After two autumn weeks shivering in dark, soggy Finland for the sake of romance (my most expensive booty call ever), I have renewed appreciation for South Florida. And I’m not just talking about the weather. I didn’t think that what I’d miss most was the (gasp!) culture here on our…
I didn’t need the faux-hawked guy with the well-muscled arms to explain the concept of Ladies’ Night to me. If he’d stopped his self-conscious posturing and hungry-eyed consumption of the babe buffet (which looked like it had already been picked over several times), he might have told me what I…
If you’re one of those who scarfs down your raw seafood without learning much more about Japanese culture than how to hold a pair of chopsticks, “Japanese Painting From the Collection of Mrs. Marilyn Alsdorf” will give you a better understanding of the culture and its history. Boasting a selection…
I won’t go into details, but I spent a long, grueling week at my day job defending myself for having a lousy MySpace page. And standing up for my right to self-expression (it was, after all, my space) had left me worked up, wiped out, and maybe just a little…
Recycled Life. If you think your job stinks, this short film might help put things in perspective. Documenting the lives and work of those who sustain themselves and their families by picking through the 40 acres of Guatemala City’s garbage dump, Leslie Iwerks (granddaughter of Ubbe Iwerks — animator, cartoonist,…
These reviews are part of our continuing coverage of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, which wraps on November 14: Trust Me. Making its world premiere at FLIFF, Trust Me satirizes the cutthroat movie industry. It’s a buddy film about a small-time conman with a heart of gold and his…
“The more horrifying the world becomes, the more art becomes abstract,” claimed Paul Klee, the renowned Swiss artist who once painted camouflage on airplanes during World War I. Perhaps, then, “Abstraction: A Group Show” is a sign of the times. If so, the signs are lovely and contemplative despite what…
On a Saturday night at Mizner Park, Gigi’s Tavern was busting out all over the place like ten thousand-dollar tits in a five-dollar shirt — just as my friend Kim had promised. Like any meat market, the prime cuts were right out front. Luxury cars were parked at the curb…
Joni’s Promise. Don’t let subtitles turn you off: you don’t have to be a film buff to enjoy Joni’s Promise. The Indonesian flick hardly feels foreign, despite the language difference. With a rockin’ soundtrack (and many songs in English), the movie delivers a fast-paced romantic comedy (though it’s billed as…
Named after the man who owned the longest-running illegal casino in American history, E.R. Bradley’s Saloon has always been the sort of place where you could find big talkers and lots of cash. On my Friday evening excursion to the “Palm Beach tradition” that now calls West Palm Beach home,…
Some things just get a rise out of you. “Erotic Art,” a group show of more than 30 artists, isn’t necessarily one of those things. True, what arouses some may not excite others, but although this is an exhibit of a bunch of naked bodies, not all of them are…
Whether in tribute to or in defiance of Sting, Roxanne’s puts on the red light. Lots of them, actually: the recessed spotlights over the bar, the candles on the outdoor patio, and both lamps in the chill-out room. And could it be a party without the red siren light on…
Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West. Don’t you just love a good hate flick? This one takes a whack at Islam (after offering the caveat that it’s not targeting all Muslims), asserting that the terrorist threat is real and that Islamic militant extremists need to be stopped before they…
It’s a tiny exhibit, but “Mary Cassatt: Pastels and Drawings” evokes a reaction. “Loved the collection! Wished there were more,” one patron wrote in the guestbook provided for comments. “Her best works are not represented,” griped another, prompting a querulous response: “That is not the point! These are works that…
Beauty pageants are all the same — the smiles, forced; the answers, rehearsed; the movements, choreographed. The Miss South Florida Illusion Pageant is no different — except that producer Gus Sanchez restricts entrants to drag queens “who have no silicone or surgery below the neck.” Wearing a blue-sequined tuxedo jacket…
“We need to tend the garden of Mother Earth,” photographer Barry Haynes urges in commentary that accompanies his “Spiritual Places” exhibit, which literally offers a mountaintop experience. The environmentalist photographer’s images of mountains, lakes, sea, and sky are lovely (although the pocked, stained white bulletin boards on which the framed…
When Rodman’s Rehab opened in mid-September as a bar-within-a-bar in Voodoo Lounge, the Night Rider invited herself to the party. When the general manager wouldn’t return her call, she decided to go anyway, flashing her business card at the door, insisting her role as nightlife reporter should warrant her entry…
Inevitably, Giannina Coppiano Dwin ends up with ants in her pants. That’s because the lacy bikinis, discretely named Untitled, are made of sugar. They are “drawn” with the loose crystals. These are among the works exhibited in “2006 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Arts Fellowship Exhibition.” The show…
Nothing like kicking the bucket to make others appreciate a person — and this is doubly true for artists. In May, the death of the Dutch abstract expressionist who helped found an art movement known as CoBrA (an acronym for the initial letters of the founders’ countries of origin: Copenhagen,…
There had been inexplicable magic between my co-worker’s brother and me since the night we met at Respectables last March. So when Antti returned to Florida from Finland this September, I suggested we make a trip to Dada for the Wednesday-night magic show. “I want to get a close seat…
“Fuck Ernesto! Come get dirty at the Dwarf, where I’ll be singing in the rain!” said my favorite singer/songwriter, Keith Michaud, text-messaging me on the night the midget storm blew into town. It was good timing: The weather had put me in the mood to get more polluted than the…
You may finally understand the afterlife desire to go into the light once you see Matthew Schreiber’s “Platonic Solids.” As you ascend the stairs to the Museum of Art’s second floor, Pipeline pulls you into its sanctuary as if with a divine tractor beam; its purply-blue columns of light form…
