Arts

Spaniards Snap Up Holiday Hams, Even After Cancer Warning

3:53pm December 23, 2015

by Lauren Frayer

Ham is the most popular family gift at Christmastime in Spain. And some Spaniards are feeling defiant after the World Health Organization's warning that processed meats are linked to cancer.

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Will Smith plays neuropathologist and Nigerian immigrant Bennet Omalu in Concussion. He says the role was exhilarating: "You know, Will Smith with a Nigerian accent could go really, really wrong."

Sports
Arts

Actor (And Football Dad) Will Smith On Playing The 'Concussion' Doctor

12:36pm December 23, 2015

by NPR Staff

The film centers on the man who linked a brain disease to football player deaths. Smith says, "This is probably the farthest role away from me that I've ever played, but it was exhilarating."

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Illustration of a crescent moon over a wintry city.

What American Muslims Do On Christmas: New Traditions Emerge

10:04am December 23, 2015

by Neda Ulaby

For some American Muslims, Christmas is a day to read the Quran's passages about the birth of Jesus — he's a prophet in Islam, too. For others, it's a day to trim the tree, or just relax.

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Arts

Meet The Artist: Film Producer And Professor Dale Pollock

8:34am December 23, 2015

by David Ford and Quique Rodriguez-Pastor

Dale Pollock is a professor of cinema studies and producing at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where his stu

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Brits Doing Brooklyn: 'A View From The Bridge' Crosses The Sea To Broadway

7:08pm December 22, 2015

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with actor Mark Strong about his Broadway debut playing Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's, A View from the Bridge.

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A Victorian family gathers to stir pudding in a Christmas card illustration from the 1870s. The Victorian era put a premium on hospitality, which may have helped create the tradition of leaving out treats for a visiting Santa.

How Did Santa Get Hooked On Cookies And Milk?

4:20pm December 22, 2015

by Kylie Mohr

Turns out the tradition of leaving cookies and milk for Santa hasn't left much of a trail of crumbs to trace through history. But it might start with the early cookies of 13th-century Europe.

John Boyega and Oscar Isaac in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Arts

Pop Culture Happy Hour Small Batch: The Very Spoilery 'Star Wars'

3:18pm December 22, 2015

by Linda Holmes

Glen Weldon joins host Linda Holmes for a chat about a few spoilery aspects of the newly crowned owner of many box-office records.

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Stop-motion animation is painstaking business. "The process moves so slowly, it can often take weeks or months to animate a single shot," says Anomalisa co-director Duke Johnson.

Arts

Frame-By-Frame, Filmmakers Make The Mundane Miraculous In 'Anomalisa'

3:09pm December 22, 2015

Stop-motion "communicates fragility and humanity and brokenness," says Charlie Kaufman. He and co-director Duke Johnson explain how to make puppets look lifelike, whether walking or having sex.

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Arts

Make 'Em Laugh: 'The Comedians' Tells The Story Of Stand-Up

2:51pm December 22, 2015

by NPR Staff

Kliph Nesteroff's book digs into the origins of modern comedy, from the segregated Chitlin' Circuit to the vaudeville refugees who found a new home in the Catskills, to the very first female comics.

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The Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans began holding afternoon tea in 1984. A representative says the hotel held daily afternoon tea times until Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

From Raucous To Ritzy: A Brief History Of Christmas Tea

2:39pm December 22, 2015

by Whitney Blair Wyckoff

In some fancy hotels, Christmas tea has become a refined respite for harried shoppers. But the tradition's roots are much rowdier: efforts to fight public drunkenness.