Linguist Geoff Nunberg says it's fitting that the Scripps National Spelling Bee is broadcast by ESPN. (And, by the way, a thamakau is a kind of canoe used in Fiji.)
Patrick Healy writes that Gov. Scott Walker is a product of a loose network of conservative donors, think tanks and talk radio hosts who spent years preparing the road for his likely presidential run.
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Nanjiani moved to the U.S. for college. "I have a very conflicted relationship to where I'm from ..." he says. "It's still a struggle to negotiate some of it."
In his new book, Midnight's Furies, Nisid Hajari describes the riots and massacres that ensued after Pakistan was established as a separate state, and how those tensions are still playing out.
In his new book journalist Joel Bourne says humanity is facing a major problem: The world is running out of food. There are promising developments to meet the threat, he says, but time is running out.
Kate Atkinson's novel both mourns the passing of the World War II generation and allows readers to vicariously enter into the experience of the war. It's a companion to her 2013 book, Life After Life.
Much of Moore's music was unreleased at the time of recording and some of her best work didn't get the attention it deserved. A double disc compilation of her recordings has just been released.
Melissa McCarthy plays a James-Bond-style undercover secret agent in the espionage comedy Spy. Critic David Edelstein says the movie lurches between slapstick, violence and crude humor.
Andrew Solomon, the author of The Noonday Demon, discusses the challenges of pregnancy for women who are depressed. The long-term effects of antidepressants taken during pregnancy are unclear.
The new album by the veteran musician and his band Ngoni Ba conveys the restless march of time and the transience of all human conditions. Milo Miles calls it "the most satisfying sort of catchy."
Jamie Bartlett exposes an encrypted underworld to the Internet in his book The Dark Net: "Anybody with something to hide, whether it's for good reasons or for ill, finds a very natural home there."
The English actress has been nominated for a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway revival of Skylight. She also stars in the film adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel Far From the Madding Crowd.
Bassist Gary Peacock, pianist Marc Copland and drummer Joey Baron bring an airy, elastic swing to their new album, Now This. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the players pull the melodies together well.
Travel (near and far), literary souvenirs and the crucial companionship of humankind's best friend are the subjects of the books on Maureen Corrigan's early summer reading list.
Apple's newest product is a screen on your wrist, with its own operating system and software. Tech correspondent Alexis Madrigal calls the Apple Watch "a powerful extension of what your phone can do".
In her new book, Michelle Goldberg traces the Western practice of yoga to a Russian woman named Indra Devi. Goldberg says that many of the poses in modern yoga can't be traced beyond 150 years ago.
As viewers turn to streaming sites to watch old TV shows, studios are issuing new DVD box sets of classic shows to a shrinking market. Critic Dave Bianculli suggests a few sets that are worth buying.
The Welsh band's name is a play on that of singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom. Ken Tucker likens the group's second album to a high-wire act accompanied by "furiously strummed punk-rock guitar chords."
The British-born Nigerian actor talks about playing an American veteran in Nightingale, the reasons he stays in character for weeks at a time and his aversion to playing "the black best friend."
In her memoir Whatever ... Love is Love, Bello describes the evolution of her "modern family," which includes her romantic partner (a woman), her adolescent son and her son's father.
