Arts & Life

Photographer Tim Hetherington during an assignment for Vanity Fair Magazine at the Restrepo outpost.

Sebastian Junger: 'Which Way' To Turn After Hetherington's Death

11:53am April 18, 2013

In a new documentary premiering on HBO, the journalist explores the life of his friend, the war photographer Tim Hetherington. The two collaborated on the 2010 documentary Restrepo, and Junger was profoundly changed after Hetherington was killed by shrapnel in Libya in 2011.

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Veteran magician Ricky Jay reveals much about himself in a new documentary on his life of deception. His card-trick techniques? That may be another story.

Arts

Digging Into Ricky Jay's 'Deceptive' Card Tricks

8:37pm April 17, 2013

by Bob Mondello

It's been said that to properly understand a magician, you have to get right on stage and watch how the act is done. NPR's Bob Mondello had that chance once with card whiz Ricky Jay — subject of the new film Deceptive Practice — and has a few words about how the showman works.

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How Evangelical Christians Are Preaching The New Gospel Of Adoption

3:16pm April 16, 2013

In The Child Catchers, Kathryn Joyce explores the outsized influence of evangelical Christian groups on the overseas adoption industry. The adoption movement has orchestrated a boom-and-bust market that can exploit poor families in countries where regulations are weak and "orphans" may not actually be orphans.

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Is The United States A 'Dispensable Nation'?

2:04pm April 16, 2013

In his new book, The Dispensable Nation, former State Department adviser Vali Nasr explores the state of U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan and beyond. Nasr says the U.S. "is happy ... to play a less important role, to no longer be the stabilizer."

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In a new book, Charles Graeber tells the story of Charlie Cullen, a registered nurse who was was dubbed "The Angel of Death" by the media after he was implicated in the deaths of as many as 300 patients.

Pretending To Be A 'Good Nurse,' Serial Killer Targeted Patients

3:55pm April 15, 2013

In 2003, a hospital nurse named Charlie Cullen was arrested under suspicion of injecting patients with lethal doses of a variety of medications. He is now considered one of the nation's most prolific serial killers. Journalist Charles Graeber explains how the hospital system failed to stop Cullen.

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Joan Collins, John Forsythe and Linda Evans at a party celebrating the production of 150 episodes of Dynasty in 1986.

Arts

Big Hair, Big Shoulders And Big Money: Linda Evans On '80s Excess

1:34pm April 15, 2013

by Linda Holmes

Linda Wertheimer talks to Dynasty star Linda Evans about the legacy of Krystle Carrington, who lived in a greed-obsessed decade but remained surprisingly pure of heart.

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As newspapers around the country struggle with declining subscription rates and smaller staffs, passionate, long-form digital storytelling is creating new ways of delivering richly detailed reporting.

Arts

Great Long-Form Journalism, Just Clicks Away

11:12am April 15, 2013

by David Folkenflik

In the age of digital media, many newspapers have been forced to gut their staffs, leading some media analysts to sound the death knell for enterprise reporting and long-form storytelling. Not so fast, say the craft's most passionate advocates.

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Street Artists Protest Status Quo In Haiti

4:52pm April 14, 2013

by Reese Erlich

Haiti's Resistance Artists create street sculptures — huge metal configurations that speak to the devastation following the 2010 earthquake and the stark separation between the country's rich and poor. Reese Erlich

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A single trumpet from a baby elephant at the San Francisco Zoo was used for every single T. Rex roar in Jurassic Park.

Arts

Jurassic Bark: How Sound Design Changed Our Imaginations

8:15pm April 13, 2013

by Becky Sullivan

When Gary Rydstrom recorded and mixed together a set of noises for the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, he never guessed he'd inform our ideas about them for decades to come.

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Arts

'First American Ballet Star' Soared To Fame With 'Firebird'

6:09pm April 13, 2013

by Joel Rose

One of America's first great prima ballerinas has died. Maria Tallchief brought life to The Nutcracker and Firebird at the New York City Ballet. She died Thursday at the age of 88. NPR's Joel Rose has this remembrance.

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