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Arts + Life
11:02 am
Wed February 12, 2014

Let's Weather The Storm: Share '3 Things To Do When Stuck Inside'

Last week in Indianapolis, the Kehoe children — from left, Maria, Anthony and Veronica — played with shaving cream as their mother Joanne tried to keep them occupied when the weather outside was awful.
Credit R. Brent Smith / AP
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Originally published on Wed February 12, 2014 1:46 pm

As folks in the Deep South, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast deal with yet another severe storm that's bringing rain, ice, sleet, snow or some combination of all those, let's see if we can help each other out.

So, please share in the comments thread or on NPR's Facebook page your "3 Things To Do When Stuck Inside."

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Arts + Life
9:16 pm
Tue February 11, 2014

The Steel Wheels Roll into Columbus with Six String Concerts

Steel Wheels in Concert
Credit Dylan Duvall
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An interview with The Steel Wheels, Or How A Play about the Pastor of a Dying Church Who Is Losing His Religion Led to an Upbeat Gospel Song.

Six String Concerts hosts The Steel Wheels on Saturday, February 15 at 8:00 PM at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Ave, Columbus

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Arts + Life
11:38 am
Tue February 11, 2014

We Are Just Not Here Anymore

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Originally published on Tue February 11, 2014 4:56 pm

At weddings, guests tweet real-time photos of the festivities to friends far away. At sporting events, fans follow scores of games in other cities. In classrooms, students text with friends in other classes and parents out in the world. At funerals, mourners send out selfies to pals in other places.

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Arts + Life
6:59 am
Tue February 11, 2014

Shirley Temple Dies; Childhood Movie Star Became Diplomat

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Shirley Temple when she was the nation's biggest movie star.
Credit AP
Temple curtsies in a promotional photo for the musical <em>Stand Up and Cheer</em> with James Dunn in 1934.
Credit AP
Temple with Eddie Collins and Gale Sondergaard from a scene of the 1940 movie <em>The Blue Bird</em>.
Credit AP
Temple and her daughter Lori prepare for a scene on the television program <em>Shirley Temple's Storybook</em> in 1958.
Credit AP
Temple in her room at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif., after she underwent surgery for breast cancer in 1972.
Credit Sal Veder / AP
Temple addresses a gathering at the Fetu Festival at Cape Coast, Ghana, in 1975. She served as the ambassador to Ghana from 1974 to 1976.
Credit AP
Temple receives an award for public service and patriotism presented by the Freedoms Foundation in Philadelphia in 1980.
Credit Bill Ingraham / AP
Temple arrives at the White House in 1998. She was among those receiving Kennedy Center honors, in her case for lifetime achievement in the arts.
Credit Ron Edmonds / AP
Temple accepts the Screen Actors Guild annual life achievement award in 2006 as presenter Jamie Lee Curtis applauds.
Credit Mark J. Terrill / AP
Bill Robinson, as the butler, teaches Shirley Temple his world-famous stair dance in a scene from<em> The Little Colonel</em> in 1935.
Credit AP
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Originally published on Tue February 11, 2014 10:55 am

  • 'Morning Edition' looks back at the life of Shirley Temple
  • A bit of 'On the Good Ship Lollipop'

Shirley Temple, who charmed the nation as a child movie star in the 1930s and went on to become one of the nation's diplomats in posts that included ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the Cold War, has died.

She was 85.

The Associated Press writes that publicist Cheryl Kagan says the actress, known as Shirley Temple Black in her private life, died late Monday evening at her home near San Francisco. Kagan tells the AP that Temple's family and caregivers were with her.

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Arts + Life
10:35 am
Mon February 3, 2014

How A Halftime Show Wardrobe Malfunction Changed The Internet

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Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performing at Super Bowl XXXVIII, the infamous wardrobe malfunction mere moments away.
Credit John Zich / John Zich/Corbis
SinkPositive's eco-friendly sink/toilet hybrids decrease water waste.
Credit Steve Cash / Steve Cash Photography
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By NPR Staff

Originally published on Sat February 1, 2014 6:45 pm

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Arts + Life
7:05 am
Mon February 3, 2014

Budweiser's 'Puppy Love' Ad Wins Super Bowl Viewers' Hearts

Puppy + Clydesdale = awww.
Credit Anheuser-Busch.com
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Originally published on Mon February 3, 2014 2:29 pm

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Arts + Life
3:30 am
Mon February 3, 2014

