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Not My Job: Three Headless Chicken Questions For Alice Cooper()  

Alice Cooper

We've invited the heavy metal rocker to answer three questions about Mike, a chicken in the 1940s who lost his head and still went on to achieve fame and fortune.

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Movie Interviews

Quinto Turns Inward To Find Spock's Soul()  

Leonard Nimoy (left) originated the role of Spock on Star Trek. Zachary Quinto (right) plays the character in the franchise's reboot.

May 17, 2013 Playing the famous half-Vulcan requires a little meditative depth and a lot of brow-shaving. Heroes villain Zachary Quinto plays Spock in the reboot of the Star Trek franchise, with the blessing of original Spock Leonard Nimoy. Quinto tells NPR about befriending Nimoy, shaping eyebrows and more.

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Around the Nation

Michigan LGBT Youth Center Does Outreach With A Dance 'Hook'()  

The Ruth Ellis Center helps about 5,000 young people each year.

May 17, 2013 MRThe Ruth Ellis Center in Highland Park, Mich., is making an effort to meet its clients where they are — on the dance floor, specifically with the dance form known as "vogue." From there, the center can connect them with counseling, health services, tutoring and clean clothes.

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Code Switch

'Venus And Serena': An Extraordinary Story, Told On Film()  

Serena (right) and Venus Williams pose with their gold medals during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

May 17, 2013 The amazing tale of two sisters from a poor neighborhood — who play tennis unlike anyone before them and each reach No. 1 in the world — is one we're not likely to see again.

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Movie Reviews

Greta Gerwig, Blithely Spirited As 'Frances Ha'()  

In Frances Ha, Greta Gerwig stars as a young dancer trying to find her way on her own in New York City. Noah Baumbach shot the film in black and white because it helped him "see the city with new eyes," he says.

May 16, 2013 The indie darling returns in a winning collaboration with Noah Baumbach that tracks her developmentally arrested dancer heroine through the transition from protracted adolescence to reluctant adulthood. (Recommended)

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Movie Reviews

'Into Darkness,' Boldly And With A Few Twists()  

Zoe Saldana is Uhura and Zachary Quinto is Spock in the new J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek: Into Darkness, the 12th installment in the franchise.

May 16, 2013 The 12th film based on Gene Roddenberry's '60s sci-fi TV show is the second to star a new group of actors as Kirk, Spock and their crew. J.J. Abrams returns as director, and Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch plays the memorable villain.

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Monkey See

A Farewell To 'The Office': The 10 Best Episodes()  

Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski in The Office.

May 16, 2013 As The Office reaches its end, we look at 10 favorite episodes.

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Tina Brown's Must-Reads

Tina Brown's Must-Reads: On Luck, Good And Bad()  

Protesters wear prison-style orange jumpsuits, handcuffs and hoods during a 2012 demonstration urging the government to close down the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

May 16, 2013 In the latest edition of Word of Mouth on Morning Edition, Steve Inskeep talks to Newsweek editor Tina Brown to get her reading recommendations.

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Movie Reviews

'Augustine' And Her Diagnosis Get Another Look()  

Augustine (the French singer-actress billed as Soko) was a 19th-century Paris housemaid diagnosed with the then-fashionable condition known as "hysteria" — a catchall used to label many ailments women suffered in that age.

May 16, 2013 A 19th-century neurologist develops an intense relationship with an illiterate teenage maid who experiences erotic pleasure during intense bouts of "hysteria." French writer-director Alice Winocour's feature debut is based on an actual 19th-century case history.

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Book Reviews

The Rich And Furious Inner Life Of 'The Woman Upstairs'()  

iStockphoto.com

May 16, 2013 Claire Messud's The Woman Upstairs is about a lonely third-grade teacher who falls in love with the family of one of her students. Reviewer Lionel Shriver says the book so bursts with rage and desire that it barely squeezes between hard covers.

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Monkey See

While The Audience Turned Away, 'American Idol' Found Some Great Singers()  

Candice Glover competes Thursday night for the American Idol win.

May 16, 2013 This may have been a lousy year for ratings on our most-watched talent show, but not for talent.

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Movie Reviews

'Pieta': Suffering Toward ... Redemption?()  

Dark Shadows: Lee Jeong-jin plays impassive underworld enforcer Gang-do in Pieta, a dark, enigmatic redemption parable from the controversial Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk.

May 16, 2013 Controversial Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk (The Isle) turns in a meditation on cruelty, criminality, mortality and grace. (Recommended)

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Parallels

From The Heart Of Egypt's Revolt, The Pulse Of Artistic Life()  

Egyptian folk singer Dina El Wedidi performs at Qasr El Nil Theater during the Downtown Cairo Arts Festival. Wedidi says efforts to revitalize venues like the Qasr El Nil are important because there aren't enough places for musicians of the post-revolution explosion to perform.

May 16, 2013 Egypt's capital has been associated with protest and political upheaval. But an arts festival attempts to clear away the dust and revitalize a once-glorious cultural hub.

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Movie Reviews

'Bidder 70,' Still Raising His Hand To Be Heard()  

Supporters of environmental activist Tim DeChristopher picket outside his criminal trial. The economics student ran into trouble with the federal government when he bid on — and won — mineral rights he had no intention of exploiting.

May 16, 2013 Scientist Terry Root, author and activist Terry Tempest Williams and filmmaker Robert Redford all turn up in this documentary on eco-activist Tim DeChristopher, who bid on — and won — mineral rights to a chunk of federal land just to tie them up. He was prosecuted and sentenced to federal prison.

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Movie Interviews

A Polley Family Secret, Deftly Pieced Together()  

For her latest film, Stories We Tell, Sarah Polley turns her camera on her own family.

May 15, 2013 In a striking documentary, Sarah Polley turns the camera on her own family. The director and actor, known for films such as Away from Her and The Sweet Hereafter, was teased growing up about not looking like her actor father. At 27, she discovered that it wasn't a joke.

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Book Reviews

How To Put This 'Delicate'-ly ... Not Le Carre's Best Work()  

A Delicate Truth Cover

May 16, 2013 A dirty deed and official cover-up drive the plot in John le Carre's A Delicate Truth. The novel sets its sights on old-boy corruption and corporate criminality at the heart of the "Deep State," but critic Alan Cheuse finds this latest effort lacks the tension of le Carre's Cold War novels.

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The Picture Show

Sonny Vaahn, 25, holds his family's refugee identification in Bronx, N.Y. The card was issued to them during their initial entry into a refugee camp along the Thai-Cambodian border after the "killing fields" atrocities ended in Cambodia.

Pete Pin explores the Cambodian diaspora in hopes of healing wounds left by the Khmer Rouge regime.

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