Theweekends on All Things Considered series Movies I've Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.
For writer-director Kasi Lemmons, whose credits include Eve's Bayou, The Caveman's Valentine and Talk to Me, the movie she could watch a million times is John Carney's musical Once. "I was so taken by the filmmaking," Lemmons says.
Inspired by the movie Robin Hood, Olympic sound man Dennis Baxter places microphones along the path to the target to capture the sound of arrows in flight.
Credit AFP / Getty Images
Romanian Olympic gymnastics champion Nadia Comaneci celebrates a perfect score during the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
The Olympic Games are officially under way, and we're watching sports many of us glimpse only every four years: gymnastics; track; judo. But we're willing to bet that the sports' sounds are just as memorable: the clanking of foils, the tick-tock of table tennis, the robotic "Take your mark!" before swimmers launch.
Those unique sounds are part of the Olympic experience. And it's one man's job to make sure we hear them clearly: Dennis Baxter, the official sound engineer for the Olympics. He's been at it since 1996.
Ryan Lochte smiles on the podium with his new gold medal after winning the men's 400m individual medley in London Saturday. Lochte is wearing a dental accessory known as grillz, in the shape of the American flag.
Credit Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP
United States' Ryan Lochte reacts after finishing first in the men's 400-meter individual medley swimming final at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park. Lochte won the first U.S. gold medal at the 2012 Summer Games.
Ryan Lochte won the gold medal in the men's 400-meter individual medley Saturday, beating Michael Phelps and the rest of a talented field at the London 2012 Olympics.
Lochte finished with a time of 4:05.18, beating Brazil's Thiago Pereira (4:08.86) and Japan's Kosuke Hagino (4:08.94). Phelps was fourth, at 4:09.28. Lochte sprang to an early lead in the butterfly, and solidified it with his backstroke.
The victory wasn't a surprise to Lochte, who said that he knew he was in good shape coming into the London Games. Still, the win seemed to take a while to sink in.
Syrian rebels are taking a pounding in Aleppo, Syria's largest city but they continue to hold some neighborhoods where they've taken control. VOA reports the Syrian government is warning of "the mother of all battles" in the commercial hub, home to millions of people. Russia says a tragedy is "imminent."
Silver medalists Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski and Jacob Wukie of the United States, gold medalists Michele Frangilli, Marco Galiazzo and Mauro Nespoli of Italy, and bronze medalists Kim Bub-min, Im Dong-hyun and Oh Jin-hyek of South Korea stand with their medals after the men's team archery event.
Credit Paul Gilham / Getty Images
U.S. archer Brady Ellison fires the winning arrow in the men's team archery semifinal Saturday. Ellison and his teammates won the silver, falling just short against Italy in the final.
On the first day of full competition in the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Team USA won its first medal of the games, as the men's archery team took silver in a tense final against Italy. The Americans reached the final after stunning the highly regarded South Korean team in a comeback win earlier in the day.
Italy won on its last arrow, when a score of eight would have meant a loss and a ten a gold. The arrow hit the line between the 9 and 10 — and in archery, that meant 10 points, and the gold medal.
Rigoberto Uran of Colombia leads a group of riders as they ride up Boxhill on the outskirts of London, during the men's cycling road race for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Originally published on Sat July 28, 2012 10:48 am
Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan won the gold medal in the men's cycling road race Saturday, edging Rigoberto Uran of Colombia in a late sprint in London. The 150-mile race ended in front of Buckingham Palace.
The Olympic medal completes a vindication for Vinokourov, 38, who has previously been suspended for doping, back in 2007. He retired last year, after breaking his leg at the Tour de France. But he returned to the French classic this summer.
The London Olympics are in full swing, after an opening ceremony Friday that was chock-full of historic and cultural imagery drawn from Britain's past. Critics are gushing over Queen Elizabeth's role in the spectacle — along with James Bond. But there is room for debate — especially among viewers here in the U.S.
Originally published on Sat July 28, 2012 11:41 am
Good morning. Here's a rundown of what's been happening in and around London, on the morning after the Summer Olympics' opening ceremony:
- U.S. swimmer Dana Vollmer set new Olympic and U.S. records in her 100m butterfly qualifying heat this morning. Vollmer, of Granbury, Texas, had a time of 56.25 seconds. She says she can go faster.
- The first medals have now been awarded in the London 2012 Olympics, with China's Yi Siling winning gold in the 10-meter air rifle shooting competition. Poland took silver, and China took bronze, as well.
Mitt Romney is set to depart from London Saturday, after three days of photo ops and closed meetings. But his assessment of London's handling of the games drew a rebuke from Prime Minister David Cameron. Host Scott Simon chats with Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman about the visit and the perceptions formed by Romney's hosts.
Throughout this week, NPR's Kelly McEvers has been bringing us stories from parts of Syria controlled by the rebels who are fighting to oust the regime of Bashar Assad. She talks with host Scott Simon about her reporting.
