Arts

Pages

The Salt
2:02 pm
Wed May 29, 2013

Cooking With Cicadas: No Weirder Than Eating Cheese?

Credit Sean Bush / AP
Cicada: It's what's for dinner?

Originally published on Wed May 29, 2013 5:18 pm

You knew this one was coming.

Earlier this month, we told you about a U.N. report that makes the case for insects to improve global food security: They're cheap, plentiful and environmentally sustainable. Now, the coming of the 17-year cicadas provides East Coast Americans, for whom bug eating is considered novel at best, with an opportunity to try local insect cuisine.

Read more
Monkey See
12:23 pm
Wed May 29, 2013

Kerfuffle Politics: The Statement Adam Levine Shouldn't Need To Make

Credit Trae Patton / NBC
Adam Levine made a very unnecessary statement after Tuesday night's The Voice.

Tuesday night on The Voice, Adam Levine — who's the lead singer of Maroon 5 when he's not judging reality television — had two of the singers on his team eliminated. To understand this, just know that each of the four judge-coaches (Levine, Shakira, Usher and Blake Shelton) starts out with a team of singers they're mentoring, and as they go through the competition, the coaches get pretty attached to the folks on their team and try to help them win. If one of your singers wins, you're sort of the "winning" coach for that season.

Read more
Movie Interviews
12:12 pm
Wed May 29, 2013

From Boos To Bravos: A Recap Of Cannes

Originally published on Wed May 29, 2013 2:30 pm

"It was the film of the festival," critic John Powers tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about Blue Is the Warmest Color, this year's Palme d'Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival. When Powers says "film of the festival" he means "it was the film that people loved the most, some hated the most, and everyone talked about the most."

Read more
Arts & Life
12:04 pm
Wed May 29, 2013

Looking Ahead To The Future Of Cartoons And Creativity

Originally published on Wed May 29, 2013 2:03 pm

At the beginning of her course at the University of Wisconsin, cartoonist Lynda Barry wants to get to know her students by their work, instead of their personalities. So, instead of learning their names, she assigns them all "brain names," like Thalamus and Hippocampus.

In all of her courses, professor Old Skull — as she is known by her students — aims to strip away the stiffness of adulthood and plug people into their innate creativity.

Read more
Asia
11:35 am
Wed May 29, 2013

For China's Youth, A Life Of 'Darkness Outside The Night'

Credit Xie Peng and Duncan Jepson, with permission to reproduce the panels from Tabella Publishing LLP
A small, child-like creature in a cone hat peers into a toy shop, happy at the sight of a snow globe, in a vignette called "Tininess" in Darkness Outside the Night, a graphic novel illustrated by Xie Peng. Find out what happens in the excerpt below.

Originally published on Wed May 29, 2013 2:39 pm

Xie Peng, a 36-year-old Chinese graphic novelist, spent six years working on his first book, Darkness Outside the Night. It's been praised by China's first Nobel laureate for literature, Mo Yan, as inspiring people on how to deal with life.

Read more
Monkey See
10:19 am
Wed May 29, 2013

CBS Debuts A Baking Competition As Broadcast Continues Borrowing From Cable

Credit Monty Brinton / CBS
Brian Emmett competes as one of 10 amateur bakers vying for $250,000 and a Gallery Books cookbook contract on CBS's The American Baking Competition, which premieres Wednesday night.

Originally published on Thu May 30, 2013 6:03 am

Broadcast TV has seen the writing on the walls at Food Network, Bravo and TLC: competitive food shows can build solid followings (Chopped, Top Chef) and so can shows about baking (Cake Boss, Cupcake Wars). Throw in a format popular in Britain called The Great British Bake-Off, and add the appeal of television that leads with how unpretentious and down-home it is. Soak in a deep dish of Jeff Foxworthy, and you've got CBS's new offering, The American Baking Competition, which premieres Wednesday night.

