Arts

There are lots of familiar trappings in Netflix's latest "realistic superheroes" series, but the way it grapples with the moral code at the heart of the superhero genre sets it apart.

The new Netflix series mashes up the story of a real-life Black samurai with giant mechas and wizards — Thomas calls it "Trojan horse-ing" the real history through the medium of Japanese anime.

From HBO's two-part documentary on the opioid epidemic to a Star Wars spin-off, here are four shows that represent some of the best 2021 has to offer so far.

A new mask for singers has been developed and tested by the San Francisco Opera in collaboration with medics and researchers. The company is testing it in rehearsals for its first post-pandemic show.

"Recycle art activist" Thomas Dambo makes these gentle giants out of scrap wood, old pallets, twigs and debris. Dozens of them now preside over mountains, forests and parks around the world.

Amid the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, Sampson Levingston decided to bring people together by offering tours of African American neighborhoods. He's turned it into a thriving business.

The Peacock comedy series about a has-been fictional girl group from the '90s has great, big performances and a lot of nostalgia.

Olivia Laing weaves the history of people and ideas in with her own life, bringing readers on a fleet, gracious tour of bodily distress and joy that takes in Malcolm X, the Marquis de Sade and others.

Eric Nguyen's debut novel plays off a Vietnamese word that means both country and water, examining all the ways those two things affect a family of Vietnamese refugees who resettle in New Orleans.