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"More weed, less war."

That's the latest campaign slogan in the North Carolina Senate race advertising wars. And no, neither Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan nor Republican challenger Thom Tillis is jumping on the state's marijuana legalization effort.

A quarter million dollars in online ads is now supporting a third-party Senate challenger — Libertarian candidate and pizza delivery guy Sean Haugh. The ads are coming from an unlikely source: the American Future Fund, a secret-donor political group backed by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers.

The spots are aimed at young voters who typically support Democrats. One features a twenty-something who criticizes Hagan for opposing legalization and supporting President Obama's war efforts in Afghanistan.

"Vote Sean Haugh," she says. "He shares our progressive values. Pro-legalization, pro-environment. More weed, less war."

Libertarian North Carolina Senate candidate Sean Haugh tweets his views on his support from American Future Fund. Twitter/Sean Haugh hide caption

itoggle caption Twitter/Sean Haugh

In a tweet, Haugh says he now has "a whole new reason to despise Koch brothers & their dark money."

"It's all kind of surreal, frankly," Haugh told NPR. "Obviously they want to try to use me to siphon votes away from Kay Hagan and maybe swing the election to Thom Tillis."

Neither American Future Fund nor Koch Industries responded to queries about their strategy. But Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Justin Barasky said: "The Koch Brothers are doing everything they can to elect Speaker Tillis because no one has gone to the mat for the Koch Brothers more than he has."

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Pizza delivery man Sean Haugh is in single digits in the polls. But he could have a significant impact on the close Senate race. Tamara Keith/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Tamara Keith/NPR

Pizza delivery man Sean Haugh is in single digits in the polls. But he could have a significant impact on the close Senate race.

Tamara Keith/NPR

Haugh is drawing about 6 percent in public polls, with some analysts believing his support is coming equally from those who would otherwise vote for Hagan or Tillis.

The $225,000 is nearly 30 times more than the $7,744 Haugh said he has spent for himself.

To put that in perspective, the two main party candidates and outside groups have already spent $85 million on the North Carolina Senate race in advertising that directly tells voters to support or oppose a candidate. Non-profit political groups that are allowed to keep their donors secret, including the Koch brothers-founded Americans for Prosperity, have spent tens of millions of dollars more in so-called "issue" ads attacking Hagan.

"You have to wonder why people are willing to spend up to $100 million to elect somebody to a job that only pays $174,000 a year," Haugh said.

2014 North Carolina Senate race

Koch Brothers

At the moment, we're at yet another pivotal point in the history of home entertainment, which keeps changing with sudden — and major— tectonic shifts. Just ask Blockbuster Video: Videocassettes for home libraries gave way to DVDs, which now seem to be giving way to streaming video and the cloud.

Today's young consumers don't seem to want to possess physical copies of their favorite TV shows; they just want access to them wherever they can find them. So in what may be a last gasp for DVD collections, some of the new box-set releases are aimed at baby boomers and Gen X-ers — and are lavished with the kinds of extras, and extra care, that make a strong argument for purchasing them.

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On The Wonder Years, Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) had a crush on his neighbor Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar). Courtesy of Scoop Marketing hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of Scoop Marketing

On The Wonder Years, Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) had a crush on his neighbor Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar).

Courtesy of Scoop Marketing

The perfect example of this is StarVista and Time-Life's new set of The Wonder Years, the ABC sitcom that ran from 1988 to 1994. A really bad, misleadingly named single DVD called The Best of the Wonder Years was released 10 years after the series premiered in 1998 — but there's been nothing since, even though The Wonder Years is one of the most requested titles by DVD collectors. That's because the musical elements were a seminal part of that series, to set both the time and the mood, and the music rights for home-video release proved too complicated and expensive to acquire. But recent DVD releases of Freaks and Geeks, Veronica Mars and other series have proved that fans will pay extra for the original music, so this new Wonder Years set has acquired most of it. Not all, but the vast majority, and more than 100 of the 115 episodes are presented with all of the songs intact.

That's fabulous news. And the even more fabulous news is that The Wonder Years holds up so beautifully in every way. It stars Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold, a teenager coming of age in the late '60s and looking back on his life 20 years later in a narration provided by Daniel Stern.

“ The Wonder Years isn't dated at all. The music, the tone, the message, the nostalgia: Everything remains pitch-perfect.

