Arts & Life

A drawing of two clinking martini glasses.

Arts

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Empire' And The Importance Of Different Voices

9:56am February 06, 2015

by Linda Holmes

This week, our friends Tanya Ballard Brown and Gene Demby join us to talk about Fox's hit show Empire and to follow up on a recent public discussion of the need for diverse radio voices.

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Sony's Amy Pascal Steps Down In Aftermath Of Cyber Attack

6:23pm February 05, 2015

Audie Cornish talks to Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Fritz about Amy Pascal. The Sony co-chairman will stay at the company to launch a new production venture.

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Fiona (Gemma Arterton) and Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) in The Voices.

Arts

In 'The Voices,' The Dog And The Cat Talk, But The Film Says Little

5:03pm February 05, 2015

by Mark Jenkins

Director Marjane Satrapi is best-known for her graphic novel Persepolis. But her foray into the psyche of a regular Joe who ships toilets for a living and talks to pets goes a bit astray.

Syrian political cartoonist Ali Farzat sits at his desk at a Kuwaiti newspaper on Dec. 14, 2011. Earlier that year, Farzat was badly beaten in retaliation for cartoons that mocked Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Satire In The Muslim World: A Centuries-Long Tradition

3:18pm February 05, 2015

by Neda Ulaby

Ninth-century satirist al-Jahiz remains a beloved figure in Islamic literature, but his modern-day counterparts — including comedian Bassem Youssef and cartoonist Ali Farzat — don't have it easy.

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David Oyelowo stars as Joe "Lightning" Little in Red Tails.

Arts

In 'Selma,' British Actor Brings Outsider's Perspective To MLK

3:00pm February 05, 2015

by Bilal Qureshi

David Oyelowo talks about playing Martin Luther King Jr. in the Oscar-nominated film Selma — as well as the LBJ controversy, slavery and how he learned about what it's like to be black in America.

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In 1941, superheroes like Captain America were big business for Marvel publisher Martin Goodman. But after the war, as superhero popularity faded, Goodman favored Westerns and romance comics.

Books
Arts

Marvel At 75: Still Slinging Webs And Guarding Galaxies

2:30pm February 05, 2015

by Mandalit del Barco

What became Marvel Comics got its start in 1939 as Timely Publications. It went through many changes — but one constant has been writer Stanley Lieber, better known as Stan Lee.

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Alice Howland (Julianne Moore) is a linguistics professor who gets diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. "Who can take us seriously when we are so far from who we once were?" she asks. "We become ridiculous, incapable, comic. But this is not who we are.

Arts

Julianne Moore: Alzheimer's Makes Us Question 'Our Essential Selves'

2:09pm February 05, 2015

by NPR Staff

In Still Alice, Moore plays Alice Howland, a 50-year-old linguistics professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. Moore says she spent months meeting with people affected by the disease.

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Steven Brill is a journalist who also founded Court TV, American Lawyer magazine, 10 regional legal newspapers and Brill's Content Magazine. He teaches journalism at Yale.

Books
Arts

'America's Bitter Pill' Makes Case For Why Health Care Law 'Won't Work'

2:07pm February 05, 2015

Journalist Steven Brill's latest book critiques the Affordable Care Act, which he calls "unsustainable." In the next few years, "something is going to snap," he says. "We cannot pay for this."

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Books
Arts

This 'Future Lover' Is A Library

10:03am February 05, 2015

by Michael Schaub

Ander Monson's new essay collection is a thoughtful, original celebration of libraries; more than just buildings full of books, they're a living exchange of ideas and a way for people to connect.

Arts

The American Origins Of The Not-So-Traditional Celtic Knot Tattoo

1:18am February 05, 2015

by Ari Shapiro

The Celtic knot — a pattern of interlocking lines — is centuries old, carved into ancient stones all over Ireland. But that tattoo on your biceps? Like the fortune cookie, American born and bred.

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