Your Turn: Morticia Addams

From Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons, and later, TV'sThe Addams Family
Nominated by Laura Colwell

I was a weird little girl and a weird teenager and now I'm a weird woman. I'm perfectly happy with that -- thanks to Morticia Addams.

In one gracefully ghoulish persona, Morticia is at once mysterious, playful and literate - and she is completely at ease with herself, in love her own unusual world.

It's nice to have the acceptance and admiration of others, but I'm with Morticia on this one: it's so much better to be at peace with whatever you are and your own lot in life than to perpetually chase after someone else's ideal. If you can surround yourself with interesting people while you're at it, so much the better.

5:46 PM ET | 04-30-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

 

Your Turn: Matilda Wormwood

From the novel Matilda, by Roald Dahl
and movie of same name
Nominated by Sydney Meader

Matilda Wormwood didn't have an easy childhood. The daughter of the wicked Harry and Zinnia Wormwood, Matilda was neglected and forced to bring herself up into a cruel world filled with rude big brothers and evil school principals. With no one to turn to in the real world, Matilda turned to books. A brilliant child, Matilda could read by the age of 3 -- and was reading literature by 4.

When I was first introduced to Matilda, I was immediately intrigued by her. As a 7-year-old, I thought she was the most amazing person in the world. Smart, brave, and kind, she was exactly the kind of girl I wanted to be. It didn't hurt that she had magical powers and was triumphant in her fight against the monstrous Miss Trunchbull.

Never in my life have I felt as much admiration towards another character as I did towards Matilda Wormwood.

11:57 AM ET | 04-22-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

 

On Air: Indiana Jones

Who says archaeology is boring? What with the whips, the guns, the evil Nazis and the booby-trapped temples hiding precious -- frequently magical -- artifacts, what's not to like?

OK, so that's archaeology Indiana Jones-style. NPR's Christopher Joyce takes In Character into the field to talk with the real Indys -- who see the whip-wielding adventure-seeker in a different light.

"Indiana Jones walks a fine line between what's an archaeologist and what's a professional looter," says archaeologist Winifred Creamer.

And Christopher Joyce finds that in the movies, even Indy isn't sure what he is -- treasure hunter or historian.

And what of the crystal skulls that a (much) older Indy is apparently chasing in the upcoming film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?

Smithsonian archaeologist Jane Walsh has the story behind the real-life crystal skulls in museum collections around the world. Some say they're ancient Aztec artifacts; some say they're powerful mystical objects.

Says Walsh: Not so fast.

4:48 PM ET | 04-17-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

 

On Air: Dora the Explorer

» Hear the 'Morning Edition' story

So originally, they were thinking bunny. No, really: Dora the Explorer co-creator Chris Gifford tells NPR's Rolando Arrieta that when Nickelodeon set out to create a new kids'-show hero, they started in the animal kingdom.

"It was a bunny who would go on a trip with his mommy," Gifford says. Find out what happened to kill the wabbit over on the story page -- where my intern Justin and I have hooked you up with video clips from the series.

Enjoy.

-- Trey Graham

11:39 AM ET | 04-14-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

 

A Thorny Rose - Paired With a Nice Chianti

» Mama Rose on 'Weekend Edition Sunday'

» Hannibal Lecter on 'Weekend All Things Considered'

Two inevitabilities: Jeff Lunden, our Broadway go-to guy, gets Patti LuPone and Bernadette Peters to help him get under the skin of one of theater's most outrageous personalities. (Seriously: The real-life model for Gypsy's Mama Rose once pushed a hotel manager out the window.)

For the Web, we've got video from the new Broadway production, competing versions of "Rose's Turn" from the archives, and plenty of interview extras.

Then: You had to know this one was coming, right? NPR's Laura Sydell looks into what makes Hannibal Lecter stick so vividly in our collective imagination.

I've put up a couple of his best moments -- never fear, they're safe for the squeamish -- along with a few outtakes from Laura Sydell's interview with Jodie Foster.

Enjoy.

-- Trey Graham

3:53 PM ET | 04-12-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

 

Cartman Gets an 'In Character.' No, Really.

» Hear the 'Weekend Edition Saturday' story

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to In Character, NPR health-care policy reporter Julie Rovner ponders one of the most pressing questions about our national mental health:

Why do we find a filthy-mouthed, foul-tempered fourth grader so %*#&@ irresistible?

We've got South Park co-creator Trey Parker and author Toni Johnson-Woods on tape to help explain, and I've loaded up the page with Cartman's ... er, "finest" moments doesn't seem quite the right word, but y'know.

Plus: Cartman answers the Proust Questionnaire. (Hey, we did it with Cookie Monster, so why not with an arguably less-bridled id?)

Enjoy...

-- Trey Graham

7:26 AM ET | 04- 5-2008 | permalink | comments (19) | e-mail post

 

From a Stereotype, a Certain Seize-the-Day Bravura

Clearly Long Duk Dong is alive (and well?) -- as all great characters are. There's a particular thread in the comments on Monday's blog post that I'm really glad to see, since I didn't have a chance to really talk about it in the radio piece. As lyman put it:

I mean, c'mon - things are pretty crappy for him. Grandpa and Grandpa are treating him like [a] servant, the other kids and snotty brothers are laughing at him, but he goes out and has the time of his life.

