Filed by KOSU News in Art & Life.
October 14, 2011

It may surprise you to hear this, so hang on to your headphones.

The typically composed Pop Culture Happy Hour staff does not contain any people who are actually involved in boxing. Not even robot boxing. We’re not really brawlers. In fact, we are more, as Glen once put it, “pale” and “mole-like.”

So when it came time for us to discuss Real Steel, the cinematic salute to robot boxing, we felt that we might be at a slight disadvantage. Thus, we recruited one of the many, many bad-ass brawlers of our acquaintance, music and theater critic Chris Klimek. (Twitter avatar only [REDACTED] percent accurate.) Chris not only boxes, but teaches boxing, so we had him talk a little about the actual boxing — I know! Expertise, right?

After we chat up Hugh Jackman and his moppet for a while, we turn our attention to a new incarnation of an old favorite: Regrettable Television Pop Quiz: VINTAGE EDITION. We each searched our brains for regrettable television of the past and tried to identify it by sound alone. This did not turn out to be all that difficult, except for me, because apparently my ears work only sometimes.

And as always, we end with what’s making us happy this week, a segment Chris cruelly steals with his actual uplifting amaaaaazing tale, which kind of made some of the rest of us feel like our happiness might be frivolous. (Whatever, “triumph of the human spirit.” Have you seen this thing on the internet?)

As always, we count on you to stay in touch, so join us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter: me, Trey, Glen, Stephen, Chris, and our esteemed producer, Mike Katzif. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]