Accessibility links
Arts & Life 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.

Arts & Life

'Sesame Street' composer Stephen Lawrence has died at 82

Composer Stephen J. Lawrence Courtesy of Cathy Lawrence hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of Cathy Lawrence

Obituaries

'Sesame Street' composer Stephen Lawrence has died at 82

Emmy Award-winning composer Stephen Lawrence, who co-wrote songs for Sesame Street and Free to Be... You and Me, died on December 30 at age 82.

'Sesame Street' composer Stephen Lawrence has died at 82

Listen · 3:35
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1069882076/1069983268" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'The Book of Boba Fett' adds an impressive chapter to the 'Star Wars' saga

Temura Morrison plays the title bounty hunter in The Book of Boba Fett. Disney+ hide caption

toggle caption
Disney+

Review

TV Reviews

'The Book of Boba Fett' adds an impressive chapter to the 'Star Wars' saga

Fresh Air

Picking up where The Mandalorian left off, this new fantasy series on Disney+ features well-defined characters, exciting action and special effects that are as good as in any Star Wars movie.

'The Book of Boba Fett' adds an impressive chapter to the 'Star Wars' saga

Listen · 7:14
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1069855604/1069955478" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Remembering Betty White

Betty White accepts a lifetime achievement award during the 2015 Daytime Emmy Awards. Jesse Grant/Getty hide caption

toggle caption
Jesse Grant/Getty

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Remembering Betty White

Actress and icon Betty White died Friday at the age of 99. Her career as a comic actress – on TV, on radio, in movies, and more – lasted more than 80 years. She was probably best known for her work on The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But White was a trailblazer, a record-setter, and one of the most venerated figures in the history of television.

Remembering Betty White

Listen · 14:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1069633115/1069675903" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
22 tips for 2022: If you want to eat less meat, spice is key
Becky Harlan/NPR

22 tips for 2022

22 tips for 2022: If you want to eat less meat, spice is key

Trying to eat less meat? Make sure your meat-free meals are just as satisfying by seasoning your vegetables with the same spices you use to cook meat. It will carry some of that flavor over.

22 tips for 2022: If you want to eat less meat, spice is key

Listen · 17:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1065762888/1066554191" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
With COVID outbreaks, Broadway's understudies take center stage

The Broadway cast of Come From Away had to cancel a week's performances before Christmas due to a COVID-19 outbreak. When it returned, eight out of the 12 actors in the show were substitutes. Matthew Murphy/© 2021 "Come From Away" on Broadway hide caption

toggle caption
Matthew Murphy/© 2021 "Come From Away" on Broadway

The Coronavirus Crisis

With COVID outbreaks, Broadway's understudies take center stage

Breakthrough infections from the omicron variant have been spreading like wildfire among casts and crews, so understudies and swing performers have been helping keep shows afloat.

With COVID outbreaks, Broadway's understudies take center stage

Listen · 3:51
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1069323496/1069837759" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Lower your expectations and succeed with 'Tiny Habits'
Mariner Books

NPR's Book of the Day

Lower your expectations and succeed with 'Tiny Habits'

Every time the new year rolls around, many of us start trying to "better ourselves." Maybe you decide to read more or clean out your entire house only to find yourself falling short. Author BJ Fogg wrote a book about how not to do that called Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. Fogg told Life Kit's Maria Godoy that everyone should try and lower their expectations. It's actually much easier to accomplish goals you set for yourself if they are much, much smaller. Say, instead of cleaning out your whole house, start with one room.

Lower your expectations and succeed with 'Tiny Habits'

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1069062407/1069193934" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Stressed? Instead of distracting yourself, try paying closer attention
Sol Cotti for NPR

Life Kit

Stressed? Instead of distracting yourself, try paying closer attention

It's counterintuitive, but an effective way to manage our negative reactions to life's stressors actually involves slowing down and paying very close attention. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction, explains how to begin a meditation practice — and how doing so can help you seize the present moment.

Stressed? Instead of distracting yourself, try paying closer attention

Listen · 17:30
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1066585316/1068382608" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
22 tips for 2022: How to be kind to yourself and squash your critical inner voice
Kristen Uroda for NPR

22 tips for 2022

22 tips for 2022: How to be kind to yourself and squash your critical inner voice

Next time you're stuck in a cycle of negative self-talk, try talking to yourself the way you would talk to your best friend.

