Arts & Life

William Merritt Chase's 1888 Study of Flesh Color and Gold, pastel on paper coated with mauve-gray grit

Arts

Versatile, Smudgy, Suitable For Women? Exhibition Traces The History Of Pastels

6:25am October 11, 2019

by Susan Stamberg

Pastels are fragile and therefore difficult to put on public display. But an exhibition in Washington, D.C., has 64 artworks on view, and celebrates centuries of artists working in the chalky medium.

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The iconic Addam's family returns in the animated film featuring Charlize Theron as Morticia Addams (left) and Oscar Isaac as Gomez Addams (right).

Arts

'The Addams Family' Isn't Sufficiently Creepy, Kooky, Mysterious Or Spooky

6:26pm October 10, 2019

by Danny Hensel

The new animated iteration of Charles Addams' family of monstrous oddballs gets mired in the flatness of CGI.

Eric Notarnicola's mockumentary Mister America follows Tim Heidecker attempts to win over San Bernadino voters despite limited funding and a murder allegation.

Arts

Boor Fest: All Politics Is Local, And Lowly, In Satire 'Mister America'

5:00pm October 10, 2019

by Scott Tobias

You don't have to be familiar with Tim Heidecker's character in his cult series On Cinema to enjoy the film — but it's filled with in-jokes that reward the hardcore fan.

Iiiiiiiiin a wet Erlenmeyer flask, born and raised: Will Smith and digitally de-aged Will Smith star in Ang Lee's clone filled-thriller Gemini Man.

Arts

Clone Gunman: Will Smith Vs. Will Smith In Sluggish, Sterile 'Gemini Man'

5:00pm October 10, 2019

by Mark Jenkins

Ang Lee directs Smith (and a digitally de-aged Smith) in this "bland, sluggish and sentimental" thriller.

Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael of Wham performing on stage in 1985.

In Book, Andrew Ridgeley Pays Tribute To George Michael And A More Innocent Pop Era

4:46pm October 10, 2019

by Maura Johnson

In WHAM!, the singer-songwriter reminds readers of Michael's songwriting genius, often overlooked by pop-averse critics and taken for granted by listeners who gorged on the hooky riches of the '80s.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church's right to protest at funerals, arguing that even hateful speech, when addressing matters of pubic import on public property, should be protected.

How Twitter Helped Change The Mind Of A Westboro Baptist Church Member

4:31pm October 10, 2019

by Terry Gross

Growing up, Megan Phelps-Roper was told that God killed soldiers as punishment for tolerance of homosexuality. She started to question her beliefs after she began running the church's Twitter account.

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Sun Kyun-lee and Cho Yeo-jeong play Mr. and Mrs. Park, a wealthy couple whose hired help isn't quite what it seems, in Bong Joon-ho's thriller Parasite.

Arts

'Parasite' Hooks You With Its Emotional Power And Extraordinary Cunning

3:05pm October 10, 2019

by Justin Chang

Bong Joon-ho's brilliant new movie is a darkly comic thriller about the intersection of two South Korean families: one very rich, the other very poor.

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Polish author Olga Tokarczuk (left) won the postponed 2018 Nobel Prize for literature and Austrian novelist and playwright Peter Handke won the 2019 award. The Swedish Academy did not hand out a prize last year due to scandal.

Books
Arts

Nobel Prizes In Literature Go To Olga Tokarczuk And Peter Handke

9:28am October 10, 2019

by Colin Dwyer

The Swedish Academy made the unusual move Thursday of recognizing both Handke, an Austrian writer, and Tokarczuk, who is Polish, after scandal prevented the committee from awarding a prize last year.

Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church, by Megan Phelps-Roper

Granddaughter Of Westboro Baptist Church Founder Chronicles Leaving In 'Unfollow'

6:38pm October 09, 2019

by Kate Tuttle

Megan Phelps-Roper, who first picketed against homosexuality with her family at age 5, writes of facing feelings of guilt. In her memoir she says of her family, "losing them was the price of honesty."

In 'Horror Stories,' Liz Phair Writes Of 'The Haunting Melodies' In Her Head

3:17pm October 09, 2019

by Michael Schaub

The singer-songwriter's new book is an unconventional rock memoir that doesn't hew to the genre's norms. And like her entire musical catalog, it's honest and original.