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The films Young Adult and We Need to Talk About Kevin could hardly be more different — one tragic, the other comic — but at center, they're both about the same modern malady: the life that hasn't turned out as planned.

Long a staple of Western wear, the bolo tie is getting the museum treatment in Phoenix. The Heard Museum celebrates the tie's history and artistry in a new exhibit where simple designs are displayed alongside more traditional works of art in the high-ceilinged gallery.

The Newsweek editor returns with a list of new reads about people with surprising lives — a CIA investigator, a successful businesswoman who started life as a child soldier, and a private-equity pioneer whose domineering personality drove his loved ones away.

After 35 years and 186 artists, only two honorees have been Hispanic — Placido Domingo in 2000 and Chita Rivera in 2002. "When you paint that picture and you leave the Latino artist community out of it, there's a huge hole," says Felix Sanchez, president of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts.

Comedian Charlie Hill has been doing standup for more than three decades. Considered a hero in the Native American community, Hill says that he's achieved his dreams — but that the American dream is still out of reach for many Native Americans.

The Mars rover Curiosity has a lot of technology built into her, but she's also got something extra: a social media presence.

Kyle Mullen, a 24-year-old, died after completing a 5 1/2-day assessment designed to test SEAL candidates' endurance and mental rigor. A second candidate is in stable condition, the Navy said.

Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader, nominated for an Emmy for his character Stefon, an obsessive clubgoer, says he needs a character to be funny. Hader tells Fresh Air that he doesn't know how people do standup — and that watching old films as a child sparked his interest in Hollywood.

Nate Klug is a poet and candidate for ordination in the United Church of Christ. "Poetry is a form where the language is under so much pressure," he says, "and that can really bring about wonderful surprises and insights in our ways of talking about God or thinking about our faith."

Two art museums in Boston are offering free admission Tuesday in the wake of the explosions at the Boston Marathon. They hope that residents will find comfort and community.

The fashion industry is sometimes criticized for unrealistic portrayals of young women. But if you're a woman older than 60, there are almost no portrayals, realistic or otherwise. Now a fashion blog called Advanced Style has made stars of some of these older fashionistas, including a 93-year-old who says the spotlight makes her feel like she's "part of the world."

Rocky Balboa's sprint up the stairs of the Philadelphia Art Museum is a scene that would have once been impossible to film. Camera innovator Garrett Brown made it possible when he invented the Steadicam. The jack of all trades will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May.

Fashion for pregnant women has taken a big step forward recently. Now that celebrity fashionistas Kate Middleton and Kim Kardashian are expecting, some designers are offering more runway-ready maternity wear. Host Michel Martin talks about the trend with Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion writer Robin Givhan.

When does a story about science become science fiction? Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss and theoretical physicist Brian Greene discuss how to spin a yarn about string theory or the Big Bang, without hyping the science. And novelist Ian McEwan, whose books touch on neurosurgery and quantum field theory, talks about what science offers to fiction.

Writer-director Jonathan Levine could watch Hal Ashby's Coming Home a million times. "I think that the distinctive thing about Coming Home is the love story," he says.

Style commentary from people who have none!

Actress Connie Britton could watch Colin Higgins' comedy Foul Play a million times. "From watching a movie like Foul Play, I have always wanted to bring a sense of humor to really every role that I'm playing," she says.

In fashion's first hackathon, developers had just 24 hours to build an app for the industry — the finalists will be presented on the runway at New York's Fashion Week. "Right now the industry could really use some innovation," says Decoded Fashion founder Liz Bacelar.

Actor Jeffrey Wright could watch Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now a million times. "It probably features the most effective narration of any film in the history of cinema," he says.

The "lowest common denominator" isn't really a bad thing. It's commonality; it's one of the parts of culture that are richest and most beneficial, provided we can define it properly.

Joan Chen was only a teenager when she was awarded China's equivalent of the Oscar. Americans know Chen best for her roles in the TV series Twin Peaks and the film The Last Emperor. She is honored at this year's San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Chen talks with host Michel Martin.

Lewis, whose comedic duo with Dean Martin launched him to the peak of showbiz, starred and directed in dozens of films. He was perhaps just as famous for his charity work fighting muscular dystrophy.

The winner of round seven of the Three-Minute Fiction contest will be announced in a few weeks. Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rebecca Roberts introduces Darius Kroger by William Sirson from Laramie, Wyoming. More stories from the contest can be found at npr.org/threeminutefiction.

We received 3,400 original stories in this round of Three-Minute Fiction. Until the winner is announced next month, we'll be reading a few of the stories that catch our eyes. Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rebecca Roberts introduces the stories Crane, by Becca Leighton and Honor, by Linda Nordquist. To see these stories and others go to npr.org/threeminutefiction.

Washington Post humor blogger Alexandra Petri says that when it comes to political biographies — from that of Marco Rubio to the writings of Thucydides — veracity can be hard to come by.