A vampire slayer is one thing. But a vampire slayer replaced by a robot? Now that’s hitting close to home. With technologies both wearable and mobile constantly connecting us to screens and satellites around the globe, it seems science fiction isn’t really fiction anymore. Which is why the ASU Center…
Misha Mendicino Designs was named emerging designer of the year on Saturday, October 4, at Phoenix Fashion Week 2014 at Talking Stick Resort. Based in Phoenix, the brand creates breezy resort wear often printed with elephants. The label donates a portion of its sales to David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to…
Is it just us, or has Phoenix Fashion Week 2014 been the best edition of the event yet? Sure, there have been ugly outfits and underwhelming collections. But so far they’ve been outnumbered by thoughtful designs and higher garment quality than we’ve seen on the PFW runway in past years…
Since news broke last month that James Franco had optioned author Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Rant for the big screen, there has been a lot of speculation over whether Franco will act, direct, and/or produce the film. It looks like fans finally have a (likely) answer…
It was a slow and rocky start for Phoenix Fashion Week 2014’s opening night on Thursday, October 2, at Talking Stick Resort. But, somewhat surprisingly, the annual style event turned it around by the end of the evening with designs from Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising graduates. Emerging designers…
First Friday heats up tonight with creative works going up all over the city. Here are our picks for shows you will not want to miss this Friday. “Chaos Theory 15” Let the pandemonium ensue. The annual collaborative exhibition “Chaos Theory” is back for its 15th installment with just as…
Some people choose to do comedy. Others feel like they were born to do it. For Pauly Casillas, it might be a little of both. “Well, I’ve always been fat, so I had to be funny,” Casillas says. “I’m a fat comedian, but I’m not a fat comedian. I mean,…
A small bit of advice to the beer-loving, bike-riding crowd: You’d better keep Sunday completely free of any obligation whatsoever. Why? Because you might need it to recuperate from all the beer-loving, bike-riding fun that you’ll be getting into during Tour De Fat at Tempe Beach Park on Saturday. And…
Undead dances, a lawman documentary, and Phoenix Fashion Week are on your to-do list this weekend. A Vampire Tale Halloween’s come early this year. No, you don’t need to panic over your costume (yet). And, yes, you may use this as an excuse to binge on mini Butterfingers for the…
Hide your kids, hide your wife, and, most importantly, hide your brains because the undead are taking over Phoenix once again. The annual Downtown Phoenix Zombie Walk is making its sixth return to Heritage and Science Park on Saturday, October 25. In past years, organizers of the community event have…
We’ve already rounded up our top picks for theater, comedy, visual art, and creative workshops this fall in Phoenix. Now, from ballet and contemporary dance to festivals and reimagined classics, here are this season’s must-see dance productions. A Vampire Tale Phoenix Theatre October 2 through October 10 Scorpius Dance Theatre’s…
Alan Scherstuhl and Stephanie Zacharek of the Village Voice, along with LA Weekly’s Amy Nicholson, talk about one of the big movies of the year, Gone Girl, which opens in about 3,000 U.S. theaters on Friday, but the trio also makes room for lesser-known films like The Blue Room, Men,…
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. There are many forms of art to experience on First Friday in downtown Phoenix: visual art,…
On a warm Wednesday night in June, a hip, young crowd formed a long line along 26th Street in Manhattan. They laughed among themselves, eyed the number of people in front of them, and clutched their blue ticket stubs to AIDY/TAMI/SPO, a sold-out three-woman show at Upright Citizens Brigade. Billed…
HomeBase Poetry has a new home base. The local organization, which has been hosting poetry open mics on the first Sunday of the month for more than five years, has left the downtown Phoenix Renaissance Hotel and moved north to the Sheraton Crescent off Dunlap Avenue and the Black Canyon…
Everything about Gone Girl, David Fincher’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s enormously popular 2012 thriller about a deteriorating marriage and a wife gone missing, is precise and thoughtful — it’s as well planned as the perfect murder, with its share of vicious, shivery delights. But at the end of the perfect…
In one Nick Cave song, a pedophiliac outlaw caps a murder spree by killing the devil himself. In another, the narrator muses on Miley Cyrus while seeking the “God particle” down a boulevard lined with burning trees. Cave is fluent in apocalyptic imagery and the Bible; his songs are filled…
Surprisingly moving for a film assembled from such familiar scenes, Craig Johnson’s The Skeleton Twins mushes together queasy/quirky indie family drama with the beats of a romantic comedy. You know the outline just from eyeballing the poster: Kristen Wiig’s Maggie and Bill Hader’s Milo find their way toward loving each…
Every child who’s thrown a tantrum, packed a bag and plotted to run away has shivered with the same vengeful thought: I wish I could see how sad they’ll be when I’m gone. The Left Behind franchise implies that evangelicals haven’t grown up. This new film version, the latest in…
Annabelle, an effective prequel to horror pastiche The Conjuring, surpasses its predecessor simply by virtue of occasionally being scary. Both films are over-reliant on deafening sound effects and side-eye glimpses of underwhelming ghosts. But Annabelle’s scare scenes are better paced and more thoughtfully lensed. Its hokey, funhouse-worthy spooks — a…
This fall Phoenix Public Library is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with ¡Celebramos!, a Valley-wide series of cultural events that explore the sights, sounds, and stories of Latin America. This four week program of community-based arts events will include La Cultura Cura: Writing and Storytelling, an evening of spoken word performances…
God save us from old coots and the actors who play them. Is that a terrible thing to say? Actors, like the rest of us, grow old, and there aren’t a whole lot of good roles available to them. But do we really need to see Robert Duvall playing a…
