“Hey, Joe, we’re thinking of having some people over to play games,” your friend says. Sounds great, you think. You work up the courage to go, stretching outside of that awkward personal bubble you’ve fortified. You even work up the nerve to use some mouthwash. You might even shower. Hey,…
With the summer just a few page turns of the calendar away, comic book publishers are starting to preview their upcoming events and high-profile launches. And while variant covers and overpaid pencillers might trick you into forking over some of those hard-earned dollars, sometimes it’s hard to find that particular…
Batman v. Superman isn’t necessarily a horrible film. Stay with us here. Yes, it’s bad. But, no, it’s not horrible. There are things to like, even if you didn’t enjoy Man of Steel and think Ben Affleck is still a weird choice to play Batman. The action and pure CGI porn…
Between Stephenie Meyer and Diana Gabaldon, Phoenix has produced a pair of writing superstars who dominate the charts with everything they release. You may not like sparkly vampires or kilted Scottish lovers, but there is no denying the impact these two authors have had on speculative fiction. But Phoenix also…
Sometimes in fantasy novels, less is more. Sure, there’s nothing like getting lost in a series of 10 or 20 books filled with magic and wonder. But it’s also nice not devoting the better part of a year to finishing them. Which makes Brian Staveley’s “Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne”…
Nail art may be today’s mosaic, and nail artists the new impressionists. We may be a tad dramatic, but just take a look at nail artist Sarah Waite of Chalkboard Nails. Go there now; we’ll give you a minute. Impressive, we know. Years ago, Waite was browsing the Internet at…
Fellow nerds, let us begin by saying: We know your pain. We know you must be going through a lot right now. The release of Batman v Superman has been hard on all of us. We can only accept the fate we’ve been given and move on. Should you need…
Some big changes are in store for Phoenix Comicon’s annual Fan Fest, which might come as good news to many local geeks. Plans are in the works to move the event – a smaller and more family-friendly spin-off of Phoenix Comicon that takes place in December at University of Phoenix…
You’ve probably noticed the flowers blooming a little brighter and the birds singing a little louder. The cool breeze is coming through the window, and there’s the slight urge to roll up your window at a stoplight upon hearing the music coming from the car next to you. Spring’s here…
Lord of the Rings fans of Arizona, prepare thyselves: the actor who played one of the most famed hobbits of Middle Earth will be making a trek to the Valley in June. And he’s eager to meet you. Actor Sean Astin, who starred as Samwise Gamgee in the LOTR cinematic…
New Times picks the best things to do in metro Phoenix from March 28 to 31. Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage It was never just the allure of traveling through space, fist-fighting ugly aliens, and having sex with green women. It wasn’t just Kirk or Picard or Worf or even Seven-of-Nine…
Yes, Phoenix is the sixth largest city in the country. But that doesn’t mean it’s lost touch with its Wild West heritage, horse ranches, ghost towns, and saloons. We’ve traveled to every corner of the Valley and found iconic places to experience the Old West across town – from the…
What’s Negan’s deal anyway?
Whether you’re an avid hiker, cyclist, trail runner, or climber, or a novice to the outdoorsy scene, proper gear is important. The terrain is especially diverse here in Arizona, meaning you might need different gear depending on where, how far, and what time of the year you are hiking. Preparation…
Ah, tourists. In Phoenix, we’ll be hardpressed to point out a tourist at any given theater, museum, or cultural center — we’re all wearing T-shirts and shorts, most of us are taking pictures and instagramming anything that moves, and no matter how many times we say we’ve acclimated, there’s not…
You’ve been patient. The fifth book in George R.R. Martin’s bloody “Song of Ice and Fire,” A Dance with Dragons, hit bookstores shortly after the Game of Thrones TV series started in 2011. Surely, you thought, there’s no way the show will catch up to the books. It couldn’t take Martin…
You’d probably never guess which world records were set in Arizona.From the interesting, to the cool, to the just plain weird, we bring you our picks of 10 world records set in Arizona, as verified by Guinness World Records:…
New Times picks the best things to do in metro Phoenix from Friday, March 11, to Sunday, March 13. Stupid Fucking Bird Stray Cat Theatre has roamed a gauntlet of Valley venues this season, preparing for residency at Tempe Center for the Arts starting later this year. Just so you don’t get…
Frankenstein is, arguably, the greatest of all monsters. There’s a sense in which the very name “Frankenstein,” applied not to the scientist but to his creation, has become virtually a synonym for “monster,” for something created but uncontrollable, something that destroys its maker, something grotesquely out of place in the…
It’s spring break in Tucson, and while students are off to exotic locales for a week of drunken debauchery, bookworms from across the country are descending on the University of Arizona for a different kind of party. The annual Tucson Festival of Books runs Saturday and Sunday, March 12 and…
When fans and followers of the Stargate franchise step through the center of Ilan Averbuch’s stone sculpture Landmark at the Central Avenue and Camelback Road light rail station, there’s a chance they’re fantasizing about traveling to distant worlds to fight aliens such as the Goa’uld and Ori. They’re not going bonkers…
It’s bad enough that spring has once again reneged on its scheduled appearance; that Cher has cancelled her latest farewell tour; that the Stones have limited their summer concerts to Latin American cities only. Phoenix will just have to make due with Casper’s Nap Tour, which stops here this week…
