Meryl Streep gets guitar lesson from Neil Young

We all know Meryl Streep can sing, but she's not exactly a guitarist. In her latest film, Ricki and the Flash, the 66-year-old actress plays an aging rocker who attempts to reconcile with her neglected kids. To be convincing, Streep spent six months learning to play the guitar and according to director Jonathan Demme, she sings and plays on all 10 tracks featured in the Diablo Cody-penned flick. A new video, below, shows the multiple Oscar winner getting a guitar lesson from Neil Young, who also happens to be an aging rocker.

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Stencils and Subtlety

If there were a Michelin star for public murals, Roamcouch would have it. No debate. His art is an elegant contradiction; it stops you in mid-stride and makes you stare. You argue with what you see. He works with scenes from everyday life, nothing fancy, then drops them into backgrounds full of playfulness and surprise. His murals feel like small rebellions, and they insist on being noticed. Here are some of his recent street art works. Roamcouch has a Facebook page and a website where you can find all his work.

Want to repel mosquitoes? Use graphene-lined clothes

Health officials in the Philippines continue to seek better weapons against dengue fever as death toll from the mosquito-borne disease continues to rise in several regions in the country. Some people use insect repellents, while others use biological alternatives to kill the thirsty little bloodsuckers. Graphene also prevents mosquito bites. A team of researchers at Brown University discovered that graphene-lined clothing not only is an effective physical barrier to those pesky insects, it also blocks chemical signals in sweat that encourage them to bite. "With the graphene, the mosquitoes weren't even landing on the skin patch—they just didn't seem to care," according to Cintia Castillho, a PhD student at Brown and the study's lead author. Since its discovery in 2004, graphene has been dubbed as a wonder material. It is stronger than steel, lighter than paper, conducts heat and electricity, and highly flexible.

For readers who love Basquiat

It's been thirty-one years since Jean-Michel Basquiat 's tragic death, but his work still remains in our art consciousness. Now, a new book explores the other side of the graffiti artist turned painter. "Basquiat-isms is a collection of essential quotations from this godfather of urban culture. In these brief, compelling, and memorable selections, taken from his interviews as well as his visual and written works, Basquiat writes and speaks about culture, his artistic persona, the art world, artistic influence, race, urban life, and many other subjects. Concise, direct, forceful, poetic, and enigmatic, Basquiat's words, like his art, continue to resonate." Basquiat-isms , edited by Larry Warsh, is out now.

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