Arts

Darren Aronofsky's latest film is a big-budget Bible story called, simply, Noah. Russell Crowe plays the title character, and the movie also features Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson.

Everybody loves a good song, but did you ever wonder exactly goes into creating one? Singer/songwriters Tyler Nail and Johnathan Loos have been asking that very question of themselves off and on for most of their adult lives. They've got a few ideas and their here to share during the 2^nd Annual Songwriter Sessions in Winston-Salem. Then it's time to break out your vegemite sandwiches and “have a g'day” with the WFU Theatre Department production of “Our Country's Good”: a 19^th century Australian penal colony prison, and a chance at redemption for its inhabitants through one life-changing theatrical experience. It's certainly changing perceptions among the talented Wake student actors and they're here to explain how. And Dale Pollock takes us Behind the Scenes to help us make sense of current film and theatre trends and just who is borrowing from whom these days. Meanwhile they'll be keeping it authentic BIG TIME this weekend at the Surry Old Time Fiddler's Convention and David's guests, fiddler Nick McMillian and bassist Buck Buckner will take a step back in time with us, and hold our hand all the way to the dance floor.

Poet Tess Taylor reviews Nick Lantz's third poetry collection, How to Dance As The Roof Caves In.

While Breaking Bad fans were watching him portray Walt in the series' final episodes, Cranston was already reinventing himself — playing Lyndon B. Johnson in the play All the Way.

Editors at The American Scholar magazine picked the 10 best sentences from fiction and nonfiction, with authors ranging from Toni Morrison to James Joyce.

Karen Russell has set her latest story in a terrible future where insomnia has become a national crisis. Sleep Donation is a digital download from a new publisher called Atavist Books.

In his short story collection, former Marine Phil Klay takes his experience in Iraq and clarifies it, lucidly tracing the moral, political and psychological curlicues of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Karen Russell's new book imagines a mysterious insomnia epidemic so serious that many are dying from lack of sleep. But the cure — sleep donations from babies — is hard to swallow.