If you’re the creative type that gets inspired by a tall glass of cold, carbonated beer, then Four Peaks has quite the opportunity for you to show off your skills. The local brewery has put out the call for local artists to submit designs for their next order of coasters…
The setup: Damn Yankees is a zippy, popular 1955 musical about a rabid baseball fan, Joe Boyd, who says he’d sell his soul for a long-ball hitter for his beloved Washington Senators team. Satan, badly disguised as a guy named Mr. Applegate (and it’s taken me my whole life to…
Oh, Pinterest. Our love affair with you was hard-felt, but unfortunately short-lived. Pinned beauty trends quickly turned into cosmetic fails, workout regimes became work out dreams, and the disappointment in recreating your “simple” recipes had taken its toll. We had all but given up on you… …Until we discovered the…
The Israeli arranged-marriage drama Fill the Void begins as a spy caper. Eighteen-year-old Shira (Hadas Yaron) and her mother (Irit Sheleg) play P.I. at the supermarket, observing a handsome asthmatic with gold-rim glasses and a gawky frame to see if he’s marriage material. Satisfied with the way he reads the…
Terrorizing children in their bedrooms remains the existential concern of the toothy blobs, hams, and pom-pom-furred Wild Things that populate Monsters movies, many of whom look like gummy nothings long stuck to the bottom of Pixar’s junk drawer. Their very lives depend upon coaxing night-screams from human kids, a premise…
Delicacy of touch isn’t a particularly valued commodity among American filmmakers. We like pioneer swagger in our directors; particularly in the age of the blockbuster, open-ended questions and eyelash-fringe feelings are suspect. That’s why it’s always been hard to know how to categorize Sofia Coppola, one of our most gifted…
A bewitching helix of pure movie stuff, Peter Strickland’s seething and self-conscious whatsit Berberian Sound Studio may scan as a psychological thriller, but it’s really a lavish gift to film geeks in a lovely matryoshka box. We haven’t been here before: the Italian film industry circa 1976, in that post-dubbing-craze…
Used to be to get famous in the rightwing blowhard racket, you had to have an act. Not today. Has anyone ever once thought, “Oh, I can’t wait to hear what Sean Hannity’s going to say next”? (Or “squeak next,” in Hannity’s case.) Consider this scene from the funny, arresting…
“You cannot build a business on copyright infringement,” points out Ian Rogers, the CEO of Topspin, not too long into Downloaded, director Alex Winter’s too-breezy account of Napster, the teensy app that liberated digital music, destroyed the record industry, and swallowed some $500 million worth of loans and seed money…
Rama Burshtein’s Fill the Void opens on green leaves, smiling faces, lush billows of fabric that when pieced together, the sensuous images accumulating into a fuller picture, become a wedding dress, tulle and silk diffusing the glow. Engagements, weddings, births, and deaths: This film is a more traditional kind of…
In Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, Iron Man gets off a good burn on Thor during their intramural fight in the woods: “Shakespeare in the park?” he says. “Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?” Like any good Shakespearean pastiche, The Avengers began in media res, with a glowy cube thing…
Destruction is scary, but not half as scary as the act of rebuilding, the moment of looking at the random, jagged pieces you’ve got left and wondering how the hell you’re going to fit them together. In Marc Forster’s World War Z, the world as we know it — or…
It sounds like an appealing alternative to the Valley’s summer temperatures, but “Skinny Dipping in Daylight” is the debut poetry collection from Cory Basil — who returns to his home state this week with a reading at Coronado eatery Astor House.Basil describes his work as both introspective and vulnerable. Expect…
Remember the episode of Futurama in which the characters land on a planet populated solely by giant Amazonian women? During a tour of their village, the ladies stop at a basketball court. “Here stadium, where our women basketball teams play,” they say. “We no can dunk, but good fundamentals. That…
Maybe it’s ’cause we’re Millennials and all, but we sure as shit didn’t sympathize with Metallica’s Lars Ulrich when he decided to take on/down Napster. We don’t want to be force-fed your MTV; give us the music.And, in case you hadn’t heard, that stance has had quite the effect on…
It’s common to see chartered party buses pull up to nightlife hot spots and deploy hollering bros and dolled-up divas. Scottsdale Public Art flips the script on Saturday, June 22, by gathering culture-minded passengers for IN FLUX Cycle 3 Multi-City Art Tour.IN FLUX was founded in 2010, to connect local…
Sneaking into a hotel or a residential pool in the middle of the summer is pretty much a rite of passage in Arizona. Scrambling over the fence in your underwear as security chases you down can prove risky yet exhilarating. The risk of getting caught is half the fun, but…
Cats may be the Internet sensation, but dogs are equally deserving of their own special celebration. For the people who dress their dogs in costume, pick up strays on the side of the road, and create Facebook profiles for their beloved canines, AZK9 hosts a day of drinks and discussion…
Now that the snowbirds are gone, let’s talk. Everyone can enjoy our diverse desert landscape during the cooler months, but it takes real appreciation and conditioning to practice any kind of exertion when the furnace of the gods kicks on. Hikers, bikers, and runners who are as physically and mentally…
When the sun goes down, the yoga mats come out. Sutra Midtown and the Clarendon Hotel invite you to bend and stretch in the full moon glow with an all-levels yoga class happening throughout the summer.This month’s Lunar Flow session will feature instruction by Christian O’Connell and beats by DJ…
It may be a trek up to Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North, but the panoramic views from the resort’s restaurant Talavera are worth the investment. On Sunday, June 23, Four Seasons Executive Chef Mel Mecinas joins forces with James Beard Award-nominated chef Kevin Binkley to offer Taste Talavera,…
The Arizona Diamondbacks have had plenty of good seasons, but their successes always seem to be fleeting. An NL West title in 1999 was followed by a mediocre 2000, the team that won the World Series in 2001 was a bottom dweller by 2003, the run to the 2007 NLCS…
