Every Friday around lunchtime, Helium Creative opens its studio for an eat-and-greet with local creative professionals. It’s called Inspirational Friday, and guest speakers are invited to share what inspires them (and hopefully inspire the audience). Think of it as a TED Talk for your lunch break. Previous guests have included…
Yo, don’t tell too many people, but it’s cold everywhere else. We don’t want to jinx it. But since our South Florida Christmas won’t be so white, why not take advantage of it? The fact that we are still outside in tanks and shorts at the end of December makes…
There’s nothing better than getting the perfect gift for someone. Actually, there’s nothing better than getting the perfect gift for someone without spending tons of money. Especially if you scoffed at those people who did Black Friday shopping only to wind up with four days left before Christmas and not…
Whether it’s the Care Bears or some made-for-TV version, chances are you’re quite familiar with The Nutcracker and its classic score, even if you don’t realize it. The Nutcracker is about a young girl named Clara who embarks on a multitude of adventures with her beloved Christmas present, a nutcracker…
Even if South Florida weather doesn’t permit sweater-wearing this winter, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy an ugly sweater party or pub crawl! In case your friends disappoint you by not throwing their own Christmas-sweater shindig, downtown Fort Lauderdale has you covered with not one but two hideously knitted events…
Mrs. Claus needs help deciding which animals were naughty or nice this year at Santa’s Little Helpers interactive tour at Flamingo Gardens in Davie this month. Then afterward, help Santa and his elves pass out gifts. While you’re there, check out the beautiful flocks of pink flamingos and exotic tortoises…
There are more Christmas destinations than the mall and Walmart. During the time of year when everyone has a case of the gimme-gimmes, wouldn’t it be nice to bring your kids back down to Earth with a little culture? The Historic Stranahan House Museum is all about the holidays but…
It’s the last week to donate to Hyperink Studios’ Toys for Tats holiday drive. Until December 23, the artists at Hyperink will collect art supplies, instruments, dolls, action figures, and other toys for disadvantaged youth in South Florida. Anyone who drops off a toy worth $20 or more gets 50…
There is perhaps no more exclusive guest list than that of the chosen people — luckily, they’re a bunch of menschen at the 27th Annual Matzoball, so the goyim are welcome. Yes, for nearly three decades, the sons and daughters of Abraham have rolled their eyes at their gentile brethren…
By the time the family has spent a day together and parted again, you’re probably going to need to drink some brew. Reward yourself for a job well done (for not losing it, obvs) at Tap 42’s Terrapin Tap Takeover. The bar is holding a contest to see which Terrapin…
Overindulgence. It’s an American tradition, especially this time of year. But a half-dozen cookies, third slice of pie, and wafer-thin mint later, you might be looking for a way to burn the pudge. Lucky for you, there’s a sedentary solution: laughing! Not only does it burn calories, but you can…
The best movies about con artists work a bit of flimflammery themselves. They’re not necessarily dishonest; they just can’t resist making the truth shinier than it is in real life. There may not be much behind the sparkling tinsel curtain of David O. Russell’s extraordinarily entertaining American Hustle. But what…
Elves snore, it turns out. Their maidens make teensy-peen jokes and pine for the hottest of dwarfs. And Bilbo Baggins, so concerned about his doilies just three hours of screen time ago, now punches his sword right through the trachea of a goblin — and then looks rather proud of…
The late Paul Walker practiced the kind of manly American acting that often doesn’t look like acting at all. In movie after movie, many of them of the fast and/or furious variety, Walker performed the difficult trick of seeming to really be the apple-pie tough guys he played. In those…
How stubborn was Walt Disney? He spent 26 years wheedling Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers to sell him the film rights to her book — call it determination or bullying. Travers thought he was a hack who would louse up her story with cartoon penguins. Walt thought she was a…
In Nicky Silver’s The Lyons, comedy and tragedy are as inextricably linked as the two heads of conjoined twins; where one turns, the other follows. There is no joke that isn’t soaked in hurtful battery acid, and rare is the moment of unabashed sorrow that isn’t tempered with an acrid…
Someday there will be a serious academic study on Tyler Perry, the battered and sexually abused child who legally changed his first name at 16 to distance himself from his estranged father and grew rich playing a caricature of his mother in pantyhose and a dress, like a sass-talking Norman…
Don’t be misled by the fact that the Howlin’ Brothers made their bow on Brendan Benson’s Readymade Records label. Howl has nothing to do with the modern pop motif that Benson is known for, both on his own and as a collaborator with Jack White in the Raconteurs. Howl is…
A lot of holiday traditions would probably be better off left in the past: bewhiskered Aunt Marge wanting a kiss, the turkey burnt to a crisp by the inept but determined family cook, and the terrifying Ghost of Christmas Future who shows you your own grave. But not every “bad”…
Art has been around since the dawn of man. As spectators, sometimes we get stuck on the Norman Rockwells and Claude Monets of the world. But art is constantly evolving, and we can’t focus only on the classics. Contemporary 21st-century artists are artists too — real, live, walking artists whose…
It may not snow in South Florida, but we at least have nice beaches on which to spend Christmas. Give your family an early gift by taking them to the seventh-annual Christmas Near the Beach variety show at ArtsPark at the Young Circle Amphitheater this Saturday. The free event will…
Aside from giving the residents of Fort Lauderdale another reason to get together this holiday season, the 42nd-annual Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade is a beloved tradition in South Florida. Since 1988, Winterfest Inc., a nonprofit organization, has hosted the famous Boat Parade to promote and honor the unique…
