What Makes Us Happy: A Guide to Your Weekend Snacking, Watching, and Listening

This week, live-action remakes kept coming, working conditions could change in reality TV and an emblematic poet has left us.

Here’s what NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour the crew was attentive – and what you should check out this weekend.

A proven Bourbon Ball recipe

When I was a kid, I always made Bourbon Balls with my mom around this time of year. I still have the recipe she had in her little card box. I made some Bourbon Balls the other day – they are just amazing. These are delicious brownie-like things and I make way too many every year.

What I remember most is that two weeks later, when we finally ate them, me, at 5 or 6 years old, I drank a little bit, then I made a face because it tasted tasted like alcohol, then pretended to be drunk for the next five minutes. And everyone at any party would think it was adorable. That’s what I’m looking for. — Bob Mondello

Bob’s Mom’s recipe for bourbon balls

Ingredients

2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (rolled thinly)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup powdered sugar (plus extra for rolling the balls in)
2 teaspoons of cocoa
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/3 cup bourbon (or rum or brandy)

Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients well.
2. Form into 1-inch balls.
3. Roll in additional powdered sugar.
4. Store in an airtight container for at least a week before serving (the hard part).

someone somewhere

I’m obsessed with someone somewhere on Max. It took me a minute to get into it, I remember watching the first season and episode thinking it was moving very slowly, but for some reason it just clicked for me recently. I lapped it up and I’m so sad that it’s in its third and final season. Bridget Everett and the entire cast are absolutely incredible and it has actually become a heartwarming show for me. It’s this exploration of being an outsider in a small rural town. And as someone who grew up in the South and a small rural suburban town, this really hits home in all the best ways. -Ryan Mitchell

The incredible race

I recently started rewatching The incredible race on Paramount+. A return from another era. We were then in a different world. It’s so beautiful to see ordinary people traveling the world and conquering their fears. I find it quite amusing and calming. So check it out. -Tre’vell Anderson

A Christmas Carol: An Iconic Performance by Tim Curry

I listened to the great Tim Curry read a story that has been co-opted by Big Christmas for far too long: A Christmas carol. It’s sappy, sentimental, molasses. Yes. This is why you need Tim Curry in the mix. He cuts the molasses. It doesn’t process the feeling. What it relies on is the language and the voice of the narration, which is what I prefer. I’ve just started my annual listening and I keep forgetting how much funny throat-clearing there is in those first few pages where Dickens says: Why is he dead as a doornail and not dead as a coffin nail? And he goes on this tangent about the ghost of Hamlet’s father. It’s just the best. -Glen Weldon

More recommendations from the Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter

by Linda Holmes

I enjoyed this one from Kelsey McKinney room to Defector about the the challenges of writing a book and things that cannot be reproduced by robots.

THE Netflix action movie Continue really wants to be Die hard (like Sam Adams noted In Slate), and this is absolutely not the case Die hard. It’s not as witty, and I don’t think I’m shocking anyone by saying that Jason Bateman isn’t Alan Rickman. However! That said, it’s a fun, silly little diversion, nicely filmed and choreographed, and featuring another good supporting performance from the terrific Danielle Deadwyler. It’s worth dedicating an evening or weekend afternoon to it.

The funniest thing I read this week was Kathryn VanArendonk at Vulturetalking about what Taylor Sheridan is currently doing with Yellow stone. Really, it’s way stranger than anything you think about if you’re not looking.

I hope you will spend time with the list of best TVs and movies of 2024 which was put together by some NPR reviewers: me, Glen, Aisha, Bob Mondello and Eric Deggans. Lots to like.

Dhanika Pineda adapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment “What’s Making Us Happy” for the web. If you like these suggestions, consider subscribe to our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts And Spotify.