Who's The Best Drinker? Dogs? Cats? Or Pigeons?
()You, you with your lips, throat, cheek muscles and hands, you, with no effort can drink a glass of water. But what about your cat? Your dog? They don't have the advantages you do. Nor do pigeons. And yet, through ways both brilliant and mysterious, they too can drink. Here are their secrets.
Television
Douglas, Damon Illuminate HBO's 'Candelabra'()
May 23, 2013 Steven Soderbergh's latest film is a showbiz story about Vegas icon Liberace and his secret lover — played, respectively, by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, both terrific in their roles. It premieres Sunday on HBO.
Movie Reviews
'Plimpton!': A Fond Look At A Man Of Letters()
May 23, 2013 An affectionate documentary portrays the Paris Review founder as a man devoted to illuminating how talent and creativity work — both for himself, and for the rest of us.
Pitbull Gets 'Epic': 'You Constantly Have To Defend Your Success'()
May 23, 2013 Armando Christian Perez — better known as Pitbull or Mr. Worldwide — has sold five million albums and had No. 1 hits in more than 15 countries. He tells NPR's Michel Martin about using music as an escape and playing a well-dressed toad in the animated film Epic.
The Race Card Project: Six-Word Essays
Living In Two Worlds, But With Just One Language()
May 23, 2013 Elysha O'Brien calls herself a "Mexican white girl." Not just because of her ethnically ambiguous appearance, she says, but also because she can't speak Spanish. Fearing their children would experience discrimination if they spoke Spanish, her parents chose not to teach them their native tongue.
Monkey See
'Before Midnight': Jesse And Celine Are Older Now, And So Are We()
May 23, 2013 It took Jesse and Celine 18 years to find themselves back where they started in the lovely third installment of the series that began with 1995's Before Sunrise.
Parallels
China's Artist Provocateur Explores New Medium: Heavy Metal()
May 22, 2013 In 2011, police detained Ai Weiwei for 81 days. Now, he's released a song that's turned the experience into a heavy metal protest song, along with a dystopian nightmare video. The lyrics are explicit and angry. Ai says his music is for the many political prisoners who remain jailed.
Sweetness And Light
Backing Becks: Don't Knock The Soccer Star's Talents()
May 22, 2013 After the announcement that David Beckham is retiring, there's been much discussion about how good of an athlete he's really been. Sports commentator Frank Deford says Beckham's talents have been overlooked.
Monkey See
Cannes Diary: Delusions Of 'Gatsby' (And Dreams Of Notoriety) ()
May 22, 2013 All is Gatsbyish excess on the Croisette, where the Cannes Film Festival's early tone might well have been set by Baz Luhrmann's lavish film — and by Sofia Coppola's accomplished The Bling Ring.
Code Switch
Obama's Shout-Out To A 'Morehouse Man'()
May 21, 2013 When President Obama spoke at Morehouse College, he singled out — and surprised — a graduate who had faced long odds.
Kitchen Window
Real Butterscotch: The Beauty Of Sugar And Dairy Transformed()
May 22, 2013 When a few humble elements are combined in perfect balance, butterscotch is born. And food writer Deena Prichep says she turns this childhood favorite into a dinner-party star with counterpoints like flaky salt or crunchy nuts.
Krulwich Wonders...
How Benjamin Franklin Invented A Weight Loss Program, Using Balloons ()
May 22, 2013 "Someone asked me," Benjamin Franklin once said, "what's the use of a balloon?" They don't do much. They just float. What are they good for? And Franklin replied, "What's the use of a new-born baby?" They just sit there. They don't do much. You have to imagine possibilities. This is Franklin, in the 1780s, thinking about balloons.
13.7: Cosmos And Culture
The Inevitable Question?()
May 22, 2013 Confronted with the amazing advances made by science, why do so many still cling to God as a creator? Could the answer be that we need to be created in order to be special? Or are we afraid of our own unique place in the Universe? Marcelo Gleiser knows what he thinks.
