Arts & Life

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Fine Art
3:27 am
Mon October 15, 2012

One Dot At A Time, Lichtenstein Made Art Pop

Originally published on Mon October 15, 2012 7:59 am

Whaam! Varoom! R-rrring-g! The canvases of painter Roy Lichtenstein look as if they're lifted from the pages of comic books. Comics were a big inspiration for this pop artist, who was rich and famous when died in 1997 at age 73. But at a major Lichtenstein retrospective at Washington's National Gallery of Art, you can see that the artist found inspiration beyond comic books; he also paid his respects to the masters — Picasso, Monet and more.

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Pop Culture
5:02 pm
Sun October 14, 2012

Brad Pitt Helps Chanel Shake Up Iconic Perfume

Chanel No. 5 is an iconic perfume, it's been around for 92 years. Marylin Monroe, Catherine Deneuve and Nicole Kidman have all endorsed the fragrance. Starting on Sunday, Brad Pitt is joining their ranks. He's the first man to endorse the perfume in its history.

Author Interviews
4:08 pm
Sun October 14, 2012

Traveling The World Brings Andrew McCarthy Home

Originally published on Sun October 14, 2012 5:02 pm

He's an 80s teen heartthrob who turned to travel writing — and now soul searching. A few years ago, Andrew McCarthy decided to confront the fears that had followed him his whole life. As he prepared to marry the women he loved, he headed out around the world to find the part inside of himself that just kept saying "no" to everything good in his life.

McCarthy spoke with weekends on All Things Considered guest host Celeste Headlee about his new memoir, The Longest Way Home.

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Movies
3:36 pm
Sun October 14, 2012

'Smashed': A Love Story Minus The Alcohol

Originally published on Sun October 14, 2012 5:02 pm

What happens to a young marriage when the one thing that once brought two people together suddenly vanishes? In Smashed, the answer isn't pretty. But neither is the alternative, because in Smashed, the thing that brings the couple together is alcohol.

The couple is played by Aaron Paul of the series Breaking Bad, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The film also stars Nick Offerman of the TV show Parks and Recreation, Megan Mullally, best known from the TV show Will and Grace, and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer.

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Strange News
6:45 am
Sun October 14, 2012

For Middle-Earth, One Family Tree To Rule Them All

Originally published on Sun October 14, 2012 2:14 pm

Later this year, director Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will reintroduce moviegoers to Middle-Earth, the fictional setting for J.R.R. Tolkien's epic tales.

The high adventure and climactic battles of Tolkien's world were last seen on the big screen in 2003, in The Return of the King. The final scene featured a climactic battle between the men of the West — as well as elves, dwarves and hobbits — against the forces of evil.

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Theater
6:45 am
Sun October 14, 2012

Kerouac's Lost 'Beat Generation' Finally Hits Stage

Credit Courtesy of the Merrimack Repertory Theater
The cast rehearses a scene from Jack Kerouac's only play, The Beat Generation.

Originally published on Sat October 20, 2012 3:55 pm

Jack Kerouac shot to fame after his jazz- and drug-infused book, On the Road, hit stores in 1957. During that hot period the autobiographical novelist also wrote his only play, The Beat Generation.

The play was never produced and all but forgotten. The lost work, however, was rediscovered in 2004 and is now set to premiere in the writer's hometown of Lowell, Mass.

Charles Towers, artistic director at the Merrimack Repertory Theater, remembers exactly what he thought after Kerouac's lost play was uncovered.

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Poetry
6:45 am
Sun October 14, 2012

'A Thousand Mornings' With Poet Mary Oliver

Credit Rachel Giese Brown
Mary Oliver has won a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Originally published on Sun October 14, 2012 2:14 pm

Mary Oliver is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose body of work is largely filled with imagery of the natural world — cats, opossums crossing the street, sunflowers and black oaks in the sunshine. Her most recent collection is entitled A Thousand Mornings.

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Sunday Puzzle
4:32 am
Sun October 14, 2012

Where, 'O' Where Shall I Put You?

Credit NPR Graphic

Originally published on Sun October 14, 2012 2:14 pm

On-air challenge: Every answer is a two-word phrase in which the letter "O" is added at the end of the first word to make the second word. For example, given the clue "pack animal owned by Thomas Jefferson's first vice president," the answer would be "Burr burro."

Last week's challenge: Draw a regular hexagon and connect every pair of vertices except one. The pair you don't connect are not on opposite sides of the hexagon but along a shorter diagonal. How many triangles of any size are in this figure?

Answer: 82 triangles

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Movies I've Seen A Million Times
3:23 pm
Sat October 13, 2012

The Movie Callie Khouri Has 'Seen A Million Times'

Originally published on Sun October 14, 2012 11:07 am

The weekends on All Things Considered series Movies I've Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.

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