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Michael Bay's Pain & Gain is as superficial as its real-life protagonists

See also: Pain & Gain: From New Times Story to Michael Bay Film

Denver B-cycle celebrates Earth Day with deals today

Celebrate Earth Day 2013 while the sun is still shining! Today's Earth Day also marks the third anniversary for Denver Bike Sharing, which launched Denver's B-cycle system on April 22, 2010. To get the day rolling, Denver B-cycle is offering annual memberships at a discounted annual rate of $59 thro ... More >>

Black Eye Coffee wants to bring street art back to LoHi

In many pockets of Denver, there are visible connections to our city's past that are, with each passing year, slowly being erased in favor of a more modern aesthetic. This concerns Black Eye Coffee co-owner Gregory Ferrari, who is has been promoting a Kickstarter campaign to install a large, early t ... More >>

Kitty's South: Has classic theater turned shuttered stroke palace run out of lives?

Yesterday on our Show and Tell blog, Bree Davies said goodbye to Kitty's East, an East Colfax landmark that was shuttered in recent days after being declared a public nuisance; in addition to offering up orgasm helpers, it seems the joint served as the setting for crack-cocaine dealing. The closure ... More >>

Suicidal Tendencies Mike Muir on being on Miami Vice and his tangle with the secret service

Over the weekend, Suicidal Tendencies played to a packed house at the Summit Music Hall. Before that, we had a chance to chat with the band's founding frontman, Mike Muir, the sole continuous member of the group, about how he first got into punk, how his group has successfully straddled the divide b ... More >>

What makes Colorado Colorado? New state branding effort wants to know

Endless vistas of the mountains and plains? Endless pours of craft beers? Endless protests about gun-control laws? What makes Colorado Colorado? That's what the state plans to find out with Making Colorado, an ambitious branding effort being announced today by Governor John Hickenlooper and Aaron Ke ... More >>

Dizaster on the art of battling and his controversial King of the Dot battle with Arcane

The battle-rap scene has grown tremendously over the past few years, thanks to video battles like Smack DVDs and Fight Klub, and leagues like King of the Dot, Grind Time and the UW Battle League springing up everywhere. Dizaster -- in town this weekend to battle Detour as part of the two-day Perfect ... More >>

Get your Artopia 2013 poster, and enter to win VIP Westword Music Showcase tickets

Westword's eighteenth annual Artopia combined art, food, music and live performances at Vinyl, City Hall, Bar Standard, The Living Room and The Salty Dog on February 23, 2013. And to celebrate the event turning voting age, we asked Denver artists John Vogl to create a limited edition poster (above) ... More >>

Ten Shows to see during Month of Photography

This year's version of Month of Photography is not going to be typecast, no way. The very breadth of the 2013 citywide photography showcase is astonishing and diverse, viewing photographic media from every perspective: In black-and-white and color, super-real and fantastically altered, analog and di ... More >>

Discover ten stars of Westword's Artopia 2013

Now in its 18th year, Artopia is a signature event showcasing a wide array of Denver's music, art, performance, food and more. At several venues along Broadway this Saturday, February 23, from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., dozens of the city's cultural components will come together as they share their creative ... More >>

100 Colorado Creatives: Artist and Westword Artopia participant Kym Bloom

#89: Kym Bloom Working with resin, photography, digital mediums and candy, Kym Bloom's work is a striking and unique take on pop art. A member of Zip 37 and co-owner of Kanon Collective, Bloom is also an integral to the creative community as both an artist and a supporter of others. In advance of h ... More >>

Win tickets to Artopia 2013

This year's edition of Artopia is only five days away. The lineup is pretty stacked, with Wheelchair Sports Camp, Hearts In Space, Kitty Crimes and In the Whale, among others on the bill. And those acts will be performing alongside a serious batch of artists, poets, dancers, videographers and comedi ... More >>

