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Return of the King, the final installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, opens in theaters Wednesday. The series, about a quest to rescue the world from evil, has held many filmgoers firmly in its grip from the start. Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

A January ruling is anticipated as testimony concludes at a trial to determine whether the Barnes Foundation's $20 billion art collection should be moved from suburban Marion, Pa., to downtown Philadelphia. When Dr. Albert Barnes endowed the foundation in 1922, he ordered that it not be moved. Joel Rose of member station WHYY reports.

Low-key British singer-songwriter Beth Orton releases a collection of alternative takes, B-sides and remixes on The Other Side of Daybreak a sort of companion piece to her last CD, Daybreak). Orton's folk-guitar sound is mixed with elements of electronica provided by Kieran Hebden, a musician better known as Four Tet. Will Hermes has a review.

NPR's Scott Simon talks with entertainment critic Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times about the changing fortunes of NBC's The West Wing. President Bartlet and his White House staff are still soldiering through threats to national security and Washington scandals. But the cast is working this season without the writing of show creator Aaron Sorkin.

California Garlic farmer Chester Aaron talks to NPR's Steve Inskeep about his father's Russian soup and several holiday dips that use garlic.

The Way to Paradise, by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, devotes alternating chapters to the lives of political activist Flora Tristan and her grandson, the artist Paul Gauguin. The two were idealists bound to struggle against the status quo. Alan Cheuse has a review.

When an old master's painting fetches tens of millions on the auction block, it makes headlines around the world. But at any given time, a handful of artworks are unavailable at any price. NPR's Renee Montagne talks to Kelly Devine Thomas of ARTnews magazine about the "most wanted" works of art.

A new exhibit celebrates Joseph Cornell, one of the most influential and idiosyncratic American artists of the 20th century. The self-taught artist created small wooden boxes filled with knickknacks he collected in New York junk shops. As David D'Arcy reports, the results were beautiful, almost religious creations that inspired just about every visual artist who followed him.

Joe Bussard's record collection — perhaps the largest of its kind — sends listeners back in time. "The truest form you'll ever hear in American music is on these records," he says.

NPR's Scott Simon talks to writer Peter Ackroyd about his new book, Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination. Ackroyd discusses some of the defining features of English literature and culture, such as a reverence for nature, privacy, and squeamishness about sex.