Arts

Don't try this at home: Critic Juan Vidal experiments with reading on the roof.

Arts

Reading On The Roof? Now That's Punk Rock

10:46pm March 08, 2015

by Juan Vidal

In The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolaño invented the "visceral realists," a group of wild writers who read anywhere and everywhere — causing critic Juan Vidal to ponder the weird places we read.

Arts

No Joke: Hollywood Comedy Producer Finds Career In Prison Reform

10:03pm March 08, 2015

by NPR Staff

Scott Budnick hit it big in Hollywood as an executive producer of the Hangover movies. Then, in 2013, he decided to leave it all behind and focus full time on helping young people in prison.

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Ellie Kemper, right, stars alongside Tituss Burgess in Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which follows a former doomsday cult member as she adjusts to life in New York.

Arts

'Kimmy Schmidt' Finds Optimism (And Jokes) In Dark Premise

8:45pm March 08, 2015

by NPR Staff

The new Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, co-created by Tina Fey and starring Ellie Kemper, offers a harrowing twist on the "small-town woman moves to the big city" story.

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Grace Hopper joined the Navy during World War II and served on and off until 1986.

Arts

Grace Hopper, 'The Queen Of Code,' Would Have Hated That Title

8:45pm March 08, 2015

by NPR Staff

Gillian Jacobs, known for her role as Britta Perry on Community, directed a short documentary on the computer programming pioneer. She says Hopper wasn't fond of the hype over her accomplishments.

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The Avery Ryan character is based on Mary Aiken (above) a real-life cyber psychologist and director of the RCSI CyberPsychology Research Centre.

Arts

Cyberpsychologist: Online, 'Every Contact Leaves A Trace'

8:25pm March 08, 2015

by NPR Staff

Mary Aiken, who examines digital fingerprints to help solve crimes, is the real-life inspiration for the lead investigator on CSI: Cyber. She says she works where "humans and technology collide."

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Neil Gaiman's other books include The Ocean at the End of the Lane and Stardust.

Books
Arts

In His Latest Book, Neil Gaiman Offers Readers A 'Trigger Warning'

7:06pm March 08, 2015

by NPR Staff

Trigger warnings caution readers to tread carefully and Neil Gaiman encourages those who pick up his latest collection of "short fictions and disturbances" to do the same.

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Helen Mirren (in blue) plays Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience, a play that imagines the private conversations between the queen and her prime ministers.

Arts

Helen Mirren Extends Her Elizabethan Reign In 'The Audience'

1:08pm March 08, 2015

by Jeff Lunden

Playwright Peter Morgan eavesdrops on more than 60 years of private conversations between Queen Elizabeth II, played by Mirren, and her prime ministers in The Audience.

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Arts

City And Stating The Obvious

1:08pm March 08, 2015

by Will Shortz

Letters that start the name of a city are combined with letters that start the name of its state to spell a word. What are the city and state? For the word "latex," the answer would be Laredo, Texas.

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The Seratones Rock The Tiny Desk With A Jungle Beat

1:08pm March 08, 2015

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks to AJ Haynes and Adam Davis of the Louisiana rock band Seratones. The group had a entry to the recent NPR Music Tiny Desk Contest, though they didn't win the final prize.

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Seniors Speed-Date In 'Age Of Love'

1:08pm March 08, 2015

by Ina Jaffe

In his new documentary, The Age of Love, filmmaker Steven Loring profiled several people between 70 and 90 at a speed dating event in Rochester, N.Y.

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