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Amy Borkowsky's collection of funny telephone messages from her Mom has spawned a sequel: Amy's Answering Machine: Volume 2. Amy shares some of her mother's latest advice with NPR's John Ydstie. Hear messages from both CDs online.

Movie-goers this summer can expect an onslaught of sequels and a surprising number of independent and foreign films, according to Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition movie critic Kenneth Turan. Hear NPR's Renee Montagne and Turan.

Growing budget deficits are forcing states across the nation to drastically cut or even eliminate funding for state arts councils. States pondering such measures include California, Oregon, New Jersey and Colorado. But the cost-cutting moves could jeopardize grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, which require states to match federal funds. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports.

In Hollywood this year, it's deja vu all over again... and again... and again. So far, a record 25 sequels are set to hit U.S. theaters in 2003 -- everything from the final installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy to Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd. NPR's Liane Hansen and Peter Bart of Variety magazine discuss the sequel trend.

Impressionist Rick Miller has created a comic one-man version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, employing the wacky characters from the Simpsons -- the hit animated TV show. He's been on a U.S. tour, Homer and others in tow. Miller speaks with NPR's Jacki Lyden.

One of the most enduring fairy tale motifs is that of a beautiful princess confined high up in a tower. In The Red Wolf, a new book by Margaret Shannon, that princess is named Roselupin, and she passes the time by knitting and plotting her escape. Daniel Pinkwater, NPR's ambassador to the world of children's literature, joins NPR's Scott Simon to read from the book.

Marooned in Iraq is the latest film from Iranian-based Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, who won acclaim for his first effort, A Time for Drunken Horses. The story touches on Saddam Hussein's brutal crackdown on the Kurds in the 1980s, but it's really a "road movie musical" with an often comic sensibility. Pat Dowell reports.

Thomas Edward Lawrence was the dashing, romanticized British officer credited with leading the Arab revolt against the Turks during World War I -- a feat depicted in the epic film Lawrence of Arabia. But his true story and legacy is still a subject of debate among historians. NPR's Jacki Lyden reports on the man and the myth. View rare portraits of Lawrence and characters from his classic book, Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph.

This month, Angola celebrated its first year of relative peace following 27 years of brutal civil war. The impact of that long-lasting conflict on Angola's children is documented in a new book, Free to Play in Peace. Published by the Christian Children's Fund, the book is a collection of drawings, poems and essays that express the children's memories of war and hopes for a future without it. See a gallery of the drawings online.

The new Al Pacino movie People I Know offers an acid portrait of Manhattan politics, and Pacino provides the story with a complex, nuanced anti-hero. NPR's Bob Mondello offers a review.