Those people who live in small towns, they’re not like you and me. So naive, so innocent. And adorably quirky. Why, they’ve got so many lovable quirks you just want to run up and hug ’em. Or, if you’re a filmmaker, perhaps you can make a movie about these simple…
Sitting through Raising Helen is an exercise in frustration, because somewhere inside this big heap of Hollywood nothing is a something (someone, actually) worth saving and savoring. Her name is Joan Cusack, always a supporting player but never a star, no matter her grace and warmth and charm even in…
Mention the name “Double R” to any semihip urbanite and they’ll know what you’re talking about: Ruff Ryders. The phenomenon was born in New York with Ruff Ryder Records, home label to hip-hop stars DMX, Eve, and LOX. But making music is just one facet of the organization. Ruff Ryders…
Run-D.M.C.’s pristine Adidas, Biz Markie’s big diamond-encrusted nameplate, Flava Flav’s bigger watch, giant gold rope chains, enormous boom boxes, Futura 2000, Doug E. Fresh and his Get Fresh Crew, MCs, DJs, B-boys, and graffiti. What does it all bring to mind? The beginnings of hip-hop in the late 1970s and…
NOW 24/7 The violence was appalling. The coverup was scandalous. The acquittal by an all-white jury in Tampa of four white Miami-Dade County police officers charged with murdering black insurance agent Arthur Lee McDuffie was simply outrageous. For long-time Miamians, McDuffie’s name is synonymous with racist cops and brutality. It…
SAT 5/29 If you had a dog, you’d name him Nick and you’d love him, and you’d hug him, and you’d squeeze him. But draconian rules mandate you can’t have a bird or a turtle, let alone a little furry 4-legged friend, where you live. This weekend, though, you can…
FRI 5/28 Ed has got a problem. He is addicted to his meds, and doesn’t realize those little white pills have turned him from a mild-mannered schoolteacher into a raging megalomaniac with psychotic urges. Sounds like a nifty plot for an HBO special. But the film, Bigger Than Life (above),…
WED 6/2 “There will be topless women present during event,” alleges the caveat in Ticketmaster’s description for the upcoming Jani Lane and Kevin Dubrow concert at Solid Gold Gentleman’s Club (2355 NE 163rd St., North Miami Beach). No shit! It’s a cock rock show … at a titty bar. It’s…
Thursday 5/27 Since February literary types have been reading, discussing, and analyzing Edwidge Danticat’s novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, as part of the One Book, One Community reading initiative. The three-month process, run by the Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College, comes to an end tonight as…
Theater in South Florida tends to appear in bursts, with a spray of shows often opening on the same weekend. In the scuffle, many shows tend to get overlooked. In some instances, that’s not so bad a consequence, but in the case of No Exit, now entering its final week…
Master Harold … and the boys: Athol Fugard’s modern classic has to do with the stormy relationship between a white teen and two black family workers in South Africa circa 1950. The fine GableStage production features assured, understated direction from Joseph Adler, which is well supported by some excellent, evocative…
All My Lies Are Wishes: Rubén Torres-Llorca is a conceptualist with superb craftsmanship. His photo series features blurred images, laid-over symbols, and tangential titles. They work like a personal domestic still-life sequence, though a bit cryptic. The show’s pièce de résistance is a spider-web installation, made of rope and filled…
In the mood to launch a thousand ships? Fine, but it’s gonna cost you. Feel like sacking the Temple of Apollo? Okay, but bring drachmas. Depending on who’s counting, Warner Brothers’ presummer blockbuster Troy budgeted out at anywhere between $175 million and $250 million, including the big wooden horse, assorted…
Those seeking a spiritual counterpart to the yin of Lynne Ramsay’s masterfully moody Morvern Callar will find their yang in David Mackenzie’s exquisitely sorrowful Young Adam. Art-house aficionados may recall that in Ramsay’s recent film, a young male writer commits suicide, leaving his simple girlfriend to absorb his very being…
Stop where you are. Take a look around you. In a city like Miami it’s likely that one of the people you observe will have a story to tell involving escape, desperation, political exile, starvation, and a dangerous journey to freedom. If you happen to be hanging out in Sweetwater…
Snapshot 2004: Pentagon people sit before Congress attempting to explain some pictures of American military police and others humiliating captives in Iraq by forcing them to pose in ridiculous positions, often nude. At one point during the hearing a half-dozen people in the gallery, all with nice hair and Gap…
SAT 5/22 Home to a vast collection of post-Art Deco buildings (yes, they’re important too), North Beach recently celebrated the City of Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board’s designation of the North Beach Resort District, which recognizes the sleek and fun Miami Modern (or MiMo) apartments, hotels, shops, and more between…
FRI 5/21 Grandpa might be pushing 80 but he can still kick butt on the tennis court. He is also quite the dancer, speed walker, and golf player. The feisty old codger hasn’t lost his competitive spirit. Problem is that you have. Maybe he can find some able-bodied opponents who…
THU 5/20 How real is real? This is a question worthy of a poet. Miami spoken-word artist Will Bell is so real, he has adopted “Da-RealOne” as his moniker. Inspiration for his art comes from the six o’clock news, random conversations, or street scenes. Da-RealOne relates all issues and current…
SAT 5/22 You’re no cynic, but you must admit you loathe the song “What a Wonderful World.” And why not? It’s only human to be sick of the Louis Armstrong version of the tune, which has been featured incessantly in movies, commercials, and on easy listening jazz stations. In fact…
Did you know that Miami has the highest rate of violent crime in America? We are also the second most stressful city in the nation (after Tacoma, Washington), according to the latest report from Sperling’s Best Places USA (www.bestplaces.net). They put it this way: “Miami has the highest violent crime…
Thursday 5/20 Last time we checked, NBC news guy/Meet the Press host Tim Russert was not Beaver Cleaver. But by the sound of his new book, Big Russ and Me, which he’s been plugging on every show except Ricki Lake, Maury Povich, and TRL, it sure as heck seems as…
