Arts

Emily Blunt and James Corden star as a baker and his wife in Rob Marshall's new adaptation of Into the Woods.

Arts

Sondheim's Songs Go 'Into The Woods' And Onto The Big Screen

11:39am December 20, 2014

by NPR Staff

Director Rob Marshall is no stranger to the movie musical — and now, he's taking on the challenge of adapting Stephen Sondheim's knotty, complicated songs to the big screen with Into the Woods.

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Wexford Carols Brings Irish Holiday Relics To Life

11:39am December 20, 2014

A new Christmas music collection resurrects Irish carols from the 17th century. NPR's Scott Simon talks to singer Caitriona O'Leary and producer Joe Henry about songs both sacred and political.

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Arts

Turner Was A Brute, But He Painted With Romantic Radiance

11:39am December 20, 2014

by Susan Stamberg

One of Britain's best-loved artists, J.M.W. Turner, has been brought to life on the big screen. A new film paints him as an occasionally boorish man who turns out incandescent work.

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Books
Arts

A Literate London Cabbie's Favorite Books For 2014

11:39am December 20, 2014

Every year, well-read London cabbie Will Grozier joins NPR's Scott Simon to talk books. In 2014, he recommends the writing of a fellow taxi driver, and a new take on World War I.

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Arts

Not My Job: Comedian Jenny Slate Gets Quizzed On Jennifer Lopez

11:27am December 20, 2014

Slate has rocketed to fame with her online film series Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and the movie Obvious Child — but there are some other famous Jennifers out there ...

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Geoffrey Chaucer died in 1400 — but somehow, he's on Twitter now — and he's here to answer your holiday questions!

Books
Arts

Gentlefolk All, Survive Your Holidays With Help From Chaucer

7:03am December 20, 2014

by LeVostreGC

Who better to help you through the stresses and strains of a modern Christmas than a 14th-century English poet? Yes, Geoffrey Chaucer is online now, and he's here for all your holiday advice needs.

The author, Dr. Gavin Francis, arrived at Halley base on Christmas Eve 2002, at the height of the Antarctic midsummer, when 24-hour sunlight illuminates the vast swathes of empty ice.

Antarctic Holiday: A Christmas Feast In The Loneliest Spot On Earth

5:17am December 20, 2014

by Gavin Francis

For Dr. Gavin Francis, Christmas Eve marked the start of a year-long stay in an icy research base 8,700 miles from home. In this "empire of ice and isolation," he says, food is essential to morale.

Timothy Spall finds beauty in the unlikeliest places as painter J.M.W. Turner.

Arts

'Mr. Turner' Is A Snuffling, Growling Work Of Art

6:58pm December 19, 2014

by Bob Mondello

Critic Bob Mondello says Mike Leigh's earthy new biopic about the famed British painter J.M.W Turner shows viewers the incandescent beauty of the world as Turner himself must have seen it.

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A woman prepares a Japanese Christmas cake at the Patisserie Akira Cake shop on Dec. 23, 2011. The sponge cake is drenched in symbolic meaning.

Japan's Beloved Christmas Cake Isn't About Christmas At All

2:32pm December 19, 2014

by Alison Bruzek

The Japanese Christmas cake takes its name from the Christian holiday, but it actually symbolizes building a life of prosperity from nothing. And it's ubiquitous (it's even in your smartphone).

Arts

The Strange World — And Life — Of 'Mr. Turner'

1:48pm December 19, 2014

by David Edelstein

The biopic of landscape painter J. M. W. Turner depicts a man whose mind is barely engaged by anything other than his work. He's a mystery, and his art is magically indefinite — just like the movie.

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