2007’s been a rough year for D.L. Hughley. His co-starring spot on the Aaron Sorkin experiment Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip evaporated after the once-applauded but bizarrely boring show was canceled. Then, later in the summer, he was hated on by protesters for a joke made in the aftermath…
If the word “karate” ever passes through the shallows of your mind and you think of Bruce Lee, wax-on/wax-off, Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, or David Carradine, you’re seriously guilty of skewing the sacred practice of martial arts, grasshopper. Our suggestion? Check out the 43rd annual Western States Karate…
Like his films, the songs of actor-cum-musician Jeff Daniels range from the sublime to the preposterous. First, the characters. The frumpled, hapless dirtbag Flap Horton in Terms of Endearment. The strait-laced businessman who’s taken for a violent joy ride in Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild. The mustachio’d citizen-soldier Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain…
The competition will be fast and furious at this weekend’s Pharaoh Step Classic event. Members of ASU’s Mu Eta Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity will pit their skills at “stepping” — a synchronized and percussive form of dancing incorporating chanting, stomping, clapping, and other rhythmic movements that’s been…
It’s tough to admit, but we all share an indecent love of light rock. For years, we’ve been hiding our KEZ listening habits, and we’ve even cried to “Delilah.” We downloaded The Essential Daryl Hall & John Oates just to avoid embarrassment at the record store. Our advice? Embrace it…
Paintings by Xiao Shunzhi at Calvin Charles Gallery: After a few hours of viewing art, it sometimes feels as if Ive rubbed my eyeballs with sandpaper. The visual wear makes everything blurry, and the only thing that brings focus back is seeing something truly excellent. Such was the case when…
I have a vague childhood memory of being in an art museum while on vacation with my family. I don’t know where we were, but I remember approaching an old oil painting and sneakily running my finger over the rough, cracked texture of the dried pigment. I sort of knew…
Alas, there’s only so much you can do with talking bugs that hasn’t already been covered in A Bug’s Life, Antz, and The Ant Bully — though hooking up Seinfeld’s buzzed-cut Barry B. Benson with a hottie human voiced by Renée Zellweger is a first, sort of a new spin…
American Gangster is a movie with obvious gravitas and a familiar argument: Organized crime is outsider capitalism. As archetypal as its title, Ridley Scott’s would-be epic aspires to enshrine Harlem dope king Frank Lucas in Hollywood heaven, heir to Scarface and the Godfather. Or, as suggested by the Mark Jacobson…
John Cusack, who more or less began his career sneaking a peek at Molly Ringwald’s panties in Sixteen Candles, has finally become an onscreen daddy — took only, what, 23 years? But he’s not exactly the most fortunate family man in film: First, in Martian Child he plays a widower…
Too often, looking at sculpture — spying on a silent figure unaware of our voyeurism — is a static endeavor. But the blown glass and multimedia sculptures in “Figurate Esto,” influenced by Catholicism, American consumerism, and Mexican folk art, are much more engaging. In many ways, the works by brothers…
It must’ve been a scorching summer day when the game developer stared at his thermometer and realized: “Sweet sassy molassey, this would make a helluva game!” How else to explain the existence of the quirky puzzle series Mercury Meltdown? Debuting on the PSP, the original Mercury Meltdown turned Marble Madness…
No End in Sight (Magnolia) Charles Ferguson’s debut doc, easily the most important in a year full of notable fact-gathering films, assembles some of the key players behind the invasion and occupation of Iraq and seems to ask them but one question: “What went wrong?” In short: Everything. But Ferguson’s…
The Amicus Collection (Dark Sky) Angel: Complete Series Collector’s Set (Fox) Beastie Boys: The Complete Story (Video Music) Benny Hill: The Complete Megaset (A&E) A Christmas Story (Warner Bros.) CSI Miami: The Fifth Season (Paramount) The Cup (Festival Media) Day Watch (Fox) Dear Jesse (Sovereign) The Devil Came on Horseback…
“I hope people ask me, ‘Where did you find that local actress?'” Ben Affleck told Amy Ryan when he cast her as a wreck of a single mother in his directing debut, Gone Baby Gone. When Ryan showed up on the Boston set in ratty hair, muddy makeup, and a…
Rick McCallum had nothing to do with the original Star Wars. He was just 23 years old when it was released in 1977 and chasing his first job in the film industry. So, please, don’t age him unnecessarily: “I’m portrayed as 70 years old on the Internet because somebody thinks…
The Phoenix Suns will pocket this year’s Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy if: • Steve Nash grows his hair back • Shawn Marion gets over his I’m-sick-of-being-trade-bait self and plays up to his obscene salary • Coach Mike D’Antoni gets over his I’m-sick-of-being-second-guessed self and goes to the bench now and…
Remember the theater kids – er, thespians – in high school? Sure, they seemed cool at first. But after about 10 minutes of listening to them sing their lame Broadway songs in the halls and witnessing their overdone screaming fights during lunch hour, it was clear that these kids were…
Man-versus-machine interactions rarely end well for either side (witness Space Odyssey’s HAL 9000 or any Borg from Star Trek), unless the unique nature of each form is put to collaborative effect as a kind of mutual cooperation. (Witness Transformers.) Such was the thinking, perhaps, of a few California photographers in…
Say the words “top secret” and it’s a green light for spilling the beans. Look at Deep Throat, who leaked scandalous government secrets, or La Toya Jackson, who freed all the Jackson family skeletons. So you really can’t blame L.A.’s acclaimed radio-theater company Theatre Works for presenting Top Secret: The…
We’re not sure if it’s the wicked beats by DJ Senbad, the upstairs outdoor-patio ambiance in the middle of the city, the lovely and vivacious hostess, or the hot tail in attendance, but we’re mos’ definitely hooked on Solstice Saturday. The weekly shindig represents with a hedonistic heaven filled with…
Those with a penchant for driving two-wheeled contraptions over four-wheel terrain should check out the Dust Devil Mountain Bike Series Race. Registration precedes at 6:30. Sat., Nov. 3, 8 a.m., 2007…
