Arts & Life

What's The Most Important Thing Food Labels Should Tell Us?

7:29pm November 14, 2013

by Dan Charles

Food labels have become battlegrounds. Government regulators, companies and food movement activists have been fighting over what belongs on the label. (GMOs? Trans fats? Claims that bran prevents heart disease?) We asked four big thinkers for their dream food label.

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Bruce Dern has been acting for more than 50 years. In Nebraska, he plays a man on a mission to collect $1 million.

Arts

Actor Bruce Dern Gets Up Close And Personal In 'Nebraska'

4:08pm November 14, 2013

by NPR Staff

Dern's new film follows a man named Woody who is starting to show signs of dementia. When Woody falls for one of those junk-mail sweepstakes come-ons, he becomes convinced that he's won $1 million and sets out on foot to collect the cash. Dern tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross, "[Nebraska] is the most personal movie I've ever done in my career."

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After receiving a dubious letter, the aging Woody (Bruce Dern) heads off on a quest to collect $1 million, dragging his son David (Will Forte) along with him.

Arts

Chasing Money, And Meaning, In 'Nebraska'

8:32pm November 13, 2013

by Bob Mondello

A road-trip movie from director Alexander Payne (Sideways) follows a man en route to collect a million-dollar prize that probably never was. NPR's Bob Mondello says the black-and-white film is just the latest achievement from a talented filmmaker. (Recommended)

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Adam Minter has also written for The Atlantic, Foreign Policy and The Wall Street Journal. Junkyard Planet is his first book.

Christmas Lights Make Slippers In Global 'Junkyard' Economy

7:01pm November 13, 2013

The Chinese town of Shijiao is known for recycling discarded Christmas tree lights for their copper and wire insulation, which are then used to support growing economies and make slipper soles, respectively. In Junkyard Planet, Adam Minter explores the business of recycling what developed nations throw away.

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A young woman holding an elderly woman's hands

Books
Arts

A 'Marriage', A Divorce, A Dying Dog And Essays Done Right

2:44pm November 13, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

Essay collections are underrated and often ignored in favor of short stories or novels. But in the hands of a writer as practiced as Ann Patchett, critic Maureen Corrigan says the essay becomes an expansive storytelling vessel. Patchett's new book is This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage.

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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., talks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 3.

Was Rand Paul's Plagiarism Dishonest Or A Breach Of Good Form?

4:31pm November 12, 2013

by Geoff Nunberg

The flap over the Kentucky senator's articles and speeches is just the latest in a series of cases of plagiarism by high-profile journalists and politicians. Linguist Geoff Nunberg looks at the way the word plagiarism has been used since it was invented by the Romans and wonders if it's always immoral or just bad form.

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El Rey, which will be targeting a young Latino audience, is being spearheaded by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, shown at the premiere of his recent film Machete Kills in October.

Arts

Comcast Deal Puts New Minority-Run Channels In Play

8:15am November 12, 2013

by Mandalit del Barco

The conglomerate is launching new networks — targeted at diverse audiences and run by Sean Combs, Magic Johnson and Robert Rodriguez — to satisfy an agreement made with the FCC when the company merged with NBCUniversal.

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In 'Fire And Forget,' Vets Turned Writers Tell Their War Stories

7:43pm November 11, 2013

Roy Scranton and Jacob Siegel edited and contributed to the collection of short stories by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They tell Fresh Air about how soldiers cope with the fear of death, and why many soldiers feel conflicted about sharing their experience with a larger audience.

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Robert Henri's 1913 Figure in Motion was a realistic, but bold response to Matisse's and Duchamp's nudes.

Arts

In 1913, A New York Armory Filled With Art Stunned The Nation

3:08pm November 11, 2013

by Susan Stamberg

The 1,400-work exhibition gave many Americans their first look at what avant-garde artists in Europe were up to. It was the biggest art show New York had ever seen and challenged ideas about artistic "progress."

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Detail from Plate 11 of Joe Sacco's The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme. On July 1st, at precisely 7:30 a.m., the attack commences.

Books
Arts

A Panorama Of Devastation: Drawing Of WWI Battle Spans 24 Feet

6:58pm November 10, 2013

by Lynn Neary

Joe Sacco has made a career of tackling difficult subjects through imagery. He's a journalist and cartoonist who has reported on the Middle East and Bosnia — in both written and comic form. In his latest book, The Great War, Sacco turns to history, producing a 24-foot-long depiction of the horrifying first day of the Battle of the Somme.

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