How many times have you put off your Halloween costume and end up throwing on some zombie makeup or cat ears (or both) at the last minute? Daniel “Steam Crow” Davis, don of all things spooky and fun, wants to restore honor to the fine art of celebrating All Hallows’…
We may not witness the traditional signs of autumn here, but we sure as hell know when summer is over. When our nighttime temps drop and the asphalt and concrete radiate heat less intensely after dark, fall in Phoenix has arrived. Celebrate taking back the nights with an outdoor flick…
Rappers might have furthered the multi-pronged hustle of stepping out of music to pursue careeers in TV and film, but comedian Anjelah Johnson is flipping the script right back. The MADtv alum steps to the mic at Stand Up Live this Friday, September 7. The one-time Oakland Raiderette cheerleader works…
While the wily and costume-centric action-adventure films and television shows imported from Japan and Hong Kong (a.k.a. tokusatsu) may include subtitles or be dubbed in English, their best feature is how they communicate tales of valor in a language we can all understand: ass-kicking. Tokusatsu Theater focuses on a potpourri…
Superhero costuming has come a long way since the days of clothespinning a towel to your back as a cape. The cadre of cosplayers known as the Arizona Avengers don pretty detailed duds, but they’ll be helping comics fans of all ages get back to the basics on Superhero Saturday…
Usually motocross is all about individuals ripping through dirt and vying for hard-fought glory. On Saturday, August 18, Arizona’s motocross community comes together to commemorate the passing of one of their own. Speedworld Motocross Park has hosted its annual Beat the Heat summer motocross series since May, where once a…
With all of the distractions at the movie theater — people jawing on phones, crying toddlers, noisy snack scarfings — it’s a joy to hear people shout a well-timed zing at the silver screen. The masterful wiseacres of RiffTrax will get beamed across the country on Thursday, August 16, to…
The Avengers kicked on-screen ass earlier this summer, but if you’re the kind of sadist who’d love to pummel Captain America, Iron Man, and the Hulk, then Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 might be more your thing. The latest edition of the fighting-focused video game series is of the three…
Big Lie About Phoenix number one is that the city has no history. You only have to spend a few minutes around hip valley historian Marshall Shore to dispel that notion. The sharp-dressed, bespectacled font of local knowledge regularly dispenses facts about the quirky nature of our fair city, and…
It’s pretty lame that the music and film industries have hijacked the word “pirate” to wag fingers. There’s no way that nabbing a Game of Thrones torrent compares to actual high seas adventures with a wily crew of scalawags. The DREAD Fleet, Phoenix’s collective of fun-loving swashbucklers, clues us in…
A team of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and MIT recently figured out how to create organ tissue with blood vessels. While the discovery’s upside could be tremendous, a viewing of National Theatre Live’s Frankenstein on Saturday, July 21, might be in order if simply to remind us of…
We were promised hoverboards. To counter the distinct lack of gravity-defying personal transportation (c’mon, scientists, get on it), there are droves of concrete-cracking warriors that work to warp their surroundings with the ballsiest of skateboard tricks. In this weekend’s Street League DC Pro Tour, 24 of the coolest cats compete…
Not since the summer of 2010, when Shakira summoned us with her siren song for the FIFA World Cup championship, has there been so much soccer in the air. The European Football Championship just wrapped up and Olympic soccer is on the way, so you might as well kick it…
Haters are gonna hate and things that go bump in the night are gonna bump. Do you crawl deeper under the covers or do you grab a flashlight and fire up the Mystery Machine? If you ain’t afraid of no ghosts, then A Midsummer Night’s Scare is right up your…
True warriors used to look directly into their enemies’ eyes before striking them down. Nowadays, Xbros hide behind screen names while lobbing frag grenades and talking smack. In contrast, ConFlagration is a gathering for gamers who keep the fight honorable with plenty of facetime. LARPing — ahem, live action role…
You can drive your dad mad with the typical Father’s Day gift that’s likely to end up buried in his closet. Or you can give your old man what he really wants: guns! The 10-day waiting period for firearm purchases makes copping a Glock for pops impractical as far as…
When there’s finally an uprising of the undead, we’d wager that those zombies are heading straight for the beach. Why? That’s the first place everyone with a deathly pallor heads to soak up some sun. With shore patrons preoccupied with hitting the waves and avoiding sand-kicking muscleheads, they’d be sitting…
Geek gatherings used to be regarded like the cantina in Star Wars: A New Hope — full of weirdos and hostile to outsiders. In a post-AOL world, people unleashed their inner nerds and with them, comic books, sci-fi, fantasy, and gaming in all its forms freely flooded into pop culture’s…
It was just last month that Dick Clark died and became America’s eternal teenager. Without American Bandstand, Clark’s propeller to stardom, it’s unlikely that John Waters could have cooked up the fictional, ’60s era television program that’s the setting for his cult classic, Hairspray, the musical adaptation of which plays…
Next week’s Phoenix Comicon is the premier event in the southwest for comic book nerds and pop culture enthusiasts. If you’re a fanboy or fangirl who can’t wait for the Memorial Day weekend geek-fiesta, the Pixel Art Show & Retro Video Game Trivia shindig at Bookmans, should whet your appetite…
Only lunkheads take seriously the rivalry between Phoenix and Tucson; two burgs with respective ups and downs as far as nightlife, culture, and sports are concerned. That said, it feels pretty good to snag an Old Pueblo mainstay like the World Fighting Federation. On May 12, the Arizona-based mixed martial…
We have some news for all you Gleeks (for those not in the know, we’re referring to those who nerd out over Fox’s hit show Glee). The good: The show is returning for a fourth season. The bad: There’s no official summer tour for the cast of the fictional William…
