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At eight-foot-two, he's easily the biggest star in children's television. But it's a small world inside the costume of Sesame Street's Big Bird. Caroll Spinney, who also performs Oscar the Grouch, discusses the evolution of Big Bird with NPR's Bob Edwards. See a video clip of Spinney's characters.

Bloggers -- or Web loggers -- have been sharing their most intimate thoughts and opinions on the Internet since the mid-1990s, mostly with text, links and photos. Now, increasingly they're adding their voices -- literally -- to their online diaries. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on the advent of audio blogs.

Russian emigre comic Yakov Smirnoff is back in the limelight. His act about communist life became one of the first casualties of the end of the Cold War. But this week he opened a new one-man show on Broadway. He speaks with NPR's Scott Simon.

Paddy Keenan is an Irish musician descended from a long line of traveling pipers. In the 1970s, Keenan cofounded the influential group the Bothy Band. The group added driving rhythms to traditional Irish music. On the CD The Long Grazing Acre, Keenan plays the Irish bagpipes. Keenan discusses his music with NPR's Melissa Block.

Director Gurinder Chadha's hit British film Bend It Like Beckham is now attracting attention in the United States. It tells the story of Jess, a young Indian-British girl who wants to play soccer like her idol, sports celebrity David Beckham. NPR's Jacki Lyden reports.

Austin, Texas, bills itself as the music capital of the world, and this is the week it earns that title. Austin hosts the 17th annual South by Southwest music festival. Every stage in the city is throbbing with live music, and artists are even playing on the street. Hear NPR's Rick Karr.

Marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I, Washington's Folger Shakespeare Library puts on an exhibition to commemorate her reign. NPR's Susan Stamberg reports.

The latest action movie, Tears of the Sun, finds actor Bruce Willis portraying a veteran officer of a Navy SEAL unit in Africa who finds himself conflicted between following military orders and his own conscience. Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan says the film is actually a humanitarian action flick.

In an act of solidarity, New York actors join Broadway's musicians in a strike to keep live, pit orchestras playing in theaters. Following weeks of negotiations, the musicians' union and the League of American Theatres and Producers fail to reach an agreement over a new contract. Hear Jeff Lunden's report.

Literature aimed at adolescents is difficult to translate to film. Yet, a buzz builds around the film version of a Newbery Award-winning novel. Like the book, the movie is called Holes. NPR's Bob Mondello says it has a shot at being as big a hit on screen as it is at bookstores.