Known far and wide for his coffee-table travel books (and privately for being something of a pack rat; his Silver Lake, California, home is reportedly overflowing with pole lamps and Krispy Kans and large plastic philodendrons), kitsch king Charles Phoenix is becoming even better known for his wacky comedy slide…
Mmm, December in the Valley: The distinctive aroma of brown cloud. Holiday shoppers bundled up in T-shirts and flip-flops. The rumble, rumble, clack of festive skateboards at the “Sk8 Deck the Halls” art show. “There’s going to be a huge mixture of people showing there, from all different types of…
If you’re grappling with what to do on Saturday night, if you can’t quite pin down your plans, if indecision has you in a full nelson . . . well, here’s a suggestion: Go to Chandler Cinemas for some Mexican-wrestling madness. Starting at 8pm, tireless B-picture maven Midnite Movie Mamacita…
Despise the holidays and all of its mainstream consumerism? No worries, because you can indie-shop ’til you drop during the a.ware Sale, where you can pick up one-of-a-kind artist-made books, jewelry, bags, textiles, prints, and more. Dec. 1-2, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., 2007…
Only in the good ol’ U.S. of A can a holiday about family, food, and sharing be followed up with an insane, credit-card-fueled, post-turkey day consume-a-thon like “Black Friday.” But even with that grim celebration of unbridled avarice behind us, we won’t really be out of the woods ’til those…
Gentlemen, start your vas deferens, because honeyed porn starlet Nikki Benz is hosting a Dirty Thirty party for some lucky schmuck named Lee. We’d love to talk about Benz’s smash hit Test Drive, but we just checked out the 18-plus Web site and we, uh . . . spelling …
In Bakari Kitwana’s 2003 book The Hip Hop Generation, he argued that “although hip hop has secured its place as a cultural movement, its biggest challenge lies ahead,” referring to the form’s potential as a mobilizing political force. We imagine a statement like this to be eminently quease-inducing to certain…
No one wants a mediocre death. Choking on Granny’s homemade cookies or expiring of heart failure while effing the local manatee exemplifies such a pitiable ending. We want deaths that merit orchestral soundtracks, all brass and drums. Emperor Skekso’s demise in Jim Henson’s 1982 cult film The Dark Crystal lives…
Akiane is God’s personal painter. So Akiane believes. Akiane’s 13, and some have called her a child prodigy. Perhaps that’s why Akiane has a bloated sense of self. Akiane rules. So Akiane believes. But doesn’t Akiane’s bigwig benefactor preach that “you shall not make for yourself an idol”? Weeeellll, this…
Remember when nu metal first blew up? All of a sudden, every high school burnout, slacker, and social pariah started sporting dreadlock pigtails, spooky contact lenses, and DIY accessories stolen from the local hardware store. All the kids who used to sit alone at lunch began to recognize this commonality…
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (Paramount) At last available on DVD, Eleanor Coppola’s 1991 documentary about her husband’s tumultuous trek downriver remains, easily, the best film ever about the making of a movie and unmaking of a man. Francis Ford Coppola thought he was going to spend 16 weeks…
Angel-A (Sony) The Batman: The Complete Fourth Season (Warner Bros.) Bill Maher: The Decider (HBO) Broken (First Look) Chappelle’s Show: The Series Collection (Paramount) CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: The Complete Seventh Season (Paramount) Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 (Rhino) Gene Simmons Family Jewels: The Complete Season 2 (A&E) Hairspray…
As a kid, I dreaded Sundays. Sunday meant also-ran cartoons (all the crappy animated shows that had failed the previous season seemed to end up on Sunday mornings; no child in 1971 wanted to watch The Bugaloos or The Curiosity Shop on any day — trust me) followed by the…
Literally speaking, Bob Dylan isn’t “there” in Todd Haynes’s staggering mix-tape biopic I’m Not There. Or rather, he’s everywhere and nowhere — a Heisenbergian particle whose locus shifts with our every attempt to pin him down. Of course, his words are there, in the nearly three-dozen Dylan songs that fill…
As one of what novelist Stephen King calls his Constant Readers, I was as jazzed as every other monster-lovin’ geek when word came that filmmaker Frank Darabont was making a movie of King’s classic novella, The Mist. Cynics suggested that after tanking big time with his Frank Capra homage, The…
The unsettling tone is established early in Call of Duty 4, when the president of a Middle Eastern nation is publicly executed on the world stage, and you, the player, experience the deposed leader’s final minutes through his own eyes, witnessing — through the rear window of a car —…
Dog Sees God: Subtitled Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, this irreverent, unsanctioned spoof of the Peanuts comic strip is this season’s surprise breakout. Originally slated to close last week, this turncoat cartoon has proved so popular that Stray Cat has extended the show’s run with two extra performances on the…
Altar Boyz is musical theater for people who don’t really like musical theater, although Phoenix Theatre’s excellent production, currently on display on the company’s main stage, might change some anti-musical-theater minds. The vaguely irreverent one-act is staged as a concert from fictional Catholic boy band The Altar Boyz, so its…
One might assume that a play involving two people who awaken in a strange mountaintop house surrounded by water and wearing someone else’s clothing is going to end up treacly — one of those tales with an exasperating windup involving dead people and Heaven. But when the playwright is Lee…
If there’s one product the U.S. imports from Europe in larger quantities than luxury automobiles, it’s electronic dance music. In the last decade, EDM has virtually conquered the club scenes on both continents with related genres such as techno, house, trance, industrial, drum ‘n’ bass, hardcore, electro, electronica… the list…
Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it’s good. In fact, “free” typically ranges from less than desirable to repulsive. On Tempe’s Mill Avenue, the pseudo-preachers give us free booklets that describe how we’ll burn in Hell. Awesome. In the mail, we receive free return-address labels with random company logos on…
You’ll find lots of hot ’08 wheels, pre-production prototypes, and futuristic designs at the Arizona International Auto Show. One thing you won’t see is The Homer, the infamous dud on The Simpsons that sent Homer’s half-brother to the loony bin. Thu., Nov. 22, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Nov. 23-24, 9 a.m.-10…