Another 20 years have gone by since the series ended — Savage is old enough now to record his own middle-aged narration for the show — but The Wonder Years isn't dated at all. The music, the tone, the message, the nostalgia: Everything remains pitch-perfect. Like in the closing moments from the pilot episode when Kevin comforts and kisses his neighbor, Winnie Cooper: The music swells and the voice of the adult Kevin puts it all in perspective.

The Wonder Years set includes lots of extras and comes packaged in a miniature school locker with loads of goodies — but for me, the episodes are what matter, and it matters that they're presented so lovingly and so relatively complete.

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WKRP in Cincinnati originally ran on CBS from 1978 to 1982. The new collection contains most, but not all, of the original music. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Television hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of Sony Pictures Television

WKRP in Cincinnati originally ran on CBS from 1978 to 1982. The new collection contains most, but not all, of the original music.

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Television

Music rights also are at the heart of another new release this month: Shout! Factory's WKRP in Cincinnati: The Complete Series. Only the first season of this sitcom, which originally ran on CBS from 1978 to 1982, was released on DVD — and that was back in 2004, with much of its original music replaced. As with The Wonder Years, this new collection contains most, but not all, of the original music. But unlike The Wonder Years, which holds up superbly, WKRP in Cincinnati plays as a more dated viewing experience. But for those who remember it, and liked it, it's still an enjoyable one.

My favorite moment of all — based on an actual, very unfortunate radio promotion — had WKRP newsman Les Nessman reporting on a Thanksgiving Day stunt in which a station helicopter flew over a crowd and released a bunch of live turkeys — which, it turned out, couldn't fly. The live radio report by Nessman, played by Richard Sanders, was a disaster, just like the one involving the Hindenberg in the '20s.

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Paul Reubens played Pee-wee Herman on Pee-wee's Playhouse. Courtesy of Shout! Factory hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of Shout! Factory

Paul Reubens played Pee-wee Herman on Pee-wee's Playhouse.

Courtesy of Shout! Factory

Finally, also appearing this month on DVD, also from Shout! Factory, is The Complete Series: Pee-wee's Playhouse. This series was released on DVD 10 years ago, but now it's re-mastered, and available for the first time on Blu-ray. Many TV series don't benefit much from the enhanced sound and visuals of Blu-ray. But some do. Pushing Daisies. Twin Peaks. Breaking Bad. And, yes, Pee-wee's Playhouse, with Paul Reubens and his endlessly inventive take on a children's TV show. The visual restoration is brilliant and hearing the theme song will remind you of the show's manic, infectious energy.

David Bianculli is founder and editor of the website TV Worth Watching. He teaches TV and film history at Rowan University in New Jersey.

This Halloween, what better way to one-up your friends than mixing up some batter, swapping out your light bulbs for ultraviolet replacements, and showing off some glowing baked goods?

And, if you follow the advice of Steven Johnson and Martina Zupanic, these treats won't leave you feeling regretful the next day about your eating choices.

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Martina Zupanic and Steven Johnson are the founders of Luma Bites. Martina Zupanic/Luma Bites hide caption

itoggle caption Martina Zupanic/Luma Bites

Martina Zupanic and Steven Johnson are the founders of Luma Bites.

Martina Zupanic/Luma Bites

Zupanic, the chef in their relationship, lives in Croatia. She likes to avoid processed and sugary foods, cooking most of her dishes from scratch, whether it's chips or pasta. Her recipes reflect those interests.

"Croatians eat very healthy. We use a lot of oils; we use a lot of natural stuff," says Zupanic. (Minnesota-based Johnson handles the business side of things.)

A few years ago, the two food entrepreneurs say, the idea to create homemade, glow-in-the-dark recipes dropped in their laps, literally.

"We were watching a movie," says Zupanic, eating chips on the couch. When she dropped them in the dark, she thought, "It would be great if we could have chips that glow in the dark."

The idea grew from there, and what started out as fun for the couple evolved into a business partnership, called Luma Bites.

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The Luma Bites team made this tapioca dessert in my honor (alas, I did not get to sample it). You can see what the cake looks like under normal light (lower left) and under an ultraviolet light (top and bottom right). Martina Zupanic/Luma Bites hide caption

itoggle caption Martina Zupanic/Luma Bites

The Luma Bites team made this tapioca dessert in my honor (alas, I did not get to sample it). You can see what the cake looks like under normal light (lower left) and under an ultraviolet light (top and bottom right).

