26.07.10: Book Review - The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham - By Selina Hastings
Selina Hastings’s biography sees the origins of Somerset Maugham’s habit of cruelty in his cruel childhood.

26.07.10: Book Review - A Great Unrecorded History - A New Life of E. M. Forster - By Wendy Moffat
Wendy Moffat’s perceptive biography does not make E. M. Forster’s sexuality explain everything, though of course it explains a great deal.

24.07.10: Book Review - Father of the Rain - By Lily King
Lily King’s novel delves into the relationship between a charismatic but troubled man and his devoted daughter.

26.07.10: Posing as Fitness
Two books on how yoga was packaged and promoted in different ways in America, depending on the audience and the era.

29.07.10: Book Review - What Is Left the Daughter - By Howard Norman
Howard Norman’s crisp epistolary novel explores the illogic of love and the violent chaos left in its wake.

24.07.10: Book Review - Termite Parade - By Joshua Mohr
The disorderly threesome in this novel are marginalized and angry, but for good reason.

24.07.10: Book Review - The Cookbook Collector - By Allegra Goodman
Amid clear echoes of “Sense and Sensibility,” two sisters of emotionally opposite persuasions navigate a world on the brink of 9/11 in Allegra Goodman’s new novel.

24.07.10: Book Review - Revolutionaries - A New History of the Invention of America - By Jack Rakove
Jack Rakove argues that the struggle for American independence molded the founders as much as they molded it.

25.07.10: Rock of Ages
Two redemption-rock chronicles, one earnest, one jocular.

26.07.10: Book Review - The Great Silence - By Juliet Nicolson
A history of the aftermath of World War I, when Britain strove to suppress its grief with willed gaiety.

24.07.10: Book Review - Being Wrong - Adventures in the Margin of Error - By Kathryn Schulz
Why it feels so good to be right, and what happens to us when our wrongness is exposed.

24.07.10: Book Review - Dreyfus - By Ruth Harris
A patient, fair-minded exploration of the human ideals, hatreds and delusions that were on display in the Dreyfus Affair, “the most famous cause célèbre in French history.”

24.07.10: Book Review - Through the History of the Cold War - The Correspondence of George F. Kennan and John Lukacs
A collection of letters between George F. Kennan and the historian John Lukacs sheds light on the intellectual underpinnings of Kennan’s notion of “containing” the Soviets.

26.07.10: Book Review - The Eitingons - By Mary-Kay Wilmers
This biography of an influential Russian clan encompasses the Soviet secret police and Sigmund Freud’s inner circle.

23.07.10: Letters: Of Hardier Stuff
Letter in response to Ben Downing’s review of Daisy Hay’s “Young Romantics.”

23.07.10: Letters: The Big Picture
Letters in response to Armond White’s review of Nicole LaPorte’s “Men Who Would Be King”

23.07.10: Letters: A Father’s Support
Letter in response to Dana Jennings’s review of Katherine Rosman’s “If You Knew Suzy.”

23.07.10: Letters: Other Side of Henry Clay
Letter in response to Andrew Cayton’s review of “At the Edge of the Precipice” and “Henry Clay.”

22.07.10: Hardcover Fiction
Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, by Stieg Larsson
2. FLY AWAY HOME, by Jennifer Weiner
3. THE SEARCH, by Nora Roberts
4. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett
5. PRIVATE, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

22.07.10: Hardcover Nonfiction
Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE OBAMA DIARIES, by Laura Ingraham
2. ---- MY DAD SAYS, by Justin Halpern
3. MEDIUM RAW, by Anthony Bourdain
4. THE BIG SHORT, by Michael Lewis
5. WAR, by Sebastian Junger

30.07.10: Music Review: Willie Nelson and Levon Helm at Radio City
Two authoritative performers of old-time American music, Willie Nelson and Levon Helm, brought their bands to Radio City Music Hall on Wednesday night.

30.07.10: Music Review: Ethel Plays Classical, Rock, Pop and Folk
Ethel plays a variety of styles at Lincoln Center Out of Doors.

30.07.10: Movie Review | 'The Concert': Radu Mihaileanu’s Comedy Focuses on Zany Orchestra
“The Concert,” by the Romanian director Radu Mihaileanu, is a kind of French-Russian answer to “The Producers.”

29.07.10: Popcast: Ricky Skaggs on God and Music and More
"I honestly believe that the Beatles were really gifted and blessed by God to start a spiritual revolution in America, but I think they scored points for the wrong team," Mr. Skaggs says in the interview.

