Arts & Life

Skyler Gisondo (from left), Steele Stebbins, Christina Applegate and Ed Helms star as the next generation of Griswolds in Vacation.

Arts

New Griswolds Take New Dysfunctions On A 'Vacation'

2:08pm July 31, 2015

by Scott Tobias

This time it's Rusty Griswold, the grown son of Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold, dragging his family on a doomed road trip. Critic Scott Tobias says the movie is overeager to provoke and offend.

Arts

For Key And Peele, Biracial Roots Bestow Special Comedic 'Power'

1:59pm July 31, 2015

Comics Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele satirize people of all races on their Comedy Central sketch show. Originally broadcast Nov. 20, 2013.

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Arts

Jon Stewart, Faking It and Making It

1:59pm July 31, 2015

As host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, Jon Stewart is a funny man with a serious message. Originally broadcast July 22, 2005.

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A spry 52 when the film was shot, Tom Cruise — still his own stuntman — careens a motorcycle, sans helmet, around a winding Moroccan highway at suicide-miles-per-hour.

Arts

'Rogue Nation' Fulfills The Mission Of A Reliable Blockbuster Series

1:49pm July 31, 2015

by Chris Klimek

Tom Cruise returns as secret agent Ethan Hunt in the latest Mission: Impossible -- a super-fun sequel executed with rigor, clarity, and creative use of Puccini's Turandot.

Jesse Eisenberg (left) plays journalist David Lipsky and Jason Segel plays David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour.

Arts

'The End Of The Tour' Is A Film For David Foster Wallace Buffs

1:44pm July 31, 2015

by Mark Jenkins

The movie, which draws from journalist David Lipsky's interviews with Wallace in 1996, offers an intriguing (if not altogether convincing) portrait of the Infinite Jest author.

Jason Segel plays writer David Foster Wallace in the new film The End of the Tour.

Books
Arts

'End Of The Tour': An Unauthorized 'Anti-Biopic' Of David Foster Wallace

1:20pm July 31, 2015

by Joel Rose

Instead of telling the author's life story, the film (which the Wallace estate does not approve of) focuses on five days in 1996 during the publicity tour for Infinite Jest.

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In 1968, ABC paired two pundits from opposite ends of the political spectrum — William F. Buckley Jr. (left) and Gore Vidal — for a cut-throat intellectual faceoff. The documentary Best of Enemies explores this media milestone.

Arts

In 1968, The 'Best Of Enemies' Faced Off In A Brutal, Televised Feud

1:15pm July 31, 2015

by Ella Taylor

ABC paired two pundits from opposite ends of the political spectrum — William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal — in a series of debates. A new documentary explores the legacy of this war of words.

Newspaper clippings of young Donnie Dunagan from the early '40s.

Arts

Maj. Bambi: Meet The Marine Who Was Disney's Famous Fawn

12:23pm July 31, 2015

by NPR Staff

A gritty Marine, Donnie Dunagan fought in Vietnam, earned decorations for his service and retired as a major. But all his life, there was one thing he could never escape: He was the voice of Bambi.

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After Debra Jarvis went through cancer treatment, she didn't want to be labeled only as a cancer survivor.

What Does It Mean To Be A "Cancer Survivor"?

9:36am July 31, 2015

by NPR/TED Staff

Debra Jarvis had breast cancer, but it doesn't define her, she says. Jarvis explains how clinging to the identity of "survivor" sometimes stifles personal growth.

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(Left) Afghan girl; (Right) Albert Einstein, by Maria Aristidou

Arts

Artists Transform Coffee Spills Into Masterpieces

10:18pm July 30, 2015

by Tove Danovich

Ever splashed yourself with coffee? Then you know its staining powers. But where some see a ruined shirt, others have found a canvas.