Arts at Michigan

New York Times Arts

• Learning His Body, Learning to Dance

  The choreographer Tamar Rogoff doing “body work” with Gregg Mozgala, who has cerebral palsy and for whom she has created a dance piece.

• Movie Review | 'The Road': Father and Son Bond in Gloomy Aftermath of Disaster

  Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee in “The Road.”

• Rihanna: Fiercely Introspective

  Rihanna's album “Rated R,” her fourth, is her most personal.

• Theater Review | 'The Age of Iron': A Story So Complicated It Needs Two Playwrights

  “The Age of Iron”: From left, Elliot Villar, Steven Skybell and Finn Wittrock in a retelling of the Trojan War at the Classic Stage Company.

• Video Game Review | Borderlands: The Thrill’s in the Gunplay, With Lots of Guns to Play With

  Borderlands was developed by Gearbox Software and is published by 2K Games.

• Books of The Times: Power and Style, in the Ring and the World

  Sugar Ray Robinson, a boxer also celebrated for his elegance.

NPR Arts & Entertainment

• A 'Ninja Assassin,' Out For Blood (And Revenge)

  Splattered blood and severed limbs abound, but James McTeigue's new martial-arts extravaganza is more video game than convincingly violent action flick. Hardly realistic, but still a hoot for martial-arts fans, Ninja Assassin makes an entertainingly edgy option among more saccharine seasonal fare.

• Exploring The Politics Of 'Defamation'

  Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir's documentary is a bracing inquiry into arguments about the prevalence of anti-Semitism today. If the filmmaker displays an anthropologist's openness to complicated truths, he also has a contrarian's impish appetite for the opposing view — the more intemperately expressed the better, it would seem.

• In 'Me And Orson,' Welles Is Quite A Character

  Zac Efron is the nominal draw in Me and Orson Welles, a backstage drama set during the iconic director's 1937 production of Julius Caesar. But while Efron might bring the audiences, it's Christian McKay's turn as Orson Welles that's the real crowd-pleaser.

• In China, Creating A Menagerie Through Mimicry

  Professional mimics in China used to imitate sounds as a form of entertainment. Not many practitioners are left, but one family is trying to preserve the art. Cheng Jiaqiang, who learned his skills from his grandfather, has a barnyard repertoire but specializes in bird songs.

• For First Lady, Protocol Critical For State Dinner

  The Obamas host Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday night at the most formal of all dinners. First lady Michelle Obama said she and the president will be like swans, gliding with poise and serenity — while paddling furiously to get things right.

• Excerpt: 'Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire'

  Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire collects celebrity answers to deep (and not-so-deep) questions.

BBC Arts & Entertainment

• US viewers complain over gay kiss

  American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert's performance at the American Music Awards prompts more than 1500 complaints.

• Mercury winner quits record label

  Mercury winner Speech Debelle blames label Big Dada's distribution of her debut album for disappointing sales.

• Donny Osmond wins US dancing show

  Entertainer Donny Osmond wins the final of US TV show Dancing With The Stars, beating singer Mya and Kelly Osbourne.

• Tintin film 'already finished'

  Filming on Steven Spielberg's Tintin is finished, says producer Peter Jackson, but it will take two years to add the effects.

• Price says 'sorry' for behaviour

  I'm A Celebrity contestant Katie Price apologises on live TV for her behaviour since splitting with Peter Andre.

• Little Boots 'fed up' over fat claims

  The singer admits to finding negative reaction online "really difficult".

Washington Post Books

Washington Post Museums and Galleries

Washington Post Theatre

CNN Entertainment

• Kiss and fans will definitely tell

  Adam Lambert was not the first to stoke the flames of controversy and raise some ire with a kiss.

  
  

• Parker surrogate theft verdict

  An Ohio police chief accused of stealing from the surrogate who carried Sarah Jessica Parker's twins was found guilty.

  
  

• Jermaine Jackson: Money, fame can't divide family

  Michael Jackson's family gathered Tuesday for an early Thanksgiving dinner, determined not to let money and fame pull it apart, the pop icon's oldest brother said.

  
  

• 'GMA' cancels Lambert after racy AMA performance

  The fallout from Adam Lambert's risqué American Music Awards performance keeps coming with "Good Morning America" canceling the singer's live performance scheduled for Wednesday morning.

  
  

• 'Jon & Kate' ends

  Jon and Kate Gosselin closed out their "Plus Eight" series Monday night with more of a whimper than a bang.