Colorado takes Carrie Underwood's breath away

We know it's beautiful here. Carrie Underwood evidently finds it pretty breathtaking, too. This photo from the country queen's Instagram account shows Underwood taking an oxygen break before last night's encore. See also: - Photos: Carrie Underwood @ 1STBANK Center, 2/14/13 - The misappropriation ... More >>

100 Colorado Creatives: Onus Spears

#94: Onus Spears Onus Spears (that's a stage name and Facebook alias) isn't your typical creative. He's been homeless at times, and he goes to AA meetings every day. He estimates that he's had dozens of jobs -- the number is in the hundreds, in fact -- over his 49 years. But he is also a man of stor ... More >>

Meditate on modernism in the spare canvases of Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico at the DAM

Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico: Architecture, Katsinam and the Land, a touring show from the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum that opens Sunday at the Denver Art Museum, is a beautiful and subtle exhibition with new revelations, even for the most advanced O'Keeffe-maniac. Incredibly, this is the Denver Art M ... More >>

The 2013 Whiteout Fashion Show: What did the audience wear?

It finally happened last night: Thanks to a number of great sponsors and designers, Westword welcomed the 2013 Whiteout fashion show at the McNichols Building last night. While we all focused on the live runway show, with models dressed by eight local designers, there was no shortage of fun fashion ... More >>

The Flaming Lips' chocolate heart creator talks about the painstaking process of making it tick

By now you've long since been grossed out/freaked out/mesmerized by the seemingly inexhaustible creative genius of the Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, the latest example of which, of course, is an anatomically correct chocolate heart that comes signed by the band in custom packaging and complete ... More >>

Photos: Best Colorado wildlife shots on Flickr Creative Commons

Visit Flickr Creative Commons and you'll be reminded within seconds how many great photographers are out there, be they professional or gifted amateur. Of course, it helps if you've got a great subject -- like, for instance, Colorado wildlife. And the folks featured below picked some excellent exam ... More >>

Director of fashion documentary Versailles '73 on the runway show that changed history

Forty years ago, New York fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert set out to produce a runway show called Le Grand Divertissement à Versailles in 1973, a fundraising catwalk to save the dilapidated Palace of Versailles in France. But the fashion show -- which positioned American designers Oscar de la Ren ... More >>

Vacation! director Zach Clark talks drugs, sex and death at the beach

The beach-party movie has fallen from its former pinnacle of popularity, but it still has its fans. Take writer/director Zach Clark, for instance. His latest film, Vacation!, resurrects the classic beach-party film formula, updates it for the 21st century and then twists it into weird places that Fr ... More >>

2013 Resolutions, week one: You better work!

A few days ago, a friend asked me via Facebook if I had followed through with my Patrick Nagel tattoo -- in November, I had promised myself the reward of getting one of his minimalist pin-ups tattooed on my arm upon successful completion of National Novel Writing Month. I didn't make it through Na ... More >>

Nicholas Carr examines how the Internet is affecting our brains

Did you know that when we use a Google search engine, scan Twitter feeds or compulsively reach for our smart-phones, we're actually engaging evolutionary tools that have been with us for tens of thousands of years? And while these tools have aided our species survival, author Nicholas Carr argues th ... More >>

Sleigh Bells ring: Getting our nails done on the S.S. Coachella by Alexis Krauss's manicurist

Earlier this week, the S.S. Coachella took to the high seas and set sail for the Bahamas. One of our esteemed south Florida colleagues had the pleasure of being on board for the cruise's maiden voyage. She sent us a few dispatches documenting some highlights from the trip, so that all of us landlubb ... More >>

Austin Sigg, Jessica Ridgeway's accused killer: New mug shot, new cell -- in adult jail

Update: Headlines noting that seventeen-year-old Austin Sigg has been charged as an adult in the kidnapping and killing of Jessica Ridgeway, a ten-year-old Westminster girl, are a bit redundant, since documents to that effect were filed last month; see previous coverage below. But his court visit ye ... More >>

