Glen Weldon
Glen Weldon is a host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. He reviews books, movies, comics and more for the NPR Arts Desk.
Over the course of his career, he has spent time as a theater critic, a science writer, an oral historian, a writing teacher, a bookstore clerk, a PR flack, a completely inept marine biologist and a slightly better-ept competitive swimmer.
Weldon is the author of two cultural histories: Superman: The Unauthorized Biography and The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Slate, McSweeney's and more; his fiction has appeared in several anthologies and other publications. He is the recipient of an NEA Arts Journalism Fellowship, an Amtrak Writers' Residency, a Ragdale Writing Fellowship and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts for Fiction.
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The new film Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to 2019's Joker, which won Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar. This new film is a courtroom drama and a romance tossed into a musical blender set to liquefy, as the Joker goes on trial for the murders he committed in the last film and falls in love with a groupie played by Lady Gaga. -
The origin story of the "Joker" continues, as the sequel "Joker: Folie à Deux" hits theaters on Friday. Meanwhile on HBO, the origin story behind "The Penguin" is underway.
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Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary filmmaker behind The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now, is back with his first new film in over a decade. It reimagines the fall of Rome through a futuristic American city, and has a lot of big and messy ideas about time and the fate of humanity. It's also jam-packed with stars like Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and Aubrey Plaza. We try to make sense of it all. -
Here are the new releases coming your way between now and Thanksgiving — we've got award contenders, goofy comedies, a smattering of romance, plenty of anti-heroes, and a musical documentary in LEGOs.
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Each week, guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: the shows Mrs. Davis and Disaster Autopsy and the card game Cockroach Poker. -
The second season of the Lord of the Rings prequel has many of the same pitfalls as the first – but for fans eager to return to Middle-earth, it’s still worth watching. -
Dungeons and Dragons turns 50 this year. The table top, role playing game has spawned TV shows, YouTube series and podcasts.
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The one-time Tony Stark will soon play Marvel Comics villain Doctor Doom. The news has our pop culture critic asking: Can you imagine Robert Downey Jr. saying these Doctor Doom lines? -
Emmy nominations will be released Wednesday morning, the awards will hold their second ceremony of the year this coming September.
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It's summer, so we're talking all about road trips. Should you blast music that's familiar or unfamiliar? What makes for a good road trip audiobook? What are some road trip games we hate? Pop Culture Happy Hour talked all about how to entertain and amuse ourselves in the car way back in 2012. Today, in this encore episode, we're revisiting that conversation.
