In a rare moment of descriptive inspiration, County Commissioner John Rodstrom recently called the kind of art that has been showing up in Broward’s public spaces “plop art.” Rodstrom, who is no art critic (he’s a lawyer with a B.A. in political science), was commenting on a proposed $800,000 expenditure…
He knows there are people, too many, who do not like him. He has to know. They’ve told him to his face–the studio executives who slice and snip the scenes he loves the most and suffer his outbursts for it, the directors he’s pushed out of the way so he…
Child actors are generally the most unstable crew of cuckoos since postal became a murder m.o. It is never a surprise to hear of once fresh-faced thespians being arrested at 4 in the morning with a midget hooker, an eight ball, and $300 lifted from the register of a convenience…
THU 8/7 As if public schools in America weren’t dim enough, our boy in the White House — who, like a long line of his predecessors, fancies himself “the education president” — has crushed the Department of Education’s budget further than it already was, assuring a new generation of hopelessly…
OK, here’s a quick history lesson for all of you not in the know. Women playing football is not a recent development. In 1926, the Frankford Yellow Jackets used women’s football teams as a novelty halftime act. In 1965, a talent agent named Sid Friedman started a semipro women’s tackle…
SAT 8/9 Inspired by the “Obon Festival,” Morikami brings Japan to South Florida for one night of spectacular events paying tribute to those who have passed on. Traditionally called the “Festival of the Dead,” Obon — “Bon” for short — gives credit to ancestors for providing life and well-being to…
SAT 8/9 Those former Miami Dolphins players are such Good Samaritans. NFL Hall of Famer Dwight Stephenson played center for the Miami Dolphins for nearly ten years, he was selected for five straight Pro Bowls (1983-87), and he also served as an assistant offensive-line coach on Don Shula’s staff in…
FRI 8/8 The Frankie Muniz vehicle Agent Cody Banks landed on DVD last Tuesday. For those of you blissfully unaware of the kiddie movie market, it is huge. A major blockbuster can come out on DVD, complete with hours of nifty extras, and still be outdone in sales by the…
SAT 8/9 Though DJ culture has filtered into mainstream consciousness, it’s basically up to those who evoke its potential to ensure longevity. In other words, why give a damn about seeing some pubescent schmuck or “superstar” DJ spinning others’ music for $500 a pop when you can witness the true…
FRI 8/8 When 50 Cent played the Star Bar or Venu or whatever it’s called now, downtown Fort Lauderdale was a mob scene and folks were clamoring for a piece of the Cent before he seemingly disappeared into one-hit wonderdom. A swirling mass of people who evoked, or at least…
Military clerk Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) is something of a modern-day Sgt. Bilko. Anything you need, he can get. Any scam that’s possible, he’ll run. Never mind the bumbling Col. Berman (Ed Harris) who ostensibly runs the unit — Elwood has him wrapped around his finger. There’s just one major…
For a few minutes, at least, things don’t look so bad. Watching Ben Affleck swagger around as the thuggish title character of Gigli (“Rhymes with really,” he tells us, twice) is amusing for a bit. Affleck is eminently qualified for the role, actually — that of a low-level hood pretending…
Having breakfast with theatrical producer Jay H. Harris is like taking a quick trip to Broadway. We are noshing at Lester’s, a retro diner in Fort Lauderdale, but Harris’ rapid-fire delivery and wide range of show-biz subjects makes the place feel more like the Edison Hotel coffee shop on West…
The great thing about taking ideas from pop masters like the Beach Boys and the Beatles is that it’s always going to be good. Well, so long as you have competent musicians behind those borrowed ideas. Saturday Looks Good to Me may sound awfully familiar, what with its reverb-laden, AM…
THU 7/31 In case you haven’t heard yet, the Lake Worth art scene is the place to be. Kara Walker-Tome, education director at the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art (601 Lake Ave., Lake Worth), explains that there is much expansion and change going on in West Palm Beach and…
While it’s a cliché to mention it, supporting local bands is still vitally important sustain the South Florida independent music scene. There are local bands worth checking out. Some of them take to the stage at Venu (100 SW Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale) for the 17-band showcase known as La…
TUE 8/5 You know that feeling when you come home from work and your house is a complete mess? You think to yourself, “Where the heck do I start?” That was the task of Thomas Hoving in 1967 when he was appointed director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in…
SAT 8/2 If you need a break from all the testosterone-driven events that usually fill this page and you’re not squeamish, then you might be interested in what Downers Park (16745 W. Glasgow Dr., Loxahatchee) has to offer. Entomologist Mark Sivik leads “Insect Adventures,” a two-hour field trip into the…
SUN 8/3 Hey, kids! Wanna beat the heat? Wanna get all artistic and whatnot? Take a break from doodling those dragons and wizards on your notebook during summer algebra class and head over to the Norton Museum of Art (1451 S. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach) for its “Sunday at…
WED 8/6 Some call Matthew Barney a genius, an auteur, a revolutionary. Others may call him a self-indulgent art snob. Either way, his five-film series titled Cremaster Cycle defies any sort of label or interpretation. For those who aren’t up to par on anatomy, the cremaster is the muscle that…
SUN 8/3 When you think of local music, you can’t help but imagine a group of session musicians banging out watered-down Matchbox 20 covers to a crowd of indifferent onlookers and one drunk guy who can’t stop howling and raising his Budweiser in a perennial toast. But a rebirth of…
Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald asserted that “there are no second acts in American lives.” But a horse named Seabiscuit and the three disparate men who shared his success would surely disagree. Based on the best-selling nonfiction book by Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit recounts the true story of an unprepossessing, knobby-kneed horse…
