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Palindromes is the dark, new film comedy by Todd Solondz. It's a sequel to the writer-director's Welcome to the Dollhouse. Bob Mondello says like that earlier film, this new one deals almost exclusively with discomfiting subjects.

NPR's Steve Inskeep interviews Judy Gail, daughter of recording producer Hecky Krasnow, about the popular children's recordings her father put out in the 1940s and 50s. His hits included "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman."

Celebrated salsa musician is the subject of the film El Cantante. Our music critic takes a look at his career, marked by dazzling musical highs and personal lows including heroin addiction and a suicide attempt.

HBO on Sunday night will begin airing episodes for season three of The Wire, a series about the dueling bureaucracies that govern cops and criminals in Baltimore, set against the backdrop of the drug trade. Variety critic and columnist Brian Lowry has a review.

A new documentary called This Film is Not Yet Rated takes aim at the MPAA rating system, and the mysterious workings of the anonymous ratings board. The film has been a hit at film festivals. But it's final rating should be "B" for boring.

The solo album by John Simon, a record producer who worked with many groups from the late 1960s and early '70s, is being reissued. Among one of Simon's most popular projects was his work with The Band and Blood, Sweat and Tears.

World chess champion Gary Kasparov is writing a six-volume series on fellow masters of the game. He's also a columnist with The Wall Street Journal. He speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about Bobby Fischer and other greats of the game.

Alan Cheuse reviews Symptomatic, by Danzy Senna, a novel about a young California woman of mixed race who falls into a psychic tug of war with a colleague in New York City. It is published by Riverhead Books.

Health officials hold a three-day exercise in Tucson to test the Arizona city's ability to respond to a biochemical attack. The drill is thought to be the largest attempted in the United States. Mark Moran of member station KJZZ reports.

NPR's Rick Karr reports on how a 1946 box office flop became so ubiquitous on television this time of year. It's a Wonderful Life is a sentimental favorite... in part because of Jimmy Stewart, but also because no one ever bothered to file the papers to extend the copyright on the movie.