AP – Call it half a smile.

AP – “Why Architecture Matters” (Yale University Press, 273 pages, $26) by Paul Goldberger: Not long after completing his iconoclastic Glass House in 1949, architect Philip Johnson traded barbs as revealing as the see-through walls.

AP – News doesn’t come often to the Land of Sweets, that delectable place where the Sugarplum Fairy has reigned supreme since 1954 in George Balanchine’s famous “Nutcracker” at New York City Ballet.

AP – Years pass and tastes change, at least a little. In choosing their top films of the past decade, Associated Press movie critics David Germain and Christy Lemire stuck closely to their favorites from each year.

AP – A word of warning. If you hate operatic cliches, give Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” a pass.

AP – As a medium, the rock album is so under siege that even Radiohead made noise in 2009 about giving it up for downloadable singles and EPs.

Reuters – Faced with the loss of a beloved brother who also was an international icon, it seems unlikely that most folks would decide, mere months later, to sign up for a cable reality show.

AP – Video games based on movies are often pushed through as afterthoughts, so word that director James Cameron and Ubisoft have been collaborating for years on his sci-fi epic, “Avatar,” offered hope to gamers longing to explore the lush, brightly colored jungles of Pandora.

AP – “The Flaming Idiots” would be a nice name for a troupe of political satirists, but it also works for this trio of jugglers and jokesters in baggy pants who have mastered classic stunts and freshened their act with jokes about Miley Cyrus and Tiger Woods.

AP – “Love’s Labour’s Lost” is one of Shakespeare’s more complicated comedies, full of obscure literary references, wit and puns that could be confusing to a modern audience.

Reuters – Director James Cameron’s long-awaited “Avatar” wowed critics at its London premiere on Thursday, with some early reviewers calling it “jaw-dropping,” “mind-blowing” and a game-changer in Hollywood for its digital effects.