Arts & Life

You may recognize this drawing from Allie Brosh's popular "This Is Why I'll Never Be An Adult" blog post. (It's now a popular Internet meme.)

Books
Arts

Even When It Hurts 'ALOT,' Brosh Faces Life With Plenty Of 'Hyperbole'

4:21pm December 09, 2013

On her Hyperbole and a Half blog, Allie Brosh writes stories about her life illustrated with a "very precise crudeness." Most are lighthearted — about her dog or her favorite grammatical mistake ("a lot" vs. "alot) — but her most popular posts have also been the most upsetting, about her crippling depression.

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Getting Away with Murder, by Heraldo Munoz

Books
Arts

'Getting Away With Murder': A Study Of Benazir Bhutto's Death

6:13pm December 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007. Heraldo Munoz, who led the United Nations investigation into her death, portrays the tense political climate that surrounded Bhutto's return to politics and the circumstances of the killing in his new book.

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Arts

The Intended Madness Of Comic Eric Andre's 'Anti-Talk Show'

6:12pm December 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

With an unstable host, a reluctant sidekick and a house band oblivious to its surroundings, The Eric Andre Show has been described as "the weirdest show on TV." For all its inappropriateness, the show has generated a rabid fan base and has been renewed for a third season.

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Books
Arts

'Pomegranate Lady' Depicts The Comedy And Tragedy Of Exile

6:33pm December 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

Goli Taraghi writes about life in Iran — about love, loss, alienation and exile. She is particularly equipped to the task, as her own exile from the country began in 1980 at the outset of the Iranian Revolution. She discusses her latest collection of short stories, The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons.

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Gillian Anderson plays Stella Gibson, an enigmatic police investigator, in the BBC Two series The Fall.

Arts

Gillian Anderson On 'The Fall' And Getting Arrested In High School

11:39am December 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

The X-Files actor's latest project is a British police procedural in which she plays the enigmatic Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson. Anderson tells NPR's Scott Simon what drew her to Gibson as a character, and how her London roots contributed to her fateful nomination as most likely to get arrested in high school.

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The life and work of composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim is examined in Six by Sondheim, a documentary from James Lapine, who also directed several of Sondheim's shows.

Arts

Delightful 'Six By Sondheim' Leaves You Wanting Six More

3:06pm December 06, 2013

by David Bianculli

HBO's new TV special is part biography, part music-appreciation lesson and part performance piece. Critic David Bianculli says it's a superbly compiled work, overseen by two of the people most intimately familiar with the composer himself.

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In the Coen brothers' latest film, down and out Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is trying to make ends meet as a folk singer in New York in the early 1960s.

Arts

Great Soundtrack Aside, 'Inside Llewyn Davis' Hits A Sour Note

3:05pm December 06, 2013

by David Edelstein

Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen continue to mine American pop culture in their latest film. It's 1961 in Greenwich Village, and a homeless folk singer is trying desperately to break out. Critic David Edelstein says the overarching tone of the film is snotty, condescending and cruel.

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Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of 15 17th century Dutch paintings on view at New York's Frick Collection through early 2014.

Arts

'Pearl Earring' Is The Crown Jewel Of The Frick's Dutch Exhibit

7:48pm December 05, 2013

by Lloyd Schwartz

New York City is home to more paintings by Johannes Vermeer — eight — than any other city. And until mid-January, it's playing host to one more: the world-renowned Girl with a Pearl Earring. Critic Lloyd Schwartz says, since the painting's 1994 restoration, "It's even more breathtaking than I remembered."

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Someone has earned a spot on the naughty list this year.

Books
Arts

A Holiday Photo Book That Puts Families In An 'Awkward' Position

12:06pm December 04, 2013

by NPR Staff

Matching long johns. Kick lines in skis. Peeing on Santa's lap. Every family has these cringe-worthy moments, immortalized on film, that embody the particularly joyous brand of awkward that the holidays bring. And thanks to Mike Bender, co-author of Awkward Family Holiday Photos, the rest of us can rubberneck.

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The boats of For Those in Peril on the Sea, by artist Hew Locke, hang in the entrance hall of the Perez Art Museum Miami, which opens this week.

Arts

For Miami, A New Art Project, Complete With Drama

6:02pm December 03, 2013

by Greg Allen

The Perez Art Museum Miami opens this week, and despite praise for the building's design, the museum faces controversy over its name and has an uphill battle in a city where the art scene is already defined by private collectors.

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