Arts & Life

When it comes to salty french fries or pizza served at lunch, schools may get more time to dial back sodium content, thanks to a provision in the federal spending bill headed for a vote on Capitol Hill.

From Potatoes To Salty Fries In School: Congress Tweaks Food Rules

11:00am December 15, 2014

by Allison Aubrey

The giant federal spending bill that's expected to go to a vote Thursday will give schools some flexibility in implementing nutrition standards. Also a winner: the potato lobby.

We asked, you delivered — photos of holiday sweaters galore.

Your #NPRUglySweaters: The Joy Of Knitwear We Ought Not Wear

11:08pm December 14, 2014

by Camila Domonoske

A bright, blinking, tinsel-covered, delightfully tacky peek inside of NPR listeners' closets — check out some of our favorite photos of your favorite Christmas attire.

So bad it's ... good? Consumer appetite for ugly Christmas sweaters — the tackier, the better — has had an impact on how retailers stock for the season.

Arts

It's Ugly Christmas Sweater Season — Share Your Best (Bad) Attire

9:56pm December 14, 2014

by Eleanor Klibanoff

The themed party trend is on us again, and holiday garb bedecked with bells, lights and way too much tinsel is selling fast. Show us your best holiday monstrosity — use the hashtag #NPRuglysweaters.

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'Pippin' Performs The Final Ballad Of 'The Hobbit'

12:18pm December 14, 2014

Billy Boyd was the hobbit Pippin in The Lord of the Rings films, and he's a musician, too. He talks to NPR's Rachel Martin about writing the last song for the new movie, The Battle of the Five Armies.

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Arts

Mead Moves Out Of The Middle Ages

12:18pm December 14, 2014

by Bonny Wolf

Mead was a favorite drink of ancient Egyptians and Vikings, and it's been making a comeback — updated for the 21st century.

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Joaquin Phoenix stars as Larry "Doc" Sportello, a private investigator with a pot-smoking habit, in Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas Anderson's film adaptation of the novel by Thomas Pynchon.

Arts

Adapting 'Inherent Vice' Made Director Feel Like A Student Again

6:40pm December 13, 2014

by NPR Staff

Paul Thomas Anderson is the first to make a novel by reclusive author Thomas Pynchon into a film. He says he studied the book, about a stoner detective, intensely and treated it as his Bible.

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Columbia University's DeathLab comes up with new ideas for honoring and storing the dead — like Constellation Park, the design of which is shown here.

Arts

Avant-Garde Afterlife: Space Shortage Inspires New Burial Ideas

3:10pm December 13, 2014

by Farah Halime

Urban areas present a problem: how can the dead be interred both respectfully and efficiently? Proposed solutions include vending machine-like vaults, inverted skyscraper cemeteries and glowing pods.

Patrick Stewart attends a photo call at the Atlantic Theater Company on Aug. 25, 2010 in New York City.

Arts

Not My Job: Actor Patrick Stewart Gets Quizzed On G.I. Joe

11:59am December 13, 2014

We've invited Stewart to play a game called "G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe, fighting man from head to toe!" Three questions about G.I. Joe, the Hasbro company action figure first introduced 50 years ago.

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Cynthia Thomas puts labels on bottles of moonshine near Union Springs, Ala., Friday, Oct. 25, 2013. Last year, High Ridge Spirits â Alabama's first legal distillery since Prohibition â joined the growing trend of more than 600 craft distilleries

Arts
Economy

Getting Your 'Shine On Is Becoming Increasingly Legal

9:31pm December 12, 2014

by Andrew Yeager

Mention moonshine and you might think of an illegal backwoods still carefully hidden to evade authorities. But recently, legal distilleries have been popping up in a white lightning renaissance.

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Interactive touch screens at the newly redesigned Cooper Hewitt museum let visitors sort through the catalog and create their own designs.

Arts

Please Touch! Cooper Hewitt Creates A Museum For The Internet Age

2:00pm December 12, 2014

by Laura Sydell

The design museum is housed in a historic building, but it has been remade into one of the country's most technologically advanced museums. Officials hope it attracts younger visitors — and donors.

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