The 2012 Olympic Games opened Friday, with a ceremony that included James Bond and Queen Elizabeth parachuting into the stadium, flyovers, rippling Union Jacks, Shakespeare, sheep and fireworks. Host Scott Simon talks to Simon Hoggart, political sketch writer for The Guardian about the opening ceremony.
Late July is peak tomato season in much of the country, so for some fresh and inventive twists on the fruit — and yes, it is botanically a fruit, no matter what the Supreme Court says — we're heading to Home Wine Kitchen in Maplewood, Mo.
Mohamed Godb works at Paradise Juices in a Cairo suburb. One way Egyptians are trying to beat the heat this Ramadan season is breaking the fast by drinking fresh juice.
On a sweltering day in July, Cairo temperatures top 100 degrees and the humidity is an oppressive 83 percent. There hasn't been a single day this month with a high of less than 90 — in a country where access to air conditioning is much more limited than in the United States.
Add to that the fact that much of the country is fasting for Ramadan and it gives a new dimension to what the Egyptian Meteorological Association calls a "humid heat wave."
The Chicago police gang enforcement unit makes an arrest after stopping a car with four suspected gang members in June.
Credit Beth A Keiser / AP
Two miles of 16-story towers, including the Robert Taylor homes in the foreground, stretch toward the Chicago skyline in 1996. They have since been torn down.
Credit Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
Englewood, like many Chicago neighborhoods, has been beset with crime and joblessness for decades.
Credit Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
Officials say this abandoned house was a haven for drug dealers and gang members, shortly before it was demolished in July.
This has been a summer of blood, sweat and tears in Chicago. The city has been scorched by historic heat, and the homicide rate has soared. When the sun goes down behind the glimmering lakeshore skyline, blocks on the South and West Side of the city can ring with shots and sirens.
The streets of neighborhoods like Englewood, Grand Crossing and Garfield Park are empty, even during the day. In the middle of this summer, it is rare to see a child ride a bike or walk a dog.
Allied troops invade Juno Beach on D-Day. Ben MacIntyre's latest book, Double Cross, recounts the grand deception beforehand that helped make the invasion a success.
Credit Jerry Bauer / Bloomsbury
Ben MacIntyre is a columnist and associate editor at The Times of London, and the author of Agent Zigzag.
Early in 1944, Southern England bristled with 150,000 American, British and Canadian soldiers gathered for an invasion the Allies hoped would end World War II.
The soldiers, pilots, sailors and Marines knew they were there to be launched into Nazi-occupied Europe. But surely the Germans knew also. It's hard to hide the largest invasion force in history. LIFE Magazine even ran photos of GIs in Piccadilly.
Don't call 'em greens: Some golf courses, such as this one in Syracuse, N.Y., are letting their signature green grass go to brown in an effort to save water.
Credit Seth Perlman / AP
Illinois' Lake Springfield is two feet below full, which normally doesn't happen until fall. So the city of Springfield is joining many others in either restricting water use or considering it.
The drought that's hit huge swathes of the country is also draining the audiences for outdoor activities.
Just look at the Fox River, about 50 miles southwest of Chicago. Water swirls and plunges over a dam in Yorkville, Ill. Normally there'd be lots of folks canoeing or kayaking here, but not today.
"As you can see most of my canoes are just sitting," says Greg Freeman, the owner of Freeman Sports Shop.
The pharmacy at Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Center stocks medications for 5,200 HIV/AIDS patients. Workers there aren't sure how much an increase in federal aid will help cut Georgia's waiting list for a HIV drug-assistance program.
Originally published on Sat July 28, 2012 10:07 am
The Obama administration last week announced nearly $80 million in grants to increase access to AIDS care across the United States. But will the money be enough to eliminate waiting lists for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program?
Advocates aren't sure. The program, known as ADAP, provides a safety net for people with HIV who have no means of paying for the drugs they need to fight the virus.
Every day at 9 a.m. sharp in Iten, Kenya, 200 or so runners — most of them unknowns hoping to become champions — train on the dirt roads surrounding the town.
Credit John Burnett / NPR
The doors of the Run-Fast training camp dormitories bear the names of famous marathons.
Credit John Burnett / NPR
Hellen Kimutai grew up in a one-room hut and ran 6 kilometers each way — barefoot — back and forth to school. In March, she won the Rome City Marathon.
The long- and middle-distance runners to watch during the London Olympics are from Kenya, a country with a rich tradition of producing elite track athletes. The country won 14 medals four years ago in the Beijing Olympics.
Many of the world's best marathoners have come from a highland region above the Great Rift Valley. There, the famed town of Iten produces some of the fastest humans on Earth.
The longtime spokesman of the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A has died.
The Atlanta-based company released a statement Friday announcing the death of Don Perry, 60.
"Don was a member of our Chick-fil-A family for nearly 29 years. For many of you in the media, he was the spokesperson for Chick-fil-A. He was a well-respected and well-liked media executive in the Atlanta and University of Georgia communities, and we will all miss him."
The longtime spokesman of the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A has died.
The Atlanta-based company released a statement Friday announcing the death of Don Perry, 60.
