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Story Archives of 'Arts'Underground Dinner ClubsBy Avishay Artsy on Friday, August 29, 2008.They're being branded as the anti-restaurants: dinner clubs that draw food-lovers together with the low-cost informality that's hard to find at mainstream eateries. Here's What's Awesome: Art Abandonments, Perks for BikersBy Brady Carlson on Friday, August 29, 2008.Welcome back to our Friday cavalcade of links we call Here's What's Awesome: It's got a basket, a bell that rings, and things to make it look good Documenting A DiseaseBy Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, August 27, 2008.In September of 2002, Ben Byer was a 31-year-old actor and playwright living in Chicago, married with a young son, when he was diagnosed with the fatal neurodegenerative disease ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. There’s no known cure for ALS, and 90 percent of those who get it die within five years.
His film is an exploration of his own mortality, and our society’s treatment of the sick. Ben Byer died last month. His sister, Rebeccah Rush, produced the film, called Indestructible, and she joins Word of Mouth to tell us more about her brother. Watch the trailer for Indestructible below: (Photo of Ben Byer floating in the Dead Sea by Roko Belic) listen:
  The Glass Menagerie: A ReviewBy Kevin Gardner on Thursday, August 21, 2008.The Winnipesaukee Playhouse in Weirs Beach is finishing up its summer season with a revival of Tennessee Williams's classic drama, The Glass Menagerie. Kevin Gardner has this review listen:
Pick Your City, Story of Stuff, Anxiety, Boutique MedicineBy Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, August 19, 2008.Tuesday on Word of Mouth, we’re stepping away from the live microphone to broadcast some of our favorite interviews from the past few months. Here’s a list of the segments in today’s show. Click on the links to listen to them and to find more information: Putting Iraq's Refugee Crisis On StageBy Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, August 13, 2008.Since the war in Iraq began in 2003, it’s believed that more than 4 million Iraqis have fled their homes. About half of the displaced are still living within Iraq, and the other half in neighboring countries, mostly in Jordan and Syria.
Two playwrights from New York, Jessica Blank and her husband, Eric Jensen, travelled to Amman, Jordan last summer to interview some of those refugees. Those conversations are now being transformed into a series of monologues that will be performed at Dartmouth College this weekend, as part of the New York Theatre Workshop. Jessica Blank joins Word of Mouth to discuss the process of turning interview transcripts into documentary theater. You can catch a performance of the "Iraq Refugees Project" at Dartmouth's Warner Bentley Theater on Friday, August 15 at 8 pm, and on Saturday, August 16 at 5 pm. Tickets are $10, Dartmouth students $3, all other students $6. (Photo by James Gordon) listen:
Gamers With A Second SkinBy Virginia Prescott on Monday, August 11, 2008.Your neighbor, your local cop, your checkout clerk, your grandmother, maybe even you. Millions of people around the world spend countless hours interacting in virtual worlds, playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPG’s.
It's also a major economic industry. World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade earned $96 million in one day. Compare that to the highest one-day gross for a film last year – $60 million. And Blizzard Entertainment, the company that makes World of Warcraft, has an annual gross of $1.2 billion. A new documentary called Second Skin explores the lives of those people. We meet couples who fall in love without meeting, disabled players who have found new purpose, addicts whose lives fall down around them, Chinese gold-farming sweatshop workers, and wealthy online entrepreneurs - all living in a world that doesn't quite exist. To find out more about this world we’re joined by Second Skin's director, Juan Carlos Pineiro. The film’s New York premiere is set for September 5th. We also hear from Marie Harriman from Antrim, NH. She isn’t able to leave home often due to a disability, and says that playing Second Life allows her to feel less secluded. Watch the trailer for Second Skin: listen:
James Whitmore Jr.: 75th Anniversary of the Peterborough PlayersBy Monadnock Summe... on Sunday, August 10, 2008.James Whitmore Jr. graduated from the American Academy in 1968 and soon returned to Los Angeles to become a founding member of the L.A. Actors Theatre in 1974. He's also directed over 180 television shows and movies of the week. Recently he produced and played the dual roles of Judge Littlefield and Caiphus the Elder in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at the Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center in LA. Mr. Whitmore and his father have worked together on Sleuth in 1981; and at the Peterborough Players in Inherit the Wind in 2005, the 2006 hit, Tuesdays With Morrie, and last season’s The Man Who Came To Dinner. In honor of the Peterborough Players’ 75th Anniversary Season in 2008, acclaimed actor and director James Whitmore, Jr. will discuss the state of television and the role of the director, his work as an actor and director, and the impact that the Players and the Peterborough area has had on his life and career. listen:
Here's What's Awesome: Courthouse Confessions, Sustainable PhotosBy Brady Carlson on Friday, August 8, 2008.
Time for the weekly roundup of great links we call "Here's What's Awesome." Please hold while my browser transfers me The State of Reality TVBy Virginia Prescott on Thursday, August 7, 2008.When reality TV first hit it big almost a decade ago, many rolled their eyes, groaned, and wondered if television could get any worse.
Shows like Wife Swap, The Baby Borrowers and I Love Money make some critics long for more innocent days, when watching people eat worms on Survivor was as repulsive as it got. Today on Word of Mouth, we talk with two women who do not apologize for their love of the genre. Eileen Doherty and Laura Murphy give us the low-down on the newest offerings from the producers of reality television. Laura and Eileen co-own Best Company Ever, a production company based in New York and Los Angeles. (Photo by leunix) listen:
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The disease left his hands too weak to hold a pen. So Ben began keeping an audio and video diary, which soon turned into a documentary film project. He travelled the world, grasping for a cure to the mysterious disease – everything from a controversial stem cell surgery, to traditional Chinese herbs, to vitamin supplements, to vibrating beds. 
It’s a growing humanitarian disaster. Without legal status, refugees are forced to turn to crime or prostitution. Aid groups are overwhelmed, and governments are afraid that sectarian tensions could spill over among the exiles. 
Seated behind a flickering screen, they can log on to games like World of Warcraft, Second Life, and Everquest, and become idealized version of themselves - the chiseled knight mounted on a bucking steed, or the svelte female warrior, skilled at fighting monsters - online personaes that battle with other players, able to make friends, tell their secrets, even flirt.
But for everyone who hated the new trend, plenty of people clearly loved it – after all, it’s still going strong today. But for those who wondered if it could get any worse, well, now they have their answer: yes.