29.07.10: A Preview of Kanye West's 'Power': 'Apocalyptic in a Very Personal Way'
Marco Brambilla discusses a video work he was commissioned to create for Mr. West's single, a decadent commentary on the rapper's ideas of celebrity and notoriety.

28.07.10: Hans Zimmer Extracts the Secrets of the 'Inception' Score
The composer said similarities between his score and an Edith Piaf song were not only intentional but the one element of an enigmatic movie "that wasn't supposed to be a secret."

30.07.10: Chicago News Cooperative: Rehabbed, a Punk Dive Grows Up
The Fireside Bowl made a name for itself from 1994 to 2004 with its live punk rock scene. Now the owner is staging a revival with a summer program series.

29.07.10: Music Review: Billy Corgan and Smashing Pumpkins at Terminal 5
Billy Corgan made nice to his fans during a concert with his new Smashing Pumpkins band mates at Terminal 5 on Monday.

29.07.10: Music Review: Aretha Franklin’s Duet With Condoleezza Rice
Aretha Franklin and Condoleezza Rice joined forces for a charity concert at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

29.07.10: Music Review: Ax and Blythe Open Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center
Emanuel Ax and Stephanie Blythe open the annual Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center on Tuesday evening.

29.07.10: Music Review: In Central Park, Black Keys Play With Original Formula
The Black Keys, a garage-rock duo that is suddenly more mainstream, played Central Park SummerStage on Tuesday night.

29.07.10: Music Review: Fat Joe Testifies to a Gone Time and Absent Friends
Fat Joe’s release party for a new album on Tuesday night became his look back to the 1990s hip-hop scene.

29.07.10: Al Goodman, R&B Singer, Dies at 67
Mr. Goodman was the soothing bass in the trio the Moments, best known for the 1970 hit “Love on a Two-Way Street.”

29.07.10: Willem Breuker, Dutch Composer and Bandleader, Dies at 65
Mr. Breuker’s compositions drew from both high and low culture, throwing Kurt Weill into the blender with ragtag circus music.

29.07.10: Music Review: Smashing Pumpkins Repent for the Past
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins makes nice to his devoted fans after his crankiness of the past.

27.07.10: City Investigates Deaths at Techno Festival
The blame for a fatal stampede at an overcrowded music festival passed between German authorities and event organizers on Monday.

27.07.10: Music Review: Bassekou Kouyate Expands the Boundaries of a West African Instrument
Mr. Kouyate with the ngoni, a traditional lute from Mali that dates back hundreds of years, performed with his band at SummerStage in Central Park on Sunday.There were no Western instruments onstage when the Malian griot Bassekou Kouyate and his band performed at SummerStage on Sunday afternoon.

27.07.10: Music Review: At Caramoor, Fanning Donizetti’s Flames in ‘Maria di Rohan’
This Donizetti opera, featuring Scott Bearden and Jennifer Rowley, was performed on Saturday as part of the Bel Canto at Caramoor series in Katonah, N.Y.“Maria di Rohan,” a dark love story with political intrigue, was performed in the Saturday swelter at Caramoor.

27.07.10: Music Review: Fresh Take on ‘Madama Butterfly’ at Santa Fe Opera
Brandon Jovanovich and Kelly Kaduce in a new production of Puccini’s work, directed by Lee Blakeley, at the Santa Fe Opera.The Santa Fe Opera’s new production of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” by the director Lee Blakeley, is freshly considered and affectingly sung.

27.07.10: Music Review: Leonard Shure’s Legacy Honored at Mannes Festival
The International Keyboard Institute & Festival celebrated the pianist Leonard Shure, who taught the traditions of Austrian classicism and intellectual clarity.

30.07.10: Sandra Bullock

Giving new meaning to the term America's Sweetheart, "Sandra Bullock" won over scores of filmgoers and critics with her wholesome, exuberant portrayals of ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances. Since her breakthrough role as "Speed"'s unwitting heroine, Bullock has enjoyed the type of popularity that was in the past reserved for actresses along the lines of "Mary Pickford" or "Shirley Temple".

