Stuff Worth Checking Out

There is no escaping the stuff of life — on the street, in your office, under your bed, up on the mountain: stuff, stuff, stuff. Are there even more than two choices? We either make ourselves at home in the stuff or we hide from the stuff that’s inside a…

Get Some Fairy Tail

Once upon a time, fairy tales were cautionary tales to show that, if you had naughty behavior, you would be spanked. Today, well, they still do that. At the “Midsummer Night’s Wet Dream: Twisted Fairy Tales & Happy Endings” party, pretty much any kind of behavior will get you a…

Psychedelic Portraits and Burned Things

The 1310 Gallery is opening its three-story collective in Fort Lauderdale to show off some irresistibly unusual works by Floridian artists. Leslie Elsasser of the University of South Florida trained in India under two masters of the Mogul School, a brand of miniature painting that she has Americanized. Meanwhile, Gorgeta…

Die-Hard Comic-Book Nerds, Don’t Worry; SuperGeeks Rule!

Florida Supercon is much more than a parade of middle-aged men dressed in Spiderman costumes and prosthetic Spock ears. For one freaking thing, two-dozen bands are scheduled for the weekend. (Motion City Soundtrack will headline Friday night.) There is a whole film festival — 50 films — even better, geeky…

Drink With a Mermaid

In Analyze This, Paul Vitti (Robert De Niro) is telling therapist Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal) about his inability to maintain an erection. They’re sitting at an empty bar, and behind the top-shelf liquor, “mermaids” seductively tease the two men with pouty faces and sensual underwater acrobatics. But behind that…

No Shortage of Entertainment

Jai Rodriguez, formerly of the Emmy Award-winning Bravo reality show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, has been working at breakneck speed, perfecting his lines, sharpening his choreography, and hitting the right notes, all for the sake of putting on what promises to be the summer’s show of shows when…

The Yankee Chicks

The Andrews Sisters were perhaps the biggest pop act of the “Greatest Generation.” They could harmonize like Homer’s Sirens and move like Michael Jackson, and they’re credited with helping meld blues with rhythm. As a trio, they sold more than 75 million records. Their music is ridiculously catchy and occasionally…

A July Fourth Spectacle

Delirious folk, if you’re celebrating July Fourth here in this heat, it’s because you live here. Splendid! It sure the hell feels like hell (temperaturewise). If you’re a tourist, get ready: We normally get through this day by drinking. Heavily. But this year, we won’t forget about all the activities…

Philadelphia Freedom

Baseball and Fourth of July are classic slices of an Americana summer, at least in places without 90 percent humidity. When the Florida Marlins take on the Philadelphia Phillies on Independence Day, the postgame fireworks might be overshadowed by the blasts coming off the road team’s bats, because the last…

Foam Pool Party

For the Fort Liquordale experience, hang out at the dive bars along A1A, then make pilgrimages over to the beach to cheer on the kids. Past years, our youth have tossed water balloons and competed fiercely, making that hula-hoop go ’round and ’round. We kid! We don’t want ya corrupting…

Fourth of July on Delray Beach

A sand sculpture contest will have Delray Beach residents trekking to their beach in the wee hours of the morning (the contest starts at 8 a.m. and runs until noon). At 5:45 p.m., those not wanting to waste the whole day vegging in the sand can join the patriotic bike…

Shot a Man in Reno

A year after winning a Grammy for “Jackson,” his duet with June Carter, Johnny Cash nearly died in an underground cave. He had crawled deep inside a Tennessee cavern like a drug-addled wildebeest looking for shelter and got lost in the dark, airless crevices of both his mind and the…

“Bad Teacher” and the Downside of Equal Rights in Hollywood

From Tad Friend’s New Yorker profile of Anna Faris (which Jezebel.com reblogged under the headline “Hollywood Insiders Admit Hollywood Hates Women”) to the glass-ceiling-shattering pressure assigned to last month’s Bridesmaids (which has thus far outgrossed every previous Judd Apatow project since Knocked Up), a case could be made that 2011…

Meet the Real Life Horse Whisperer in “Buck”

The documentary Audience Award winner at this year’s Sundance festival, Buck follows itinerant horse trainer Buck Brannaman as he applies his uniquely humane and frankly astounding methods in four-day clinics around the country. If that sounds as exciting as watching hay turn yellow, director Cindy Meehl finds the real story…

The Circle of Art

As you circle the scene, immersed in artwork on walls and artistic activity everywhere, you may become dizzy. At all times — as this big, lovely planet revolves around the sun — personal revolutions are taking place in the minds of the artists. These new works inspire further works, and…

You’re My Hero

A long, long time away, in a steamy galaxy right here, burlesque troupes were rare. Now, clans of sexually charged dancers take to territories like pasties to nipples. We have a new phenomenon on our hands, and it’s going to be known as resident-burlesque troupes. Have the Glamour Goddesses set…

Girl Talk

Girls, if your future selves could impart bits of wisdom on navigating the land mine that is teenage relationships, they might go something like this: (1) There is no salve for first heartbreak, but there is something satisfying when said heartbreaker finds you on Facebook a decade later and you…

Still Bad

This former Golden Gloves boxing contender is famous for his hit TV show, more than 25 film roles, and a lifetime ban from Saturday Night Live. Hecklers, beware of comedian Martin Lawrence. Not only is he a knockout performer; he’s physically capable of kicking your ass. He throws a mean…

Ninjas in the Ring

Flinty fighters of both sexes will be beating on one another at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel for the Bellator 46 Fighting Championships. Bellator sponsors sparring in mixed martial arts, and the fighters are trained in the likes of judo and jujitsu. Their methods may be more refined,…

Whip It, Derby Style

When you see the roster for the Broward-based Gold Coast Derby Grrls, know that Zombitch, Shreddie Mercury, Sookie Skankhouse, and Freak-a-Rella shed plenty of blood and tears for their kick-ass names. They risked dislocated jaws, shattered clavicles, and torn ACLs — all common injuries in this riot-grrl sport of fast…