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In Kansas City, home to some of the nation's top sports architects, a competition is unfolding to build a new downtown sports arena. The local firms' competition comes from acclaimed California architect Frank Gehry, who's better known for designing museums. NPR's Greg Allen reports.

George Romero's 1968 horror movie Night of the Living Dead inspired numerous sequels, remakes and spin-offs. But NPR's Bob Mondello says none has been quite as "lively" as Shaun of the Dead, the comic British version that opens in theaters Friday.

The 2004 New Yorker Festival begins next weekend -- NPR's Scott Simon talks to actors Stanley Tucci and Cynthia Nixon, both panelists on a festival session entitled "The Method: Acting Onstage and Onscreen."

The director of The Kid Stays in the Picture, Nanette Burstein, has a new reality series on the Independent Film Channel. Film School tracks four NYU students as they struggle to make their films -- and a career. Hear Burstein and NPR's Jennifer Ludden.

HBO ran over the competition at last night's Emmy Awards, taking 16 awards. The cable channel's Angels in America, a mini-series about the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, took seven honors. The Sopranos won for best drama. Sarah Jessica Parker and Kelsey Grammer took top comedy acting honors.

World chess champion Gary Kasparov is writing a six-volume series on fellow masters of the game. He's also a columnist with The Wall Street Journal. He speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about Bobby Fischer and other greats of the game.

Photographer Eddie Adams dies at age 71. The Pulitzer-winning Adams, who took the photograph of an execution on the streets of Vietnam that became an indelible image of the war, had ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and Parade magazine chairman Walter Anderson, a longtime friend of Adams.

NPR's Bob Mondello reviews the movie The Stepford Wives, which opens Friday. The film, starring Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick, is a dark comedy re-make of a 1970s horror film.

American music legend Ray Charles died Thursday of complications from liver disease. He was 73. Blind since age 7, the man known as "The Genius" built a career that defied genre, lending his soulful, bluesy stylings to jazz, pop, country and R&B. Ashley Kahn has a remembrance.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Danish filmmaker Jorgen Leth about the new film he made with Lars Von Trier, The Five Obstructions. Von Trier challenged Leth to remake Leth's short film The Perfect Human with five different sets of "obstructions," or limitations. Leth explains how he undertook the challenge.

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell about two new compilations that have just been released on DVD: the TV series In Living Color and the comedy sketch series SCTV.

Activists say it endangers children and echoes a previous wave of laws that sought to squelch LGBTQ conversations in the classroom.

We continue our tribute to the legendary Ray Charles with a re-broadcast of the second part of a September 2002 conversation with the "Genius of Soul," who passed away last week at the age of 73.

Singer Ray Charles has passed away. The 12-time Grammy-winning artist produced many soulful classics, including "I Got a Woman," "Unchain My Heart," "Georgia on My Mind" and "Ruby." Charles was was born in Albany, Ga. He was 73.

Jolie Holland has a voice reminiscent of some of the great old blues vocalists, but the fresh approach of a 21st-century singer and songwriter. She was a founding member of the Vancouver roots band the Be Good Tanyas, and there is some of that sound in her music, an unschooled style with soul and heartache. Her latest CD is called Escondida.

Disputes over budgets, autonomy and compensation have raised tensions between Miramix founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein and parent company Walt Disney. The brothers' contract with Disney is due to expire next year, leading many to speculate whether Disney will oust them from the leadership of Miramax, the former indie film company they founded and turned into a powerhouse. NPR's Kim Masters reports.

Some might say actor John Lithgow was born into the craft: His father, Arthur, was a college professor and Shakespearean actor. As Father's Day approaches, the Emmy and Tony-winning actor -- and writer and composer -- reflects on his father's influence on his own career. For Intersections, NPR's Noah Adams reports.

Influential jazz saxophonist Steve Lacy died Friday of cancer at age 69, ending a career that was noticed by both John Coltrane and the MacArthur Genius Awards. Hear NPR's Tom Cole.

An estimated 100 movies will debut in U.S. theaters between Memorial Day and Labor Day. NPR's Bob Mondello offers a selective preview of some of the summer movies he says might be interesting.

The esteemed Malian singer, songwriter, and actress delivers a riveting performance of songs from her Grammy-nominated album, Fenfo.

Book critic Alan Cheuse reviews American Desert by Southern California writer Percival Everett. It's a satirical look at a number of American institutions, from the church to the university to the military to the press, told through the story of a professor who's not exactly alive.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Tim Page, music critic for The Washington Post, about new, expanded criteria for the Pulitzer Prize in music. The changes are an effort to broaden the prize to include more jazz, musical theatre and movie music. Critics contend the Pulitzer board is making the award less serious.

NPR's Bob Mondello reviews a documentary film about camel herders in Mongolia: The Story of the Weeping Camel. The project began with two student filmmakers looking for interesting story to tell.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third installment in the popular film series about a British boy wizard, opens in U.S. theaters Friday. Critics say the movie is darker, edgier and more complex than its predecessors. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

The pioneering PBS children's show Sesame Street, which is in its 35th season, has substantially reduced its writing staff and will only create 26 new episodes this year. The cuts come as PBS faces increased competition for preschoolers' attention from fare on cable TV and video. Jon Kalish reports.