Born in Washington, D.C., on July 26, 1964, Bullock was the elder daughter of a vocal coach dad and an... [more]

30.07.10: Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston makes a good case for proving that acting talent can be absorbed by osmosis. From her father John Aniston's stardom on Days of Our Lives to her godfather Telly Savalas, the actress was surrounded by plenty of inspiration from an early age. As Aniston attended the Rudolph Steiner School as a child, she was interested in many forms of art and proved to be a talented painter, eventually having one of her pieces displayed at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Acting also appealed to her, and... [more]

30.07.10: Miley Cyrus

The daughter of country-music superstar Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus got her start in the entertainment industry on an episode of her father's PAX TV medical series Doc before appearing in Tim Burton's fantastical 2003 adventure Big Fish. A fateful appearance as the character Hannah Montana in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody followed in 2006, and her character proved so popular that a spin-off series called Hannah Montana was launched shortly thereafter. In the series, Cyrus portrayed... [more]

30.07.10: Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian, the wealthy daughter of the high-powered defense attorney Robert Kardashian and Kris Kardashian (and the stepdaughter of Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner), grew up in Beverly Hills, CA, and attended an exclusive all-girls Catholic high school in the City of Angels. As a young woman, Kardashian worked at her father's music marketing firm, Movie Tunes, then parlayed her entrepreneurial instincts into a successful career as a wardrobe stylist for television programs, magazine photo layouts, and... [more]

30.07.10: Jennifer Love Hewitt

Personifying the type of teen spirit most commonly found in Noxzema ads and pep-squad meets, actress "Jennifer Love Hewitt" has brought new meaning to the word "effervescent." The '90s saw Hewitt go from relative obscurity to a bona fide teen queen, to say nothing of one of the most frequently enshrined actresses on the internet.

Hewitt was born on February 21, 1979, in Waco, TX. She made her first appearance on television in 1984 in the show Kids Incorporated (which, coincidentally, once guest-starred... [more]

30.07.10: Angelina Jolie

Next to "Liv Tyler", "Angelina Jolie" is the only actress of her generation who can thank her famous father for the lips that have become her trademark. The actress was born Angelina Jolie Voight to the pillow-lipped "Jon Voight" and actress Marcheline Bertrand on June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles.

Raised mostly by her mother after her parents divorced while she was still a baby, Jolie moved around a lot with her mother and brother. She also did a fair amount of traveling as a professional model, living in such... [more]

30.07.10: Robert Pattinson

London-born Robert Pattinson found his acting niche almost instantly, kicking off his career with a string of fantasy roles. After catching the acting bug through amateur theater, the young thespian made his first film appearance at the age of 18, appearing in 2004's Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King, based on a Nordic legend. He followed this up by joining the Harry Potter franchise the following year, playing Cedric Diggory in Goblet of Fire, as well as the subsequent movies. Having captured the hearts of many... [more]

30.07.10: George Clooney

"George Clooney" embodies one of Hollywood's most formidable renaissance men. As a remarkably intelligent and capable actor, and a director of surprising skill and intuition, Clooney has almost completely exempted himself from criticism. In light of these qualities, the thespian's formidable charm and devastating physical appeal seem, astonishingly, to be almost incidental.

As the son of broadcast journalist Nick Clooney and the nephew of chanteuse "Rosemary Clooney", "George Clooney" entered the... [more]

30.07.10: Jay Leno

A popular comedian during the 1970s, "Jay Leno" is best known as the man who replaced "Johnny Carson" at the helm of The Tonight Show in 1992. Leno was born James Douglas Muir Leno to parents of Italian and Scottish heritage (Leno is particularly fond of discussing the Italian part) in New Rochelle, NY, but was raised in Andover, MA. During the year in which he was establishing his standup career, Leno was performing 300 nights throughout North America. He made his television debut on the "Merv Griffin Show"... [more]

30.07.10: Kristen Stewart

A fervent surfer who bears a striking resemblance to the young "Jodie Foster", "Kristen Stewart" was poised to become a preteen star with her role opposite Foster in "David Fincher"'s atmospheric thriller "Panic Room" (2002). A resident of Los Angeles, Stewart's nascent acting career got off to a promising start when she was cast in two vastly different films. Eschewing fluffy kids' movies, Stewart played troubled single mother "Patricia Clarkson"'s tomboy daughter in independent film darling "Rose Troche"'s... [more]

30.07.10: Lindsay Lohan

Child actress "Lindsay Lohan" was already an experienced performer when she made her feature debut in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. Born in New York City, Lohan began modeling at age three. After appearing in numerous TV commercials, Lohan moved to series TV with a role on the soap operaAnother World from 1996 to 1997. Cast as The Parent Trap's scheming twin sisters after a six month search for just the right girl, Lohan succeeded in filling "Hayley Mills"' shoes, winning over audiences with her pert... [more]

30.07.10: Conan O'Brien

If Richie Cunningham and "Phyllis Diller" mated, would it equal "Conan O'Brien"? It's probably not a good enough match to poop on, but definitely one that has brought some laughs to television audiences everywhere. Conan Christopher O'Brien was born April 18, 1963, in Brookline, MA, to Ruth, a lawyer, and Tom, a doctor. He has three brothers, two sisters, and his cousin is comedian "Denis Leary". At Brookline High School, he was on the debate team and served as editorial editor on the Sagamore. After high... [more]

