Arts & Life

Arts

To Change People's Minds, First Make Them Laugh

12:31pm April 13, 2015

by NPR Staff

In this week's "For the Record," NPR's Rachel Martin talks with three Muslim comics — Adil Ray, Negin Farsad and Ahmed Ahmed — about the motivations and challenges of using humor to change minds.

Queue Listen Now

The Noun Project uses crowdsourcing to gather an army of people to define words using icons. This is just a small selection of the huge icon dictionary.

Arts

How Iconic: A Word Is Worth Thousands Of Pictures

10:37am April 13, 2015

by Caele Pemberton

Inspired by the origins of the Oxford English Dictionary, the Noun Project uses crowdsourcing to gather an army of people to define words. But instead of using other words to do it, they use icons.

Books
Arts

From Harpies To Heroines: How Shakespeare's Women Evolved

6:43pm April 12, 2015

by NPR Staff

In her new book Women of Will, Tina Packer traces Shakespeare's maturation — and, she argues, the corresponding transformation of his female characters from caricatures to fully-realized humans.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Adventures In Vietnam — Street Food, Love And Taking Chances

11:01am April 12, 2015

by NPR Staff

Journalist Graham Holliday moved to Vietnam in the '90s and immersed himself in the culture through food. That meant getting "a little bit" poisoned, finding the best Bún chả — and meeting his wife.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

A Good-Old-Boy Thing: Remembering Actor James Best

11:01am April 12, 2015

Actor James Best died last week at age 88. He was best known for playing Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard." NPR's Rachel Martin spoke with him in 2013.

Queue Listen Now

Reverend Jeff Moore blesses a biker at the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club rally in San Jose, Calif.

Arts

On Steel Horses They Ride — To Honor 19th-Century Cavalries

11:01am April 12, 2015

by Leila Day

In the mid- and late 1800s, Buffalo Soldiers were all-black cavalries patrolling America's western frontier. Today, a motorcycle club that carries their name pays homage to the soldiers.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

In 'Distant Marvels,' A Witness To Revolutions Tells Cuba's Story

11:01am April 12, 2015

by NPR Staff

Chantel Acevedo's latest novel opens in 1963 and focuses on octogenarian Maria Sirena, part of a Cuban generation that lived through both the war of independence from Spain and the Cuban Revolution.

Queue Listen Now

In American Odyssey, Anna Friel plays Sgt. Odelle Ballard, who is stationed in Mali. After her team is killed, she finds herself running for her life — which includes disguising herself as a man.

Arts

'American Odyssey': Three Ordinary People, One Thrill-Filled Plot

10:47pm April 11, 2015

by NPR Staff

The show is about a government conspiracy. But co-creator Peter Horton says beneath the action, human stories drive the show. "That's the little dirty secret," he says. "This is a character piece."

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

A Dark, Funny — And Vietnamese — Look At The Vietnam War

9:04pm April 11, 2015

by NPR Staff

Viet Thanh Nguyen grew up in America with war movies like Apocalypse Now and Platoon, which offer accounts of the war focusing on Americans. His new novel, The Sympathizer, follows a Vietnamese spy.

Queue Listen Now

Mulgrew starred as Captain Kathryn Janeway, the first woman to command a Federation Starship, in Star Trek: Voyager.

Books
Arts

'Born With Teeth,' Actress Kate Mulgrew On A Life Lived With Abandon

7:22pm April 11, 2015

by NPR Staff

Mulgrew played Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager and is a formidable kitchen manager on Orange Is the New Black. But her personal story is more dramatic than any she's ever played on screen.

Queue Listen Now