1. Art

Texting Nature

Do Walton Ford's intriguingly oddball watercolors make him the post-modern Audubon?

By Michael Mills

Published: August 9, 2007

A text panel early in "Tigers of Wrath: Watercolors by Walton Ford" notes that the artist has been called "Audubon on Viagra." It's a clever line, and Ford could indeed be seen as...

2. Artbeat

"BIG Picture"

By Marya Summers

Published: August 9, 2007

Call it big pictures in a small exhibit that includes some big artists. "BIG Picture" offers a dozen of the Norton Museum's latest large-scale photographic acquisitions. It's an opportunity...

3. Dish

Animal Dreams

The Armadillo retires to the beach

By Gail Shepherd

Published: August 9, 2007

Kevin McCarthy is sautéing chocolate-coated scallops. It sounds as if one of our favorite chefs has wandered into some gustatory la-la land, a Ferran Adrià/Wylie Dufresne-inspired...

4. Dred Scott!

Wait: Local Indie Music Stores Actually Grow

By Jonathan Cunningham

Published: August 9, 2007

If one-hit wonders the Buggles were to recut their 1979 song "Video Killed the Radio Star" today, it would need a new title — say, "Internet Killed the Music Store." Twenty-eight...

5. DVDish

The King Is Everywhere

Published: August 9, 2007

Bubba Ho-tep Limited Edition (MGM) Intentional camp is difficult to do well. It's a contradiction that usually comes off cutesy and forced. The old Batman series pulled it off, and...

6. Feature

Raw Power

Just released from prison, Miami hip-hop icon DJ Raw is ready for the takeover

By Esther Park

Published: August 9, 2007

The Marlin Hotel's dimly lit lobby is quieter than usual. A tall, bearded man wearing a checkered paperboy cap points to a raggedy basketball jersey hung on an easel; its bottom is...

7. Film

Dream Cleaver

Matthew Vaughn hacks at Neil Gaiman's fantasy wonderland

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: August 9, 2007

Stardust is less an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 1999 novel than of its dust-jacket synopsis. That will come as disconcerting news to fans of the author, who thus far has avoided the...

8. Film

An American (and a Chinese) in Paris

The third time's the guilty pleasure for Tucker and Chan's buddy-cop franchise

By Chuck Wilson

Published: August 9, 2007

Chris Tucker still believes in Michael Jackson. You can tell, because in the very first scene of Rush Hour 3, the actor-comedian squeals melodically, grabs his crotch, and throws his...

9. Game On

Star Dreck

Alien Syndrome will alienate some, infect others

By Chris Ward

Published: August 9, 2007

Stupid videogame logic, rule number 154: When thousands of fugly, bloodthirsty aliens take over a spaceship, it's best to send in a lone woman with a flamethrower. That's the entire...

10. Letters

Letters for August 9-15, 2007

The Sameness of It All

Published: August 9, 2007

The Sameness of It All Where do you find the real Internet deal? What a great article ("Outgrowing Tom," John Elmwood, August 2). I do love MySpace, and it has gotten a lot larger....

11. Live Wire

Brand New Heavies

By Jonathan Cunningham

Published: August 9, 2007

So it's Tuesday night, and you're hungry for some British soul. MTV doesn't have you covered, BET wouldn't even know where to start, and the new Mark Ronson album just isn't doing...

12. Live Wire

Ben Kweller

By Austin Powell

Published: August 9, 2007

History will remember Ben Kweller with a tampon stuffed up his nose. The 24-year-old songwriter plugged in and rocked out during his Austin City Limits Music Festival performance this...

13. Live Wire

Flyleaf

By Michael Roberts

Published: August 9, 2007

Straight outta Belton, Texas, Flyleaf is a teen-angst quintet that aims to inspire through depression. Lead singer Lacey Mosley's lyrics are rooted in her hardscrabble upbringing and...

14. Live Wire

Tech N9ne

By Michael Roberts

Published: August 9, 2007

"I write my life as it progresses, as it gets worse — whatever," says Aaron Yates, under his nom de plume Tech N9ne. "I'm like a fan inside this cat called Tech N9ne who writes...

15. ¡Ask a Mexican!

Surnames on Parade

By Gustavo Arellano

Published: August 9, 2007

Dear Mexican: I've run into a problem with my wife. I'd like to proudly display our last name on the back window of the family car, but she won't allow it. How can I convince her that's...

16. Music

So Long, Saudade

Brazilian composer Antonio Adolfo teaches the sounds of his homeland

By Julienne Gage

Published: August 9, 2007

Picture this: You're enjoying a nice vacation in Rio, lounging with friends at a jazz club, when the bandleader calls out to you in the audience: ___________ (fill your name in here),...

17. Music

Easy Being Green

Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour gives back big

By Cole Haddon

Published: August 9, 2007

Buy a ticket to the Projekt Revolution concert and your purchase will contribute to eliminating an estimated 167 tons of carbon emissions this year — which should make you feel...

18. Night Rider

Night of the Bazooms

A badass blues babe reconsiders her down-and-dirty ways

By Marya Summers

Published: August 9, 2007

"Well-behaved women seldom make history," Harvard history professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich said. And that's why I say, "Get down with your cross-dressing, military self, Joan of Arc!...

19. Bob Norman

Family Ties

Broward Commission, lobbyists ooze coziness

By Bob Norman

Published: August 9, 2007

It isn't so much a how-to on influencing the Broward County Commission as it is a who-to. As in, who do you have to pay to sway the commissioners' votes? Anybody who keeps up with...

20. Outtakes

Waiting for Lavoe

The elusive Héctor

By Edmund Newton

Published: August 9, 2007

When you make a biographical film about a public figure who's well-known to much of the audience, you start out in a deep hole. From the moment the guy appears onscreen, people are...