22 tips for 2022: How to be kind to yourself and squash your critical inner voice

Listen · 20:51
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1066578162/1066807022" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
NPR's Wisdom From The Top: 'Machiavelli For Women'
Gallery Books

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR's Wisdom From The Top: 'Machiavelli For Women'

Planet Money's Stacey Vanek Smith has reported on business and the economy for over 15 years now. She told NPR's Guy Raz that over that time, she's seen the same barriers blocking advancement for women in the workplace again and again. Recently, she's started to recognize that a lot of tools to move past those barriers can be found in the work of Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli. Vanek Smith lays out these solutions in her new book, Machiavelli for Women: Defend Your Worth, Grow Your Ambition, and Win the Workplace.

'Wait Wait' for Jan. 1, 2022: Happy New Year Edition
Rob Carr/Getty Images

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

'Wait Wait' for Jan. 1, 2022: Happy New Year Edition

It was both the longest and shortest year ever, but we finally made it! This week, we say goodbye to 2021 by remembering some of our favorite moments from the past year

'Wait Wait' for Jan. 1, 2022: Happy New Year Edition

Listen · 46:16
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1069515034/1069636548" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
22 tips for 2022: How to get rid of that wine stain
Becky Harlan/NPR

22 tips for 2022

22 tips for 2022: How to get rid of that wine stain

Still trying to get that spill from last night out of your rug? Get a stubborn wine or berry stain out by pouring boiling water through the stained material.

22 tips for 2022: How to get rid of that wine stain

Listen · 17:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1065804148/1066551999" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Betty White, a beloved icon and actress since the beginning of TV, has died at age 99

Actress Betty White poses for a portrait on the set of the television show "Hot in Cleveland" in 2010. White died at the age of XX. Matt Sayles/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Matt Sayles/AP

Obituaries

Betty White, a beloved icon and actress since the beginning of TV, has died at age 99

TV favors the young — but Betty White only got more famous as she got older. White's career began in the earliest days of television, and she was active until her death at the age of 99.

Betty White, a beloved icon and actress since the beginning of TV, has died at age 99

Listen · 5:29
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/202965627/1069539042" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
What's making us happy: What to watch, read and listen to this weekend

Alexander Skarsgård stars as Amleth and Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga in director Robert Eggers' Viking epic The Northman. Aidan Monaghan/© 2021 Focus Features, LLC hide caption

toggle caption
Aidan Monaghan/© 2021 Focus Features, LLC

What's Making Us Happy: Recommendations From 'Pop Culture Happy Hour'

What's making us happy: What to watch, read and listen to this weekend

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: the trailer for The Northman, the novel The School for Good Mothers and more.

Alexi Pappas and Glennon Doyle want you to know it's ok to not be ok
The Dial Press

NPR's Book of the Day

Alexi Pappas and Glennon Doyle want you to know it's ok to not be ok

Both our interviews today deal with the pressures we put on ourselves. First, Olympic runner Alexi Pappas on her memoir, Bravey. On the outside, Pappas was living what looked like a great life; she was breaking Greek Olympic records and her movie got a distribution deal. But, she told NPR's Ari Shapiro, she was still deeply sad. Next, an interview from early in the pandemic when women were disproportionately feeling the burden of our new reality. Glennon Doyle, author of Untamed, told former NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro that "every woman on earth needs to lower her expectations for herself."

Remembering some of those we lost in 2021, from literary legends to everyday heroes

Top, from left: Vicente Fernández, bell hooks, Joan Didion; bottom, from left: Vernon Jordan, Petra Mayer and Stephen Sondheim Kevin Winter/Getty Images for LARAS; Karjean Levine/Getty Images; Kathy Willens/AP; Jennifer Law/AFP via Getty Images; Darian Woehr/NPR; R. Jones/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for LARAS; Karjean Levine/Getty Images; Kathy Willens/AP; Jennifer Law/AFP via Getty Images; Darian Woehr/NPR; R. Jones/Getty Images

Obituaries

Remembering some of those we lost in 2021, from literary legends to everyday heroes

2021 was filled with tremendous loss, from staggering COVID deaths to those of leading writers such as Joan Didion and bell hooks to a longtime abortion activist and politicians who shaped our world.

You won't want to miss the 10 most popular 'Fresh Air' stories of 2021

The top Fresh Air web stories of 2021 reflect the show's status as a place where artists, authors and journalists speak to the moment. Valerie Macon/AFP; Grace Cary; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Valerie Macon/AFP; Grace Cary; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Author Interviews

You won't want to miss the 10 most popular 'Fresh Air' stories of 2021

Fresh Air

From Dr. Anthony Fauci to Sacha Baron Cohen, the year's most popular Fresh Air web pages reflect the show's strength as a place where artists, authors and journalists speak to the moment.

Browse archive or search npr.org