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document.write('<p class="rss_title"><a class="rss_title" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1008&ft=1&f=1008" target="_blank">NPR Topics: Arts & Life</a><br /><span class="rss_item">Art and entertainment commentary plus interviews, book reviews, movie reviews, music reviews, comedy, and visual art. Subscribe to podcasts and follow trends in music, painting, art, architecture, photography, and design.</span></p>');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/tellmemore/2010/07/30/128880912/christopher-nolan?ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">The Nolan Brothers: More Hype Than Talent?</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 31, 2010 05:50:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Guest blogger Jimi Izrael assesses the careers of Hollywood film making duo the Nolan brothers, one of whom is the mastermind  behind the latest box office smash <em>Inception</em>.');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128878830&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">\'Golden Mean\': Everyday Liveliness In Ancient Greece</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 31, 2010 03:00:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Alan Cheuse reviews the prize-winning book \"The Golden Mean\" by Annabel Lyon. The historical novel tells a story of the Greek philosopher Aristotle teaching Alexander the Great.  Cheuse teaches writing at George Mason University in Virginia.');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128877656&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">Across Montana On Horseback, Poet Hands Out Poetry</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 31, 2010 02:59:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Instead of talking to schoolchildren or promoting poetry through local libraries, Montana\'s poet laureate Henry Real Bird decided to carry out his duty the true Montana way. The cowboy and member of the Crow nation is on a 500-mile horseback trip, halfway across the state, handing out books to get people to \"move along in thought.\"');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128794339&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">A \'Dinner\' Invitation You Can Safely Decline</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 30, 2010 05:05:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('On paper, <em>Dinner for Schmucks</em> seems to have it all: a star-studded cast that includes reliable funnymen like Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, a veteran comedy director (Jay Roach) at the helm, and a premise lifted from a great French farce. But in reality, <em>Schmucks</em> is much less than the sum of its parts.');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128859034&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">DeGeneres Leaving \'Idol,\' Says It Was Bad Fit</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 30, 2010 08:43:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('The comedian-talk show host said she realized that while she \"loved discovering, supporting and nurturing young talent, it was hard for me to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings.\" Her departure leaves two vacancies on Fox\'s hit show.');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128794524&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">Seafaring \'Charlie St. Cloud\' Keeps To The Shallows</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 30, 2010 05:00:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('<em>Charlie St. Cloud</em> purports to grapple with matters of life and death. But this ode to \"moving on\" from grief packs so little genuine emotion that it will touch only the most susceptible of viewers -- that is, the teenage girls who will flock to see heartthrob Zac Efron cry while not wearing a shirt.');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128825025&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">\'Dry Land\': Where PTSD Prevails (And Formula Fails)</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 30, 2010 05:00:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Ryan Piers Williams directs a drama about an Iraq veteran (Ryan O\'Nan) who struggles to reconnect after returning to his Texas hometown. America Ferrera, Melissa Leo and Wilmer Valderrama also star -- but critic Scott Tobias says the screenplay lets them down.');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128773532&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">\'Get Low\': Greeting Death With A Deadpan Smirk</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 30, 2010 05:00:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Bill Murray and Robert Duvall go head to head in this high-concept comedy about an aging man who throws a funeral party -- for himself. Critic Ella Taylor says that the veteran leads are perfectly cast as a pair of terse and cranky Southerners and commends the film for its sepia-tinged cinematography. <em><strong>(Recommended)</strong></em>');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128803884&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">Hugh Hefner: A Radical, And Not Just In The Bedroom</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 30, 2010 03:21:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Most of us hear \"Hef\" and think of an overdressed, oversexed octogenarian with oodles of cash and even more Viagra. A new documentary sets out to change all that -- and critic Jeannette Catsoulis argues that it\'s a great success, revealing a committed social reformer -- the \"libertarian inside the libertine.\"');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128849634&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">Thomas Day: A Master Craftsman, With Complications</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 30, 2010 04:45:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Thomas Day was a successful North Carolina furniture builder and woodworker in the decades before the Civil War. He was also of mixed-race heritage -- and he appears to have owned slaves. A new book and exhibition tell his story.');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128849596&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">What\'s The Story?  Writers Reveal Why They Write</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 30, 2010 01:00:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Whether they craft fiction or nonfiction, poetry or plays, writers use words to transport readers, and from the simplest blog post to the great American novel, it\'s a process  -- and it\'s hard work.  If you\'re a writer, tell us: What motivates you to put pen to paper, fingers to keys?');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128804303&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">In \'Four Fish,\' Humans Get Schooled On Seafood</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 30, 2010 12:00:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Lifelong angler Paul Greenberg fuses investigative journalism, travelogue and personal memoir into one grand meditation on humankind\'s relationship with the ocean. <em>Four Fish</em> asks readers \"to reevaluate whether fish are at their root expendable seafood or wildlife desperately in need of our compassion.\"');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128617990&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">Jay Roach, Steve Carell Pair Up For \'Schmucks\'</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 30, 2010 12:00:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Actor Steve Carell stars as an amateur taxidermist who enjoys creating elaborate dioramas with his stuffed rodents in the new Jay Roach film, <em>Dinner for Schmucks.</em> The two comedy vets talk improv, pathos and more.');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/tellmemore/2010/07/28/128832386/wyclef-jean-grammy-award-winning-president?ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">Wyclef Jean: Grammy-Winning President?</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 29, 2010 07:18:00 am</span><br />');
document.write('Amid reports that hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean may run for president of Haiti, NPR\'s Lee Hill explores whether the philanthropist and cultural ambassador is eligible.');
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document.write('<li class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128794554&ft=1&f=1008" title="read..." target="_blank">One Nightstand, Six Affairs: Novels Of Illicit Love</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss_date">posted on July 28, 2010 07:00:00 pm</span><br />');
document.write('Hotels, pools, beaches, airplanes: all good places to ignite a summer fling -- or read about one. Here are six recent titles that will let you explore, from the safety of your deck chair, our human capacity for ecstasy and pain.');
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