Arts & Life

Wonder Woman display at Comic-Con International 2016 preview night on July 20, 2016 in San Diego, California.

At 75, Wonder Woman Lassos In A New Generation With An Ageless Fight

7:55am July 24, 2016

by Petra Mayer

As the launch of the upcoming film coincides with the heroine's Comic-Con fandom, Wonder Woman appears to be hooking new fans for the same reasons she was birthed in 1941: justice, peace and feminism.

Books
Arts

Gay Talese Stays Too Long At 'The Voyeur's Motel'

7:00am July 24, 2016

by Annalisa Quinn

Gay Talese conflates the journalist and the voyeur in his new book about a motel owner who spied on his guests. And he makes the readers voyeurs as well: We watch him watching the unwary motel guests.

Books
Arts

Comic-Con Fans Continue The Epic Battle Between Science And Fiction

5:03pm July 23, 2016

by Glen Weldon

Fans of science fiction have long wrestled with the question of just how much science should be in their fiction. Advocates of different approaches met at San Diego's Comic-Con.

Arts

Not My Job: NASA's Charles Bolden Gets Quizzed On 'Charles In Charge'

11:09am July 23, 2016

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden flew four times on the space shuttle and was the first voice to be broadcast from Mars. We'll ask him three questions about the remarkable career of actor Scott Baio.

Queue Listen Now

Robert Irwin Brings 'Big' To Texas With Permanent Art Installation

8:53am July 23, 2016

by Tom Michael

The 87-year-old conceptual artist unveils a large-scale installation of his work in Marfa, Texas, this week. He's spent his career creating site-specific art that often treats light as its subject.

Heroes of the Frontier book cover detail

Books
Arts

In Dave Eggers' Latest, A Mother Moves Her Kids To The Alaskan 'Frontier'

8:37am July 23, 2016

by NPR Staff

Alaska's a state that's "not too precious about itself," Eggers says. In Heroes of the Frontier, he follows an out-of-work dentist as she moves her small family to an unfamiliar home.

Tami Sagher (left), Gillian Jacobs, Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Birbiglia, Chris Gethard and Kate Micucci star in Don't Think Twice, about a improv troupe called The Commune.

Arts

How Mike Birbiglia Applies 'Yes, And ...' To Improv And Beyond

5:32am July 23, 2016

by Elizabeth Blair

Birbiglia's new film follows a fictional New York improv troupe. Don't Think Twice explores the tension between personal ambition and being an "endlessly generous" team player.

Caption from @emptyplatesofny: "Never meet your heroes. They always get eaten." — Julian, Fort Greene; Delicious Buffalo chicken meatball hero with French fries

Arts

Scraped, Splattered — But Silent No More. Finally, The Dinner Plate Gets Its Say

10:36pm July 22, 2016

by Natalie Jacewicz

Instagram is the Internet's semi-obsessive, borderline-creepy love letter to food. But behind every great meal is a plate doing a pretty-OK job. So a comedian made an Instagram to celebrate plates.

Malcolm Young and Chloe Dunbar are among the many people absorbed in Pokemon Go at this year's San Diego Comic-Con.

Arts

Comic-Con Has Become Poké-Con

7:29pm July 22, 2016

by Petra Mayer

At this year's San Diego Comic-Con, one of the biggest phenomena isn't just inside the convention center, it's all around: Swarms of people staring at their phones as they play Pokémon Go.

A gold flower-and-myrtle-leaf wreath, thought to have belonged to one of Alexander the Great's stepmothers, is now on display at the National Geographic Museum.

Arts

To Rebrand Itself, Greece Digs Deep Into Its Cultural DNA

5:38pm July 22, 2016

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

The news out of Greece has been terrible. But with a large new exhibition of ancient artifacts at Washington, D.C.'s National Geographic Museum, the Greek government is trying an image reboot.