Two things in life make us want to spit: 1) drivers who cut into our lane without signaling and 2) pop-ups on the Net. One that’s particularly galling is an azcentral.com survey that stops you from reading further without answering a bunch of questions. Well, we’re not ashamed to say…

You’ll laugh – or choke – when we opine that summer is Phoenix’s best season. There’s the snowbird/tourist exodus, the cheap resort rates, the great sunsets, the deserted hiking/biking trails, and, not least, the weather. For nine months a year, we have none, so a rippin’ monsoon burst is as…

Stomp! Shout! Scream!: Saturday, August 2, at Space 55 Prêt-à-Porter: Sunday, August 3, at Phoenix Art Museum By Clay McNear Some people — okay, me — would classify Gidget as a monster movie. No, Sandra Dee was not the Devil and Moondoggie wasn’t her slavering hellhound, but their 1959 flick…

The scenery-chewing fiends in Robert Altman’s Prêt-à-Porter (1994) are beautiful creatures with perfectly manicured claws — i.e. the models, designers, and all-purpose rogues who frequent Paris’ Fashion Week. Shot on location at the Carrousel du Louvre and other City of Light locales, Prêt-à-Porter was Altman’s attempt to satirize the petty,…

Some people — okay, us — would classify Gidget as a monster movie. No, Sandra Dee was not the Devil and Moondoggie wasn’t her slavering hellhound, but their 1959 flick ushered in the frightful genre known as the beach-party movie. Now, Gidget was foul, but it was at least digestible…

We were in our shrink’s waiting room when we read about the Guggenheim’s current retrospective of Louise Bourgeois’ career. The loony-bin setting was perfect, because this old broad is certifiable – and fucking great. More serendipitous still, we’d just seen The Mist, Frank Darabont’s third film based on a Stephen…

We suffer our share of PR come-ons, and as a rule, we place them on par with the hissing cockroach. The Bobcat 50 Years Unleashed North American Road Tour, however, is one of the most endearing idiotic notions we’ve encountered. Who, other than those starry-eyed romantics in the heavy-construction industry,…

Hoops season was a bust. The Diamondbacks have been struggling mightily. The Coyotes . . . who the hell cares? Thank God it’s time for Arizona Cardinals Training Camp 2008. Our perennial laughingstocks – who’ve won a pitiful total of one playoff game in 61 years – have long been…

Because they make no claim to anything beyond exploitation, there’s really not much you need to know about the chicken-fried clunkers of the Hillbilly Double Feature. Here are the lowlights: The first flick, 1976’s Dixie Dynamite, is about a pair of sisters who set out to avenge their murdered moonshiner…

Before we get to the macho stuff, we must give a small shout-out to 1130 The Restaurant, still the best thing that’s happened to Arizona Center since about 1990. Or since the last Miss Hooters contest. Now, the macho stuff. While it can’t compete with a bunch of big-boobed blondes…

Though we hate to generalize, we must in the case of those bodice-ripping potboilers called suspense novels. Generally speaking, they suck. Ours is not a time of giants like Greene, Hammett, Cain, and du Maurier. It’s an age of runts like Ludlum, Koontz, Follett, and Perry. Blah. As a writer,…

Coco Mitchell’s “Off the Runway: Behind the Scenes at Chado Ralph Rucci” talk: Tuesday, July 15, at Phoenix Art Museum By Clay McNear Coco Mitchell is 48. She’s a model. This doesn’t compute. Mitchell freely gives her age on her Web site (Coco Mitchell). She’s twice as old as your…

Missed the Phoenix Mercury during the Olympic break? Jonesing for some women’s basketball on account of all of that sweet balling in Beijing? Then you can totally score when the Mercury hosts the San Antonio Silver Stars at U.S. Airways Center in the Merc’s first home game after the Olympics…

Indian jewelry is one of the Southwest’s signature art forms, and one of the loveliest. Unfortunately, even the best of it’s often lumped in with the Native dreck hawked at roadside stands and retail stores. Discerning jewelry-philes haunt the Heard Museum, both as a place to shop for genuine, topflight…

The Castles -n- Coasters Summer Fun Days promotion is a smoking deal — if you don’t spontaneously combust. We’re just tossin’ out a caveat emptor, ’cause you should know up front that your $15 buys unlimited rides on the theme park’s attractions, plus a free round of mini-golf, all of…

Telling people they should hike in 115-degree heat is like plopping the London Bridge in the middle of some podunk Arizona town. Oh. Right. That hiking hard-sell is at the core of the “Beat the Heat” Strategies Hike. During the two-miler on the Blevins Trail, a ranger will offer “practical…

Mark Mothersbaugh’s “Beautiful Mutants” reception: 6 p.m. to midnight Friday, July 4, at Perihelion Arts By Clay McNear Mark Mothersbaugh lives a symmetrical life of wild extremes. Consider: • He’s was born and still lives in Akron, Ohio – all-American birthplace of the rubber tire, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the soap-box…

Mark Mothersbaugh lives a symmetrical life of wild extremes. Consider: • He’s was born and still lives in Akron, Ohio – all-American birthplace of the rubber tire, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the soap-box derby – but made his name as frontman for the band Devo, which posited that mankind was digressing…