Arts & Life

Many of the flowers at Hillwood are doing well despite the ever-changing local climate.

One Garden's Climate Struggle (And How To Save Yours)

12:44pm July 06, 2013

by NPR Staff

Two longtime gardeners share the changes they've seen over the years at Hillwood Estate in Washington, D.C. As blooming times become more sporadic, new flowers stand out as stars and an unwelcome fungus springs to life. Take notes: Your garden might benefit from some adjustments.

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Dustin Hoffman made his directorial debut with the film Quartet. He has starred in such classics as The Graduate, Kramer vs. Kramer and Tootsie.

Arts

'Quartet': Dustin Hoffman, Behind The Camera

11:03am July 05, 2013

The veteran actor recently made his directorial debut with a film about four aging opera singers who stage a concert at their retirement home. Starring Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay, the film explores friendship, memory and the time that remains.

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Elisabeth Moss says she's ambivalent about the end of Mad Men, which began in 2007.

Arts

Elisabeth Moss: From Naif To Player On TV's 'Mad Men'

1:48pm July 03, 2013

As Peggy Olson on AMC's drama series, the actress has learned about her character's personality and development episode by episode, script by script, just like those of us who watch the show on TV. And she tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that she prefers it that way.

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Armie Hammer stars as the Lone Ranger in a new Disney adaptation.

Arts

'The Lone Ranger': Summer Fun With Manifest Destiny

1:42pm July 03, 2013

by David Edelstein

Director Gore Verbinski and star Johnny Depp have turned in a busy, expensive take on the masked lawman of the Wild West. It's long, tone-deaf, and ultimately crushingly bad.

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Portrait of Marie Duplessis by Charles Chaplin (1846)

Books
Arts

The Tragic Story Of 'Traviata' Muse Marie Duplessis

8:12pm July 02, 2013

by NPR Staff

The 19th-century courtesan died at 23 of tuberculosis, but her legacy inspired a successful play, several movies and the great Italian opera La Traviata. In The Girl Who Loved Camellias, Julie Kavanagh tracks her journey from Normandy peasant girl to romantic heroine.

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Novelist Sara Gran also writes for the HBO show Southland.

Books
Arts

American Mystery Finds A New Voice On 'The Bohemian Highway'

3:32pm July 02, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

This is the second mystery in Sara Gran's series featuring 40-ish bad-girl detective Claire DeWitt. Critic Maureen Corrigan says that reading a noir novel written by a Brooklyn-born author gave her a rush of private-eye, patriotic pride.

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Books
Arts

Steamy Novel An 'Education' In Youth, Love And Mistakes

1:23pm July 02, 2013

by NPR Staff

Susan Choi departs from research-heavy books to write about people and relationships — and winds up writing about love and sex. My Education looks at a graduate student who doesn't learn what she anticipated.

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Punjabi Lamb Kebabs, like many tandoor dishes, can also be made on gas or charcoal grills.

Arts

Taking High-Heat Tandoor Techniques To The Backyard Grill

7:24am July 02, 2013

by NPR Staff

It's not easy to set up a tandoor oven in the backyard. But chef and writer Madhur Jaffrey says cooking at high heat does something magical to meat, which makes it worthwhile to adapt her tandoor recipes for gas or charcoal grills.

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Bill Hader was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Stefon on Saturday Night Live.

Arts

Bill Hader On Sketch Comedy, Classic Hollywood

5:49pm July 01, 2013

This weekend will be Hader's final romp on Saturday Night Live. He joined the cast in 2005 and has been nominated for an Emmy for his character Stefon, an obsessive clubgoer. Hader talks about not understanding how people do standup and about watching old films, which sparked his interest in Hollywood.

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Pamina (Amy Carson) and Tamino (Joseph Kaiser) in Kenneth Branagh's production of Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Branagh Imagines Mozart's 'Magic Flute' In Wartime

4:41pm July 01, 2013

by Lloyd Schwartz

Director Kenneth Branagh has given us fresh Shakespeare and witty modern comedies of manners, and some years ago he turned to opera, with an adaptation of Mozart's classic set in World War I. It's finally available in the U.S., and critic Lloyd Schwartz says the results are disappointingly mixed.

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