Arts

Echo Kellum as Noah and Nicole Byer as Nicky in Grand Crew.

Arts

What's making us happy: A guide for your weekend reading and viewing

5:00pm January 14, 2022

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: a quirky Instagram account, the NBC show Grand Crew and more.

Lynn Nottage photographed at A Broadway Celebration at the Times Square EDITION, in December 2021.

Two-time Pulitzer winner Lynn Nottage turns a triple play in New York City

2:37pm January 14, 2022

by Jeff Lunden

Nottage, the only woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice, has a new play on Broadway, an opera at Lincoln Center Theater and a Michael Jackson musical opening soon.

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CNN's new four-part documentary series, Reframed: Marilyn Monroe, revisits the life and career of the film legend (shown here in 1954). The first two parts of the series air Jan. 16.

Arts

'Reframed' revisits Marilyn Monroe's life and legacy, from an all-women point of view

1:28pm January 14, 2022

by David Bianculli

During her career and after her death, Monroe was objectified and scrutinized — mostly by male writers, biographers and historians. CNN's new docuseries tells her story from a fresh perspective.

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Critic Terry Teachout in 2014 in New York.

Cultural critic Terry Teachout is remembered as 'unafraid of being human in public'

1:27pm January 14, 2022

by Neda Ulaby

Teachout has died at the age of 65. He wrote acclaimed biographies of such arts figures as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and George Balanchine.

Arts

Remembering director Peter Bogdanovich, chronicler of Hollywood's golden age

1:04pm January 14, 2022

by Terry Gross

Bogdanovich's directing credits include The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon and What's Up Doc? He was also a movie critic and a Hollywood historian. He died Jan. 6. Originally broadcast in 1983.

Present Tense Machine: A Novel, by Gunnhild Øyehaug

Books
Arts

In 'Present Tense Machine,' the allegory of The Fall becomes a linguistic accident

12:09pm January 14, 2022

by Thúy Đinh

In Gunnhild Øyehaug's novel, a mother and daughter are separated and forgotten to each other, yet continue to exist as thinkers and artists in their respective worlds, each missing something unknown.

Rahim (Amir Jadidi) tries to reconnect with his son (Saleh Karimai) in A Hero.

Arts

A seemingly good deed goes awry in Asghar Farhadi's gripping moral drama 'A Hero'

11:27am January 14, 2022

by Justin Chang

A media circus ensues when a man on leave from debtors' prison finds a handbag and returns it to its rightful owner. Motives are always more complicated than they appear in Asghar Farhadi's film.

Sam (Bridget Everett) and Joel (Jeff Hiller) bond over student essays in Somebody Somewhere.

Arts

HBO's 'Somebody Somewhere' sings sweetly and sincerely, albeit with its inside voice

7:01am January 14, 2022

by Glen Weldon

The electrifying performer Bridget Everett opts for a lower voltage in this gentle, semi-autobiographical tale of a Kansan woman struggling to overcome grief and find her voice again.

Illustration of two people sitting at a bar with their bodies postured toward one another. They each hold a drink and are sitting in bar stools resembling peacocks and surrounded by little stars against a pink backdrop.

Arts

22 tips for 2022: If you're feeling flirty, try giving someone your number

6:01am January 14, 2022

by Andrew Limbong

Next time, if you find yourself interested in someone, try giving them your number. Focus on creating a mutually pleasant interaction, and let the other person decide if they want to hit you up.

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Illustration of an exhausted person bent over a desk with their head in their hands. The room is spinning, and the person is surrounded by clocks, stacks of books, a cup of coffee, a laptop and a smartphone.

Books
Arts

22 tips for 2022: To fight "laziness," slow down and focus on your values

5:04pm January 13, 2022

by Elise Hu

Feeling "lazy" is probably more a sign of needing to take a break, not do more. Try the values clarification exercise to help get rid of the guilt of not doing "enough."

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