Read more
Ask Me Another
10:04 am
Wed May 29, 2013

Presidential Middle Names

Originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 8:19 am

Can you guess the Simpsons character whose first name is a Presidential middle name? If you said Milhouse, named after Richard Milhous Nixon, then you're off to a great start. In this game, Jonathan Coulton spices up the names of U.S. Presidents by "expanding" their middle names to include other famous people or characters.

Read more
Ask Me Another
10:04 am
Wed May 29, 2013

Delightful Spoonerisms, Despiteful Lunarisms

Originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 8:19 am

A "spoonerism" is a play on words in which the initial sounds of two words are reversed. In this game, puzzle guru John Chaneski asks contestants to make spoonerisms out of movie and song titles. For example, a hit song by Blondie about the telephone, that can also be used to unlock a shopping center, would be a "Call Me mall key."

Read more
Ask Me Another
10:04 am
Wed May 29, 2013

Y.M.C.A.

Originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 8:19 am

Can you name all the members of the Village People? In this game, house musician Jonathan Coulton pays tribute to the group's perennial dance classic, "Y.M.C.A.," with the song's lyrics rewritten test your knowledge of other four-letter abbreviations. You'll be singing along A.S.A.P.!

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Read more
Ask Me Another
10:04 am
Wed May 29, 2013

Lesser-Known Knights

Originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 8:19 am

We all know King Arthur's famous Knights of the Round Table, like Sir Galahad, sometimes referred to as the Knight of the Holy Grail, or Sir Lancelot, the Knight of the Lake. But do you know the Knight of Scales, Fangs and Coils: Sir Pent? (Say it aloud a few times.) In this game, host Ophira Eisenberg offers more descriptions of a word or phrase whose first syllable sounds like "Sir."

Read more
Ask Me Another
10:04 am
Wed May 29, 2013

Dan Kennedy: Fishing For A Tale

Credit Lam Thuy Vo / NPR
"I was just having an out-of-body experience, where I was like, 'You're on a game show, and Hootie and the Blowfish is the answer.' How did this happen?" — Dan Kennedy, author and host of The Moth podcast.

Originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 10:03 am

Ask Me Another
10:04 am
Wed May 29, 2013

All-American Words

Originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 8:19 am

In honor of V.I.P. Dan Kennedy and his new novel American Spirit, puzzle guru John Chaneski cooks up a patriotic final round in which all the answers are phrases or titles that contain the word "America" or "American." America's got talent" — and yes, we mean you, brainy listeners.

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Transcript

Read more
Ask Me Another
10:04 am
Wed May 29, 2013

Board To Death

Originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 8:19 am

This game pays homage to the board game Clue, and its hilarious film adaptation, by adopting its standard phrasing for a solved murder mystery: "Professor Plum, in the billiard room, with the candlestick!" Host Ophira Eisenberg doles out Clue-style descriptions of murder plots in famous films. The only crime in this game might be spoilers—so be warned.

Plus, house musician Jonathan Coulton treats us to a Beatles cover with a title that also could be the solution to a Clue murder mystery: "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."

Read more
Monkey See
8:56 am
Wed May 29, 2013

Ahem: Asking Someone To The Prom Is Not A 'Proposal'

Credit BVDC / iStockphoto.com
Monkey See
6:39 am
Wed May 29, 2013

Entirely Real Photos: Wax Will Smith Gets Jiggy With Wax George Clooney

Credit Ben A. Pruchnie / Getty Images
The Will Smith waxwork figure is unveiled at Madame Tussauds on May 22, 2013 in London, where it hangs out with the George Clooney and Emma Watson wax figures, because why not?

As you know, we at Monkey See enjoy creepy wax figurines maybe more than anything in the world, and now, Wax George Clooney (whose adventures we have chronicled in the past) has been joined at a photo shoot in London by Wax Will Smith, as well as Wax Emma Watson. You know, just to hang out. To talk about movies. To talk about being made of wax.

Read more

Pages