Ken Tucker reviews "Penn and Teller's Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends," an interactive home video cassette that features some of the magic duo's favorite scams.
Michael Tanner is director of Health and Welfare Studies at the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute. He launched the Project on Social Security Choice at the institute, which first looked at the possibility of turning the system into a private savings program. He supports Bush's Social Security plan.
Ken Tucker returns with his latest countdown of noteworthy songs. His list features Roachford, Peter Case, Tim Finn, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Elvis Costello.
In 2004, Waters shared music from his album A John Waters Christmas, an anthology of catchy, entertaining and ridiculous holiday songs that reflect his fascination with the odd and unusual.
Rock historian Ed Ward profiles the Red Bird record label and its soul subsidiary Blue Cat. They were the creations of the 60s songwriting and producing team, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The labels' hits include "Going to the Chapel," and "Boy From New York City."
In the 1970s, George Carlin's seven dirty words routine was the center of a famous obscenity case. More recently, the comic was named the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Carlin died of heart failure Sunday at the age of 71.
Critic David Edelstein reviews Nicole Holofcener's offbeat film about a couple (played by Oliver Platt and Catherine Keener) who are planning to expand their apartment into the one next door — just as soon as their elderly neighbor dies.
In his new book The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison, chemist John Emsley chronicles cases of accidental and intentional use of lethal substances throughout the ages. Some say Beethoven and Mozart were poisoned to death.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz just discovered pianist Tomsic Dubravka. He places her in the same category as masters like Glenn Gould and Artur Schnabel.
Bandleader and clarinetist Artie Shaw died Dec. 29 at the age of 94, apparently of natural causes. In the 1930s and '40s, Shaw's band ranked with the Goodman, Dorsey and Miller bands in popularity. But he largely rejected pop tunes and stuck with music by composers like Porter, Gershwin and Berlin. We remember Shaw.
Author Allen Kurzweil's latest novel is the literary thriller The Grand Complication. His first novel, A Case of Curiosities, (Harcourt, 1992) received international critical acclaim. Kurzweil worked for many years as a freelance journalist in Europe before settling in the United States and turning his attention to fiction.
David Carr, who writes the Media Equation column for The New York Times, says that despite cuts, the future of journalism has never looked brighter. "I look at my backpack that is sitting here and it contains more journalistic firepower than the entire newsroom that I walked into 30-40 years ago," he says.
Climatologist Stephen Schneider. His new book, "Global Warming: Are We Entering the Greenhouse Century," examines the causes of global warming and warns about the possible impact of this "greenhouse effect." It also outlines what individuals and governments can do to slow down the impact of these trends.
Director Guillermo del Toro's film, Pan's Labyrinth, is up for six Academy Awards this year, in categories including original screenplay and foreign language film. Del Toro, who grew up in Mexico, wrote and directed the film.
Book critic Maureen Corrigan describes Anna North's new novel, Outlawed, as The Handmaid's Tale meets Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. She says that's a glib tagline, but there's some justification for it.
When Daisy Hernández was 5, her aunt in Colombia came down with a mysterious illness that caused her large intestine to swell. Hernández details her aunt's story — and her own — in a new memoir.
