Arts & Life

Left: Title page of the first edition of Paradise Lost (1667). Right: William Blake, The Temptation and Fall of Eve, 1808 (illustration of Milton's Paradise Lost)

Books
Arts

'Paradise Lost': How The Apple Became The Forbidden Fruit

11:52am April 30, 2017

by Nina Martyris

Some 350 years ago, Milton's epic chronicled the Fall of Man, wrought by the red fruit. Except that it might've been a fig or peach or pear. An ancient Roman made a pun – and the apple myth was born.

Emmy Rossum and Harry Lennix in "The Politician," one of the short films in the series #ThatsHarassment.

Arts

These Short Films Shine A Spotlight On Sexual Harassment

7:56am April 30, 2017

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Israeli playwright Sigal Avin teamed up with her friend David Schwimmer to produce #ThatsHarassment. The short films — some inspired by her own experiences — aim to clarify what harassment is.

Books
Arts

'I'd Die For You' Gives A Glimpse Into F. Scott Fitzgerald's Writing Life

7:00am April 30, 2017

by Heller McAlpin

Fitzgerald wrote most of his best work in his 20s, and the stories in this new collection — all unpublished or uncollected — demonstrate how hard it was for him to deliver what readers wanted.

She Calls Her Movies 'Afro Bubble Gum Art'

6:03pm April 29, 2017

by Nina Gregory

Wanuri Kahiu doesn't want to make films about suffering Africans. Her movies celebrate happiness — with a sci-fi twist.

"Literally I show up in the morning and I say, 'Who's dead?'" obit writer Bruce Weber explains in the film. "And somebody puts a folder on my desk and that's ... what I do that day." Weber took a buyout from The New York Times in 2016.

Arts

'Obit' Follows The 'Times' Team Charged With Turning Lives Into History

3:29pm April 29, 2017

by Neda Ulaby

A documentarian spent six days filming The New York Times obit desk at work. One staffer describes the process of writing an obituary as "equal parts exhilaration and terror."

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Not My Job: We Quiz A Retired CIA Analyst On Briefs (The Underwear)

12:34pm April 29, 2017

John Nixon has done both briefing and debriefing, so we'll see what he knows about underwear briefs. The former CIA analyst, who interrogated Saddam Hussein, is the author of Debriefing the President.

Queue Listen Now

Life in 16 bits — complete with chickens and monsters — in Stardew Valley.

Arts

Reading The Game: Stardew Valley

10:00am April 29, 2017

by Jason Sheehan

Our occasional series on storytelling in video games travels to Pelican Town to explore the bucolic pleasures of Stardew Valley, a farming simulator inspired by the classic 1990s Harvest Moon games.

Follow the Sugars on Twitter @dearsugarradio.

Arts

Is Facebook Real Life Or Is It Just Fantasy?

10:00am April 29, 2017

Dear Sugar Radio is a podcast offering "radical empathy" and advice for the lost, lonely and heartsick. Today the hosts hear from a woman in an "emotional affair" with a college friend on Facebook.

The Electric Sublime by W. Maxwell Prince

Books
Arts

Art Is A Matter Of Life And Death In 'The Electric Sublime'

7:00am April 29, 2017

by Etelka Lehoczky

W. Maxwell Prince's bloody, silly and deeply likeable new graphic novel imagines a world where works of art are real spaces you can step into — with real problems that can cause hundreds of deaths.

In 1967, Frederick Wiseman's controversial documentary Titicut Follies exposed conditions at Bridgewater State Hospital in Massachusetts. Fifty years later, the filmmaker, now 87, has adapted the work into dance.

A Haunting '60s Film About Mental Illness And Incarceration Becomes A Ballet

4:31pm April 28, 2017

by Euan Kerr

Frederick Wiseman's controversial 1967 documentary Titicut Follies exposed conditions at Bridgewater State Hospital in Massachusetts. Fifty years later, the filmmaker, now 87, has adapted it to dance.