Achieving standup stardom ain’t easy. It takes a lot of courage (sometimes of the liquid variety) to put yourself out there. People like Aziz Ansari and Jeff Dunham spent years working the standup arena before finding fame. Even Dane Cook had to put in the time before he could fake-bang…
Joyce Brown of the Downtown Cultural Alliance in Lake Worth affectionately likens the city’s eclectic, “noncommercial” arts district to a “little Greenwich Village.” That comment will inevitably trigger a knee-jerk scoff from some New Yorkers, but you can test the comparison personally during “Evenings on the Avenue” this Friday in…
Those planning to attend “Full Frontal Thursdays” at Hollywood Rooftop Resort’s Club Eden better be prepared to leave their inhibitions at the door. Matter of fact, be prepared to leave your socks, sneakers, and skivvies there too. As the name implies, “Full Frontal Thursdays” gives Club Eden clubgoers the chance…
For many of its 61 years, Fort Lauderdale’s Classic Gateway Theater has carved a niche for itself as a haven for alternative cinema — especially of the LGBT sort. So it’s only natural that the Gateway house the Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, a scrappy but significant fest…
Early on in Rian Johnson’s time-travel thriller Looper, Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) sits at a diner and chats with his self from 30 years in the future (Bruce Willis). When the younger Joe asks the older one about the specifics of temporal displacement, the latter dismisses the question, telling his interlocutor…
“Death wasn’t being responded to as a public health problem,” David France says. “It was dealt with with sniggers. It was left to religious leaders to explain or respond to the epidemic. And they responded by calling it the wrath of God.” He adds: “That’s the hostility we all saw…
Those were trying times for Rome. Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian Caesars and a big spender with a reputedly homicidal temper, was on the throne. Stories abound of how he attempted to poison his mother, kicked one of his wives to death, and personally ordered the upside-down crucifixion of…
Speaking in a Transylvanian accent with a touch of Borscht Belt, this latest Count Dracula is introduced in an 1895-set prologue while serenading his infant daughter. He has sworn off human blood, desires nothing more than a spot hidden away from ever-ready-to-mob villagers, and his baby-voiced, Weekend Update croon IDs…
In 1939, New Yorker writer James Thurber published The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a short story that has transcended its time and is soon to be made into an epic film by, improbably, Ben Stiller. The title character is an ineffectual, henpecked husband who has elaborate daydreams about commanding…
South Florida is an ever-growing community filled with events for all ages, especially Generation X and Generation Y. No longer are West Palm or Fort Lauderdale the only places to find badass art events or delicious food trucks. If you’re into exhibitions, concerts, live painting, and the aforementioned hunger-inducing food…
Simultaneously quaint and funky, West Palm Beach’s Northwood Village community is easy on the eyes and easier to miss, an enclave of fine dining, shopping, and entertainment a mile north of downtown West Palm. And if you’ve never visited the self-proclaimed “historically hip” street, there’s no better time than from…
Behold the mooncake. This tasty little Chinese delicacy — not to be confused with its humdrum American “cousin,” the MoonPie — factors heavily into the Chinese Moon Festival, which goes down Saturday afternoon at the Norton Museum of Art. Instead of the MoonPie’s cardboard-like shell and rubbery marshmallow insides, you…
School is back, and let’s face it, everyone is bummed about it. But your teacher’s dirty looks aren’t the only thing to look forward to. “Retro Arcade Night” is back at Arcade Games Sales, and it’s full of all the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga/Pinball anyone with pent-up academic or employment-related stress could…
They’re in desperate needs of braaaiiinnsss, but they’ve still got some heart. The Zombie Brotherhood will slowly lumber together Saturday for the Zombie Motorcycle Club Full Moon Ride, an apocalyptic-sounding venture that very much supports the living (proceeds from the themed ride benefit Florida-based charity Camp Boggy Creek). Suit up…
Pirates, treasure hunters and those feeling lucky can go on a treasure hunt at the South Florida Science Museum. Whether it’s from a sunken ship or buried underground, guests can learn about and search for treasure at the Museum’s newest traveling exhibit, Treasure! The exhibit opens September 28 with Treasure…
Every Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m., the Ellenville Garden Center undergoes a magical transformations and become the Moonlit Farmers’ Market. Farmers show up with their locally grown produce. There’s live music, food, wine, and entertainment. Admission is free. The Elllenville Garden Center is located at Ellenville Garden Center, 220…
The main gallery of the Art and Culture Center in Hollywood is currently occupied, magnificently, by “Justin H. Long: Bow Movement,” a show that muses on the idea of whether sailboat racing is as much an art as it is an almost guaranteed way of losing money. It’s one of…
After a nationally televised improv exercise that, for better or worse, offered more unvarnished reality than anything else at this year’s political conventions, Clint Eastwood returns in his first onscreen role in four years with Trouble With the Curve. The “empty chair” jokes practically make themselves. There is a scene…
Typically, the creators of comic-book adaptations assume that ingratiating themselves to anyone unfamiliar with their characters/properties demands boilerplate origin stories where protagonists exhaustively declare who they are in no uncertain terms. This is, thankfully, not true of Dredd, whose creators have the confidence to treat their narrative like just another…
The new, semi-gritty indie About Cherry is all about a semi-reluctant slide into the porn industry, and it’s also the first mainstream feature co-written by a busy porn actress, Lorelei Lee, otherwise famous for double penetrations and clothespin bondage. This shouldn’t strike us very strange. Every screenwriter needs a day…
A critic’s report from a film festival like Toronto, where something like 300 features were unveiled from September 6 through 16, can be something like a Rorschach test—or, at least, it can be something like the Rorschach test depicted in Paul Thomas Anderson’s TIFF entry, The Master, in which Joaquin…
Strip malls could, in some respects, qualify as the unofficial state symbol of Florida. That doesn’t mean history nerds/heroes — like the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation — don’t make a strong case for holding onto the region’s more engaging architecture. The group will host “Pints for Preservation” on Thursday…
