R-Rated Coup for 'Ted,' 'Magic Mike'

The Elusive Girl From Ipanema

The endlessly covered Brazilian song turns 50 this year. What explains its quirky endurance?

• Video: 'The Girl' Over the Years

Envisioning Treasures from Piles of Junk

Professional "junker" Ki Nassauer has forged a career from finding new uses for the things we throw away.

• Video: Ki Nassauer: From Junk to Treasure

And the Republic Marches On

Buoyant and lyrical, John Philip Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever" is joyful without being trivial, martial without being bombastic, reflecting a nation at peace and proud of it.

In Conversation With Ian McKellen

Ian McKellen, who has been shooting "The Hobbit" in New Zealand, talks about the one-man show he held for an earthquake-damaged theater (and why he'll never do it again), and why marriage isn't for him.

Ideas Calendar: June 30-July 6

On this week's agenda: a conference of private eyes, the Smithsonian's Folklife Festival and lectures about cricket.

Buying the Best but Not the Rest

At the London sales, says Kelly Crow, works by some surrealists did spectacularly well but other less flashy offerings did not.

Don't Miss: June 30-July 6

On this week's agenda: Eric Fischl in Philadelphia, Alighiero Boetti at New York's Museum of Modern Art and Spanish artists in Detroit.

Sculpting Sound: Frank Stella Riffs on Scarlatti Sonatas

The artist's new group of metal sculptures are colorful, coiled bundles of resin tubes, each based on a piece of music.

Longtime Chief Curator of L.A. Museum Steps Down

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles said Paul Schimmel, its longtime chief curator, stepped down, in a high-profile shake-up to a major California museum.

Throwing Mr. Stone at Summer's Goliaths

The director hopes the edgy "Savages" will be canny counterprogramming to comic-book spectacles.

Will 'Book of Mormon' Fly in the Heartland?

As the Broadway hit heads out on tour, producers craft a national strategy. The songs will remain the same.

Spinning a Tangled Web—Again

Why Sony is starting a new "Spider-Man" franchise just 10 years after the last one.

The Betrayal of Art by Artist-Vandals

When admiration of the "transgressive" artist comes at a cost to art itself.

A Teenage Rite of Passage

"Prom," an exhibit of photographs by Mary Ellen Mark at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, captures prom-goers at 13 schools around the country.

Boston Museum Gets Major Gift of African Art from Lehman Heir

Rare sculptures from the historical kingdom of Benin in what is now southwestern Nigeria will go on view next fall.

Once More Unto the Breach

Though the concept of re-enactment has been around for almost as long as civilization itself, modern mock-warfare is growing in popularity across Europe as re-enactors plan to mark the anniversaries of major battles.