Asian or not, Long Duk Dong might as well be a stand-in for "carpe diem." I certainly cannot claim, back in my time as an awkward teen terrified of the other sex, to have embraced life's opportunities the way he did. Sure, we all went to school with that guy who was such a dork, he didn't even realize it. But I confess: when that dork found love with another dork, and together they seemed happy, I was a bit jealous.

The icing on the cake here is a comment that's buried way down in the thread -- one with special relevance to Sixteen Candles:

To this day, when I walk in public, throughout the world, people will double-take, then stare, then smile and then yell, "Oh sexy girlfriend!"

That one made me do a double-take: It's from Debbie Pollack, whose first movie role was as Long Duk Dong's "sexy girlfriend!" She goes on to say some poignant stuff:

Like Gedde, I will forever be trying to break from a very strong and defined character. Yet, it is a character/stereotype, good or bad, that gives us moments to be who we are, actors. Love or hate the character, we are hired to do a job, interpret a writer's words and sometimes we get to make people laugh in how we do that.

From talking to Gedde Watanabe, I got a clear sense that he doesn't see himself just as an actor, but as a comic actor. And with Long Duk Dong, he did what actors are so often told to do: "Make it bigger!" He performed that role with a certain "seize the day" mentality -- and we remember the Donger, in part, because he succeeded.

--Alison MacAdam

3:50 PM ET | 03-28-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

 

On Air: Long Duk Dong

» Hear the 'All Things Considered' radio story

Blanche DuBois. Walter Mitty. Captain Ahab. We know, it's been feeling a little like school, maybe.

But just when you thought In Character had planted itself firmly in the literary alps, NPR's Alison MacAdam comes to the rescue with a look at an '80s character who's not so much famous as infamous: Long Duk Dong, the wacky exchange student in Sixteen Candles, the debut film from high-school-movie hero John Hughes.

Ali talks to Gedde Watanabe, the actor who caught no end of grief for playing what many see as an eye-popping example of Hollywood stereotyping.

Also heard in the piece: Giant Robot co-founders Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong. Like many Asian-American kids in the '80s, they grew up being hassled by classmates who'd seen the movie -- and who thought asking an Asian guy to say "Oh, sexy girlfriend!" was the height of wit.

Don't remember Long Duk Dong being that outrageous? I've got the incriminating evidence over on the story page. Enjoy ... though maybe that's not quite the right word.

-- Trey Graham

Bonus info: Did you know there's an '80s cover band called Long Duk Dong? In Kentucky, no less.

4:14 PM ET | 03-24-2008 | permalink | comments (19) | e-mail post

 

Your Turn: Zack Morris

From Good Morning, Miss Bliss and Saved by the Bell, created by Sam Bobrick
Nominated by Alejandra O'Leary

Zack Morris was both my hero and my heartthrob when I was growing up with television in the early 1990s. Sure, lots of girls wanted to kiss Zack, but I don't think there was any young Saved by the Bell fan of either sex who didn't want to be Zack Morris.

Conniving, blonde, lusty, morally impressionable, and ultimately vulnerable, Zack was the narrator of everyone's life on Saved by the Bell. He could manipulate the universe by calling a "Time out!", invent a "wave meets shave" hairstyle, meet D-list celebrities like Casey Kasem at a Dance Contest, have at least four "best friends" (Jessie, Slater, Screech, and Lisa) and charm the pants off of both his nemesis Principal Belding and the beautiful Kelly Kapowski. (Though he would never literally charm her pants off!)

In Zack's world, a kiss is the apex of all satisfaction. Zack Morris proved that you can be innocent and impressionable, but also intelligent, dynamic, and thrilling, all at the same time. He is the Puck of my generation.

Tags: Comedy | Coming of Age | TV | Teens

10:49 AM ET | 03-18-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

 

On Air: Jack Bauer

» Hear the 'Morning Edition' radio commentary

Here it is: The one you've been waiting for since, oh, at least Jan. 14.

NPR's homeland security correspondent Pam Fessler, who usually covers real-world developments in national security, goes digging for answers about why 24's corner-cutting patriot Jack Bauer inspires fanboy crushes on both ends of the political spectrum. (You gotta wonder what it is about a serial torturer, however fictional, whose admirers include both an ACLU mucky-muck and the boss-man at the DHS.)

Fessler, being an actual reporter, gets both men on tape -- we critics, having been diligent English Lit students, tend to just riff on what we think the likely answers are -- and also talks with civilian fan Stephanie "Melia" Romanski of 24addict.com and 24 co-creator Bob Cochran.

And with an assist from Fessler's producer, Felix Contreras, I've put a handful of Season 3 clips on the page for you.

Enjoy.

-- Trey Graham

5:36 PM ET | 03-17-2008 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post