If you’ve picked up a children’s book lately, you may have noticed that they’re a little outdated, not to mention out of touch. Seriously, do you know anyone who owns a farm with one red barn containing one chicken, one pig, and one cow? We didn’t think so. Fortunately for…
The setup: For The [SIC] Sense’s third show in its new home in the Basement Theatre at Phoenix Center for the Arts, the sketch comedy troupe takes a break from transitioning new cast members in and welcomes back Kristie Cowles, a one-woman ninja patrol of comic anarchy. About half of…
“Closure: Paintings From JB Snyder” J.B. Snyder, a local artist known for making a splash by adding color to deserted landscapes, is trying something new-ish: an art show within four walls, not on them. His first solo show since 2010’s “Fragments of Happiness” at The Quincy, “Closure” includes approximately 25…
If you’ve driven through Old Town Scottsdale recently, you may have noticed some new changes on the horizon, starting with Sip Coffee & Brew House at the southwest corner of Scottsdale and Osborn roads. The new eatery is just a first taste of The Creative Center of Scottsdale, a community…
When we heard that Performance in the Borderlands was teaming up with ASU Deer Valley Rock Art Center once again, with the added collaboration of ASU’s Gammage’s BEYOND series, we knew there was cause for celebration. In an event scheduled for the end of this month, Japanese performance artists Eiko…
Leading up to this year’s Big Brain Awards, we’re checking in with past winners. Up today: Safwat Saleem. For Safwat Saleem, sleep is overrated. The artist, graphic designer, and filmmaker just-plain doesn’t have time for eight hours a night. That’s because the 2011 Big Brain Award winner has been hard…
Courting Disaster is Jackalope Ranch’s weekly column of dating horror stories, observations, how-tos, and more by Katie Johnson. Names of ex-boyfriends, past hookups, and bad blind dates have been changed to protect the guilty. They say there’s someone for everyone. Not true. Some people are dicks. And, as someone who’s…
If you happen to be a diehard Marvel fanatic or totally grok Captain Malcom, Richard Castle, or Captain Hammer, get ready to squee. Comic book legend Stan Lee and Nathan Fillion, the actor behind the aforementioned roles, will be attending this year’s Phoenix Comicon in early June. Better dust off…
Big changes are happening for the north Phoenix resaler, Pearly Mae’s. In addition to the spring launch of its own repurposed menswear fashion line, Dad’s Rags, the vintage boutique is packing its bags and moving to a new location…
Let’s start with the ending, the closing credits disclaimer that insists that none of the lead actors in Lars von Trier’s two-part erotic epic Nymphomaniac filmed penetrative sex. If there is real sex in the movie — and it sure looks like there is — it must have been the…
If you count forward from Jim Henson’s mid-1960s TV appearances with a fringy pup named Rowlf and the lizard, made from an old winter coat, who would later become Kermit the Frog, the Muppets have outlived most of their early puppet peers by more than two generations: You don’t see…
After what seemed like a very long time, Phoenix Theatre’s production of Pippin stopped shrieking and wiggling its collective hips, and shuddered to a close. Meanwhile, we — an audience made up mostly of “people of a certain age” — endured a lifeless rip-off of Cirque du Soleil staged by…
Dystopian movies don’t have to make sense. As the audience, we’re obligated to sit down with our popcorn and soda and pretend that yes, of course, in the future monkeys rule the Earth, women can’t bear children, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is an everyday construction worker. It’s a mutual contract of…
Think back to the worst thing you did in high school. Shoplifting? Busted with a joint? Trespassing, all lit up on Boone’s Farm? Now, imagine you pulled your rite-of-passage nogoodnik routine in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in the early 2000s. You get busted, the cops get involved, you get hauled to the…
The big news out of the Berlin Film Festival was that Shia LaBeouf, here to promote Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Volume 1, behaved like an ass on the red carpet at the movie’s premiere. He showed up in a proper tuxedo, but also with a paper bag over his head…
The timing could not be any more perfect for “Moctezuma’s Revenge,” the current exhibition of work by multimedia artist Eduardo Sarabia at ASU Art Museum. Curated by ASUAM curator Julio César Morales, the expansive show deals with Mexico’s notorious underground drug culture and the deadly havoc left in its wake…
It’s hard to find anybody who doesn’t know something about Muhammad Ali, as the retired boxer still manages to keep a fairly high profile. Still, there’s a lot to learn about the man oft-considered the greatest boxer of all time. The Trials of Muhammad Ali captures many of the details…
It’s hard to keep a good duo down. The crime-solving team of Navajo Nation police detectives Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee lives on in the latest work from Anne Hillerman, who’ll discuss her first foray into fiction on Thursday, March 20.Leaphorn and Chee are the beloved protagonists of 18 of…
J.B. Snyder, a local artist known for making a splash by adding color to deserted landscapes, is trying something new-ish: an art show within four walls, not on them.His first solo show since 2010’s “Fragments of Happiness” at The Quincy, “Closure” includes approximately 25 new pieces. The Hive art gallery…
It sure feels like a distant memory now, but just a few months ago the prevailing wisdom amongst NBA insiders was that the Phoenix Suns would be swan-diving their way to the bottom of the barrel in hopes of fishing out some top-notch draft picks. Instead, the gritty, over-achieving squad…
What if real life emulated a video game? The extra lives and quests to beat up bad guys sound fun, but anyone who has played Kinect for more than an hour knows that it gets exhausting fast. Fortunately, watching Siro-A has a similar feel — and you don’t have to…
To make or not to make, there is no question: humans are made to make things. The Southwest Maker Fest crams an abundance of tinkering and inspiration into one day on Saturday, March 22, in downtown Mesa.The Maker Movement pledges allegiance to taking ideas from the imagination phase to create…