Martina Zupanic/Luma Bites

The most popular trick to make your treats glow, they found, uses tonic water instead of normal water in Jell-O. The tonic water naturally glows under an ultraviolet light, and using it in Jell-O gives the wobbling delight an eerie sheen. But Zupanic didn't want to follow that trend.

She wanted to make food from scratch, unprocessed and without artificial ingredients, that would achieve the same glow. So she turned to her cupboard and began mixing oils, using trial and error.

To get the effect, the pair says, you have to make food with the right chemistry. Tonic water, as they'd seen, glows because it contains quinine, which fluoresces under ultraviolet rays. Fluorescent molecules — those that absorb ultraviolet light and then re-emit it to create a glow — are also found in white paper, bodily fluids like blood or urine and tooth whitener. Common food products that can glow include vitamin B2, honey and even mustard.

Zupanic had a black light from her daughter's birthday party and used it to gauge how well her food glowed. Most of it didn't. "Ninety-eight percent of the food" in her early experiments "went to waste," she says. "I had to repeat it so many times."

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The glowing pearl pudding under a UV light glows yellow with yellow honey. Alison Bruzek/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Alison Bruzek/NPR

The glowing pearl pudding under a UV light glows yellow with yellow honey.

Alison Bruzek/NPR

Finally, after years of trial and error, Zupanic has devised several dishes that glow. Her menu ranges from ice cream to crepes to meatballs to mashed potatoes to cevap rolls, her specialty. They all sound like normal food, but Zupanic and Johnson say people are still wary. After all, the link between radiation and things that glow in the dark is pretty well embedded in pop culture.

"We need to make people familiar with this," says Zupanic. "They don't have to be afraid of it."

Luma Bites launched a Kickstarter, now defunct, to spread awareness about its glow-in-the-dark food recipes. The couple are currently looking for investors to open a restaurant in the U.S. that uses their proprietary techniques.

So while they didn't want to give away all their secrets, they did create a new recipe for The Salt to try and share with you, dear readers.

Spoiler: it's delicious.

Alison's Glowing Pearl Pudding

by Luma Bites "glow expert" chef Martina Zupanic

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons tapioca pearls

1/8 cup milk

2 cups water

1/8 cup honey*

1/4 teaspoon vanilla sugar

1/8 teaspoon lemon peel zest

Place tapioca pearls into one cup of cold water and soak for 30 minutes. Drain. Place one cup of water to boil and add honey. After the honey has melted, add vanilla sugar. When dissolved, add tapioca and cook on low heat, stirring occasionally. After about 20 minutes, add milk and lemon peel zest, and continue to cook on low for an additional 10 minutes. Place pudding into a mold or bowl to let cool down. Serve with chocolate drizzle or chocolate "spider" decorations. For gluten-free pudding, make sure to use a brand that guarantees gluten-free products. Create a totally dark space and — using black lights — enjoy your glowing dessert!

*Tip from Steve: The dessert will glow white if you use black locust flower honey. Yellow honey will make it glow yellow, and different brands will glow differently. Creamed honey won't glow as much.

glow in the dark foods

Halloween

recipes

In the new black comedy Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Edward Norton costars as a pretentious and self-absorbed but very talented and edgy theater actor who has been cast in a play directed by a washed-up movie star played by Michael Keaton.

Norton, who has starred in such films as Fight Club and American History X, says that making Birdman was a highlight of his career.

"I had as much fun making Birdman as I've ever had making a movie," Norton tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "I think it was one of the most creatively satisfying experiences I've had — and I think it's an incredibly audacious and very rare movie."

“ I think that's the enormous of pleasure of working with people like Michael Keaton and Zach Galifianakis, people with an astonishing ability to, even within a set choreography, do a backflip that you weren't expecting.

- Ed Norton

In the film, Keaton's character had been famous for portraying the superhero Birdman. Norton's character has no respect for superhero movies in general, or this actor, in particular. In his own condescending way, Norton is trying to teach Keaton what theater acting is really about, and how the stage is a place to reveal truth — with the implication that Keaton might have been a star, but he's not a real actor.

The movie is in part about ego, aging and clashing approaches to acting, as Keaton tries to reignite his career — and reinvent himself.

Birdman is shot to appear like one seamless scene. This means that every move was calculated and rehearsed — though Norton insists there was still room for improvisation.

"Once people have gotten the dance, and it is a dance — it's like a complex choreography with a lot of people — but once it has been built as a foundation, I think that's the enormous of pleasure of working with people like Michael Keaton and Zach Galifianakis, people with an astonishing ability to, even within a set choreography, do a backflip that you weren't expecting," Norton says.

