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Arts & Culture / Music & Film

Why Do We Love R2-D2 and Not C-3PO?

With its stubby cylindrical body and playful whistles and beeps, the lovable Star Wars’ robot R2-D2 is just the right mix of man and machine

Patrick Stewart on His Craft, 21st-Century Science and Robot Ethics

The actor whose leading roles in “Star Trek” and X-Men have taken him into the far future, reflects on where present-day society is headed

Look familiar? Morocco's Essaouira, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the filming location for Astapor, "Game of Thrones'" infamous slave-trading city.

From Iceland to Croatia, Go On the Ultimate “Game of Thrones” Tour

Want more “Game of Thrones” than a show every Sunday and books every few years? Consider visiting the filming locations

Michael Peña portrays farmworker turned activist Cesar Chavez in a new biopic.

What the New Cesar Chavez Film Gets Wrong About the Labor Activist

Despite the good intentions, the biopic misleads and distorts his role in the farm workers movement

A view of the installation of the ATLAS portion of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Art Meets Science

Art and Science Collide in the Discovery of the Higgs Boson

Particle Fever, a documentary about the physicists who found the “God particle,” suggests doing science isn’t that different from making art

The Seldom Scene's album, "Long Time. . . Seldom Scene," the band's first recording since 2007, features a mix of classic fan favorites, a litany of guest stars and one brand-new song.

Seldom Scene, Often Heard: A Bluegrass Band Returns to its Roots With a New Album

The current members of the legendary Washington, D.C.-based bluegrass band celebrate four decades of making music

John Coltrane (left) “took it further than any [other] tenor saxophone player,” says photographer Chuck Stewart.

New Photos of John Coltrane Rediscovered 50 Years After They Were Shot

During the recording of A Love Supreme in 1964, Chuck Stewart caught the jazz legend in his element

Michael Jackson: Singer, Songwriter, American Inventor

The King of Pop invented more than just amazing dance moves

What happens when scientists expose wasps to outer space radiation? The insects mutate into giant killing machines—or, so say the makers of the 1958 film Monster From Green Hell.

Art Meets Science

Scream Queen: An Entomologist Dispels the Myths in Insect Horror Flicks

May Berenbaum, of the University of Illinois, explains where the science goes wrong in these seven films—all featuring arthropod antagonists

The protagonist, Tris (Shailene Woodley), and her friend Christina (Zoë Kravitz) jump from a train running through post-apocalyptic Chicago in a scene from the film Divergent.

We Asked Four Teenagers to Explain “Divergent” to Old People

The first movie in the dystopian young adult book trilogy comes out this weekend. Get ready

Still from Santiago Sierra and Jorge Galindo’s "Los Encargados [Those in Charge]," 2012.

Upending Those in Charge

How two artists staged a motorcade in Madrid, touting portraits of upside down politicians to question those in power—in Spain and across the globe.

Black Orpheus: How a French Film Introduced the World to Brazil

Decades later, the movie’s legacy lives on in popular culture and in the music videos of Arcade Fire

Dublin at twilight.

The Inside Scoop on Jury’s Irish Cabaret in Dublin, Where Blarney Met Vaudeville

Rediscover a classic Smithsonian Folkways recording of an Irish variety show that first tickled tourists in 1963

The Beatles step onto the tarmac at JFK Airport on February 7, 1964, arriving for their first performance in the U.S.

Vintage Headlines

When the Beatles Arrived in America, Reporters Ignored the Music and Obsessed Over Hair

They’d go on to change American music forever, but the press focused on the moptops

United States athletes at the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Paris Olympics

Who Really Composed NBC’s Olympic Theme? Not Who You Think

Music for the Olympic Games has a long and complicated history—and John Williams, the Star Wars composer, is only part of it

No, Goldfinger, You Can’t Kill Someone by Painting a Body With Gold

But surely you don’t expect us to talk about it

Evangeline Lilly plays Tauriel, an invention of Peter Jackson's, in the latest Hobbit movie.

The Tolkien Nerd’s Guide to “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”

As Peter Jackson ventures further from J.R.R. Tolkien’s original text, the source material becomes harder to pin down but is still satisfyingly nerdy

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Listen to Classic Holiday Music From Around the World

Go around the world this holiday with Smithsonian Folkways—no reindeer or sleigh required

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The Totally Original Sound of St. Vincent

The singer-composer brings new sophistication to pop composition, conjuring ethereal dreamscapes from her suburban roots

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Why Shakespeare is Julie Taymor’s Superhero

For the renowned director of the screen and stage, the Bard is a fantasy and a nightmare

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