Arts

Andre Le Notre pumped in water from the Seine River to create the Grand Canal at Chateau of Versailles.

Royal Gardener Planted The Seed Of Urban Planning At Versailles

10:45am December 10, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

Andre Le Notre helped turn an old hunting lodge into the Versailles we know today, taking his profession way beyond a trade. Experts say Le Notre's work was so groundbreaking, it continues to influence contemporary urban architecture. This year marks the 400th anniversary of Le Notre's birth.

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Arts

A Christmas Carol at the Andy Griffith Playhouse

8:36am December 10, 2013

by David Ford

Actor, director, playwright, and educator Bobby Bodford is a busy man. In his first year as Surry Arts Council Artistic Director, he's already produced Hairspray, Seussical, 9 to 5, and many others at the Andy Griffith Playhouse in Mount Airy where he is also Artistic Director. Bobby also directs hugely popular camps and workshops for young actors throughout the year. His upcoming productions at the Andy Griffith Playhouse include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Dearly Beloved, Annie, The Little Mermaid, Smoke on the Mountain, and coming up this weekend, it's “A Children's Christmas Carol”.

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Delia Ephron is a novelist and playwright. Her essays have been published in The New York Times, O, Vogue and the Huffington Post. Her older sister, writer Nora Ephron, died in June 2012.

Books
Arts

Delia Ephron On The Closeness And Complexity Of Sisterhood

4:56pm December 09, 2013

Novelist Delia Ephron says that losing her older sister Nora was like "losing an arm." But for all their collaboration and closeness, Delia writes about the complications of sisterhood in her new collection of autobiographical essays, Sister Mother Husband Dog (etc.).

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You may recognize this drawing from Allie Brosh's popular "This Is Why I'll Never Be An Adult" blog post. (It's now a popular Internet meme.)

Books
Arts

Even When It Hurts 'ALOT,' Brosh Faces Life With Plenty Of 'Hyperbole'

4:21pm December 09, 2013

On her Hyperbole and a Half blog, Allie Brosh writes stories about her life illustrated with a "very precise crudeness." Most are lighthearted — about her dog or her favorite grammatical mistake ("a lot" vs. "alot) — but her most popular posts have also been the most upsetting, about her crippling depression.

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Arts

Mark Hampton of Hampton House Gallery Teaches Presentation and Care of Artwork

8:21am December 09, 2013

by David Ford

For Mark Hampton, framing is in his blood. His parents opened Hampton House Gallery back in 1977, and Mark's been involved in the business in one way or the other ever since. Hampton House Art and Framing offers paintings, three dimensional art, and digital photographic restoration services, but it's the framing that has captured Mark's imagination the most. He's attended several seminars and taken numerous framing courses, and beginning in January, he'll be teaching PRESENTATION AND CARE OF ARTWORK at Sawtooth School for Visual Art.

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Getting Away with Murder, by Heraldo Munoz

Books
Arts

'Getting Away With Murder': A Study Of Benazir Bhutto's Death

6:13pm December 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007. Heraldo Munoz, who led the United Nations investigation into her death, portrays the tense political climate that surrounded Bhutto's return to politics and the circumstances of the killing in his new book.

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Arts

The Intended Madness Of Comic Eric Andre's 'Anti-Talk Show'

6:12pm December 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

With an unstable host, a reluctant sidekick and a house band oblivious to its surroundings, The Eric Andre Show has been described as "the weirdest show on TV." For all its inappropriateness, the show has generated a rabid fan base and has been renewed for a third season.

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Books
Arts

'Pomegranate Lady' Depicts The Comedy And Tragedy Of Exile

6:33pm December 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

Goli Taraghi writes about life in Iran — about love, loss, alienation and exile. She is particularly equipped to the task, as her own exile from the country began in 1980 at the outset of the Iranian Revolution. She discusses her latest collection of short stories, The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons.

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Bickering In Bangladesh; Curling; Glow-In-The-Dark Tattoos

3:31pm December 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

Ozy editor Eugene Robinson tells NPR's Arun Rath about two dueling divas in Bangladeshi politics, the rising popularity of an obscure winter sport, and tattoos that you can wear to work.

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Gillian Anderson plays Stella Gibson, an enigmatic police investigator, in the BBC Two series The Fall.

Arts

Gillian Anderson On 'The Fall' And Getting Arrested In High School

11:39am December 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

The X-Files actor's latest project is a British police procedural in which she plays the enigmatic Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson. Anderson tells NPR's Scott Simon what drew her to Gibson as a character, and how her London roots contributed to her fateful nomination as most likely to get arrested in high school.

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