Top Picks: Dr. Seuss on DVD, the PBS Arts Summer Festival, and more

The social magazine Flipboard comes to Android, the Canadian duo Japandroids makes everyone sing along, and more top picks.

July 6, 2012

John Leguizamo: Tales from a Ghetto Klown on PBS

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Joy at full volume

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What do a bunch of whoa-whoa-ohs, oh yeahs, thundering drumrolls, and crashing guitar chords add up to? Pure Celebration Rock, the exuberant and irresistible new collection of eight nearly interchangeable songs by the Canadian duo Japandroids. Joy and passion ? not precision ? are what they provide on instant crowd singalongs such as "Fire's Highway" and "The House That Heaven Built." It's the kind of album that makes you want to join a band, strap on a red guitar, and wail at the top of your lungs.

Progress for Syrian girls

The PBS documentary The Light in Her Eyes provides a glimpse into the world of a mosque in Syria where one woman, Houda al-Habash, is educating local girls about the Quran. The film, directed by Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix, intersperses footage of Ms. Habash's students in class with speeches by conservative Islamic leaders who decry women leaving the home to seek education. A highlight is Habash's whip-smart daughter Enas, who helps with teaching while seeking her own education abroad. The film airs July 19.

Green Eggs and fun

Who doesn't need more Dr. Seuss as the summer yawns along? Warner Home Video has released a DVD of iconic classics, Green Eggs and Ham and Other Stories. This set, in Blu-ray as well, includes "The Zax" and "The Sneetches" and four online interactive puzzles.

A magazine designed for you

At this point, very few essential iPhone apps have yet to get an Android version. And with the new Flipboard for Android, we can cross another straggler off the list. The free app bills itself as a "social magazine," meaning that it pulls in stories to match your interests and recommendations from your Facebook friends. Flipboard aggregates articles, images, and videos from various news outlets, and then wraps everything in a slick magazine layout.

Olympic planner

Get ready to have a complete summer Olympics experience right from your couch. London2012.com will help you plan your TV-watching with a daily schedule of events and medal ceremonies. Explore athlete profiles and click through pictures of impressive Olympic venues. The official colors ? purple, pink, orange, and blue ? that decorate each page are distracting, but the website's offerings are rich with information.

Summer arts festival

Tune into the PBS Arts Summer Festival on Fridays at 9 p.m. (check local listings). On July 13, catch a behind-the-scenes documentary about one of Hollywood's most interesting actors, John Leguizamo: Tales from a Ghetto Klown. It details his efforts to bring his one-man show to Broadway and takes viewers on the journey of his rise to fame, from his roots in Colombia to his becoming a versatile, provocative performer unafraid to bare his soul onstage.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/4PnlUVk1mZA/Top-Picks-Dr.-Seuss-on-DVD-the-PBS-Arts-Summer-Festival-and-more

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