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Top Picks: A tribute to John Williams, exploring a 'Frozen Planet,' and more

Steve Martin tweets about 'The Da Vinci Code' and the Super Bowl, Nada Surf banishes the March blues, the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C. includes a preview by Ken Burns, and more top picks.

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Documentary Channel
'The Heretics' on the Documentary Channel
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Investigation Discovery
The seven-part saga, Frozen Planet on the Discovery Channel.
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Reuters/File
'The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make That Ten' by Steve Martin

The right to be heard

The Documentary Channel profiles a tiny group of passionate women who brought to life – if for a brief period – a magazine devoted to their creations. The Heretics details the organic production of Heresies, a feminist art and politics magazine. Journalists, photographers, painters, and performers worked to produce 27 issues from 1977 to '92. Now scattered across the world, the women remember – with sometimes raw humor – the joys and struggles of creating a magazine that was completely their own. Airs March 17.

Humming E.T.'s tune

Composer John Williams is known to millions for his well-loved film scores, for movies ranging from the iconic "Star Wars" to "E.T." and "Superman." Now Sony Masterworks releases A Tribute to John Williams: An 80th Birthday Celebration, featuring some of his favorite works. The album includes performances by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Polar power – and fragility

Discovery Channel and the BBC bring the latest natural-world megaseries to TV debuting on March 18. The seven-part saga Frozen Planet, narrated by Alec Baldwin, zeros in on Earth's polar regions, detailing the daily struggles of the region's living creatures and the changes the region is undergoing. The series will air over five weeks, bookended by two hours on the opening and closing nights.

D.C.'s Global film fest

The Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C., March 13-25 presents 180 thought-provoking films from around the world, many followed by discussions with filmmakers and experts. This year, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns will provide a preview of his film "The Dust Bowl." For more information, go to dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org.

Never too late for teenage dreams

Socked in under March's gray skies, we long for a sunnier clime. Enter indie pop darlings Nada Surf with a sparkling, sunny new album, The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy. The tempos are swift enough to rouse a winter couch potato, and lead singer Matthew Caws sounds like a rockin' Peter Pan, exhorting us to never grow up. Though the lyrics often look back wistfully, the Surf's chiming guitars and buoyant melodies will transport you to a much warmer place.

A tweeting Martin

After gaining more than 2 million followers on Twitter, comedian Steve Martin has compiled some of his best 140-character witticisms into a book: The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make That Ten. Topics of the tweets range from "The Da Vinci Code" to the Super Bowl, with replies to his tweets from his followers. (Some of the replies from fans are just as funny.)

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