Arts & Life

Actor Tony Revolori, who plays Zero Moustafa in The Grand Budapest Hotel, paints on a mustache. The movie was full of fake mustaches — but most were made of human hair and silk, rather than paint.

Arts

At 'The Grand Budapest,' A Banquet Of Beards And Melange Of Mustaches

5:07pm February 19, 2015

by NPR Staff

Nearly every male actor in The Grand Budapest Hotel has some kind of facial hair. In charge of each follicle — real or fake — was Oscar-nominated hair and makeup designer Frances Hannon.

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Jon Cryer, left, and Ashton Kutcher in a scene from Kutcher's 2011 debut on CBS' "Two and a Half Men."

Arts

As CBS' 'Two And A Half Men' Ends, Questions On How It Lasted So Long

4:12pm February 19, 2015

by Eric Deggans

CBS' Two and a Half Men ends a 12-season run tonight as TV's longest-running multicamera sitcom. NPR TV Critic Eric Deggans says some experts still struggle to explain the show's longtime success.

Larry Wilmore debuts Comedy Central's The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore on Jan. 19.

Arts

For Host Larry Wilmore, A Year Of 'Extraordinary' Highs And 'Humbling' Lows

3:12pm February 19, 2015

Wilmore is still fine-tuning The Nightly Show, which fills the late-night spot on Comedy Central vacated by Stephen Colbert. The show launched just as Wilmore's 20-year marriage was coming to an end.

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In Scott McCloud's The Sculptor, a young artist discovers that having the ability to sculpt anything doesn't mean he has the vision or the drive to turn that ability into success.

Books
Arts

In These New Comics, Getting Your Wish Isn't Always Great

1:26pm February 19, 2015

by Tasha Robinson

Mainstream superhero comics have a streak of teenage wish-fulfillment: Great power and great responsibility. But a new wave of comics is exploring how complicated it can be when wishes are granted.

Arts

'La La La' I Can't Hear You

9:42am February 19, 2015

by Will Shortz

Every answer is a word or name of three or more syllables in which an interior syllable is an accented "la." Also: The answer to last week's puzzle.

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Books
Arts

Creepy, Brilliant 'Touch' Will Possess You

7:03am February 19, 2015

by Amal El-Mohtar

Claire North's new novel imagines a world where "ghosts" can leave their own bodies at death and jump to whoever's close enough to touch. Scary, but "reader, I loved it," says reviewer Amal El-Mohtar.

This week, The New Yorker magazine is marking its 90th anniversary with a special edition. It's running nine covers by nine of its most celebrated artists. This one is by Anita Kunz.

Arts

David Remnick Looks Back On Tough Decisions As 'The New Yorker' Turns 90

6:21pm February 18, 2015

Remnick, who became editor in 1998, talks about his early days at the magazine and his biggest regret: He says he'd "love to have another crack" at covering Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

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Semlor served at FIKA in New York City. "The interest [in semlor] is huge," says Lena Khoury, the Swedish cafe chain's director of strategy and communications.

Fat Tuesday Nordic-Style Means Big, Sweet Buns

12:22pm February 18, 2015

by Anne Bramley

Few of the rollicking traditions of Catholic Mardi Gras remain in heavily Lutheran Scandinavia. But the Nordic countries and their culinary outposts in the U.S. still celebrate with the yeasty treats.

Books
Arts

A Writer Expresses His 'Discontent' With Civilization

10:03am February 18, 2015

by Michael Schaub

Mohsin Hamid's new collection plays on the title of Sigmund Freud's classic Civilization and Its Discontents, but critic Michael Schaub says these essays are both more personal and wider ranging.

Books
Arts

'Tales Of The Marvellous' Is Indeed Very Strange

9:01am February 18, 2015

by Genevieve Valentine

These are not your father's fairy tales, but reviewer Genevieve Valentine says readers prepared to devote some time will find rich rewards in this newly translated volume of 10th-century Arab stories.