'After Midnight,' And The Cotton Club Is Swinging Again

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Fantasia Barrino, the <em>American Idol</em> winner who went on to play the lead role in Broadway's <em>The Color Purple</em>, was among the rotating roster of guest stars in <em>After Midnight,</em> a Broadway revue celebrating Harlem's legendary Cotton Club and the stars who performed there.
Credit Matthew Murphy /
Actor Dulé Hill, best known for his roles on TV's <em>The West Wing </em>and<em> Psych,</em> emcees the evening.
Credit Matthew Murphy /
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Originally published on Mon February 3, 2014 7:43 am

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9:00 am
Fri January 31, 2014

Portlandia - Prairie Home Companion Tailgating

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Lead in text: 
When Prairie Home Companion rolls into town, Malcolm and Kris are ready for the ultimate tailgating experience, NPR style.
@import url("/wp-content/themes/ifc/assets/show-portlandia/css/tailgate-with-portlandia.css"); When Prairie Home Companion rolls into town, Malcolm and Kris are ready for the ultimate tailgating experience, NPR style. Hit the parking lot...
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Arts + Life
5:05 pm
Thu January 30, 2014

Small Cinemas Struggle As Film Fades Out Of The Picture

The Roxie Theater in San Francisco still has two 35 millimeter projectors, but the switch to digital is inevitable.
Credit Laura Sydell / NPR
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Originally published on Thu January 30, 2014 8:00 pm

Cinema owners who don't have a digital projector in their movie house can't show Paramount Pictures' latest release: The Wolf of Wall Street. This year Paramount became the first big studio to distribute a major release in the U.S. entirely in a digital format, and other studios are likely to follow.

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Arts + Life
10:32 am
Mon January 27, 2014

DIY Lip Color That's Good Enough To Eat

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By editor

Originally published on Sat January 25, 2014 12:14 pm

Transcript

JACKI LYDEN, HOST:

Something you may find on that vanity is a lipstick, so let's pucker up and head downtown to Soho.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LYDEN: There's a little bit on Prince Street where people can go to find that perfect lip color. We're at Bite, a shop that lets you come up with your own lip shade.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) It's on your collar. It told the tale on you. Lipstick's on your collar, said you were untrue...

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Arts + Life
6:20 pm
Sun January 26, 2014

For 'SNL' Cast Member, The Waiting Was The Hardest Part

Bobby Moynihan (left) appears on <em>Saturday Night Live</em> as the character "Drunk Uncle."
Credit NBC / Dana Edelson/NBC
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By NPR Staff

As part of a new series called "My Big Break," All Things Considered is collecting stories of triumph, big and small. These are the moments when everything seems to click and people leap forward into their careers.

For about a decade, Bobby Moynihan lived a double life. By day, Moynihan says, he tended bar at a Pizzeria Uno in New York. By night, he performed improv comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

But he says he always had one dream: to join the cast of Saturday Night Live.

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Arts + Life
8:43 am
Sat January 25, 2014

The Art Of Vanity On Display In 'The History Of The Dressing Table'

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This French mechanical table was intended for Madame de Pompadour. The designs depict her many interests, including gardening, painting, music and architecture.
Credit Metropolitan Museum of Art
<p>Gold, porcelain, glass and steel compose this 18th-century <em>necessaire</em> from France.</p><p></p>
Credit Metropolitan Musem of Art
This French mechanical table was intended for Madame de Pompadour. The designs depict her many interests, including gardening, painting, music and architecture.
Credit Metropolitan Musem of Art
This American worktable was made of satinwood and served as a sewing table and writing desk as well as a vanity.
Credit Metropolitan Musem of Art
A 1925 French dressing table shows off the art deco style.
Credit Metropolitan Musem of Art
The shapely drawers of Raymond Loewy's 1969 valet eliminated the need for hardware.
Credit Metropolitan Musem of Art
This dressing table by Byung Hoon Choi combines stainless steel, natural stone and marble, and is inspired by the bronze mirrors of antiquity.
Credit Metropolitan Musem of Art
This Egyptian cosmetic box of the cupbearer Kemeni, circa 1814-1805 B.C., is made of cedar, ebony, ivory and silver.
Credit Metropolitan Musem of Art
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By editor

Originally published on Mon January 27, 2014 10:03 am

Ever since there have been puddles of water, human beings have gazed at their reflections.

Our need to primp and preen, whether we lived in the Bronze Age or the Space Age, can be seen in a new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York called Metropolitan Vanities: The History of the Dressing Table.

Curator Jane Adlin offers a show that reminds us that while our vanity may ultimately be in vain, the instinct goes back a long way.