30.07.10: Brittany Murphy

"Brittany Murphy" first came to the attention of film audiences as Tai, one of "Alicia Silverstone"'s airhead friends, in the 1995 comedy "Clueless". Though convincing as a dim-bulb character, "Murphy" cuts dramatically against this grain off-camera, as a ferociously intelligent and ambitious young performer who had acting in her blood from early childhood. As a teenager and young adult, she gave expression to the scope of her talent and versatility with a series of engaging film and television... [more]

29.07.10: Oswalt approves trade to Phillies
Roy Oswalt approves trade from Astros to Phillies.

30.07.10: Phillies got a great deal in landing Oswalt
The Phillies got one heck of a deal in landing Oswalt.

30.07.10: White Sox aim to boost rotation
The White Sox, frustrated by their inability to acquire Nationals first baseman Adam Dunn, instead are on the verge of ending up with one of the Nationals’ leading targets: Diamondbacks right-hander Edwin Jackson.

01.07.10: Buzz: Latest news from around the horn
Buzz: Latest news from around the horn.

30.07.10: Tebow, Broncos agree to contract
Tim Tebow missed some practices but none that counted before agreeing to a contract with the Denver Broncos on Thursday.

30.07.10: T.O. arrives at camp fashionably late
Terrell Owens arrived fashionably late, still got several rounds of applause, and his favorite number was waiting, too.

29.07.10: Bengals are definitely a circus
Who's the real clown in Cincy?

30.07.10: Report: Chilling 911 call by Wright
Authorities say former NBA player Lorenzen Wright whose body was found in a wooded area outside of Memphis was shot to death.

29.07.10: Goodell: No suspension for Titans' Young
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says he decided not to suspend Titans quarterback Vince Young over a tussle at a Dallas strip club in June.

30.07.10: 2010 fantasy football draft guide

30.07.10: Google Search Engine Is Blocked in China
Google said it was the first time the site has been blocked since March.

29.07.10: How Fast Can a Cloud Run?
A new tool tracks the speed at which cloud services from Google, Microsoft and Amazon.com run, and then displays their worldwide performance.

29.07.10: Bits Pics: Looking Inside Apple's New Trackpad
The Web site ifixit took apart Apple's Magic Trackpad showing a detailed view of what is under the hood of this new mouse replacement.

29.07.10: YouTube Gives Users Their 15 Minutes of Fame
YouTube increased the time limit for uploaded videos to 15 minutes from 10 minutes.

29.07.10: Researcher Releases Facebook Profile Data
A security researcher released a file containing the names, profile addresses and identification numbers of more than 100 million Facebook users.

29.07.10: Tech Talk Podcast: Wikimania and Socks by Subscription
Noam Cohen discusses the recent Wikimania convention in Poland, and Samy Liechti explains how his Internet sock-subscription company works.

29.07.10: Have a Question? Ask Facebook
Facebook introduced Facebook Questions, becoming the latest Web company to start a personalized Q. and A. search engine.

28.07.10: What We're Reading: Tech Heirlooms
Google getting suggestive, tech products as heirlooms and the meaning behind a surge in Bible apps hit the reading list.

28.07.10: PayPal Sends Checks in India
The Indian government won't allow PayPal to transfer cash electronically.

28.07.10: An Amazon-Facebook Alliance to Make Shopping More Social
When shoppers connect their Amazon and Facebook accounts, they will get recommendations on what to buy based on what their friends like.

27.07.10: Readers Are Abandoning Print, Yet Don't Trust the Web
A new report finds that even as people abandon print publications, they distrust the information they read online.

27.07.10: Media Decoder: Disney Buys Playdom
Disney buys a casual gaming company for $563.2 million. Playdom is the No. 3 gaming company on Facebook.

27.07.10: Part II: Answers to Questions About Internet Privacy
Michael Fertik, founder of ReputationDefender, and Paul Ohm, a law professor at the University of Colorado, respond to readers questions about Facebook settings, the future of online sharing and more.

27.07.10: Apple Brings (Magic) Multitouch to the Computer
Apple announced its latest magical device on Tuesday, a Magic Trackpad designed to replace the traditional desktop mouse on Mac computers.

27.07.10: What We're Reading: Technology Obsession
Technology obsession, Google doodles and the neuroscience of "Inception" are on the reading list.