Miami, You’ve Been Punked!

If you’ve been noticing some weirder-than-usual news coming at you today, better double check the calendar! That’s right, bitches — it’s April Fools’ Day and there were plenty of websites and companies that punked us, but good. We especially liked Twitter wanting to charge for vowels and Google’s new smell-technology…

Rick Ross Raps About Rape, Says He Don’t Rap About Rape

Rick Ross needs to Bawse up and take responsibility for his verses. But he doesn’t seem ready to admit to rappin’ about rape. Some guest spot lyrics on “U.O.E.N.O.” from the Miami MC have got a lot of women reconsidering their love for the hefty player. But just as we…

Mugshots Friday: That Kool-Aid Dye Job

Every Friday, Riptide brings you the most eye-catching mugshots taken the previous week (or thereabouts) in Miami-Dade County. Yes, there is some mockery of bad neck tattoos, but also adulation directed at perps who just plain look more badass than we ever will. This is the italicized intro to that…

Diddy’s a Has-Been, Still Worth $580 Million

There’s something funny about money. Once you have a certain amount of it, those greenbacks just keep multiplying. You don’t really have to do anything, except sit back and watch that money tree fruit up. Just look at Diddy. He hasn’t done anything in years, and he’s still the richest…

Troubled Homestead Nonprofit Seeks Private Donations to Pay Debt

Galata Inc., a Homestead social service agency that received a no-questions-asked $500,000 county grant in 2008 to pay off a mortgage, is now seeking private donations to help pay down another loan. In January, the Miami-Dade Inspector General’s Office criticized Galata officials for misusing $99,000 from the grant to pay…

Pizzarium in Downtown: Almost Like the Pizzarium in Rome

In Rome, in the Prati neighborhood located a short walk from the Vatican, there is a pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice) joint named Pizzarium. The restaurant is tiny, there are no chairs, and there is a ridiculously long line at lunchtime. There are craft beers and a choice…

Gay Marriage: Why Changing Your Facebook Photo Isn’t Enough

As The Dissident, J.J. Colagrande turns his critical eye on Miami culture. This week: why updating your profile picture online doesn’t make you a freedom fighter. Facebook feeds around the country are now filled with red and pink, as users change their profile picture to the Human Rights Campaign’s logo…

Kanye West’s I Am God and Ten Other Terrible Album Titles

Confidence is sexy. But someone forgot to tell Kanye West about the rule of subtlety. Personally, we think the egomaniacal musician is the genius he claims to be. But all things in moderation. No doubt, his forthcoming album will be a righteous game-changer, inevitably topping charts, and burrowing into our…

Downtown Miami Rental Company Gives EDM Fans Ultra Headache

Brad Stonesifer thought he’d found the perfect Ultra Music Festival party pad for himself and five pals. The 41-year-old electronic dance music aficionado from York, Pennsylvania, booked a four-night stay at the Residences at Bayside, directly across from Bayfront Park where his crew planned on enjoying the second weekend of…

Packaged Food Kills: Too Much Sodium From Infancy to Adulthood

At a meeting of the American Heart Association yesterday, data was presented that indicates there are high levels of sodium in packaged food made for toddlers. I’ve gotten flack about this column for my stance that food should bear clear and obvious labels that show nutritional and artificial-sweetener data. The…

Mugshots Friday: Ultra-Irish, Tank-Top Stylish

Every Friday, Riptide brings you the most eye-catching mugshots taken the previous week (or thereabouts) in Miami-Dade County. Yes, there is some mockery of bad neck tattoos, but also adulation directed at perps who just plain look more badass than we ever will. This is the italicized intro to that…

One Herald Plaza: Thanks for the Memories

Close to 1,000 former Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald staffers descended on One Herald Plaza Wednesday afternoon. Reporters. Advertising executives. Printing-press mechanics. Bookkeepers. Publishers. Janitors. They all came to pay their final respects to the place that has defined journalism in this city for the last 50 years. Sometime…

How Ultra Music Festival and WMC Are Hurting Miami

As the Dissident, J.J. Colagrande turns his critical eye on Miami culture. This week: how the annual mega-rave that is Ultra and WMC makes Miami a second-class city. Miami is in the middle of a cultural and intellectual renaissance. We’re finally evolving from a stale reputation leftover from the ’80s…