Arts & Life

Books
Arts

Hardboiled Historical Noir With A Heart In 'By Gaslight'

7:00am September 29, 2016

by Jean Zimmerman

Steven Price's hefty new novel stars William Pinkerton, whose father founded the famous detective agency that bears his name, plus a colorful cast of Victorian ne'er-do-wells. And a severed head.

Susan Frawley Eisele holds her 6-week-old son, Albert Jr., at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City in 1936. Eisele, of Blue Earth, Minn., won an essay contest with Country Home magazine and was named best American rural correspondent of 1936.

When Mrs. Eisele Took Manhattan: Big City Failed To Awe Minnesota Journalist

11:21pm September 28, 2016

by Kitty Eisele

In 1936, Country Home magazine sent its "rural correspondent of the year" Susan Eisele on a trip to NYC. With a 6-week-old in tow, she soaked up the city and hit it off with hard-bitten newspapermen.

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Agnes Nixon, 'Queen Of Modern Daytime Drama,' Dies at 93

8:47pm September 28, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

Soap opera pioneer Agnes Nixon created All My Children and One Life to Live. She was known for exploring challenging and taboo social issues through daytime television.

Award-Winning Campaign To Eliminate Prostitution Takes A Dark Approach

5:30pm September 28, 2016

Riccardo Fregoso, executive creative director of McCann Paris, discusses the firm's Clio Award-winning ad called "The Girls of Paradise," which draws potential johns in for a rude surprise.

Pepe The Frog's Long, Strange Journey — From Internet Meme To Hate Symbol

4:21pm September 28, 2016

by Rose Friedman

The Anti-Defamation League lists a number of symbols used by hate groups. Now among them is a cartoon frog named Pepe — but how did this odd image come to be associated with hate speech?

A photo taken from the Brooklyn Bridge shows the Manhattan skyline, circa 1955.

Books
Arts

'Eyes On The Street' Details Jane Jacobs' Efforts To Put Cities First

1:57pm September 28, 2016

by Maureen Corrigan

Robert Kanigel's new biography recounts the life of Jacobs, a Greenwich Village public intellectual who championed street life and community. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls it a powerful work.

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Books
Arts

'Cloudbound' Is Stunning, But Doesn't Quite Soar

1:55pm September 28, 2016

by Annalisa Quinn

Fran Wilde built a glorious world of living bone towers and wing-gliding people in last year's Updraft. Her new Cloudbound has stunning skyscapes but lacks some of the first book's emotional heft.

Herschell Gordon Lewis, known as the Godfather of Gore, directed the 1963 film, Blood Feast.

Books
Arts

Pop Quiz, Hotshot: Herschell Gordon Lewis Film Or Children's Book?

9:00am September 28, 2016

by Glen Weldon

The movie titles of the late splatter-film director are evocative ... and wonderfully terrible. Can you tell them apart from the titles of some less-than-classic kids' books?

Kevin Hart was the most successful comedian last year. He's seen here speaking at the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners in Las Vegas.

Kevin Hart And Amy Schumer: The New King And Queen Of Comedy

6:02pm September 27, 2016

For the first time in a decade, someone other than Jerry Seinfeld tops Forbes' ranking of the highest-paid comedians.

Book Review: 'Born To Run,' Bruce Springsteen

5:11pm September 27, 2016

by Will Hermes

Music critic Will Hermes reviews a new autobiography from Bruce Springsteen called Born To Run.