Glen Weldon
Glen Weldon is a host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. He reviews books, movies, comics and more for the NPR Arts Desk.
Over the course of his career, he has spent time as a theater critic, a science writer, an oral historian, a writing teacher, a bookstore clerk, a PR flack, a completely inept marine biologist and a slightly better-ept competitive swimmer.
Weldon is the author of two cultural histories: Superman: The Unauthorized Biography and The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Slate, McSweeney's and more; his fiction has appeared in several anthologies and other publications. He is the recipient of an NEA Arts Journalism Fellowship, an Amtrak Writers' Residency, a Ragdale Writing Fellowship and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts for Fiction.
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The streaming service "designed specifically for your phone" launches with 50 shows — and over 100 more on the way. Here are our highlights from the opening batch. -
Here are recommendations for pleasant, immersive video games now that old hands, as well as the dilettantes among us, have more time to play them.
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NPR's All Things Considered best of 2019 lists are going highly specific this year. Up first: highly specific superlatives from TV and movies.
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After eight seasons, 73 episodes and a whole lot of characters saying "bend the knee" all the time, HBO's massive fantasy series is finally over. -
In the series' penultimate episode, the quality of mercy gets seriously strained. And stabbed. And set aflame. And razed. And several characters meet their final fates. -
In the fourth episode of the series' final season, our heroes celebrate their hard-won victory over Evil Snow Miser, prepare for the next battle and suffer some distressing casualties. -
On the eve of the biggest battle yet, the series pauses for an episode that delivers old-school Game of Thrones thrills: characters talking in rooms — including a milestone Jaime/Brienne moment. -
The first episode of the final season was dense with reunions, recriminations and revelations as just about the entire cast made it to Winterfell. -
The Caped Crusader turns 80 years old on Saturday. He keeps evolving in ways other heroes don't — which is one reason his fans come from all walks of life.
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The next Batman movie will debut in 2021 — sans Ben Affleck. NPR's resident Batman expert Glen Weldon ranks the best — and worst — actors to play Batman, from Adam West to Christian Bale.
