Arts & Life
Joan Marcus'The Vibrator Play': Why Yes, It Is About Exactly That
()Any short list of important young American playwrights would have to include Sarah Ruhl, who at age 35 has had work performed at major theaters around the country. She made her Broadway debut Nov. 19, with a period drama called In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play. But as Jeff Lunden reports, it's as much about intimacy and honesty as about sexuality.
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Movie Reviews
In 'Blind Side,' A Tunnel-Vision Take On A True Story()
November 19, 2009 Based on Michael Lewis' acclaimed book, John Lee Hancock's julep-sweet screenplay turns a well-told true story into a feel-good fantasy for white liberals — a movie that doesn't dig deep and too often seems content to trade in stereotype. But as ever in Hollywood, the based-on-reality defense will provide a certain amount of cover, and Hancock will probably have an audience pleaser on his hands.
Holidays
Berry Bad: Threat To Trees Lurks On Holiday Tables()
Its alluring crimson fruit makes it an enduring star of the Thanksgiving centerpiece, but Asiatic bittersweet is strangling trees across New England. In many states, it's illegal to collect or move the invasive vine.
The Picture Show
Mystery Ghost Photos()
November 18, 2009 By Claire O'Neill How do you think these ghostly photographs were made? This slideshow requires version 9 or higher of the Adobe Flash Player. Get the latest Flash Player. 'xrays' ...
Television
'Oprah Winfrey Show' To Go Off The Air In 2011()
November 19, 2009 The talk-show icon will call it a wrap after 25 seasons, her production company said. A formal announcement is expected on Friday's edition of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Movie Reviews
Herzog's 'Bad Lieutenant': He's Crescent City Crazy()
November 19, 2009 "A man without a gun, that's not a man," says the pain-wracked, drug-addled anti-hero cop at the center of Port of Call: New Orleans. You get the feeling that director Werner Herzog, that dedicated chronicler of alpha-male lunacy, agrees — and you can't help but notice that his crime drama is every bit as over-the-top eccentric as its protagonist.
Games & Humor
'The Onion': Mocking All Who Deserve It Since 1988()
November 20, 2009 America's Finest News Source has released a book celebrating its 21 years of satire (with a wink). Onion editors Joe Randazzo and Joe Garden talk with Renee Montagne about the serious business of being funny. Also: See the fun The Onion has had at NPR's expense.
Studio Sessions
Celebrating The Johnny Mercer Centennial()
November 18, 2009 Lyricist and composer Johnny Mercer — born Nov. 18, 1909 — wrote or co-wrote more than 1,000 songs, including American Songbook standards like "Skylark," "That Old Black Magic" and "Come Rain or Come Shine." His Academy Awards tally includes a statue for what's possibly his most famous tune, "Moon River." Fresh Air marks the anniversary of his birth with an in-studio concert starring Rebecca Kilgore and Dave Frishberg.
Books
McCann, Stiles Win National Book Awards()
November 19, 2009 The 60th annual National Book Awards were handed out Wednesday night in New York. Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin, a novel about daring, luck and mortality in 1970s New York, won the fiction prize. T.J. Stiles' biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, The First Tycoon, was the nonfiction winner, and Keith Waldrop's Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy won for poetry.
The Picture Show
Meet The Next Best Street Photographer: Google()
November 18, 2009 Has Google joined the ranks of the best street photographers? Jon Rafman might argue so, and he has a collection of Google Street View photos to make the case.
Fine Art
Cuba Was A Canvas For Artist Belkis Ayon()
November 19, 2009 When Ayon committed suicide in 1999, she was just 32 years old — and already a star in the Cuban art world. A major exhibit of her work now under way in Havana has revived an enduring mystery in Cuba — about art, African myths and the shadowy, all-male secret society known as Abakua.
