Arts

Desiree Akhavan plays Shirin in Appropriate Behavior. Akhavan says she chose the name Shirin because it means sweet in Farsi. "Even though she's insane, she has a sweetness," says Akhavan.

Arts

Iranian-American Filmmaker Breaks Out Of Boxes, Into The Box Office

4:25pm January 17, 2015

by Shereen Marisol Meraji

Desiree Akhavan wrote, directed and stars in the new comedy Appropriate Behavior. It's informed by her life as a bisexual Brooklynite, but the film, like its maker, defies easy categorization.

A waste picker wheels a trash cart with Mundano's art and spreads the word: "My cart doesn't pollute."

MTV Pimps Cars, Brazil Pimps Trash Carts

3:35pm January 17, 2015

by Linda Poon

It's the brainstorm of a street artist, who wanted folks to pay more respect to the pickers who collect recyclable garbage that would otherwise pile up in landfills.

Deborah Voigt regularly hosts and performs in the Metropolitan Opera's The Met: Live in HD series.

A 'Down-To-Earth Diva' Confronts Her Flaws And Good Fortune

11:57am January 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

In a frank new memoir, soprano Deborah Voigt reveals her troubles with obesity, alcohol and bad relationships, along with her many triumphs in opera houses the world over.

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Australian comedian Barry Humphries as legendary housewife Dame Edna Everage appears at a press conference in Sydney on July 5, 2012.

Arts

Not My Job: Dame Edna Everage Gets Quizzed On Farewell Tours

11:14am January 17, 2015

Housewife and superstar Dame Edna Everage is the creation of Australian comedian Barry Humphries. Edna has just launched her U.S. farewell tour so she'll be playing a game called "I won't be back!"

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Yaya DaCosta as Whitney Houston in Lifetime's Whitney.

Can A 'Whitney' Biopic Beat Watching Whitney Houston?

5:26am January 17, 2015

by Linda Holmes

Angela Bassett directs the Lifetime movie about Whitney Houston airing Saturday, but the project lacks structure and especially subtlety.

Arts

'Still Alice' Is A Triumph For Julianne Moore, But The Rest Of Film Is Thin

1:59pm January 16, 2015

by David Edelstein

The movie is based on neuroscientist Lisa Genova's novel about a linguistics professor with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. While Moore is fascinating, the rest of the characters are half-formed.

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Books
Arts

Skeptic Takes A Tour Of Self-Help's 'Promise Land'

1:59pm January 16, 2015

Despite being the daughter of a child psychologist and self-help author, Jessica Lamb-Shapiro has spent her life recoiling from the self-help industry. She talks about how the industry helped her.

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Arts

Sympatico Percussion Quintet, Pianist Nathan Speir, and Classical Revolution Greensboro

12:39pm January 16, 2015

by David Ford

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Alex Malarkey, seen here in a 2009 photo, has written an open letter saying that events described in the best-seller The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven were made up.

Boy Says He Didn't Go To Heaven; Publisher Says It Will Pull Book

12:36pm January 16, 2015

by Bill Chappell

The young man at the center of The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, Alex Malarkey, said this week that the story behind the 2010 book was all made up.

A drawing of two clinking martini glasses.

Arts

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Selma' And Dramatic License

10:04am January 16, 2015

by Linda Holmes

On this week's show, we look at Ava DuVernay's Selma, and then use some questions about that film to look at the issue of factual accuracy in historical dramas more generally.

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