"Don was a member of our Chick-fil-A family for nearly 29 years. For many of you in the media, he was the spokesperson for Chick-fil-A. He was a well-respected and well-liked media executive in the Atlanta and University of Georgia communities, and we will all miss him."
Protesters from the Human Rights Campaign chant against Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy's anti-gay marriage stance in front of a Chick-fil-A food truck in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A has long stood by its Bible-based roots, keeping stores closed on Sundays and donating millions to Christian causes. But when its president, Dan Cathy, went public to defend his company's stance against gay marriage, he set off a considerable controversy that has everyone from politicians to puppets weighing in.
Mitt Romney flies to Israel this weekend on the second leg of his overseas tour. He'll meet with top Israeli officials as well as the Palestinian prime minister.
Romney's supporters in Israel say the Republican presidential candidate is using the trip to court the Jewish vote, which went overwhelmingly for Barack Obama in 2008.
Animals and actors enter the stadium for a British meadow scene.
Credit Paul Gilham / Getty Images
Britain's Bradley Wiggins, who won the Tour de France this year, rings the 23-ton Olympic bell, which was manufactured by the same company that made Big Ben.
Credit Pat Benic / UPI/Landov
Sheep are led onto the field during the ceremonies.
Credit Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images
British soccer star David Beckham drives a speedboat carrying the Olympic flame to the opening ceremony.
Credit Richard Heathcote / Getty Images
A general view of the opening ceremony. The 2012 Olympic Games will see 26 sports contested by 10,500 athletes over 17 days of competition.
Credit Cameron Spencer / Getty Images
British actor Rowan Atkinson, in his role as Mr. Bean, takes part in the ceremony .
Credit Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images
Fireworks light up Tower Bridge as the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony takes place Friday.
Credit Pool / Getty Images
The Olympic Rings are assembled in the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium.
Credit Stu Forster / Getty Images
The Olympic Cauldron is lit during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Credit Matt Dunham / AP
Performers dance during the opening ceremony.
Credit Lars Baron / Getty Images
Winged performers ride bicycles during the opening ceremony.
Credit Michael Regan / Getty Images
Sir Chris Hoy of the Great Britain Olympic cycling team carries his country's flag during the opening ceremony.
Credit Fabrice Coffrini / AFP/Getty Images
Artists climb chimneys during The Age of Industry scene of the opening ceremony.
Credit Cameron Spencer / Getty Images
Torchbearer Sir Steve Redgrave hands the Olympic Flame over to seven young athletes who present Britain's hopes for the next Olympics.
Credit Cameron Spencer / Getty Images
Performers with jet packs take part in the opening ceremony.
Credit Alberto Pizzoli / AFP/Getty Images
Fireworks explode from the roof of the Olympic Stadium.
Credit Christophe Simon / AFP/Getty Images
British musician Paul McCartney raises his arms as he sings at the end of the opening ceremony.
Credit Matt Dunham / AP
Performers dance during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics on July 27.
Originally published on Fri July 27, 2012 11:30 pm
Queen Elizabeth II declared the London Games open. The Olympic cauldron is lit.
It came after a staggering and cinematic opening ceremony that celebrated all aspects of British life — from its bucolic beginnings to the industrial revolution to modern-day Britain.
Ruben Bermudez stands in front of a sign that says in Spanish, "To love yourself is to protect yourself." He has struggled to remain eligible for AIDS drug assistance programs since he went on treatment four years ago.
When Ruben Bermudez, 31, found out that he had HIV more than a decade ago, he didn't want to take his medicine. He went on treatment for a few weeks, but said the intensive pill regimen made him feel dizzy.
He stopped treatment and tried to ignore the diagnosis, moving to Florida from Washington in pursuit of sunshine. In 2008, he learned that one of his best friends died of a brain tumor that couldn't be treated because his immune system has been debilitated by AIDS. Bermudez realized that his only chance at a relatively healthy life would depend on taking pills daily.
London-based Barclays Bank agreed to pay a $453 million fine over charges it manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate — LIBOR — a key global interest rate.
We've been talking a lot lately about what's been dubbed the "LIBOR rate fixing scandal," where some of the biggest banks in the world have been accused of manipulating a key global interest rate.
Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group Lucian Grainge (left) and Roger Faxon, the CEO of EMI Group, testify during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Universal's proposed merger with EMI.
It's been a tough decade for the music industry. Revenues have tumbled — from more than $14 billion in 1999 down to $7 billion last year. EMI, one of the big four record labels, was taken over by venture capitalists and then taken over again, after they defaulted, by Citigroup. Now, Universal Music Group wants to buy the recorded music division of EMI for $1.9 billion. But critics say if the two companies merge it will create a superlabel that will dominate the music industry.
President Obama is flanked Friday by congressional sponsors and officials with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee at a signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., for legislation increasing U.S. security aid to Israel.
It may have just been a coincidence that on the eve of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's visit to Israel, President Obama signed legislation that increases U.S. military and security aid to the Jewish state.
But the timing was nonetheless fortuitous for the president, and showed once again the benefits of incumbency in an election year.
