Entertainment Science

Follow Dorothy's iconic companions from the beloved classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as all of their gifts become keys to the downfall of Oz. After Dorothy Gale wished her way home, and long before Amy Gumm found herself in Oz, Dorothy's friends left the Road of Yellow Brick to go their separate ways. But in a place like Oz, where magic and temptation lurk, the gifts from the Wizard begin to take on a life of their own.

Ask a scientist about Hollywood, and you'll probably get eye rolls. But ask someone in Hollywood about science, and they'll see dollar signs: Moviemakers know that science can be the source of great stories, with all the drama and action that blockbusters require. That's a huge mistake, says Randy Olson: Hollywood has a lot to teach scientists about how to tell a story - and, ultimately, how to do science better. With Houston, We Have a Narrative, he lays out a stunningly simple method for turning the dull into the dramatic.

What's the nature of reality? Does the universe ever end? What is time, and does it even exist? These are the biggest imagination-stretching, brain-staggering questions in the universe - and here are their fascinating answers. From quantum weirdness to freaky cosmology (like white holes - which spew out matter instead of sucking it in), This Book Will Blow Your Mind takes you on an epic journey to the furthest extremes of science, to the things you never thought possible.

The newest film in the box-office smashing franchise Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Men Tell No Tales features the return of fan-favorites Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, and Geoffrey Rush as Hector Barbossa, alongside franchise newcomers Javier Bardem ( No Country for Old Men, Skyfall), Kaya Scodelario ( The Maze Runner), and Brenton Thwaites ( Maleficent).

At last, Fate reachers Babylon, the border town on the edge of Galia where Roxy is stationed. But the moment Fate arrives, a mysterious woman calling herself Eris intercepts him to deliver an ominous message: "Roxy Hart must die." If Fate wants to rescue the girl who saved him, he must journey into the heart of vast, monster-ridden Galia and face whatever darkness lies within.

The heroic story of Pussy Riot, who resurrected the power of truth in a society built on lies. On February 21, 2012, five young women entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. In neon-colored dresses, tights, and balaclavas, they performed a “punk prayer” beseeching the “Mother of God” to “get rid of Putin.” They were quickly shut down by security, and in the weeks and months that followed, three of the women were arrested and tried, and two were sentenced to a remote prison colony. But the incident captured international headlines, and footage of it went viral.

Jacob Reckless continues to travel the portal in his father's abandoned study. His name has continued to be famous on the other side of the mirror, as a finder of enchanted items and buried secrets. His family and friends, from his brother, Will, to the shape-shifting vixen Fox, are on a collision course as the two worlds become connected. Who is driving these two worlds together, and why is he always a step ahead?

Few could explain, let alone seek out, a career in criticism. Yet what A. O. Scott shows in Better Living Through Criticism is that we are, in fact, all critics: because critical thinking informs almost every aspect of artistic creation, of civil action, of interpersonal life. With penetrating insight and warm humor, Scott shows that while individual critics - himself included - can make mistakes and find flaws where they shouldn't, criticism as a discipline is one of the noblest, most creative and urgent activities of modern existence.

Greg Gutfeld hates artificial tolerance. At the root of every single major political conflict is the annoying coddling Americans must endure of these harebrained liberal hypocrisies. In fact, most of the time liberals use the mantle of tolerance as a guise for their pathetic intolerance. And what we really need is smart intolerance, or as Gutfeld reminds us, what we used to call common sense. The Joy of Hate tackles this conundrum head on- - replacing the idiocy of open-mindness with a shrewd judgmentalism that rejects stupid ideas, notions, and people.

Mississippi John Hurt provides this legendary creator's life story for the first time. Biographer Philip Ratcliffe traces Hurt's roots to the moment his mother Mary Jane McCain and his father Isom Hurt were freed from slavery. Ratcliffe details Hurt's musical influences and the origins of his style and repertoire. The author also relates numerous stories from the time of his success, drawing on published sources and many hours of interviews with people who knew Hurt well.

One-half of the celebrated Men in Blazers duo, longtime culture and soccer commentator Roger Bennett traces the origins of his love affair with America, and how he went from a depraved, pimply faced Jewish boy in 1980’s Liverpool to become the quintessential Englishman in New York. A memoir for fans of Jon Ronson and Chuck Klosterman, but with Roger Bennett’s signature pop culture flair and humor.

Severely wounded in battle with Armaros, Shinji struggles to shoulder the responsibility of being Earth's savior yet again. Meanwhile, Asuka adjusts to her strange new body, and the clones Trois and Quatre continue their quest for their own identity. But their enemy wields the power of a god, and it's going to take every single one of them working together to prevent a reprise of the Human Instrumentality Project.

Myne's disappearance has left Fate reeling, but as the new head of the Barbatos family, he must be strong. At first he's focused on reforging a bond with his former tormenter and new sister, Memil. Then a grim encounter critically endangers Roxy's soul, and Fate must find a way to protect her before his Gluttony devours her once and for all. But as he searches, unexpected answers to old mysteries begin to emerge--and the truths Fate uncovers about his own heritage prove as dangerous and strange as they are difficult to swallow.

In How I Saved the World, Jesse Watters takes fans on a tour of his life from basement-dwelling Fox minion to pampered champion of right-thinking Americans. He has divined great truths about the nature of our country while stumbling across beaches asking oblivious college students basic political questions and while stumbling out of Air Force One with the President.

This production of The Lost World, based on the novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1975, and amongst the cast are Francis de Wolff, Gerald Harper, Carol Boyd and the renowned radio actor Carleton Hobbs. The story follows a 19th century expedition to enter the rumoured lair of animals thought to have died out millions of years before - a terrifying world of pterodactyls and other 'prehistoric monsters'.

The continuing adventures of Henry Gordon Jago and George Litefoot, characters first introduced on television in Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977), who have become Infernal Investigators, solving mysteries involving paranormal or alien phenomena in 1880s London.

Secrecy came naturally to John le Carré, and there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep. Adam Sisman's definitive biography, published in 2015, provided a revealing portrait of this fascinating man; yet some aspects of his subject remained hidden. The Secret Life of John le Carré reveals a hitherto-hidden perspective on the life and work of the spy-turned-author and a fascinating meditation on the complex relationship between biographer and subject. “Now that he is dead,” Sisman writes, “we can know him better.”

First there was Buffy the Vampire Slayer; then its spin-off, Angel; then the cult hit Firefly and its follow-up film, Serenity. They all had two things in common: their creator, Joss Whedon...and their surprising psychological depth. Revisit the worlds of Joss Whedon...with trained psychologists at your side. What are the psychological effects of constantly fighting for your life? Why is neuroscience the Whedonverse's most terrifying villain? How can watching Joss' shows help you take on your own psychological issues?

Composed from exhaustive research and hundreds of personal interviews, the Stay Awhile and Listen series divulges the fated meeting that brought the two Blizzards together, the clashes that tore them apart, and their transformation from grassroots democracy to corporate empire. At the center of it all - Diablo, a hack-and-slash adventure through the darkest recesses of Hell that changed online gaming forever.

In May 2018, former Monty Python stalwart and intrepid globetrotter Michael Palin ventured into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, camera crew in tow, to gain a glimpse of life in the most notoriously secretive and cut-off nation on earth. His resulting two-part documentary for Channel 5 fascinated millions and won universal plaudits.