Arts & Life

Books
Arts

'No Regrets': A Murder Mystery, Tangled In Life's Troubles

5:34pm July 20, 2013

by NPR Staff

John Dufresne's new novel is a funny, dark murder mystery set in South Florida. No Regrets, Coyote begins with the murder of a family and an amateur sleuth intent on solving the crime.

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A small, child-like creature in a cone hat peers into a toy shop, happy at the sight of a snow globe, in a vignette called "Tininess" in Darkness Outside the Night, a graphic novel illustrated by Xie Peng. Find out what happens in the excerpt below.

Books
Arts

For China's Youth, A Life Of 'Darkness Outside The Night'

4:48pm July 20, 2013

by Louisa Lim

In his haunting new graphic novel, cartoonist Xie Peng, 36, captures a psychological journey into the world of young Chinese. He worked for six years on the book, which renders a landscape of competition, anxiety and stress, and where everything, including dignity, is a commodity.

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European Films In Russia's Heartland

4:48pm July 20, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

For the past few years in July, a sleepy Russian provincial town has rolled out the red carpet to host the best in European film.

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Arts

Neorealism Goes Hollywood

4:48pm July 20, 2013

A new video essay compares two 1952 films that resulted from the collaboration of two renowned filmmakers, Vittorio De Sica, a master of Italian neorealism, and David O. Selznick, a Hollywood producer most famous for Gone With The Wind. Guest host Linda Wertheimer talks with filmmaker Ernie Park, who uses a pseudonym, Kogonada.

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What 'Edward Snowden' The Movie Would Look Like

6:12pm July 19, 2013

Edward Snowden's release of classified information, search for asylum and avoidance of extradition to the U.S. seem to be straight out of a movie plot. Audie Cornish speaks with best-selling author David Baldacci for his take on scripting Edward Snowden, the movie.

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Kristen Wiig (with Darren Criss) stars in Girl Most Likely as a hard-luck case who learns how to reboot her disastrous life after she's forced to move back in with her mom.

Arts

Kristen Wiig: That Loud, Strange Lady Isn't Me

6:12pm July 19, 2013

by NPR Staff

The star of Saturday Night Live, Bridesmaids and now Girl Most Likely joins NPR's Melissa Block to talk about lost characters, loud characters, and how shy she is in real life.

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The new documentary Blackfish looks at the practice of keeping orca whales in captivity.

Arts

Two Documentaries Examine Violence, Human And Animal

1:49pm July 19, 2013

by David Edelstein

Two new documentaries are making headlines. Gabriela Cowperthwaite's Blackfish centers on the whale that killed a trainer before an Orlando SeaWorld audience in 2010. The Act of Killing by human rights researcher Josh Oppenheimer, looks at the mass executions of communists in Indonesia in the 1960s.

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Boston's Shaw Memorial sits at the corner of Beacon and Park Streets.

Arts

Civil War's First African-American Infantry Remembered In Bronze

6:37pm July 18, 2013

by Andrea Shea

Boston's Shaw Memorial depicts the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, which was crushed 150 years ago in South Carolina. It took American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens 14 years to complete the Boston Common landmark.

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Ellsworth Kelly, Yellow Relief over Red, 2004. Oil on canvas, two joined panels, 80 x 83 x 2 3/4 inches. Private collection.

Arts

At 90, Ellsworth Kelly Brings Joy With Colorful Canvases

4:52pm July 18, 2013

by Susan Stamberg

The nonagenarian artist recently received the National Medal of Arts, and museums around the world are still celebrating his May birthday. The Phillips Collection, in Washington, D.C., is displaying seven "exuberant" pieces: layered or lined-up canvases painted in bold, solid colors.

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Anthony Townsend is a research director at the Institute for the Future and a senior research fellow at NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management.

Books
Arts

Tech-Savvy Cities May Be 'Smart,' But Are They Wise?

4:52pm July 18, 2013

by NPR Staff

Around the world, cities like Rio de Janeiro are using new technologies to solve their problems. And while there's great promise in many of these "smart" city programs, urban planner Anthony Townsend is wary of putting so much power in the hands of tech companies.

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