Arts & Life

Karthika Nair (left) and Marilyn Hacker (right)

Books
Arts

Two poets chronicle their friendship and isolation during the pandemic

9:57am December 10, 2021

by Jeevika Verma

Marilyn Hacker and Karthika Nair were under lockdown in Paris only miles apart from each other. A Different Distance compiles the almost daily poems they wrote from March 2020 to March 2021.

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Books
Arts

'The Veiled Throne' keeps the flame of the Dandelion Dynasty burning on every page

4:08am December 10, 2021

by Jason Sheehan

A thousand pages is a lot. But there's Ken Liu's voice to hold onto in this third installment of his epic — beautifully deployed and fully in command of the language of his imaginary universe.

Lina Wertmüller's most famous film, Seven Beauties, is about a dissolute Italian Army deserter captured by the Germans during World War II. She's shown above in September 1984.

Arts

Lina Wertmüller, first woman nominated for Oscar in directing, has died

5:04pm December 09, 2021

by Neda Ulaby

The Italian filmmaker made extravagant, eye-popping films. She used to say she wasn't surprised to be the first woman nominated for an Oscar in directing — she was only surprised that she didn't win.

Music therapist Monica Levin teaches via video conference at Frances Fuchs Early Childhood Center in Prince George's County, Maryland.

For kids grappling with the pandemic's traumas, art classes can be an oasis

9:53am December 09, 2021

by Elizabeth Blair

As health officials sound the alarm about the pandemic's impact on children's mental health, music, drama and other art classes are helping kids adjust to being in-person again.

Books
Arts

A visual feast: 5 favorite art books of 2021

6:31am December 09, 2021

by Heller McAlpin

Most readers spend a lot of time happily immersed in words. But for a change of pace, these gorgeous art books provide hours of blissful visual diversion.

Revered cultural critic Greg Tate has died at age 64

4:41pm December 08, 2021

The revered critic Greg Tate, an early and influential hip hop writer, has died. Tate grew up around intellectuals and developed a rabid curiosity about music, film, literature, theory and politics.

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Halle Berry plays MMA fighter Jackie Justice in Bruised.

Arts

Halle Berry entered the ring ready — she's been a fighter all her life

2:55pm December 08, 2021

by Tonya Mosley

Berry stars as a disgraced MMA fighter in Bruised — a film she also directed. It's a role that she identifies with fundamentally: "I've also been a fighter my whole life, my whole career."

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Arts

'Being the Ricardos' dramatizes Lucy and Desi's very complicated relationship

2:55pm December 08, 2021

by David Bianculli

Aaron Sorkin's latest film zeroes in on one very stressful week in the lives of Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem), when Lucy was accused of being a Communist.

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John Lithgow and Kevin Hart appear as Mr. Drummond and Arnold in ABC's 'Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes.'

Arts

Kevin Hart and cast surprises rescue 'Facts of Life' and 'Diff'rent Strokes' revival

1:19pm December 08, 2021

by Eric Deggans

The best parts of Tuesday's live special on ABC came when actors added something new to the decades-old scripts.

Actor Rose McGowan, who accused Weinstein of raping her more two two decades ago and then of destroying her career, joins other accusers and protesters as Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan court house for the start of his January 2020 trial in New Y

A federal judge dismisses Rose McGowan's lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein

11:21am December 08, 2021

by Joe Hernandez

The actor said that as she was preparing to publish a memoir with details of an alleged assault by Weinstein, he hired lawyers and investigators to obtain a copy of the book and discredit her.