“This is the best-kept secret,” Bill Konigsberg says. The award-winning young-adult author, who recently received both a Stonewall Book Award and a PEN Center USA Award for his YA novel, The Porcupine of Truth, is referring to Your Novel Year, the only online certificate program in the country for those looking to…
Like the rambling fixer-upper at its heart, Merchant Ivory’s Howards End has aged quite well, and not just because of the brightened-up 4K restoration from Cohen Media Group. It’s brisk and funny, prim but open-minded, testy about pomposity even as it exemplifies what once was the most pompous of all…
Don’t ever make the mistake of dismissing James Ivory’s E.M. Forster adaptation Howards End as a mere “costume drama.” Yes, the characters wear corsets and evening suits and talk through manners and inheritance. But in its own way, Ivory’s film — which has been newly restored and is being re-released…
Those lucky enough to be considered gorgeous by a large number of people — and talented enough to actually make it as a model — are pretty #blessed. But the reality is those careers rarely last past age 29. That is of course, unless you manage to spin your modeling career into an…
New Times’ Best of Phoenix is out now. Here’s our list of the best festivals. Best Film Festival: Phoenix Film Festival The Phoenix Film Festival isn’t where you go to see big blockbusters. Instead, it offers films just on the cusp of breaking out, indie comedies, weird horror, documentaries, television…
Name a Phoenix-area family that’s competing on Family Feud this week. Stumped? Survey says it’s time to meet the Saretskys. Cave Creek residents Marilyn and Robert Saretsky along with their daughters Erika and Randi — and Randi’s husband Vade Pierce — will appear on a new episode of the long-running game…
New Times’ Best of Phoenix is out now. Here’s our list of the best places to shop in the Valley. Best Shopping Event of the Year: Crafeteria We know it’s officially winter when it’s finally time to put on a scarf, park at the AJ’s on Central Avenue and Camelback…
Horror movies and sexuality go together like peanut butter and jelly (or blindfolds and fuzzy handcuffs, depending on who you ask). Although there have been plenty of truly terrible nudity-laden slasher movies, there are also more than enough great ones to keep the combination alive for many movie-going generations to…
WARNING: Spoilers for both the book and film versions of The Girl on the Train ahead. Get off at this stop if you want to avoid the surprises. In 2015, Paula Hawkins released the wildly successful novel, The Girl on the Train. Millions of copies were sold of the psychological…
Now in its 17th year, the annual “Chaos Theory” exhibition at Legend City Studios brings together a significant number of Phoenix-area artists for a single-night exhibition that’s become a staple of the local arts scene. This year’s exhibition, held Friday, October 7, continued that tradition. It featured nearly 80 artists invited…
Looking for the best things to do in metro Phoenix from Monday, October 10, through Sunday, October 16? The Valley’s offerings include a celebration of our newfound Indigenous Peoples Day, an opportunity for True Blood fans to freak out (just a little bit), the return of Phoenix Fashion Week. For more, see…
Look, I’m not here to brag. I’m really not. I’m actually a very humble person. In fact, I was fine foregoing the ostentatious — and dare I say, archaic — expense of a wedding. For me, a simple courthouse ceremony would have been enough because I don’t need a fancy…
The 2016 edition of New Times’ Best of Phoenix is out now. Here’s our list of the best art and artists the Valley has to offer. Best Art Gallery: Lisa Sette Gallery Designed by Midcentury Modern architect Al Beadle, this semi-subterranean gallery wrapped in a white scrim beautifully backlit at…
“As it always happens in the Chris Guest movies, we really don’t talk to each other before we get to set,” Jane Lynch says, explaining how she creates her menagerie of characters, specifically Gabby Monkhouse from Guest’s newest mockumentary, Mascots. “A couple months before, I got a call from Chris,…
Christopher Guest’s films mostly deal with passionate but ordinary people who aspire to positions of status within strange little subcultures: mid-century folk music, dog shows, community theater or, in the case of his new mockumentary, Mascots, the world of sports-mascot competitions. In the alternate universe of Guest’s first film in…
There’s plenty of time to wonder, as J.K. Simmons narrates page after page of backstory, whether the creators of The Accountant realized that their dutifully twisty R-rated thriller was actually another superhero story. Yes, it’s got trappings of psychology and adult thoughtfulness, speeches about the mysteries of the brain and…
Here’s what matters most: You will laugh. Kevin Hart on a stage before thousands, yapping for more than an hour? I don’t care what kind of miserable killjoy you are, you’re going to laugh. There are two reasons you might be offended — you may find the material either too…
When a quiet film is set outside of the big cities, it’s often called a “slice of life.” But that’s ultimately a condescending designation; to the millions of people residing on the prairies and in the small towns dotting the throughways, it is simply life, with a capital “L.” In…
The Valley is drawing design professionals from across the country to the Phoenix Convention Center and other spots throughout town for the 2016 Phoenix Design Week, held October 21 to 28, and featuring the Method+Madness Conference. Founded by Lost Creature in 2009 and now presented by AIGA Arizona, PHXDW 2016…
Valley verse-makers can now apply to be Phoenix’s first poet laureate. The new position provides an annual stipend of $2,500, but is otherwise a volunteer gig with the goals of capturing Phoenix culture and creating a wider appreciation for poetry throughout metro Phoenix. “Poetry, like all of the arts, has…
New Times’ Best of Phoenix is out now. Here’s our list of the best border-inspired art and artists. Best Border-Related Museum Exhibition: “Landlocked” by Miguel Angel Ríos Between the latter days of MTV music videos and early days of Periscope livestreaming, Mexico-based artist Miguel Angel Ríos picked up a video…
Halloween is Monday, October 31, but don’t worry. That only means you have a whole weekend to celebrate. You’ve got your costume ready, right? Now’s the time to plan where you’ll be on (or leading up to) the most frightening night of the year. Not sure where to begin? Well,…
