Search results for

NPR's Scott Simon talks once again with Esquire magazine editor A.J. Jacobs, who is reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica in an effort to become the world's smartest person. He's up to the letter "H" and has discovered that the single-best way to become a subject of the immense reference work is to be beheaded.

Filmmaker Ismail Merchant, of Merchant and Ivory fame, publishes a memoir called My Passage from India. It traces his steps from star-struck youngster in India to major force in the movie world. Merchant speaks with NPR's Scott Simon.

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the life of cartoonist Bill Mauldin, who died this week at the age of 81.

NPR's Scott Simon talks with John Randall of the Texas Chili Parlor in Austin about the $41 hamburger he made last week using 24.2 pounds of ground beef. Mr. Randall says that his project was inspired by an innate Texas desire not to be outdone by a $41 Kobe beef burger now on sale at the Homestead in New York. The Texas burger was roughly the size of a manhole cover. It fed 50 people and was served on a specially baked bun.

NPR's Scott Simon reviews the week's news with NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr.

Chris Butler's group The Waitresses had some hits in the 1980s -- especially "I Know What Boys Like" and "Christmas Wrapping." But his latest CD, The Museum of Me, is a collection of new songs recorded on old equipment, including wax cylinders, wire recorders and antique tape machines.

His clothes may have been seen by more people than any other tailor on earth. And you probably don't know his name. On Tuesday, you'll get a chance to see his work, when the President of the United States gives his State of the Union speech in a hand-made suit from Georges De Paris. NPR's Kitty Eisele talks with the man known as "Tailor to the Presidents."

NPR's Tom Goldman took a detour across the border to Tijuana on his way to cover the Super Bowl in San Diego. He sent us this audio postcard.

Political films are still being produced and the Sundance festival is still a leader in presenting them. Masked and Anonymous, starring Bob Dylan, and the documentary The Weather Underground are two examples. David D'Arcy reports.

Amid the blizzard of new ads coming on Super Bowl Sunday, Sony tries a new approach. The company will try to sell its electronics products with an ad featuring singer Alana Davis -- and urge viewers to download Davis's version of the Crosby, Stills classic "Carry On" from the Internet for 99 cents. NPR's Laura Sydell reports.

A sound montage of some of the voices in this past week's news, including President George W. Bush; NARAL Pro-Choice America President Kate Michelman; President Bush; Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge; French President Jacques Chirac; German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder; Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld; and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD).

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says talks with North Korea might occur "at an appropriate time." Observers note that the latest remarks, made Saturday, did not mention preconditions the Bush administration has been insisting upon. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Rob Gifford.