An Ancient Conceit

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Arts + Life
10:40 am
Fri January 24, 2014

What Sami Discovered On The Way To Becoming A Man Of Color

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Sami Younes, 26, began his physical transition three years ago. "Transition didn't solve everything for me. I still have a lot of growing to do as person. But I think I'm in a better position to face it now," he said. One of the things that Younes navigates now is how people react to him as a transgender Lebanese and Puerto Rican man.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes holds a senior portrait picture of himself in high school when he was formerly Mariam. Being beautiful equated to becoming a good daughter in Younes' experiences with his family. "All I knew was that I was a girl and I had to be a girl and inside, I didn't feel that way," he said.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes relaxes in the morning with one of his cats, Beans, at home. He shares an apartment with a roommate, Angelica Martinez. As a Lebanese and Puerto Rican transgender man, Younes has yet to find somebody like himself. He has attempted to form social groups for trans men of color but they never successfully materialized. "I do feel a bit alone," Younes said.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes drives in D.C. to meet his parents for lunch. Initially apprehensive about his transition, Younes' parents are now supportive of him as their son.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes talks with a current intern and Harriet Lesser, the 2012-2013 season curator, at The Mansion at Strathmore during work. He previously interned at the gallery when he was female and had a smooth transition when he returned. He was a visual arts assistant there but has since changed jobs.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
A flier for a production of <em>The Tempest</em> hangs on Younes' refrigerator. He will play the part of Alonso with the DNA Theatre in Baltimore. After his transition, theater became a big part of Younes' life, a way for him to express himself and socialize with other people.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes rehearses a scene for <em>The Tempest</em> with his castmates at St. Mark's Evangelical Church in Baltimore.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes participates in theater rehearsal. Most of the people he interacts with know of his transition, but there are several people who he knows may not.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes lets Paul Roe, owner and artist at Britishink Tattoos in Washington, D.C., outline his body for a preliminary tattoo design. Younes plans to receive a fairly elaborate tattoo, including a lion and a sun, that will cover the majority of his body. The lion and the sun are two symbols often used in Iranian culture and have ties to Islam. Younes' middle name, Haidar, also means lion.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes dresses for work in the morning. He says that while telling his story will be his way of putting himself out there, that doesn't make it "open season" for strangers to bluntly ask about personal things like his sexuality. "Everyone's got a different story. There's no cut and dry mold for being transgender," he said.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes celebrates his birthday with Martinez (second from left) and several of their friends at their apartment on a Saturday night.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes lip syncs during the joint birthday party. "Sam is happy now. That really means a lot to us," Younes' mother, Lina, said.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Sami Younes, 26, began his physical transition three years ago. "Transition didn't solve everything for me. I still have a lot of growing to do as person. But I think I'm in a better position to face it now," he said. One of the things that Younes navigates now is how people react to him as a transgender Lebanese and Puerto Rican man.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes' sister gives him a kiss during his birthday party.
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
Younes with his mother, Lina, and father, Badri. "At certain moments, we thought, 'Why us? Why us? You know, God, we didn't need this,' " his father said. "But I say it now, thank God it was us."
Credit Erica Yoon / NPR
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By editor

Originally published on Fri January 24, 2014 7:20 pm

Not many people can say they've experienced the world both as an Arab-Latino woman and as an Arab-Latino man. Sami Younes can.

Younes, 26, was once Mariam, a Lebanese and Puerto Rican woman. When he began his physical transition three years ago to become a man, the way people reacted to his change surprised him.

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Arts + Life
3:41 am
Fri January 24, 2014

Giving Thanks For Two Bonus Decades Of Life And Love

Lionel D'Luna, daughter Adrienne and wife Debra remember their daughter and sister Alexis, who died in 2012 of complications from CHARGE syndrome.
Credit Courtesy of the D'Luna Family
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By editor

Originally published on Fri January 24, 2014 11:23 am

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Arts + Life
3:43 am
Wed January 22, 2014

Gentrification May Actually Be Boon To Longtime Residents

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The bustling Sidamo coffee shop in Washington's H Street Northeast neighborhood. The area has attracted many new, young residents and high-end bars, retail and restaurants over the past several years.
Credit Meredith Rizzo / NPR
A 1988 riot in Tompkins Square Park in New York's East Village helped bring the concept of gentrification to the fore in the U.S.
Credit Courtesy of NYC Parks
A lifetime resident of the H Street Northeast area, Cherry Tilghman says some of the changes here, like a new Giant grocery store, have improved the neighborhood.
Credit Meredith Rizzo / NPR
Murry's grocery store has anchored H Street Northeast for decades. Soon, the store will be replaced by a Whole Foods market and an apartment complex.
Credit Meredith Rizzo / NPR
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Originally published on Wed January 22, 2014 9:34 am

Bobby Foster Jr. can often be found reading the paper on a wooden bench outside Murry's grocery store on the corner of Sixth and H streets northeast in Washington, D.C.

