An old Sesame Street ditty ("One of these things is not like the others . . .") will prove useful this Saturday, June 12, when Hamburger Mary's hosts the AIDS Walk Arizona Launch party at 5111 North Seventh Street. The myriad events at the fund raiser include Chelle's "Skirts and Flirts" Fashion Show, featuring nine female models -- plus local drag queen "Miss Gina Banks" -- who'll sashay and chantey down the runway in flirty skirts and other chic duds. "[Gina's] gonna show that anybody can wear these fashions, whether you're a girl on the outside or just a girl at heart," jokes event coordinator Gary Guerin. Don't wanna check their savoir-faire? Sample seven other acts or test your musical mettle at "Get Stoned Karaoke," but be forewarned: A lyrical lynch mob will pelt the tone-deaf with Styrofoam stones. Another of the fete's featured attractions is the "Seven Deadly Sins Auction," wherein posh prize packages focus on each vice. "Gluttony," for instance, consists of more than $1,000 worth of gift certificates from elegant eateries, such as Durant's and Furio.
Launch blasts off at noon and runs until 2 a.m. Admission is free. Call 602-265-9255 or see www.aidswalkaz.com. --Benjamin Leatherman
Anime Attraction
Anime buffet: the All-Day Anime Festival takes place on June 12.
Sat 6/12
The chibis take over the Foothills branch of the Glendale Public Library -- 19055 North 57th Avenue -- when the All-Day Anime Festival shows off its fandom on Saturday, June 12, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The festival includes anime bingo, Japanese snacks, and a Cosplay (costume play) of bishoujos and bishounens dressed as their favorite characters. For reservations (required), call 623-930-3837. --Joe Watson
Big Impression
"Brian's World" showcases disabled artist's work
6/10-6/23
Go to the Louvre, and your friends will be interested in just one of its thousands of paintings. Something about the human face, it seems, intrigues us, including artist Brian Gotfredson, who paints the people (and sometimes animals) who impress him most. The biggest difference between the 31-year-old Gotfredson and, say, Leonardo da Vinci, is that Gotfredson suffers from Pervasive Developmental Disorder, a malady similar to autism. It hasn't stopped him, though, from creating the penetrating portraits that won him 2003's "Art of Triumph" exhibition, a juried show for disabled artists. Gotfredson's oil-on-canvas works will be exhibited in "Brian's World" at Bonner David Galleries, 7040 East Main in Scottsdale, from Thursday, June 10 (with an artist's reception from 6 to 9 p.m.), through June 23. Call 480-941-8500 or visit www.bonnerdavid.com for details. --Elizabeth Exline
Friday Fare
Copper Square hosts free film fest
Fri 6/11
Instead of spacing out on Friday night reruns, get some fresh air and catch the outdoor Phoenix Film Festival Copper Square Showcase this Friday, June 11, at 8:30 p.m. True, the weather's a little warm, but imagine what you gain by experiencing culture instead of Cops. The wall of Phoenix Seed and Feed (between Second and Third streets next to Coach & Willie's) serves as a unique screen under the stars. The first series showcases the best short films from the 2004 Phoenix Film Festival, including Eric Champnella's The Old Man and the Studio and Brian and Dean Ronalds' AWOL. Admission and parking are free. For more information, call 602-254-8696. --Megan Irwin
Space Case
Science Center puts Station on display
6/12-1/1
Atkins, shmatkins. Nobody knows weight loss like NASA. Once astronauts slip the surly bonds of terra firma, they can binge on space sticks for a light-year and still weigh practically nothing. Now we earthlings can experience the heavenly state of weightlessness starting Saturday, June 12, at the Arizona Science Center's new exhibition, "International Space Station: The Earth Tour." Besides snarfing diet secrets from the stars, visitors can mock-dock the Station in a space shuttle and view real ISS-tronauts via live feed from NASA's space cam. And for an extra five bucks, voyeurs can catch the planetarium show, a 45-minute look at astronauts learning to live in a metal city hurtling through space. Admission is $9 for adults, $7 for children. Arizona Science Center explores all frontiers at 600 East Washington. For more information, call 602-716-2000 or see www.azscience.org.
--Kim Toms
'Saur Spot
Dead dinosaurs tell tales at the Mesa Southwest Museum
6/12-10-4
The next time you're hiking through the red rocks of the Moenkopi Formation in northern Arizona, watch out for the Arizonasaurus. It resembles a giant, upright crocodile with a raised fin along its spine, and it's got razor-sharp teeth for tearing apart its prey. Don't worry -- although it looks intimidating, the Arizonasaurus hasn't bitten anyone in more than 240 million years.
Though the Tyrannosaurus rex is the bad-ass dinosaur of yore, the Arizonasaurus -- featured in an exhibition at the Mesa Southwest Museum beginning Saturday, June 12 -- is rewriting the science books. One of the "ruling reptiles" of the Middle Triassic period, the Arizonasaurus looks like an enlarged, scaly bird head on a fat lizard's body. This evolutionary titter reveals an early split between crocodile and bird lineages, much earlier than archaeologists previously thought. Hmm . . . does this mean we're evolving faster, too? Check out the exhibition at 53 North Macdonald; admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, $3 for kids 3 to 12. The exhibition runs through October 4. Call 480-644-2230. --Niki D'Andrea