Become a beer artist! Design an Odell tap handle logo and win serious beer swag

So you're a beer fan -- but are you a connoisseur? If you not only drink good beer but revel in the art of craft, keep reading. In conjunction with the 2012 Denver Web Awards, Westword's annual celebration of the best and brightest projects in digital Denver, we're launching a contest to design the ... More >>

Rosa Linda's Mexican Cafe becomes a campaign hate stop after Mitt Romney turn-down

In the crazed build-up to the presidential debate, I stopped by one of my favorite neighborhood spots for food and fellowship: Rosa Linda's Mexican Cafe. Turns out, I missed the news right under my nose. Back at the office, we were reporting that Mitt Romney had lunched at Chipotle -- but at one po ... More >>

Vote in the 2012 Denver #WebAwards

It's time for the 2012 edition of Westword's Denver Web Awards, our annual celebration of Denver's greatest digital minds. This time, we're introducing new categories to recognize the area's creative and forward-thinking app developers, but we've made sure to include a few favorites, like Best Shame ... More >>

Vote in the 2012 Denver #WebAwards

It's time for the 2012 edition of Westword's Denver Web Awards, our annual celebration of Denver's greatest digital minds. This time, we're introducing new categories to recognize the area's creative and forward-thinking app developers, but we've made sure to include a few favorites, like Best Shame ... More >>

Vote in the 2012 Denver #WebAwards

It's time for the 2012 edition of Westword's Denver Web Awards, our annual celebration of Denver's greatest digital minds. This time, we're introducing new categories to recognize the area's creative and forward-thinking app developers, but we've made sure to include a few favorites, like Best Shame ... More >>

Vote in the 2012 Denver #WebAwards

It's time for the 2012 edition of Westword's Denver Web Awards, our annual celebration of Denver's greatest digital minds. This time, we're introducing new categories to recognize the area's creative and forward-thinking app developers, but we've made sure to include a few favorites, like Best Shame ... More >>

Ditch the drinking games and start the 2012 Presidential Debate At-Home Boot Camp

If your plan is to drink 47 shots every time Barack Obama chides Mitt Romney over his "47 percent" remarks during tonight's presidential debate, you're going to have more immediate problems than the latest jobs report. For an alternative to debate-night drinking games that will absolutely be better ... More >>

In Hotel Transylvania, Dracula fights xenophobia

Photos: Denver sign porn

Talk about signs of the times: Denver is a showplace for amazing signage from over the decades. No wonder #denversignporn is a popular Instagram hashtag. Look below to check out some of our favorite examples of this particular brand of porn -- and click on the links to check out more of the photogs ... More >>

2Chainz at the Ogden, 9/17/12

2CHAINZ @ OGDEN THEATRE | 9/17/12 The moment 2Chainz took the stage, it became very obvious why this show was moved from the Bluebird Theater to the Ogden at the last minute. When the ATL rapper finally placed the mike to his lips and dropped his verse from "Mercy," the crowd went absolutely insane ... More >>

Andrew Zimmern calls Bourdain/Midson photo a "valiant attempt to nail a little more street cred to the side of the barn"

Talk about the ultimate photo bomb. Last night, during the Denver Adventurous Eaters Club dinner at Parallel Seventeen (you can read all about it here), which was graced by none other than Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern, there was, as you can imagine, a lot of texting, tweeting, Facebooking and I ... More >>

Aurora theater shootings aren't national news, declares conservative activist

News of the Aurora theater shootings and suspected killer James Holmes continue to dominate headlines not just in Colorado, but nationwide -- and Yates Walker is sick of it. Writing for The Daily Caller, Walker, a self-described conservative activist, vents his frustration in a piece entitled "Jame ... More >>

Unreasonable Institute climaxes with venture pitches from 22 entrepreneurs

After six weeks of living under the same roof, 22 promising entrepreneurs from 16 different countries and every walk of life pitched their ventures to hundreds of potential funders, partners and local supporters gathered in Macky Auditorium on the University of Colorado Boulder campus on a scorching ... More >>

