NPR logo NPR

Arts & Life

Movies

Encore: Films To Beat A Bone-Chilling Blizzard

As the mid-Atlantic region recovers from a blizzard, these films will transport you to warmer, steamier and sandier locales. This story originally aired on Feb. 25, 2015 on All Things Considered.

Listen Loading… 5:46
  • Playlist
  • Download
  • Embed
    <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/464338385/464338386" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Book News & Features

Deconstructing Gov. Chris Christie's 'Bridge To Redemption'

Fresh Air

Journalist Matt Katz discusses Christie's rise to power in New Jersey, the "Bridgegate" scandal and his performance in the '16 Republican presidential primary. Katz is the author of American Governor.

Listen Loading… 36:52
  • Playlist
  • Download
  • Embed
    <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/464244684/464324888" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
New varieties
Ryan Kellman/NPR

Food

Meet The Most Pampered Vegetables In America

Chef's Garden is a farm in Ohio growing vegetables to the specifications of the world's top chefs. It's a place where vegetables are artistic materials painstakingly tended and handled like jewels.

Listen Loading… 5:18
  • Playlist
  • Download
  • Embed
    <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/462829094/464266298" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Girl Through Glass

Author Interviews

Passion And Obsession En Pointe In 'Girl Through Glass'

Author Sari Wilson's new novel follows a young dancer in New York City in the 1970s, and a grown professor of dance years later — both of whom find their lives upended by dangerous relationships.

Listen Loading… 7:46
  • Playlist
  • Download
  • Embed
    <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/464003674/464180372" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
With the help of her aspiring young artists, Vanessa German has transformed a house in Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood into a work of art.

With the help of her aspiring young artists, Vanessa German has transformed a house in Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood into a work of art. Erika Beras hide caption

toggle caption Erika Beras

Young Artists Find Home And Healing At Pittsburgh Art House

Whenever artist Vanessa German worked on her porch, kids asked if they could help. Now, in a neighborhood struggling with poverty and crime, she's created a place where they can make art of their own.

Listen Loading… 3:55
  • Playlist
  • Download
  • Embed
    <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/463859455/464219446" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Julius "Groucho" Marx, circa 1935.

Julius "Groucho" Marx, circa 1935. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Author Interviews

Groucho Marx Spared No One — And His Biographer Isn't Pulling Punches, Either

Lee Siegel, author of Groucho Marx: The Comedy of Existence, wanted his biography to uncover the real man behind the iconic mustache. What Siegel found, he says, was "a thoroughgoing misanthrope."

Listen Loading… 7:19
  • Playlist
  • Download
  • Embed
    <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/464125023/464125026" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
The Blue Line book cover

Author Interviews

In First Novel, Former Hostage Ingrid Betancourt Tells A Story Of Captivity

The Blue Line follows a woman who is detained during Argentina's Dirty War. Betancourt says writing the novel helped her process the years she spent as a captive of Colombian revolutionaries.

Listen Loading… 7:08
  • Playlist
  • Download
  • Embed
    <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/463848420/464090968" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Dance

From Streets To Stage, Two Dance Worlds See Harmonization And Chaos

When a San Francisco-based choreographer decided to take turf dancers off of the streets and trains of Oakland and put them on stage with ballet dancers, chaos ensued. Until she let them all improv together.

Listen Loading… 4:50
  • Playlist
  • Download
  • Embed
    <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/464090911/464090912" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprise their roles of FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in six new episodes of The X-Files.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprise their roles of FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in six new episodes of The X-Files. Ed Araquel/FOX hide caption

toggle caption Ed Araquel/FOX

Television

Mulder And Scully On Why The World Is Ready For An 'X-Files' Reboot

"People want a villain," says actor David Duchovny. "They want a reason; they want a cabal; they want a conspiracy." He and Gillian Anderson co-star in six new episodes of The X-Files.

Listen Loading… 5:38
  • Playlist
  • Download
  • Embed
    <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/463726029/464090992" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscar Awards, is 93 percent white, with an average age of 63.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscar Awards, is 93 percent white, with an average age of 63. Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP hide caption

toggle caption Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

The Two-Way

Film Academy Votes To Increase Diversity

Following criticism of the lack of diversity in this year's Oscar nominations, the academy has voted to approve changes aimed at doubling the number of women and people of color by 2020.