Email Author Jef Otte

2010 Stories by Jef Otte

• Denver Pavilions saves your Christmas with free gift wrapping

  published Dec 15, 2010

  You suck at wrapping presents. It happens every year: You pick out that perfect gift and take it home with every intention of doing it up all nicely with fancy bows and nice crisp edges, but somehow i... More >>

• Gratuitous Randomness: Picture unrelated

  published Dec 15, 2010

  Today is Wednesday -- which, as everybody knows, is the day we bring you the best of our weird internets world in a compendium of random images loosely related to whatever topic we happen to come up w... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Hometown kid T.J. Miller talks vomiting, giraffe expertise on Conan last night

  published Dec 14, 2010

  When you share a bill with Gwenyth Paltrow on Conan O'Brien's step-down-but-still-in-the-game TBS vehicle, you know you've sort of made it. Such was the case last night for T.J. Miller, the latest in ... More >>

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  The force is strong in this one: Nataliz Perez del Villar channels the duende at Navidad Flamenca

  published Dec 13, 2010

  Unless you count bandleader Natalia Perez del Villar's festive red vest, there wasn't too much Christmas-y about the tenuously Christmas-themed Navidad Flamenca at the Mercury Cafe on Friday night. Th... More >>

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  The Ratcracker and ten other sad endings to Christmas stories

  published Dec 10, 2010

  Everyone knows The Nutcracker, but few people know the story -- and that's for a good reason: It's is so slight, it's almost incoherent. Yeah, there's a pseudo-plot in the first act about a battle wit... More >>

• Dendiggityopolis: Westword parents make their kids draw superheroes

  published Dec 10, 2010

  Superman provides the basic template: publicly mild-mannered and lame, but secretly able to jump tall buildings and dominate everything. The potential for variations on that superhero theme is basical... More >>

• One chapter book reviews: Short, chapter 18

  published Dec 09, 2010

  People read novels for two major reasons: for a good yarn, first and foremost, but also to be immersed in a world that's different from the one they occupy -- not just to learn about how it works, but... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Gratuitous Randomness: Sad monkeys + Morrissey lyrics

  published Dec 08, 2010

  One way to think of monkeys is as extremely ugly children -- at least, that's how we like to think of monkeys, because if you think of them that way, then everything they do is hilarious, even when th... More >>

• Cha-ching! Federal Reserve's Money Museum downtown expected to blow minds

  published Dec 08, 2010

  If you think about it, the concept of money in general is pretty weird: Basically, we assign a value to a random object and, as a society, agree upon its representative worth -- there's nothing intrin... More >>

• Story Time

  published December 9, 2010

  When you strip away the jingles, the barrage of products and the unrelenting shopping blitz, the holidays are basically about nostalgia — our... More >>

• One-Star Routine

  published December 9, 2010

  If you’re looking for Greg Warren while he’s in town for a five-night stand at the Comedy Works downtown, there’s an... More >>

• Soul Train

  published December 9, 2010

  “Flamenco is not folk art,” argues Natalia Perez Vel Villar. “It’s an art. I always try to make the point of how difficult it... More >>

• Viva La Revolución!

  published December 9, 2010

  Revolution and art have always gone hand in hand, from the Bolshevik-era propaganda of the Soviets to the freak-out frescoes of the psychedelic... More >>

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  Tonight: The Wolverine Way is the badass way

  published Dec 07, 2010

  No matter how you slice it, wolverines are badasses. They live in the northernmost regions of the world, remote, forbidding climates that test even the most rugged of humans. They will summit a sheer ... More >>

• Tonight: Growing up White on the Reservation revisits a turbulent time in 1972

  published Dec 06, 2010

  Pamela Mencher has spent eleven years working on her play -- but in some ways, she's been working on it her whole life. Born on a Lakota/Sioux reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Mencher spent he... More >>

• Five Parade of Lights floats we really want to see, but probably won't

  published Dec 03, 2010

  Considering it's an activity wherein people look on while other people walk down a street and do things at the same time, it's unsurprising that the least boring thing about a parade is usually the fl... More >>

• Contest: Comment on this and win free tix to the Volunteers of America Holiday Fashion Show

  published Dec 02, 2010

  Before you even say anything, we already know: It's probably the most boring name for a fashion show ever, and it also makes us think of homeless people. And that's a shame, because The Volunteers of ... More >>

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  Grandma on 16 and Pregnant threatens to sue for most predictable defamation of all time

  published Dec 02, 2010

  There's hardly any denying that MTV's 16 and Pregnant is one of the most crassly exploitative shows ever made. Just the inherent nature of its subjects -- pregnant sixteen-year-old girls -- lends itse... More >>

• Chased by an Elephant: Walmart does its part to ward off the gay

  published Dec 02, 2010

  It's never too early to plant the seeds of life-long sexual neurosis; in this day and age of growing tolerance toward the scourge homosexuality, we've really got to step up our efforts to instill deep... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Contest: Comment on this and get a four-pack of front row tickets to see Jo Koy

  published Dec 01, 2010

  At most performances, a front row seat is the most desirable spot to be -- aside from marking your status as the best person to shank and rob after the show, it's also the best way to see the action. ... More >>

• Come, All Ye Faithful

  published December 2, 2010

  Though secular standbys like “Jingle Bells” will probably get more conventional radio play this season, when it comes to Christmas... More >>

• Magnetic Personality

  published December 2, 2010

  In many ways, you could consider the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt the Woody Allen of indie rock, a distinctly Big Apple auteur with a wry... More >>

• Sweater Equity

  published December 2, 2010

  There are many types of sweaters – the cardigan, the sweater vest, the Cosby sweater – but none nearly as hideous as the Christmas... More >>

• Giga Pudding! Giga Pudding! GIGA PUDDING! Is moot on a troll rollr

  published Nov 30, 2010

  The internets are alive with the sound of music today. Specifically, they are alive with the music of Giga Pudding, some sort of obscure Japanese gelatin product that sports one of the most bizarre, i... More >>

• Estrela Bartending School offers a free class tomorrow, you shiftless layabout

  published Nov 30, 2010

  If you've ever wanted to have some sort of educated-sounding title but didn't want to go through the rigamarole of academia, then consider the time-honored baccalaureate of hipsters, prisoners and the... More >>