'W.W. Who do you figure that is?'

Death And Walter White

Warning: The full article contains plot points in detail form the first 4.5 seasons of Breaking Bad.

If television’s golden age has taught viewers anything, it is to expect that explosive, violent death is an integral part of serious storytelling. The history of literature and the history of film teach that there are other ways to achieve high stakes. But if you go looking for premium, celebrated television dramas that don’t involve a lot of bloody kills, you will narrow your options considerably.

Breaking Bad, which enters its final run of eight episodes on Aug. 11, is no exception. But it is distinguished by the intimacy and seriousness of its approach to the killing of one person by another.

Read the rest on NPR’s Monkey See pop culture blog.

It’s your neck that’s the problem. Your neck is lying to you.

All your life you’ve had to look up at the stars. You walk along on a summer’s evening and they’re always there, those stars, those bright mysterious points of light, waiting for you to notice, waiting for you to understand what they are saying about time and space and your own place in it all.

But to see them you have to crane your neck. You have tilt back that big stone of a head to look up. Lets face it, that’s uncomfortable. And more to the point you can’t really sustain that head-craned-back position for anything more than a few minutes. That’s why the only way to really understand the real truth of the stars is to lie down.

First you’ll need to find a nice place, somewhere with the darkest skies possible. It’s got to be a good place to lie down too, someplace comfortable. A wide-open field is best. Then, once you have settled down in your dark, quiet spot take a long deep breath and face out.

That’s right, outwards, not up!

Wait, what? Read the rest on NPR’s 13.7 Cosmos and Culture blog.

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