Arts & Life

Serena (right) and Venus Williams pose with their gold medals during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Sports
Arts

'Venus And Serena': An Extraordinary Story, Told On Film

6:52pm May 17, 2013

by Elizabeth Blair

The amazing tale of two sisters from a poor neighborhood — who play tennis unlike anyone before them and each reach No. 1 in the world — is one we're not likely to see again.

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Egyptian folk singer Dina El Wedidi performs at Qasr El Nil Theater during the Downtown Cairo Arts Festival. Wedidi says efforts to revitalize venues like the Qasr El Nil are important because there aren't enough places for musicians of the post-revolutio

From The Heart Of Egypt's Revolt, The Pulse Of Artistic Life

8:34pm May 16, 2013

by Leila Fadel

Egypt's capital has been associated with protest and political upheaval. But an arts festival attempts to clear away the dust and revitalize a once-glorious cultural hub.

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Zoe Saldana is Uhura and Zachary Quinto is Spock in the new J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek: Into Darkness, the 12th installment in the franchise.

Arts

'Into Darkness,' Boldly And With A Few Twists

2:04pm May 16, 2013

by David Edelstein

The 12th film based on Gene Roddenberry's '60s sci-fi TV show is the second to star a new group of actors as Kirk, Spock and their crew. J.J. Abrams returns as director, and Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch plays the memorable villain.

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For her latest film, Stories We Tell, Sarah Polley turns her camera on her own family.

Arts

A Polley Family Secret, Deftly Pieced Together

3:04pm May 15, 2013

In a striking documentary, Sarah Polley turns the camera on her own family. The director and actor, known for films such as Away from Her and The Sweet Hereafter, was teased growing up about not looking like her actor father. At 27, she discovered that it wasn't a joke.

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Books
Arts

Coming To 'Americanah': Two Tales Of Immigrant Experience

2:34pm May 15, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

The new book from Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a knockout of a novel about immigration that transcends genre. It's everything from a coming-of-age novel to a romance to a comic novel of social manners to an up-to-the-minute meditation on race.

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Light It Up: Director Baz Luhrmann (right, with stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan on the set of The Great Gatsby) brought a lush visual sensibility to a tale whose tone not everyone thinks of as epic.

Arts

At The Movies, A Swirl Of Style And Substance

5:41pm May 14, 2013

by Bob Mondello

Special effects date back to the dawn of film, but with today's tools moviemakers can put pretty much anything on-screen — which has NPR film critic Bob Mondello thinking about how movie style affects movie substance.

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Would Mel Brooks' famous 2,000-Year-Old Man have understood modern language? Researchers say there's a possibility.

Could You Talk To A Caveman? Scientists Say It's Possible

5:41pm May 14, 2013

by NPR Staff

Researchers at the University of Reading are speculating that today's languages share a common root dating as far back as the last Ice Age. Words like "mother," "man" and "ashes" are categorized as "ultraconserved," meaning they are survivors of a lost language from which many modern tongues are descended.

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Protesters demonstrate in downtown Orlando, Fla., on May 1, 2006. Most news outlets have long abandoned the use of the term "illegals."

Arts

In Newsrooms, Some Immigration Terms Are Going Out Of Style

5:41pm May 14, 2013

by David Folkenflik

In April, the Associated Press decided the word "illegal" should only be used to describe actions, not people. It's one of several major news outlets that have been reconsidering how to refer to people who are in this country illegally.

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Director Noah Baumbach has made a name for himself with films such as The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding.

Arts

Gerwig, Baumbach Poke At Post-College Pangs

2:33pm May 14, 2013

In Frances Ha, a 27-year-old (Greta Gerwig) navigates New York City — and the transition from prolonged adolescence to proper adulthood. Gerwig and director Noah Baumbach co-wrote the script; they join Fresh Air's Terry Gross to talk about the project.

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Rick Atkinson worked as a reporter, correspondent and editor at The Washington Post for over 20 years. This is his sixth book of military history.

Books
Arts

'Guns At Last Light' Illuminates Final Months Of World War II

1:19pm May 14, 2013

by NPR Staff

Historian Rick Atkinson's new book completes his trilogy on the second world war. He tells NPR's Steve Inskeep that the events of the war may be 70 years in the past, but they're still very much a part of American culture.

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