A late night moment in the sun

First, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made headlines by opening up on-air about his newborn son’s brush with death, making a heartfelt (albeit politically dubious) plea for universal healthcare. Then, last week, he got hired to host the Academy Awards again next year. Usually, Oscar hosts aren’t announced until fall or later, but Kimmel impressed producers enough to score a rare repeat gig early in the year. As Oscar host this year, he avoided the feeling of drudgery that infects awards ceremonies when presenters and winners take themselves too seriously. (He also kept his cool during the best picture fiasco.) Kimmel’s self-awareness and well-timed sincerity offer late-night viewers a needed alternative to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’s ever-cheapening schtick and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s bully pulpit political rants. But viewers be warned: He still embraces the rude, crude, every-dude persona that made him famous. —L.L.

The Joshua-slash-Money Tree

U2 fans are rushing to preorder the 30th anniversary remix of The Joshua Tree, the album that in 1987 elevated the Irish band “from heroes to superstars,” according to Rolling Stone. The band wrote the songs to capture their experiences touring the United States, though a cynic might describe the album as the one with which U2 finally figured out how to market to Americans. Either way, the band is still cashing in on The Joshua Tree. On May 12, it launched a summer world tour to play the entire album night after night in stadiums. The tour is on its U.S. leg now, and the anniversary album comes out June 2. —L.L.

Paint the town

Indonesian villages are embracing aesthetics as a path out of poverty, and the results are beautiful. —L.L.

Take down in Dixie

The New York Times offers a street-level view of sites where four Confederate memorials were taken down in New Orleans. —L.L.