Search results for

Slate contributor Ben Williams presents a roundup of what film critics are saying about this weekend's major new movie premieres. This week: Friday Night Lights, Taxi and Raise Your Voice.

Dutch-born painter Willem de Kooning is remembered as the first modern art star. The story of his life and influence on 20th century American art is told in the book De Kooning: An American Master. Liane Hansen talks with the authors.

Day to Day television critic Andrew Wallenstein comments on Thursday night's "Chrismukkah" episode of the Fox prime-time soap opera The OC. He says that combining the holidays of Christmas and Hanukkah -- even on a television show -- misleads people about the nature of the Jewish holiday.

NPR's Alex Chadwick talks with National Geographic photographer Chris Rainier -- once a student of the famed Ansel Adams -- about his latest collection of photographs, Ancient Marks. Rainier travelled across the globe documenting a wide variety of cultures that apply tattoos and other markings to their bodies.

In his Portsmouth Point Overture, English composer William Walton captures the colorful, bawdy sights and sounds of an 1811 Thomas Rowlandson painting of the same name. Joann Falletta conducts the Juilliard Symphony at New York's Lincoln Center.

Choreographer Paul Taylor is one of the giants of modern dance. Even as his Paul Taylor Dance Company is marking its 50th season with a tour to all 50 states, Taylor is at home, planning his next move. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden.

NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates examines Muhammad: The Last Prophet, a new animated film depicting the life of the prophet Muhammad. She speaks with Mark Pinsky, who writes about religion in popular culture, about how the film's vision of Islam could affect Muslim and non-Muslim audiences.

Five obscure female fiction novelists and the nonfiction 9/11 Commission Report are among the unconventional nominees for this year's National Book Awards. The panel is mum until they give the awards out on Nov. 17, but book critics and publishing industry watchers have their predictions. NPR's Lynn Neary reports.

Trumpeter Jon Hassell began to create what he dubbed "Fourth World" music in the 1970s. He defines it as "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques."

Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda is back on the big screen for the first time in 15 years. She's chosen a comic role, opposite Jennifer Lopez, in Monster-in-Law. Critic Shawn Levy of The Oregonian offers his view of the film, and Fonda's return.