Norton was in the Wes Anderson films The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom and starred in The 25th Hour and Death To Smoochy. He talks with Gross about Birdman, why he loves Wes Anderson films, and "one of the proudest things" in his career.

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Mike Shiner, played by Ed Norton (right), and Riggan Thompson, played by Michael Keaton, have a tense moment backstage on Broadway. Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures

Mike Shiner, played by Ed Norton (right), and Riggan Thompson, played by Michael Keaton, have a tense moment backstage on Broadway.

Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures

Interview Highlights

On why Birdman is shot to appear like one seamless scene

[Director] Alejandro [Irritu] has conceived it as kind of a waking dream, like a seamless floating shot. The entire film moves along without any apparent break or edit throughout virtually the entirety of the film. It's not like one of those films where there's a bravura seven-minute shot within the middle of the film that's a set piece. The entire film presents itself as a single, unbroken seamless movement of the camera.

The amazing thing about Alejandro, I think, is he said right away, "Look, there's a reason for doing this, which is I'm telling a story about a person in a spiritual crisis who might actually be losing his mind. He might actually be going crazy, we're not sure. And I don't ever want to leave the bubble of his anxiety: I want the audience with him inside the bubble of his mounting panic."

More On 'Birdman'

Movies

'Birdman' Tracks A Comeback In (Seemingly) One Long Take

Movie Interviews

Michael Keaton: As An Actor, You Must Lock In And Let Go

On the fistfight scene with Michael Keaton in Birdman

That was probably one of the funnier scenes for us. It was challenging mostly because it's very hard not to laugh at Michael Keaton when he's doing a scene like that. I grew up on the guy — I used to watch his movies and copy his lines. ... It was enormous fun.

Probably the most nerve-wracking thing about it was that it came after probably one of the longest shots in the movie, one of the longest sequences without a real stitch in it. ... And you get to this point where you have to throw a punch and hit it and have the camera angle be right and you just think like, "If we miss this, if we goof on just this one punch, technically we've just thrown away 12 minutes and four big scenes where actors might have done some really fantastic stuff — and you're going to lose it all to messing up a stunt." That was a little anxiety-inducing.

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Norton played Henckels, the commissioner of police, Zubrowka Province, in The Grand Budapest Hotel, a Wes Anderson film. Norton says he loves Wes Anderson films because of the "whimsy, the incredible humor" and that "there's always these moments of pathos that come in and sideswipe you." Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures

Norton played Henckels, the commissioner of police, Zubrowka Province, in The Grand Budapest Hotel, a Wes Anderson film. Norton says he loves Wes Anderson films because of the "whimsy, the incredible humor" and that "there's always these moments of pathos that come in and sideswipe you."

Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures

On Wes Anderson's films

What I've loved about Wes [Anderson] from the get-go [is] — the whimsy, the incredible humor ... but there's always these moments of pathos that come in and sideswipe you. Every time I watch The Royal Tenenbaums, I'm laughing and laughing and then for whatever reason, as soon as there's that scene where [Richie Tenenbaum] releases the falcon or the hawk over the city and they play that Velvet Underground song, I tear up every single time. ... I can't explain it.

I've come to think that a lot of Wes' movies are about the same thing, which is maybe people struggling with the way that the family that you're born into fails you or you don't have the family that you want, so you go and create the family that you need. So many of the characters in Wes' movies are essentially creating alternative communities that support them. I think there's something really sweet in that idea.

On carrying actor Harvey Keitel in Moonrise Kingdom

He weighs like 240. ... And he's got a density of muscle that you've never seen in a man that age. ... He is so heavy that not only the idea of jumping, but even running with him was so ludicrous that they had to build me a Harvey Keitel backpack dummy made of foam that had straps on the chest so that I could wear it and run with him. Three union grips couldn't carry Harvey, let alone one 155-pound actor.

On the satirical songs he sings as Smoochy the Rhino in Death to Smoochy

Probably one of the proudest things in my career is the occasional $40 check I get for residuals for lyrics and music on Death to Smoochy, which I really proudly share with Adam Resnick, who is the madcap genius who wrote Death to Smoochy and wrote many of those songs like "Your Stepdad's Not Mean, He's Just Adjusting" and others.

I ended up putting the musical underpinnings and embellishing on them, but sharing those music royalties with Adam is definitely a highlight of my career.