Pop Culture

Carson Daly jokes with host Neal Patrick Harris during last night's premiere episode of NBC's Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris.

Arts

Neil Patrick Harris' 'Best Time Ever': A Variety Show In Need Of More Variety

3:00pm September 16, 2015

by David Bianculli

NBC's new live weekly show mixes mini-quiz shows, game shows, production numbers, stunt competitions and pranks. Despite all this, critic David Bianculli says it hasn't yet reached its full potential.

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Appeals Court Rules Youtube Video Of Baby Dancing To Prince Was Fair Use

7:43pm September 15, 2015

NPR's Audie Cornish talks to Daniel Nazer of the Electronic Frontier Foundation about the impact of this ruling. An appeals court ruled the music used in the video was an instance of fair use.

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Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton star in American Crime.

Arts

'American Crime': An Ambitious And Inventive Drama With Miles To Go

4:21pm September 15, 2015

by Linda Holmes

It's hard to predict where the complex American Crime might be headed, but it's led by terrific performances and it's tearing into some interesting issues.

National

3 Crazy Crazes Of The Late 1800s

2:53pm September 15, 2015

by Linton Weeks

Hairpin stealing, ring turning and automobiling — apparently folks in turn-of-the-20th-century America were as fad-prone as we are today.

Miss America pageant chief executive Sam Haskell apologizes to Vanessa Williams, who was forced to resign her Miss America title.

National

Miss America Pageant Apologizes To 1983 Winner Vanessa Williams

7:14pm September 14, 2015

by Laura Wagner

Vanessa Williams was forced to resign as Miss America in 1984 after nude photos of her were published in a magazine.

Pop icon and former Beatle Ringo Starr poses for the media in front of some of his photographs as he launches a book, Photograph, in London on Wednesday.

Ringo Starr Cleaning House, Will Auction Beatles 'Stuff' For Charity

4:18pm September 14, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The Fab Four drummer is putting an original pressing of the White Album, a guitar once owned by John Lennon and one of his own Ludwig Oyster drum kits on the block.

A screenshot of Nintendo's video commemorating Super Mario's the 30th anniversary.

Nintendo's Super Mario Turns 30

1:24pm September 14, 2015

by Brakkton Booker

The game's concept and graphics were simple. The gameplay was habit-forming. And Nintendo's mustachioed, overalls-wearing plumber Mario became a global icon.

Matt Damon plays an astronaut accidentally abandoned on Mars in Ridley Scott and Drew Goddard's The Martian.

Arts

Matt Damon On Mars: A Toronto Diary, Part 1

9:46am September 14, 2015

by Linda Holmes

Three days and 13 films in, we've got the good word on Matt Damon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Helen Mirren and lots more.

Ravi Patel and his sister, Geeta, worked together on the documentary Meet the Patels, in which Ravi struggles to find a partner both he and his parents love.

'Meet The Patels': One Man's Quest To Find Love, The Old-School Indian Way

6:43pm September 11, 2015

by Karen Grigsby Bates

Ravi Patel had tried and failed to find "The One." So he reluctantly let his parents arrange for him to meet dozens of prospects. And his sister has filmed the whole thing — for our viewing pleasure.

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Books
Arts

A Gargantuan Error: Quixotic Is Not The Only Word From A Book Character

6:41pm September 10, 2015

NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with Bruce Conforth, professor of American culture at the University of Michigan, about words that have entered colloquial language after originating as book characters.

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