Little Less Hairy With A Virtual Salon Visit
By Kat Lonsdorf As weeks of staying at home have turned into months, and salons and barber shops in most states continue to be closed, many of us are getting a little shaggy. If you want to go the DIY route but need a little guidance, haircuts are the latest services to make their way →
Comedy Clubs Are Closed, So To Reach Audiences, Comics Have To Improvise
By Elizabeth Blair At a time when we really need to keep a sense of humor, comedy clubs →
An 11-Year-Old Girl Writes To Thank Her Mailman. Postal Workers Write Back
By James Doubek and Jonaki Mehta Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night — nor →
CBS’ Legal Drama ‘All Rise’ Tackles Coronavirus As A Story Line
By Eric Deggans If the pandemic shuts down TV production for many months, can the industry still crank →
Don’t Worry, Even Fashion Guru Tim Gunn Is Living In His Comfy Clothes
By Terry Gross Fashion expert Tim Gunn used to bemoan what he called the “comfort trap” — clothes →
Video Of The Week – Panama – ‘Always’
Check out this week’s video featuring Panama performing Always. →
Love On Lockdown: Tips For Dating During The Coronavirus Crisis
By Sam Sanders and Anjuli Sastry Spring is supposed to be romantic — enjoying long dinners on the →
In Thriller Form, ‘The Lincoln Conspiracy’ Details Early Plot To Kill The President
By Michael Schaub Even those with the most casual familiarity of American history know that Abraham Lincoln was →