If all escape routes out of town seem to be closing for you right now, don’t worry — you can get away mentally without ever leaving the Valley. While the tourism industry booms in Phoenix in the winter and spring, many great resorts and hotels lure locals during the summer…
All right, geeks. It’s time for a Game of Thrones throwdown. On Saturday, June 14, Denver-based national pub quiz producer Geeks Who Drink hosts its second Game of Thrones pub quiz. The “Fire Cannot Kill a Quizmaster” trivia event will take place in select bars throughout the U.S. including Arizona’s…
For all the Fox News fear-mongering that Hollywood is out to indoctrinate us with liberal values, when it comes to pregnancy, the movies have for years been curiously conservative. If a woman gets knocked up, she either loses the baby by accident (cue waterworks) or carries it to term (cue…
If you ever have days when you prefer animals to human beings, How to Train Your Dragon 2 is your kind of movie. In some ways, the second entry in this animated franchise is inferior to the first, released in 2010: The plot is needlessly busy, and much of the…
When Lindsey Michaelree spoke, you could tell she was slightly nervous. In a floor-length black and white dress, her short blonde hair pulled away from her face, she pitched her plan. And as she continued her voice became stronger. Louder. Impassioned. The nerves were understandable — Michaelree was one of…
It’s summertime, and that means it’s hopelessly hot outside. Which, in turn, means we want to stay inside. That may soon change because businesses along Roosevelt Row are looking to lure you away from the comfort of your air conditioning with “Vampire Hours” this summer. These extended nighttime hours will…
Dear old dad. He may not get the same credit mothers do, but more often than not he’s just as important in your life: from teaching you how to drive to shelling out cash almost as often as he tells stories. President Richard Nixon declared Father’s Day a nationwide holiday…
First Friday heats up tonight with creative works going up all over the city. Here are our picks for shows not to miss this evening. Bassim Al-Shaker Bassim Al-Shaker garnered international recognition last summer when the New York Times ran a profile on the Iraqi artist, who came to Arizona…
Nerd-outs, pop-ups, and a pair films fit for a queen round out this weekend’s top picks. Phoenix Comicon Gear up in your best Sherlock cosplay and prepare to bask in the geeky glory of Phoenix’s premier nerd culture event: Phoenix Comicon. Each year, the event grows bigger and bigger with…
Phoenix is brimming with creativity. And every other year, we put the spotlight on 100 of the city’s creative forces. Leading up to the release of this year’s Best of Phoenix issue, we’re profiling 100 more. Welcome to the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives. Up today: 78. Levi Christiansen. Spare,…
Make way for some seriously nerdtastic nightlife, Tempe. Plans to build a gaming bar, or “barcade,” is currently in the works thanks to Arizona State University alum Ryan Scott, and his geeky co-founders Nikki DelRosso and Mike Goosens. The predominantly console-based entertainment venue, named Endgame, is currently being funded online…
Arizona United Soccer Club is making comeback that will go down in Arizona soccer history. From finishing at the bottom of the pack during the soccer team’s inaugural season last year as the Phoenix FC Wolves to changes in ownership and a complete turnaround of operations and players, the sophomore…
Downtown Phoenix is about to transform into a geek wonderland over the next 96 hours, both during the day and especially at night. That’s because Phoenix Comicon has become a round-the-clock experience with the actual convention and its related programming occupying everyone’s attention when the sun is out, and a…
Bushwick Open Studios represents the next wave of the New York art scene, shining a light for one weekend on the studios, galleries, and art spaces which make up its up-and-coming Bushwick neighborhood. In visiting New York for the first time, I found myself working through the heart of this…
Courting Disaster is Jackalope Ranch’s weekly column of dating horror stories, observations, how-tos, and more by Katie Johnson. Names of ex-boyfriends, past hookups, and bad blind dates have been changed to protect the guilty. Oh, the breakup. Whether it goes down like a smooth operator or a jagged little pill,…
Phoenix is brimming with creativity. And every other year, we put the spotlight on 100 of the city’s creative forces. Leading up to the release of this year’s Best of Phoenix issue, we’re profiling 100 more. Welcome to the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives. Up today: 79. Lauren Strohacker. You…
Looks like suits aren’t the only new addition to the Scottsdale Quarter. High-end doll retailers and Mattel syndicate, American Girl announced on Wednesday, June 4, that it’s opening up its 16th experiential store in the North Scottsdale shopping center in late summer of 2015. Parents of small children, you’ve been…
To the uninitiated, they’re murals — at first glance, a pair of giant rainbows of latex paint on the walls of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. But James Marshall’s Shift and Radiate, the new installations at SMoCA that commence at the museum’s entrance and pull us both into and…
The Chateau Marmont is a beautiful anomaly. It’s an old Hollywood building in a town of youth worshipers, a quiet refuge and a party palace, and a luxurious spot that thrives on bohemian vibes. Make a slight right heading west on Sunset Boulevard and, suddenly, you’re somewhere else. The strip…
Start out an ugly American who thinks France is a “once in a lifetime” destination and not a place where a freelance writer and a music teacher can afford to buy property. Smile and nod when your spouse returns from a trip abroad and announces, “We must own a house…
Whenever Lynyrd Skynyrd’s drifter song comes on the car radio, I scream along: “They call me the breeze; I keep blowin’ down the road.” My son, Nate, if he’s in the passenger seat, howls, partly because I thought for years (until he set me straight) that the lyrics were, “They…
Hey Phoenix — get out of town! No, really, we mean it. What are you still doing here? It’s June, it’s hot, and the forecast calls for more of the same till, oh, November. If you can’t go anywhere, at least you can get lost in the pages of New…
