Arts

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OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Next up on ASK ME ANOTHER, we have our two new contestants, Scott Schwartz and Julieanne Smolinski.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Julieanne, I want to talk to you about this. You, you're a little famous.

JULIEANNE SMOLINSKI: Oh thank you, yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Yes. People in the audience know. Can you...

SMOLINSKI: Those are my friends. They don't count at all.

EISENBERG: They - oh that's your friends. Do you know what I'm actually talking about when I just say that to you?

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

All right everybody, this is what we've all been waiting for, our Ask Me One More final round. Our final elimination round will determine the grand champion of this week's ASK ME ANOTHER. Let's bring back the winners from all of our previous rounds. From Bingo: Tony Hightower.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: From Breakfast Cereal Haiku: Karl Devries.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: On with their heads: Tom Kelso.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: And Small Screen Test: Julieanne Smolinski.

(APPLAUSE)

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OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

All right, let's start the show? You guys ready to start the show?

JONATHAN COULTON: Yes.

EISENBERG: All right, let's do it.

COULTON: Please.

EISENBERG: We have our first contestants. Give them a hand everybody.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: All right. Hi, Tony Hightower. Welcome.

TONY HIGHTOWER: Hi, Ophira.

EISENBERG: You're originally from Toronto.

HIGHTOWER: I am.

EISENBERG: And you are a singer.

HIGHTOWER: I do sing. I have sang.

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Alright. Let's welcome our next two contestants, Jamie Fried and Tom Kelso.

(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Hi Tom Kelso.

TOM KELSO: Hello Ophira.

EISENBERG: Do you have some experience in the theatre, being onstage in the past?

KELSO: Quite a bit, I've done shows in Louisiana, here in New York, Chicago, Baltimore.

EISENBERG: As an actor or?

KELSO: Both as an actor and backstage.

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

You're listening to ASK ME ANOTHER, answering questions since 2012. I'm your host, Ophira Eisenberg, and with me is puzzler extraordinaire Noah Tarnow.

(APPLAUSE)

NOAH TARNOW: Hello. Thank you, Ophira.

EISENBERG: Hi, thank you. Thank you for being a puzzler extraordinaire.

TARNOW: You're welcome. I worked hard to get here today.

EISENBERG: I know, I don't use that lightly, either. Sometimes I just say puzzle good guy.

TARNOW: Yeah.

EISENBERG: You know, extraordinaire's a big deal.

Ali Smith's superb new book, Artful, began as a series of talks on comparative literature that were delivered at St. Anne's College, Oxford, in January and February of last year. It must've been one hell of a show. "The second week, the students had tripled," Smith told The Independent, and by the final week you couldn't find an open seat in the back row.

English critic Samuel Johnson once said of William Shakespeare "that his drama is the mirror of life." Now the Bard's words have been translated into life's most basic language. British scientists have stored all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets on tiny stretches of DNA.

It all started with two men in a pub. Ewan Birney and Nick Goldman, both scientists from the European Bioinformatics Institute, were drinking beer and discussing a problem.

National security reporter Fred Kaplan was the first to publicly link Paula Broadwell to Gen. David Petraeus in last fall's affair scandal, but that's not the topic of his new book. In fact, it's barely an addendum. Instead, Kaplan focuses in depth on counterinsurgency — a cornerstone of Petraeus' legacy.

Almost a decade since the end of the hit American TV series Friends, the show — and, in particular, the fictitious Central Perk cafe, where much of the action took place — is enjoying an afterlife in China's capital, Beijing. Here, the show that chronicled the exploits of New York City pals Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey is almost seen as a lifestyle guide.

Tucked away on the sixth floor of a Beijing apartment block is a mini replica of the cafe, orange couch and all, whose owner Du Xin introduces himself by saying, "Everyone calls me 'Gunther' here."