Arts

This portrait of F. Scott Fitzgerald was done in 1925, back when things were going well for the young writer. "Everything was golden for him early on," says writer Stewart O'Nan, "and then things started going against him ... it's a spiral."

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Arts

'West Of Sunset' Imagines F. Scott Fitzgerald's Last Years In Hollywood

8:27pm February 19, 2015

by NPR Staff

Author Stewart O'Nan says that in the late '30s, Fitzgerald was at the bottom of a bad spiral. But in Hollywood, "he finds himself again: He finds his love of writing, he finds his love of the world."

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Arts

Art Installation Opens Passage To A Different World

8:26pm February 19, 2015

by Steve Inskeep

In New York and Tehran, visitors in both cities are invited to enter a portal for 10 minutes or longer to communicate with a stranger, as though they're standing in the same room.

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Beloved Japanese Author Answers Questions At 'Mr. Murakami's Place'

8:16pm February 19, 2015

by Maggie Penman

Haruki Murakami is a best-selling author and perennial Nobel Prize contender, but rarely gives interviews. For a limited time, a website is giving fans a chance to engage with the reclusive writer.

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Jobrani has appeared in several TV shows, including Better Off Ted, True Blood and Shameless, and serves as an occasional panelist for NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

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Arts

From Iran To Comedy Central: Maz Jobrani's Path To 'Middle Eastern Funny Man'

8:16pm February 19, 2015

by NPR Staff

The Iranian-American comic came to the U.S. when he was 6 years old, just before Iran's 1979 revolution. His new memoir is I'm Not a Terrorist, But I've Played One on TV.

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Wild Tales is crammed with gallows humor, says NPR film critic Bob Mondello.

Arts

Argentine Oscar Nominee 'Wild Tales' Lives Up To Its Title

8:13pm February 19, 2015

by Bob Mondello

NPR movie critic Bob Mondello says the Argentine nominee for best foreign language film, Wild Tales, is an anthology of darkly comic stories that definitely lives up to its title.

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Supervising sound editor Rob Nokes (left) and looper Lanei Chapman watch a silent scene to get a sense of what to say during a looping session for the television show Bones.

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Never Seen And Sometimes Barely Heard, Loopers Fill In Hollywood's Soundtrack

6:33pm February 19, 2015

by Susan Stamberg

In movies, crowd noise, hospital waiting room chatter and barroom brawl sounds are created by voice actors called loopers. "If it's done right, you shouldn't even notice it," one sound mixer says.

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Actor Tony Revolori, who plays Zero Moustafa in The Grand Budapest Hotel, paints on a mustache. The movie was full of fake mustaches — but most were made of human hair and silk, rather than paint.

Arts

At 'The Grand Budapest,' A Banquet Of Beards And Melange Of Mustaches

5:07pm February 19, 2015

by NPR Staff

Nearly every male actor in The Grand Budapest Hotel has some kind of facial hair. In charge of each follicle — real or fake — was Oscar-nominated hair and makeup designer Frances Hannon.

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Jon Cryer, left, and Ashton Kutcher in a scene from Kutcher's 2011 debut on CBS' "Two and a Half Men."

Arts

As CBS' 'Two And A Half Men' Ends, Questions On How It Lasted So Long

4:12pm February 19, 2015

by Eric Deggans

CBS' Two and a Half Men ends a 12-season run tonight as TV's longest-running multicamera sitcom. NPR TV Critic Eric Deggans says some experts still struggle to explain the show's longtime success.

Larry Wilmore debuts Comedy Central's The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore on Jan. 19.

Arts

For Host Larry Wilmore, A Year Of 'Extraordinary' Highs And 'Humbling' Lows

3:12pm February 19, 2015

Wilmore is still fine-tuning The Nightly Show, which fills the late-night spot on Comedy Central vacated by Stephen Colbert. The show launched just as Wilmore's 20-year marriage was coming to an end.

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In Scott McCloud's The Sculptor, a young artist discovers that having the ability to sculpt anything doesn't mean he has the vision or the drive to turn that ability into success.

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Arts

In These New Comics, Getting Your Wish Isn't Always Great

1:26pm February 19, 2015

by Tasha Robinson

Mainstream superhero comics have a streak of teenage wish-fulfillment: Great power and great responsibility. But a new wave of comics is exploring how complicated it can be when wishes are granted.