I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve made some downright stupid decisions with money in my time. When I was 15, I saved up to buy a stereo. Now, this was circa 1996 so I shelled out for a fancy 3-disc changer that I bought from Costco, of all places.It…
If you’ve been reading Up on the Sun or paying any attention to the local music scene, this image should look familiar. It’s the first thing you see when you visit the MySpace page of the Phoenix band, Miniature Tigers.And it’s an original work by Rick Alvin Schaier, the band’s…
Multi-media artist Angela Ellsworth never, ever disappoints me. And just when I think she can’t outdo herself, she proves me wrong. Her aesthetic coup this time can be seen in “Angela Ellsworth: Underpinnings” at Lisa Sette Gallery in Scottsdale. And it’s one for the books. It was during the ridiculously…
Ari Folman’s broodingly original Waltz with Bashir is a documentary that seems only possible, not to mention bearable, as an animated feature. Folman, whose magic realist youth film Saint Clara was one of the outstanding Israeli films of the 1990s, has created a grim, deeply personal phantasmagoria around the 1982…
What is the shape and size of a human soul? Does it look like a chickpea? A gumdrop? A pet rock? And if you could somehow extract your soul from your body, what would be left? Would you still be you? These are among the concerns taken up by writer-director…
Brendan “Kids’ Choice” Fraser returns to the multiplex daycare as “Mo” Folchart, antiquarian-book-repairman-cum-adventurer. In Inkheart’s opening chapter, he’s identified as a member of a race of “Silvertongues” — those who, when they read aloud, can suck people out of and into the texts from which they’re reciting. Mo has abstained…
When my friend Michele and I were teenagers, her mother had a totally cool boyfriend. Steve was ripped from the pages of Hip Swinger magazine: Bell bottoms, puka shells, Nik-Nik shirts. He had shiny, black, feathered hair, impossibly white teeth, and — long before it was faddish — a home…
I’m currently residing in the land of the not-very-thrilled-to-be-single and I think it’s on account of a New Year’s resolution I made a few years ago. On the afternoon of January 1 several years ago, I decided that I wouldn’t, under any circumstance, date a woman who likes the rock…
Resolutions have never been my thing, mainly because I’m a compulsive liar — especially to myself. I’ll tell myself on New Year’s Eve, “Self, this is the year we lose 50 pounds,” and even as I’m making the vow, I’m reaching for the cheesecake, because I feel such guilt over…
The most degrading moment in my life was when a peanut bounced off my head in a bar. It led to the only resolution I can remember actually sticking to. Teakwoods was a great bar. Sports were on, food was served late, and drinks were cheap. It was close to…
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with truth. As an only child with a vivid imagination, lying came easy. By junior high, I was an expert forger, using carbon paper and an old typewriter to change report card grades and signing permission slips as if they were faux Van Goghs…
Last year, for once, I really had a resolution for the New Year, and I had to find a way to make it stick. It was not the kind of resolution you bring up in casual conversation. I resolved to devote more time to my faith life. As a practicing…
It was the perfect storm: Christmas, a Target Visa card, and a coupon worth 10 percent off my entire purchase. I set off one crisp November morning with the best intentions — to get an early jump on my Christmas shopping and save a few bucks in the process. What…
The tough Valley chicks take on the babes from the beach. Sat., Jan. 24, 7 p.m., 2009…
Take that slinky thang out of the closet and take it out on the town for this Raven Events-sponsored do featuring music, dancing, food, and drink specials. Sat., Jan. 24, 8 p.m.-2 a.m., 2009…
The experimental, multimedia presentation by Backwards Theatre explores the concept of life after death — or, as the folks at this “cultural laboratory” put it, “the longest long distance call to somebody we could ever make.” Sat., Jan. 24, 8 p.m., 2009…
Every time one of my friends starts thinking about cheating on her boyfriend or husband, she calls me. With good reason. I’ve been there, and I’ve done that. My friends know I’d never judge them. But it’s funny how predictable my advice has become. “I don’t know what to do,”…
Left to my own motivation, I don’t tend to follow through on things I decide to start doing. My legs don’t get tan (1973); I don’t exercise (1994-present); I don’t tweak the script of my one-woman show (2004-present). I haven’t learned to fly. In junior high, I thought if I…
It’s easy being “green” in Phoenix, from xeriscaping and carrying chic reusable grocery bags to giving up meat for good. After I had tipped the scales at almost 400 pounds and admitted to a massive daily intake of soda, cigarettes, and fast food, the physician wasn’t pleased. “If you don’t make…
Promises, promises. It’s almost the end of January. How many resolutions have you broken so far in 2009? This year, we resolved to tell you only the stories of personal promises kept. I’ll begin with my own. Last August, I resolved to complete a marathon. I’d never done such a…
We like to hike at night, but last time out, we’re pretty sure we saw a zombie gnawing on some fresh man meat. Or it could’ve been a rock formation. At any rate, if you have any sort of qualms about the dark, don’t go on this kinda-creepy pitch-black trip…
We have some pretty sick fantasies, but none ever centered on staring at the night sky through a telescope, especially when it’s freezing out. Undaunted hat- and scarf-wearers and general-punishment gluttons can rendezvous at the secluded Estrella Mountain Regional Park for the Dark Sky Telescope Hike, a 3.7-mile jaunt up…
