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Novelist Nick Hornby's new book, Songbook, contains a collection of essays about Hornby's favorite pop tunes. It includes a meditation on a reggae version of "Puff the Magic Dragon." The unusual song is a favorite of Hornby's autistic son, and it teaches him something about his passion for music. Hear Hornby and NPR's Renee Montagne.

A Family Circle: The Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left tells the story of a family that includes poet Jean Boudin, journalist I.F. Stone and political radical Kathy Boudin. Kathy Boudin was recently released from prison for her part in a 1981 armored truck heist organized by the Weathermen. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with author Susan Braudy.

Veteran BBC Radio host Charlie Gillett returns to Weekend Edition to talk with NPR's Scott Simon about his fourth world music compilation, World 2003. He discusses the artists, nations and trends reflected on the double CD, and how he chose the songs.

Neo, Trinity and Morpheus return to the nation's movie screens in The Matrix Revolutions, the final installment in the Matrix trilogy from the Wachowski brothers. The movie premieres Wednesday night. NPR's Bob Mondello has a review.

Doctor Sax and the Great World Snakeis an audio drama that recounts the sinister figures that populate the mind of an adolescent boy. Jack Kerouac wrote the original screenplay, based on vampires and witches he conjured up during his own childhood. NPR's Bob Edwards talks to Kerouac's nephew Jim Sampas, who discovered the manuscript and produced a new version on CD.

The classic French horror film Eyes Without A Face is back in theaters after 45 years on the shelf. Los Angeles Times movie critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

A new documentary, Bus 174 tells the story of a Brazilian bus hijacking three years ago. The event, broadcast live, riveted South Americans to their televisions. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

In 1983, millions of Americans gathered to watch a made-for-TV movie depicting life after a nuclear attack on a small town in Kansas. The Day After aired at the height of the Cold War. Many see it as a great -- if somewhat campy -- achievement in nuclear-freeze paranoia. The director and others reflect on the movie's legacy. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

Gary Larson created more than 4,000 cartoons for The Far Side, and they've all been collected in a hefty new anthology. Yet the artist still has trouble explaining what his strange, world-of-their-own panels are about. Hear Larson describe a cartoon he wishes he had drawn, along with other excerpts of his interview with NPR's Bob Edwards.

Storyteller David Greenberger gathers the words of the elderly and sets them to music. At a Chattanooga, Tenn., senior center, Greenberger recorded "Hollywood" -- real name Albert Enzel -- pondering the insanity of killing. This story and others are on a CD, Mayor of the Tennessee River by David Greenberger and the Shaking Ray Levis on PelPel records.