Arts

The original 1986 Watchmen comic was built on a fear of nuclear holocaust; Lindelof's new HBO adaptation takes racism as its central evil, opening with a reconstruction of the 1921 Tulsa massacre.

The tiny independent film became a critical and box office hit by introducing mainstream audiences to a transgender hero. It fictionalized the true story of the brutal murder of Brandon Teena.

Onstage, Joplin oozed confidence, sexuality and exuberance, but biographer Holly George-Warren describes the singer as a bookworm who worked hard to create her "blues feelin' mama" musical persona.

HBO's new series has plenty of court intrigue, scandals and betrayals, but the script amounts to little more than a historical greatest hits, bouncing from well-known event to event.