Linda Holmes

Credit Chris Hartlove
for NPR

Linda Holmes writes and edits NPR's entertainment and pop-culture blog, Monkey See. She has several elaborate theories involving pop culture and monkeys, all of which are available on request.

Holmes 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.

Holmes was a writer and editor at Television Without Pity, where she recapped several hundred hours of programming — including both High School Musical movies, for which she did not receive hazard pay. Since 2003, she has been a contributor to MSNBC.com, where she has written about books, movies, television and pop-culture miscellany.

Holmes' work has also appeared on Vulture (New York magazine's entertainment blog), in TV Guide and in many, many legal documents.

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Monkey See
11:01 pm
Fri October 21, 2011

'Klitschko': Brothers And Boxers Who Fight Hard, But Never Each Other

If you think your kids have the potential for major sibling rivalry, consider the Klitschko Brothers, Wladimir and Vitali. They're the first brothers to hold world boxing titles simultaneously.

Director Sebastian Dehnhardt tells their story in a new documentary simply called Klitschko, and they talk about their story with Scott Simon Saturday on Weekend Edition.

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Monkey See
11:01 pm
Wed October 19, 2011

Amy Poehler: Playing Politics, But Only On Television

Credit Ron Tom / NBC

Amy Poehler, seen here with Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate and Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer, plays idealistic bureaucrat Leslie Knope on NBC's Parks And Recreation.

Amy Poehler joined Saturday Night Live in 2001 — a time, she says, when no one was really sure comedy was going to ever be okay again. She left in 2008 after playing Hillary Clinton during the show's coverage of an election cycle when, she tells Ari Shapiro on Thursday's Morning Edition, "the country was really paying attention to politics."

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Monkey See
2:30 pm
Mon October 17, 2011

'Why Read Moby-Dick?': A Passionate Defense Of The 'American Bible'

Credit iStockphoto.com

We have a bit of history with Herman Melville's Moby-Dick here at Monkey See. It was the second selection in our I Will If You Will Book Club after Twilight (true story!), and we read the entire thing together in the spring of 2010.

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Monkey See
2:30 pm
Wed October 12, 2011

New Girl Scout Badges Offer Different Choices To Smart Cookies

Today on All Things Considered, Alisha Niehaus of the Girl Scouts of America talks to host Guy Raz about a big update: for the first time in a quarter-century, they've updated the badges that Scouts can earn.

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Monkey See
7:46 am
Sat October 8, 2011

Sports From 'The Onion': A New Book Explores 'The Ecstasy Of Defeat'

Credit Jamie Squire / Getty Images

Brett Favre, seen here looking bummed in 2010, is one of the many sports figures taking a drubbing in the new sports book from the editors of The Onion.

I'm going to make a confession. I have enjoyed many of the same Onion headlines as everyone else over the years, from the exploits of presidents and Congress to the activities of store clerks and sad dads. But their sports coverage, while it's passed around somewhat less often and is a bit less well-known, is generally my favorite stuff they do.

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