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Pop Culture Happy Hour: O Canada!

NPR
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We taped this week's show with half of us in D.C. and half of us — me and Trey, plus NPR's own Bob Mondello — in a studio in Toronto. Why? Because of the Toronto International Film Festival, which provides the front half of the show. Trey, Bob and I talk about a bunch of the films we saw, many of which you can see covered on the blog's TIFF '12 section. Also be sure to listen to the chat Bob had with All Things Considered in which he talked about some of his favorites and not-so-favorites. What does Trey called "gorgeously upholstered"? By the way, Trey never did make it to Seven Psychopaths — he tried to go three times and didn't make it in, which tells you something about how much attention it got at the festival.

And yes, you will get to hear about the Joss Whedon Much Ado About Nothing.

For our very punchy, very silly, very loose second segment, we talked about Canadian pop culture — or, more precisely, we talked about what dopey Americans think of Canadian pop culture while our engineer at the CBC studio made faces and shot thumbs-downs at us. (This really happened.) (I insisted that this podcast not post until I had cleared customs in Toronto.) (WE ARE SORRY, CANADA, ALL MOCKERY IS REALLY AIMED AT OURSELVES.) But I do think you will all agree with me about which of the actors on Glen's list is, in fact, the most Canadian. (Here's the SCTV link he promised you.)

Anyway.

Our final segment, as always, concerns what's making us happy this week. Making Glen happy this week is this movie. Making Bob happy is the simple fact of not having to see any more summer blockbusters, now that we're into the fall. Making Trey happy is even more of the cinematic stuff from the festival (Cheating!) Making Stephen happy is the fact that he did not have to watch something he often does have to watch, on top of the fact that he finally began watching something many people have been trying to get him to watch.

Sadly, my thing making me happy this week is something the name of which I misheard, so I owe an apology. It's not Randall; it's Randolph! I'm the worst! But here he is, Toronto. He will guess your card, and he pours a lovely margarita.

Please keep in touch with us — you can find us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter: me, Trey, Glen, Stephen, producer Jess Gitner, and our producer emeritus and music director Mike.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.