Arts & Culture

Stalking The Elusive, Worthy Apricot

Domenica Marchetti — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:13:00 +0000

Apricots are the finest of summer's fruits, with dense, juicy flesh and delicate, velvety skins. Piled in baskets in farmers market stalls, they seem to glow in the early morning light. The prettiest ones have a celestial blush and a sweet, floral fragrance.

That's why it is so disheartening when you bite into one only to find it is mealy and flavorless. I can't count the number of times this apricot lover has been the victim of just such an injustice. You probably have been, too.

I grew up eating apricots by the kilo during summers spent in Italy.

Change Is On The Horizon For London's Famous Skyline

Christopher Werth — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:03:00 +0000

Cities are defined by their skylines — while Paris is composed mostly of low-rise apartment buildings, New York is a city of tall office towers. But London is a city in transition.

In NYC, A Play Festival Spotlights Stories Of Disability

editor — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:41:00 +0000

Ike Schambelan doesn't like thinking about disability, and he's guessing you don't either.

"We hate it. We do not want to see it," he says. "Personally, I want to see it least in myself, second in my wife, third in my cat and fourth in you and all others. I don't want to know about it. I want to be in a total state of denial about it as much as I can be."

But discomfort with disability shouldn't mean shunting disabled people to the shadows.

Cécile McLorin Salvant: Making Old Songs New Again

Kevin Whitehead — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:43:00 +0000

Singer Cécile McLorin Salvant was born in Miami to French and Haitian parents, and started singing jazz while living in Paris. Back in the U.S., she won the Thelonious Monk vocal competition in 2010. The 23-year-old's first album, WomanChild, is now out — and few jazz debuts by singers or instrumentalists make this big a splash.

Salvant's unusual material sets her apart as much as her chops do. The most recent non-original tune on her nervily accomplished debut is by Fats Waller.

Death Of A Puppy: An Exclusive Imaginary Excerpt From The 'Man Of Steel' Sequel

Glen Weldon — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:52:00 +0000

NPR has obtained [or invented, whatever] an excerpt of the draft script for Zack Snyder's much-rumored sequel to the hugely successful Man Of Steel. The script, which was found in a booth at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on La Cienega, suggests that the distinctive tone set by Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and adopted by Snyder's Man Of Steel will continue to inform the expanding cinematic universe of DC Comics characters.