Investigating The Real Detective Charlie Chan
()The fictional, aphorism-spouting Chinese detective is best known today as a stereotypical relic from a less sensitive time. Yunte Huang tells the story of the real man who inspired the caricature in Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History.
Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
Meghan McCain Plays 'Not My Job'()
September 4, 2010 John McCain's daughter describes life on the campaign trail in her new book, Dirty, Sexy Politics. We've invited her to play a game called: "For dessert, how about a defibrillator-on-a-stick?" Three questions about State Fair food.
I-95: The Road Most Traveled
Eat Your Way Down I-95, And Other Stops To Make()
September 4, 2010 In their seven-year love affair with Interstate 95, Stan Posner and Sandra Phillips-Posner have found the best Polish sausage, Berger cookies and a battleship you can spend the night on.
Remembrances
Pulitzer-Winning Cartoonist Paul Conrad Dies()
September 4, 2010 Paul Conrad took on U.S. presidents from Harry Truman to George W. Bush, mostly in the Los Angeles Times, where he worked for 30 years. He was fierce in his liberalism and expressed it with a stark, unmistakable visual style.
Author Interviews
Victory At Marathon Saved A Lot More Than A Race()
September 4, 2010 The story's a classic: An outnumbered band of Athenians pushes back the mighty Persian army. But the battle of Marathon, 2,500 years ago in ancient Greece, left a legacy that extends far beyond the name of a famous race. Historian Richard Billows explores the legendary battle in his new book, Marathon: How One Battle Changed Western Civilization.
Books We Like
A Funny, Fractured Field Guide To A 'Wild Kingdom'()
September 4, 2010 Kevin Huizenga's alter-ego Glenn Ganges returns in his latest collection of spiky, intellectually adventurous stories -- drawn in friendly, stylized art. The Wild Kingdom is like entries from the Encyclopedia Britannica of an alternate, funnier universe.
Movie Reviews
'Public Enemy' Wraps Up A Criminally Good Saga()
September 2, 2010 Neither director Jean-Francois Richet's style nor star Vincent Cassel's swagger falters in Public Enemy Number One, the exhilarating follow-up to Mesrine: Killer Instinct. With its shootouts, prison breaks and wild flights of ego, the saga's second half was sure to be watchable. It's also smart, funny and incisive -- about the criminal and his era. (Recommended)
Movie Reviews
'White Wedding' Celebrates Love, South African-Style()
September 2, 2010 Last year, the South African sci-fi film District Nine opened in the states to blockbuster grosses. Now another film from South Africa, the road-trip comedy White Wedding, is attracting international notice. The movie follows an engaged couple who weather a series of zany obstacles over the course of their wedding day. (Recommended)
My Guilty Pleasure
'666': A Tale Of The Tribulation So Bad, It's Good()
September 3, 2010 When Rhoda Janzen was 9, her mother busted her for reading the thriller 666 during an incredibly dull sermon at their Mennonite church. To this day, Janzen revels in the terribly written prose about the Antichrist, cannibalism, global famine and apocalyptic doom.
Movie Reviews
A Family Torn Asunder Takes The 'Last Train Home'()
September 2, 2010 Frequently moving and quietly enlightening, the documentary Last Train Home is about love and exploitation, sacrifice and endurance. Director Lixin Fan follows a single Chinese family from 2006 through the financial downturn of 2008. The parents work at garment factories in Guangzhou city; their teenage children live in an impoverished village and see their parents only once a year. (Recommended)
Movie Reviews
'Noodle Shop': A Coen Brothers Tale Goes East()
September 2, 2010 Director Zhang Yimou takes on the Coen brothers, remaking Blood Simple and setting it in the 17th-century "Chinese outback." Adultery, bloody mishaps and Chinese superstition are just the appetizers in this colorful film.