"The sun shines over here this time of day," says Foster, a retired cook. "It's always good when the sun shines."

Murry's has been an anchor in this neighborhood for decades — during the crack wars of the 1980s and the urban blight that followed, when most other businesses packed up and left. Foster has been somewhat of an anchor, too. He's lived here for 54 years.

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Arts + Life
5:17 pm
Fri January 17, 2014

You Can Now Send Someone You Temporarily Like A 'Bachelor' Bouquet

This is a real press release photo of the <em>Bachelor</em> bouquet.
Credit Warner Brothers Entertainment
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Originally published on Fri January 17, 2014 1:37 pm

It's Friday, so let's take a moment to consider the greatest press release of the week. (And by "greatest," I mean "most ridiculous." As always.)

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Arts + Life
5:14 pm
Fri January 17, 2014

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Golden Globes And Eagle Eyes

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Originally published on Fri January 17, 2014 10:23 am

  • Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour

This week's show (which we taped before the Oscar nominations were announced, so you can bet we'll be getting to those later) catches us post-Golden-Globes for a conversation about awards hosts, speechifying, satisfying victories, and the odd surprises that keep us tuning in to the season's drunkest ceremony of them all.

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Arts + Life
4:25 pm
Fri January 17, 2014

A Strange Composition: Classical Music Meets Bioterror In 'Orfeo'

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Credit iStockphoto
Novelist Richard Powers is the author of 11 novels, including <em>Generosity</em> and<em> The Echo Maker.</em>
Credit W.W. Norton & Co.
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By NPR Staff

Originally published on Fri January 17, 2014 8:33 pm

Richard Powers' new novel, Orfeo, tells the story of an avant-garde classical music composer who finds himself dabbling in DNA. Like the Orpheus myth that inspired the book's name, this story takes its hero, Peter Els, on a journey. He becomes a fugitive accused of bioterror, but what follows is also a walk back into the recesses of his own memory told through the music and people he's loved and lost.

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Arts + Life
12:42 pm
Fri January 17, 2014

How I Flunked China's Driving Test ... Three Times

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Drivers step out of their vehicles for a better view while stuck in traffic along Beijing's Second Ring Road on a "Car Free Day" on Sept. 21, 2010. For foreigners trying to drive in car-crazy China, the headaches begin with the written test.
Credit Frederic J. Brown / AFP/Getty Images
Credit China's driver's license test
A man takes a computerized road rules test at a driving school in Jinan, in eastern China's Shandong province, in 2011. Most Chinese people — accustomed to an education system that emphasizes rote memorization — don't find the test as difficult as foreigners.
Credit Alexander F. Yuan / AP
A man maneuvers a car during an electronic driving test at a driving school in Beijing in 2011. The road test for a Chinese driver's license requires the applicant to park while avoiding laser motion detectors.
Credit Alexander F. Yuan / AP
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Originally published on Fri January 17, 2014 7:39 pm

Recently, I decided to apply for a driver's license in China. Since I already have one from the U.S., the main thing I had to do was pass a computerized test on the rules of the road here. I figured it would be a breeze.

Driving and car ownership have taken off in China. Last year, the country added nearly 18 million drivers. There is so much demand for licenses that I had to wait a month for the first available testing date.

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Arts + Life
9:26 am
Tue January 14, 2014

Is '16 And Pregnant' An Effective Form Of Birth Control?

<a href="http://www.mtv.com/shows/16_and_pregnant/season_1/episode.jhtml?episodeID=153833#moreinfo">Episode 1</a> of <em>16 and Pregnant</em> tells the story of Maci, a "classic overachiever" at her Chattanooga, Tenn., high school. A new study attributes a portion of the decline in the U.S. teen birthrate to the MTV show.
Credit MTV
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By NPR Staff

Originally published on Mon January 13, 2014 8:53 pm

The U.S. teen birthrate — one of the highest in the developed world — has been dropping in recent years. There are a number of reasons for the decrease, and a new study attributes a portion of the decline to an unlikely cause: MTV's 16 and Pregnant, a show that takes a brutally honest look at what life is like for pregnant teens.

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