  
  

• "Ninja Assassin" star poised to break through

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CBC Arts

• CBC winter season brings 3 new shows

  A comedy series starring the Kids in the Hall comedy team is among three new prime-time shows coming to CBC Television in January.

• Thomson painting fetches nearly $1M

  A forest landscape by Tom Thomson, with notations on the back, brings nearly $1 million at auction in Toronto.

• B.C. authors dominate Writers' Trust Awards

  British Columbian writers stole the spotlight in Toronto Tuesday night at the annual Writers' Trust Awards gala.

• Nico's dance card is full

  Nico Archambault is fresh off the stage with Janet Jackson and anticipating his debut as Nureyev in the made-for-TV docudrama about the Russian dancer to air this December.

• Booker winner Mantel nominated for Costa prize

  British author Hilary Mantel, who won the 2009 Booker Prize, also has been nominated for the Costa Book Award for her novel Wolf Hall, a fictional telling of the life of Thomas Cromwell.

• Origin of Species 1st edition fetches $174K

  A rare, first-edition copy of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species fetched a hefty price at a London auction Tuesday, after having been kept in a British family's guest washroom for years.

USA Today Books

• Julie Powell's revelations in 'Cleaving' cut to the bone

  Writer Julie Powell, the Julie of the hit book and movie Julie & Julia, looks like a butcher.

  
  

  

• 'Imperial Cruise' hits rough waters in attack of Roosevelt

  Just two months after Ken Burns canonized Theodore Roosevelt, James Bradley comes along to demonize him.

  
  

  

• Five great memoirs, according to author Ben Yagoda

  "We live in an age of memoir," says Ben Yagoda, who traces their development in his new book, Memoir: A History. Yagoda names ...

  
  

  

• Book Buzz: What's new on the list and in publishing

  Sarah Palin's memoir is selling huge; a measure of the power of Oprah's Book Club; and Colum McCann's award winner goes paperback.

  
  

  

• A chat with Howie Mandel, author of 'Don't Touch Me'

  USA TODAY talks with Howie Mandel, comedian and host of 'Deal or No Deal,' about his new book, 'Here's the Deal: Don't Touch ...

  
  

  

• Crichton's 'Pirate Latitudes' has the loot: Gore, sex, action

  Michael Crichton's posthumous novel, Pirate Latitudes, is a lusty, rollicking 17th-century adventure that should make for an ...

  
  

  

USA Today Music

• Julian Lennon, decade later, back in music biz with 'Lucy'

  A few years ago, Julian Lennon pictured himself as a man who could write music again. Recently, he saw himself as someone who ...

  
  

  

• 25 recordings inducted into Grammy Hall of Fame

  The Doors' Riders On The Storm and the Beach Boys' California Girls are among 25 recordings being inducted into the Grammy Hall ...

  
  

  

• Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora honored in N.J.

  The New Jersey town where Richie Sambora grew up says Bon Jovi's lead guitarist can come home whenever he wants.

  
  

  

• Sade to release new album

  Sade is making music again. The soulful English group fronted by 50-year-old singer Sade Adu will release a new album Feb. 8, ...

  
  

  

• Listen Up: Lady Gaga's 'Fame Monster' is so cool, it's cold

  The overnight sensation who went from a Manhattan lounge act to, well, a fame monster, replenishes her 2008 debut with eight ...

  
  

  

• 'A Very Special Christmas 7' features fresh young voices

  Sean Kingston, Mitchel Musso and the Carter Twins are very special choirboys, young arrivals to a holiday legacy of all-star ...

  
  

  

USA Today Movies

• 'Old Dogs' barely makes a whimper

  'Old Dogs' has no new tricks. But there are predictable yuks. And then there are the other yucks.

  
  

  

• First look: 'Shrek Forever After': Fourth, final film is first in 3-D

  Even fairy tales must come to an end. The once-upon-a-time spoofing that began with 2001's 'Shrek' will conclude when 'Shrek ...

  
  

  

• 'The Road' traverses bleak, yet hopeful, terrain

  If civilization were obliterated, what shreds of humanity would remain in those who survived? The Road tries to answer that question.

  
  

  

• 'Me and Orson Welles' could use a little direction

  Awkward syntax aside, 'Me and Orson Welles' would be a much better movie if the first part of the title were excised, or at ...

  
  

  

• Disney's 'Princess and the Frog' is royally charming

  What a pleasure, after a season of bland computer-generated tales, to be swept up in the visual magic of The Princess and the ...

  
  

  

• Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart: Are they or aren't they?

  'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' is a hit, but fans seem to be almost as obsessed with news about whether stars Robert Pattinson ...