Our Media, Ourselves: Are We Headed For A Matrix?()  

Design Within Reach? The cool sterility of 2001: A Space Odyssey is just one example of how pop culture expresses an anxiety that's seemingly about technology, but may be as old as time.

February 20, 2012 We're streaming our video, downloading our books and doing away with the hard copies that used to help communicate our personalities to one another. Bob Mondello points to a surprisingly early vision of that kind of digital future — and asks what's behind the worry it expresses.

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Three Books...

Screen Time: 3 Books That Haven't Seen The Reel()  

Books and T.V.

February 20, 2012 The Academy Awards are almost upon us, and among this year's nominations for best picture, five were based on books. But for author Tessa Harris, that number isn't high enough. She has three books that should be movies — and you can recommend others in the comments section.

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Monkey See

'Warrior': Far More Terrifying Than Any Ordinary Brutal Battle()  

Tom Hardy and Nick Nolte in Warrior.

February 21, 2012 Nick Nolte is nominated for an Oscar for his supporting work in Warrior, which might appear to be your basic kicking-and-punching catharsis. But commentator Mark Blankenship says it's actually far more frightening.

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Author Interviews

'New Yorker' Cartoonist Imagines Washington At 7()  

cover detail: George Washington's Birthday

February 20, 2012 Through his many New Yorker covers, Barry Blitt has become one of the pre-eminent satirical cartoonists of America's recent presidents. Now Blitt has trained his eye and pen upon our first president in a new children's book, George Washington's Birthday.

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Books News & Features

Forget Lincoln Logs: A Tower Of Books To Honor Abe()  

A tower of books about Abraham Lincoln as seen from the top down.

February 20, 2012 There's a new, towering tribute to the 16th president in the nation's capitol: A three-story sculpture of 7,000 books written about the 16th president. The sculpture represents less than half of the 15,000 some books written about Lincoln, says Paul Tetreault, director of Ford's Theatre.

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Movie Reviews

'Arrietty': Good Things, Small Packages()  

Small Wonder: Arrietty (voiced by Bridgit Mendler) is an inches-tall Borrower whose family lives within the walls of a human household.

February 17, 2012 In a Borrowers adaptation from Japanese animators Studio Ghibli, a spirited, inches-tall girl and her family negotiate the hurdles and hazards of the oversized human world. Critic Bob Mondello says in an age of hyperactive kid flicks, this gentle, imaginative and visually lush film deserves a look.

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You Must Read This

A Depressive Diarist Chronicles His Descent()  

journalist promo

February 20, 2012 How much do we read into ourselves when we write a diary? Author Patrick DeWitt recommends the dark, deep journal of a man suffering from a nervous breakdown.

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The Salt

Dining After 'Downton Abbey': Why British Food Was So Bad For So Long()  

 "Downton Abbey's" kitchen maid (Sophie McShera) and cook (Lesley Nicol) teach Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown-Findlay) the basics of cooking. Many Edwardian servants had a pretty good handle on advanced cuisines, says food historian Ivan Day.

February 19, 2012 Dining was a very, very big deal in Edwardian England — and the food, it turns out, was pretty sophisticated. So why was British food derided as boring, tasteless fare for much of the 20th century? Here's the story.

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Author Interviews

'King Peggy': A Cinderella Story — With A Twist()  

promo art

February 19, 2012 In her new book, Peggielene Bartels describes going from secretary at the U.S. Embassy to king of a fishing village in Ghana. Dividing her time between Otuam and Washington, D.C., she straddles two cultures — and says she loves every bit of it.

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Books

At Last, They See: E-Books 'Democratize' Publishing()  

The Cat In The Hat makes an appearance at a party during the Tools of Change 2012 conference in New York last week.

February 19, 2012 Not known as a hotbed of experimentation, the world of publishing has been slow to embrace the transition from print to digital. But in New York this past week, the publishers who gathered were more interested in exploring new ideas than arguing about the death of books.

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Author Interviews

Murder, Corruption And Cover-Ups In 'Bloodland'()  

buildings promo

February 18, 2012 The seemingly accidental death of a troubled starlet is the catalyst for events in a new thriller that takes the reader from Dublin to New York to the Congo. "It's an exploration ... of the power dynamics that go on" between executive boardrooms and warlords, author Alan Glynn says.

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Fine Art

6 Miles Of Silver Ribbon: Locals Protest Christo()  

Artist Christo finances his projects by selling design drawings like this one, a preparatory sketch for the Over the River project on Colorado's Arkansas River.

February 18, 2012 The artist famous for works measured in miles wants to drape long, billowing panels of silvery fabric over sections of a Colorado canyon. Not everyone is excited; some residents say art is no excuse for the damage it could cause.

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Monkey See

Is There Hope In Friday Night Television's 'Time Slot Of Death'?()  

The Wild Ranger crew of Bering Sea Gold: Steve Riedel, owner Vernon Adkison and Captain Scott Meisterheim.

February 17, 2012 For years, Friday nights have carried a grisly reputation — where shows on broadcast networks are sent to die. But a certain kind of cable show has recently performed well — even really well — on Friday nights. And even broadcast networks are finding flickers of life.

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Book Reviews

Hell's Music: A 'Guide For Boys' With Adult Themes()  

cover detail

February 16, 2012 D.A. Powell's poems in Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys subvert Boy Scout imagery with cheekiness, and take on desire, salvation and HIV with courage. This is a book that looks death in the eye — and winks.

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Movie Reviews

'On The Ice': Boys With A Secret, And A Chill Inside()  

In isolated Barrow, Alaska, a fight between three boys over a girl turns violent, leaving Aivaaq (Frank Qutuq Irelan, left) and Qalli (Josiah Patkotak) with a secret that tests the bonds of their friendship.

February 16, 2012 In Barrow, Alaska, three young men get into a squabble over a girl — and for one of them, it goes badly wrong. Critic Ella Taylor says Andrew Okpeaha MacLean's debut feature tells a hopeful story without resorting to sentimental wallowing.

Summary

Oscars 2012: The 84th Academy Awards

'Undefeated' Filmmakers Talk Friday Nights' Fights()  

North Memphis' Manassas Tigers Coach Bill Courtney and player O.C. Brown stand on the sidelines in a scene from the Oscar-nominated documentary Undefeated.

February 15, 2012 In an Oscar-nominated documentary, T.J. Martin and Dan Lindsay follow an inner-city high school football team in Tennessee, profiling its coaches and players, and showing their struggles on and off the field.

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