Arts

The Arts

Promotional picture for the Ken Burns documentary 'Country Music'

Ken Burns Reveals The Song Stuck In His Head As ‘Country Music’ Series Premieres On PBS

PBS Newshour September 14, 2019

In his latest compendium of American culture, filmmaker Ken Burns, along with writer Dayton Duncan, explores the history of “Country Music” in a new 16-hour documentary. Burns said that story-songs are a phenomenon that can be traced back centuries, to long, multi-verse ballads that were handed down from generation to generation. Continue Reading Ken Burns Reveals The Song Stuck In His Head As ‘Country Music’ Series Premieres On PBS

Tiffany Chu stars as Kasie in Ms. Purple, an indie drama about a Korean American family from director Justin Chon. Oscilloscope

FILM REVIEW: In The Moody ‘Ms. Purple,’ A Karaoke Hostess Lives In The Silence Between Notes

NPR News September 13, 2019

Justin Chon’s third feature, about a karaoke hostess forced to deal with her estranged brother while her father is dying, possesses an “emotional impact [that] is loudest in its quiet moments.” Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: In The Moody ‘Ms. Purple,’ A Karaoke Hostess Lives In The Silence Between Notes

A U.S. Flag hanging from a steal girder, damaged in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, blows in the breeze at a memorial in Jersey City, N.J., Sept. 11, 2019 as the sun rises behind the One World Trade Center building and the re-developed area where the Twin Towers of World Trade Center once stood in New York City on the 18th anniversary of the attacks.

‘The Only Plane In The Sky’ Offers A Powerful, Graphic Narrative Of September 11

NPR News September 11, 2019

When today’s children someday ask what Sept. 11 was really like, Garrett Graff’s book will be the answer: He vividly recounts the most upsetting and totemic moments — and critical, little-told others. Continue Reading ‘The Only Plane In The Sky’ Offers A Powerful, Graphic Narrative Of September 11

Derry Girls follows five teenagers in a Catholic school in Northern Ireland during the 1990s. "This show, it's very Derry, in all the right ways," says Derry Girls fan Gilly Campbell. "It's put Northern Ireland on the map for all the right reasons." CREDIT: Netflix

TV: In Northern Ireland, ‘Derry Girls’ Balances Teen Comedy And Sectarian Conflict

NPR News September 10, 2019

The hit comedy follows teenagers in a Catholic school in the 1990s. Even with The Troubles as the backdrop, it’s “put Northern Ireland on the map for all the right reasons,” says one Derry Girls fan. Continue Reading TV: In Northern Ireland, ‘Derry Girls’ Balances Teen Comedy And Sectarian Conflict

Quichotte, by Salman Rushdie - book on a table

BOOK REVIEW: If Salman Rushdie’s ‘Quichotte’ Drives You Nuts — That’s Fine. It’s Meant To

NPR News September 8, 2019

It could be argued that Quichotte is a novel that aims to reflect back to us the total insanity of living in a world unmoored from reality — but it’s about the power of believing more than anything. Continue Reading BOOK REVIEW: If Salman Rushdie’s ‘Quichotte’ Drives You Nuts — That’s Fine. It’s Meant To