Weekend Edition

Comparing Favorite Holiday Flicks With A Pro

editor — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Christmas falls on a weekend this year; a chance for many families to curl up with a good film that's stood the test of holidays past. But what if you've already seen "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Bad Santa?" What's left? Cameron Crowe joins us now from Los Angeles. Mr. Crowe is the esteemed screenwriter and director whose films include "Say Anything," "Almost Famous," "Jerry Maguire," the documentary "Pearl Jam Twenty," and the just-released, "We Bought A Zoo," starring Ben Affleck's best friend. Thanks for being with us, Mr.

Romney Reaches Out To N.H. Voters

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Mitt Romney had one of the busiest public stretches of his presidential campaign this week. A big blue bus with his name on the side rolled along hundreds of miles of New Hampshire roads making more than a dozen stops to meet voters just three weeks before the primary. The campaign called it The Earn It Tour. NPR's Ari Shapiro was along for the ride.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Mitt Romney has worked hard to counteract the ramrod-straight silver spoon perception that some voters have of him.

Sports To Look Forward To: NBA, NFL Pick Up

NPR Staff — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Coming up: A couch potato's holiday. It's time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: This weekend, the NBA gets going. The NFL gets extra thrilling. And the Boise State Broncos got to clean out their lockers. The boys in blue demolished Arizona State, 56 to 24 in the MAACO-Las Vegas Bowl. Now they got ahead home while lower ranked teams compete in the official bowl championship series games.

NPR's Tom Goldman joins us from Portland.

K-Pop Blows Up: Korean Music Finds Fans Worldwide

Claudine Ebeid — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Korean pop music groups turned a corner in 2011, expanding their audience worldwide, despite the language barrier. Two of the most popular bands are 2NE1, whose music projects ideas of self-worth, and Girls' Generation, which has nine members.

GOP Walks Away From Payroll Tax Debacle Bruised

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. President Obama is in Hawaii with his family today. Yesterday, just before leaving Washington, D.C., he signed a bill to extend the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits for two months. It was a political victory for the president and for Democrats who had made extending the tax break a priority.

For Republicans in the House of Representatives though, it may have marked a political defeat.

Syrian Violence Intensifies As Observers Arrive

editor — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. This has been the bloodiest week in Syria since an uprising began last March. Reports of army massacres in northern Syria, with more than 200 dead have sparked outrage around the world. Yesterday, in Syria's capital of Damascus, two explosions killed more than 40 people and injured over 100. The Syrian government said that al-Qaida suicide bombers had targeted a security headquarters in one of the best protected neighborhoods in the city.

Cape Race: 'Still A Place For A Lighthouse'

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Off the northeastern tip of North America on Newfoundland lies a stretch of the coast known as the graveyard of the Atlantic. The rocky shoreline has sunk hundreds of ships. Reporter Emma Jacobs traveled to the red and white lighthouse on the tip of Cape Race that still warns ships away from the coast.

EMMA JACOBS, BYLINE: The day I visited in late fall was the kind of day the Cape Race lighthouse was built for. Twenty-foot swells rolled in towards the point through a thick fog.

MICHAEL WARD: As you can see, it's crashing up on the rocks up here.

How Much Is That Purple Heart In The Window?

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

There's a Purple Heart in the window of the A-Z Outlet pawnshop in Holland, Mich., right between a silver necklace and an inexpensive watch.

Bryan VandenBosch says a young man walked into his shop just before Thanksgiving to pawn a medal that the U.S. government awards to soldiers who have been "wounded or killed in any action" while serving.

He says that he doesn't know why the young man needed or wanted to pawn his medal.

"He did say a couple of things — like he won two of these in Afghanistan — but I didn't ask, 'Doing what or how?' It's not for me to ask," Mr.

A Pigeon's Potential: Learning Abstract Numbers

NPR Staff — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Pigeons are not known for their algebra skills or intelligence generally. They don't talk like parrots. They don't make tools out of twigs like some crows.

But Damian Scarf at New Zealand's University of Otago reports in the current issue of the journal Science, that experiments he conducted with colleagues showed that pigeons can learn abstract rules about numbers. Pigeons don't just count. The birds in his experiment could peck images on a screen to rank numbers from lower to higher.

Medieval Christmas Cookies Still In Fashion

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Families have passed down Christmas cookie recipes for generations, but few traditions date back further than this one from Medieval Europe.

Marie Cusick reports for NPR from Strasburg, Pennsylvania.

MARIE CUSICK, BYLINE: At Heather Botchlet's bakery in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, it's not uncommon for an Amish horse and buggy to pass by.

(SOUNDBITE OF A HORSE AND BUGGY)

CUSICK: But even though many of her neighbors are still living as if it's the 19th century, the tradition Botchlet is keeping alive is much older.