Arts

Books
Arts

This Weekend, Visit San Francisco's Famed Forbidden City In 'China Dolls'

11:26am January 11, 2015

by NPR Staff

In this installment of Weekend Reads, Jean Kwok recommends Lisa See's novel China Dolls, about the unlikely friendship formed by three young women on vaudeville's all-Asian "Chop Suey Circuit."

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Arts

Finding The Pieces To Form A New Nation

11:26am January 11, 2015

by Will Shortz

For each familiar two-word phrase and name, take one or more letters from the start of the first word plus one or more letters from the start of the second word to name a country.

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Mexican Carpoolers: A Photographer's View Of Truck Bed Commuters

7:03am January 11, 2015

by Rena Silverman

In the backs of pickup trucks, construction workers lie among tools and blankets, headed to the city for a day's work. Alejandro Cartagena turned his camera on the carpoolers.

Over the past 25 years, Mona Shafer Edwards has depicted some of the most famous trials in Los Angeles, including Rodney King and O.J. Simpson (above).

Arts

Eyes Of The Courtroom: Sketching The Nation's Biggest Trials

6:47pm January 10, 2015

by Daniel Hajek

You may not have heard of illustrator Mona Shafer Edwards, but you've probably seen her work: she's been drawing high-profile courtroom cases for years. She says behind every sketch, there's a story.

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'Blood Of The Tiger': Shedding Light On China's Farmed-Tiger Trade

6:47pm January 10, 2015

by NPR Staff

The endangered animals are bred for luxury items, like tiger bone wine and tigerskin rugs. By raising the demand for these goods, the farms pose a threat to wild tigers, says author J.A. Mills.

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Skiing The Back Country Is Intoxicating, And Dangerous

11:31am January 10, 2015

Two promising young skiers died in an avalanche in Austria this week. In Yosemite, two climbers are scaling El Capitan. NPR's Scott Simon gets the latest from Outside Magazine's Grayson Schaffer.

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Books
Arts

Australian Cyberthriller 'Amnesia' Echoes Julian Assange Story

11:31am January 10, 2015

by NPR Staff

Peter Carey's novel opens as a hacker's computer virus is unlocking prison cells around the world. He says, "Assange was the reason I started writing the book, but I didn't want to write about [him]."

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Science
Arts

'Theory Of Everything' Probes Stephen Hawkings' Love, Not Theory

11:31am January 10, 2015

The Theory of Everything actor Eddie Redmayne tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer about the challenges of portraying a genius. This story originally Nov. 8 on Weekend Edition Saturday.

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Selma portrays a period of history when Martin Luther King Jr. led marches to demand rights for black people who were systematically prevented from registering to vote in the South. Coleman Domingo (from left) plays Ralph Abernathy, David Oyelowo plays Dr

Arts

The Sounds, Space And Spirit Of 'Selma': A Director's Take

5:21pm January 09, 2015

Ava DuVernay's new film dramatizes a turning point in civil rights history. She says she wanted to "elevate [Selma] from a page in your history book and really just get it ... into your DNA."

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Rachel (Lea Michele) seeks advice from Will (Matthew Morrison) in the first part of the two-hour Glee season premiere, airing Friday night.

Arts

C'mon, 'Glee': Bring It Home

3:27pm January 09, 2015

by Linda Holmes

They're starting the final run of episodes of Glee, and even though it's not what it once was, it would be great to see it end on a ... high note.