Last week, we heard about the controversy surrounding Indianapolis' planned downtown monument, "E Pluribus Unum," designed by the acclaimed artist Fred Wilson.  Among the statue's opponents is longtime state representative Bill Crawford, who feels Wilson's figure of a freed slave perpetuates stereotypes of the African-American experience.  The statue of Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea in Charlottesville, Virginia faces similar scrutiny.

DJ Spooky (Paul D. Miller) has just released The Book of Ice, a new interactive graphic design project that weaves together the history and future of the human relationship to the wild, inhospitable continent of Antarctica.

Last week, the Library of Congress named Philip Levine the country’s 18^th poet laureate of the United States, succeeding W.S. Merwin.  “He’s the laureate, if you like, of the industrial heartland,” librarian of Congress James Billington said of Levine. “It’s a very, very American voice. I don’t know that in other countries you get poetry of that quality about the ordinary workingman.”

Sick of waiting for Mad Men to return? Look no further than The Hour, a slick new British drama premiering on BBC America August 17. Set in mid-1950's London, The Hour follows the creation of a new British current affairs television program. Dominic West — known for his role as Jimmy McNalty on The Wire — stars as lead anchor Hector Madden. ...

Lou Reed, Laurie Andersen, Dan Zanes, Suzanne Vega, and others gathered in New York’s Central Park to salute Shel Silverstein — the poet and the songwriter — in a SummerStage concert wryly titled “Shelebration!” ...

Gadgets aren’t just for nerds anymore.  In the age of social media, they've become an extension of who we are. Talk to Me, a new design exhibition focusing on the communication between people and objects at New York's Museum of Modern Art, brings all things techy into the gallery space. ...

How well do you know Lucy?  Here are the answers to our quiz.

There are ex-spouses who communicate through their lawyers; ex-spouses who send each other Christmas cards; ex-spouses who remain cordial out of affection or for the sake of the kids.  And there are ex-spouses who perform together, playing duets for bass guitar. ...

This weekend, in honor of Lucille Ball's 100th birthday, we're rebroadcasting our American Icons hour about how I Love Lucy wrote the rules of American TV.   You and everyone on the planet knows all about Lucy, right? Are you sure?

This weekend, a menace from outer space will invade a dusty town in the Wild West. The movie Cowboys and Aliens is the ultimate genre mash-up — science fiction meets the Western. Studio 360’s Eric Molinsky thinks there’s a reason why we keep retelling the narrative of the alien invasion over and over: it's our history.

She makes movies, she writes fiction, and now, she tells fortunes.  When we found Miranda July would be coming into the studio, we decided to put those skills to the test.  We asked you to write in with your questions about the future — and we thought the results were a fascinating survey of what’s going on in the hearts and minds of America’s creative people. Miranda July fans, anyway.

The US is melting.  This month, soaring temperatures have tied or broken more than 800 records across the country — and we're only halfway through July. Perhaps our sweaty, suit-loving co-workers should take a cue from the Japanese. Super Cool Biz is a government-sponsored fashion campaign to lighten ...

There's a beef heating up in California, and I'm not talking about San Francisco hippies vs. Los Angeles Valley girls. The state's struggling economy threatens to divide Southern California's coastal and inland cities. Earlier this week, Riverside County's board of supervisors unanimously approved a plan to officially consider breaking off ...

One of America's most original soul singers, the man who put the funk in R&B's trunk, is touring again. Swamp Dogg (no relation to Snoop) is playing just a few dates, including a free concert in Brooklyn tomorrow night.

One week after Beijing officials released Ai Weiwei from prison, the Chinese artist's "New York Photographs 1983-1993" were presented for the first time outside of China, giving Americans a glimpse of an artist-activist in the making.

You know you've made it when your face is on a postage stamp.  Twelve giants of industrial design have just been given that honor with a new set of stamps released by the United States Postal Service last week. But instead of their profiles gracing the corner of your next electric bill, their enduring work is spotlighted.

Super 8 may be the biggest movie of the summer — but nothing can sway my loyalty to Friday Night Lights.

We were saddened to learn of the death today of Cy Twombly, the American artist known for his abstract, childlike paintings. A couple years ago on the show, the songwriter Tift Merritt shared this touching story with us about how a Twombly painting saved her from her writer's block.

Pandora dominates the field of music streaming, with its playlists generated by algorithm. (Founder Tim Westergren explained the process to Kurt Andersen last summer.) But a worthy opponent is emerging: Turntable.fm. Instead of sophisticated algorithms, Turntable.fm has you and your fellow listeners do the work of playlisting for each other. In the first month, the site claims 140,000 users, suggesting that the programmers might be missing something.