See something that needs fixing? Snap a photo for the DAM's Design Dilemma

The delivery date for submissions in the Denver Art Museum's Open for Design community challenge is closing in. Have you been dragging your feet because you just don't know how to come up with a solution that fits the problem within the framework of the challenge? The DAM isn't about to let you o ... More >>

Photos: The people of the Waldo Canyon fire

"We will rebuild Majestic Drive." These are the words of Terry Rector, a Colorado Springs lawyer who gathered with a number of others who also lived on Majestic (map here), before the area was devastated by the Waldo Canyon fire. Yesterday, photographer Brandon Marshall spent the day in the Spring ... More >>

Ru with a view: A mainstage travelogue from our Westword Music Showcase emcee, Ru Johnson

Because I live in the club district, for me, the Westword Music Showcase started around 5 p.m. the day before and went on through the evening. Outside my window, the workers toiled and clanged away throughout the night, building the production. By morning, there was a complete stage, and the heat wa ... More >>

2012 Westword Music Showcase schedule

Alright, it's here! Finally! The waiting is over! The eighteenth annual Westword Music Showcase. You've probably already printed it out, cut it out, copied and highlighted the schedule, but just in case you haven't, here's the most up-to-date version of today's lineup for the Showcase. All of the TB ... More >>

Photos: Geek celebs from True Blood and more at Denver Comic Con

If you caught last night's ep of True Blood, you witnessed actress Kristin Bauer, aka the vampire named Pam, at her most viciously hilarious. But plenty of locals had already seen her in person at this weekend's Denver Comic Con -- and she wasn't alone. Celebs from The Walking Dead, Tron and more we ... More >>

Top ten tweets about D.J. Williams sharing Broncos playbook photo

Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams's inexplicable decision to tweet a photo from the squad's playbook earned him slaps o' plenty from Twitter Nation. See the ten most memorable reactions below. Still, there's irony in this censure -- because the response was considerably larger than the ones involvin ... More >>

Death of the civil unions bill got you down? Just do what I'm doing, and marry a gay guy

After sitting through two recesses and a combined seven hours of debate and testimony before the House State Affairs Committee killed the civil unions bill last night, I left the Capitol with a numb ass and a heavy heart. But as I and other GLBTQ persons and allies face another year of Colorado legi ... More >>

Prost Brewing will contract-brew and can for Dad & Dude's, Silverton

When the owners of the soon-to-open Prost Brewing bought a 72.25-barrel brewhouse in Germany late last year, craft beer-industry watchers wondered what they'd do with that much capacity. After all, most recent start-up breweries have opened with just a fraction of that kind of beer-making brawn, any ... More >>

And Then She Saved accessories swap brings Denver frugalistas together

Denver's frugalistas flocked to the Curtis Hotel Saturday night to get rid of old looks and find new favorites at the And Then She Saved accessories swap sponsored by Denver's own Handbags.com. "I really wanted new clothes but I didn't want to pay for new clothes, and I'd heard about swaps so I tho ... More >>

Madonna upstaged by M.I.A. and Cee Lo Green during the Super Bowl halftime show

Cee Lo Green outsings Madonna during the "Like A Prayer" portion of the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show.​Forget the New York Giants and Eli Manning. The true winner of yesterday's Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis was pop music. Heralded in by Queen Madonna herself, the halftime show was truly an ... More >>

Did Freddie Gibbs make it to DIA without having his weed confiscated? Appears so.

Welcome to the Mile High City, Freddie. ​Now it's no secret that marijuana consumption is legal for medicinal purposes. The number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver rival the number of Starbucks, and hell, we're even called the Mile High City, for chrissakes. But this truly takes the ... More >>

Here are your 2011 Denver #WebAwards news winners

​Here are the winners of the 2011 Denver #WebAwards in the category we're loosely dubbing "news," which means Westword scribes report on the happenings in these beats, right here on Latest Word. These are the winners only; for a complete list of finalists go here: "Here are your 2011 Denver #W ... More >>

2011 Denver #WebAwards winners announced!

Photos: 2011 Denver #WebAwards party