Top Picks: PBS's 'The Story of China,' the J酶rgen Emborg Quartet鈥檚 album 'What's Left?,' and more
China past
Curious about the tale of how China came to be and how the country attained the world status it holds today? PBS鈥檚 new series is hosted by Michael Wood and depicts him traveling all over the country from Beijing to Luoyang, which has intriguing historical sites such as the Longmen Grottoes. The six-part series debuts June 20 at 8 p.m.
Live fairy tale
Creatures out of fairy tales have come to life in Copenhagen, Denmark. Artist Thomas Dambo has created large giants (with names like Oscar Under the Bridge and Sleeping Louis) out of scrap wood for the project The 6 Forgotten Giants and invited the curious to find them with the help of a map. Not traveling to Copenhagen anytime soon? At , you can see what the giants look like and see photos of how they were created.
Mischievous prankster
The movie , which is written and directed by German filmmaker Maren Ade, tells the story of Ines (Sandra H眉ller), who works as a corporate strategist and whose mischievous father (Peter Simonischek) is a grade school teacher who loves playing pranks on people. The movie is available on DVD and Blu-ray.
Movie photos
Here鈥檚 something to interest photography and movie fans: Artist Jason Shulman has created long-exposure photos that depict whole movies, including classics such as 鈥淔antasia,鈥� 鈥淭he Wizard of Oz,鈥� and 鈥淐lose Encounters of the Third Kind.鈥� Check out his photographs and see if you can detect the movies you know so well at .
Joyous jazz 聽 聽 聽 聽
Tuneful, uplifting, surprising, inspired ... and Danish. is a very good question, and it also doubles as the title of the J酶rgen Emborg Quartet鈥檚 captivating new album. Keyboard whiz/composer Emborg teams up with gifted chromatic harmonica master Mathias Heise (echoes of the late virtuoso Toots Thielemans) to create 10 joyous tracks in an exhilarating new jazz hybrid. Standouts are 鈥淭hat鈥檚 Why鈥� and the touching 鈥淭heme for Toots.鈥�
