John Waters’s movies are best viewed through the eyes of an autistic child. Please, hear me out before you label this statement as a cruel slur. I was introduced to the world of John Waters by my autistic sister. After suffering though her mechanical spouting of monologues from Uncle Buck,…
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s production of Julius Caesar has some strong performances and interesting ideas, but it doesn’t hang together conceptually. The play itself is problematic. It begins with a focus on the uses and abuses of state power, as Julius Caesar, home from the wars, seems set to become…
The Central City Opera production of Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon, or Cinderella, is a visual feast. The costumes of Sara Jean Tosetti — who looks a little witchy herself in her playful program photo — combine charming empire lines with the crooked, cunning shapes we associate with fairy tales. From the…
Around the World in 80 Days. The Victorians became increasingly fascinated with stories of adventure as technological advances in travel made their world smaller and more accessible. It didn’t hurt that so much of that world map was colored an imperial red. In his famous novel Around the World in…
The culture boom that’s been hitting the Front Range has reached another milestone: On Saturday, August 4, at 10 a.m., a ribbon-cutting ceremony will open the new two-story, 48,000-square-foot wing that has been subtly added to the magnificent and iconic Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, a 1930s modernist masterpiece that…
The thoughtful new addition to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center done by David Owen Tryba (see review) is surely the biggest cultural event of the summer. But another important happening is the new piece of public art that was recently erected in America the Beautiful Park, just west of…
The American Landscape and Carny. Rule Gallery has typically presented single solos since landing in its new space several months ago, but this time, there are two different shows in that long and narrow sales room. The two work well together, though, as both are made up of photographs about…
Hot Fuzz (Universal) The second feature from writer-director Edgar Wright and writer-star Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) has been available on home video for decades: Hot Fuzz is, after all, a witty and wisecracking montage of clips from some hundred-plus A-list and bargain-bin action films, chief among them Lethal…
The concept behind All-Pro Football 2K8 is simply wonderful: Imagine a fantasy football league where you draft from a pool not of this season’s top players, but of the greatest NFL players of all time: Joe Montana, John Elway, Dick Butkus, Jerry Rice, Marcus Allen, Mike Ditka, and more than…
The Archie Show: The Complete Series (Genius) Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (Warner Bros.) The Best of the Kids in the Hall: Volume 2 (A&E) Bloodlines (THINKfilm) Creature (MGM) A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (Docurama) Dallas: The Complete Seventh Season (Warner Bros.) Film Noir Classic Collection: Vol. 4 (Warner…
I’m a terrible vacation planner. Deep in winter, I’ll turn to my husband and say, “Hey, let’s drive to Taos this fall.” Or one fine, rainy spring day, he’ll turn to me and ask, “When was the last time we went to San Francisco?” Yes, yes, yes! We’re both all…
Movie production schedules can sometimes drag on and on, with endless delays and reshoots, script changes and editing fights. That’s not the case with 48 Hour Film Project entrants. These aspiring filmmakers, actors and writers are faced with the daunting task of picking a genre out of a hat, then…
As a thirteen-year-old skate punk, I didn’t care about anything but my deck and how cool it looked. Comprising everything from surrealism to pop art, abstract to tribalistic primitivism, it shaped my taste in art. Tonight, Plastic Chapel and Indy Ink take skate art to the max with the Skate…
More than a decade ago, actor Robert Dubac launched a one-man, multi-character comedic performance on gender issues titled The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron. After taking that show around the world, the Telluride resident is back with a sequel: Robert Dubac’s Male Intellect: The 2nd Coming, which begins a one-month engagement…
While today’s Spare Parts event is thrown together by teenagers and their advocates, it’s not a haphazard hodgepodge. The skateboarding competition/battle of the bands is the fruit of months of brainstorming by one Douglas County mom and a handful of young people bored with their town’s options. Amy Mays, director…
After my first year in college, I came home to find a pot of rotting food in the corner of my family’s kitchen. According to my long-haired vegetarian brother, he was “like, composting, dude.” Although he taught me a little more about what it takes to save the planet, it…
Artists have long been attracted to Colorado for its magnificent views and crisp, clear light. For Landscapes of Colorado, curator Ann Daley chose contemporary paintings, drawings and photographs that are unique to the West, giving those works a place among the state’s rich art history. With 51 artists, the exhibit…
“I photographed a lot of big bands early on, and a lot of other ones at their peak,” says Chris Deutsch, whose snaps are at the center of Front Row Classic Concert Photography, an exhibition that opens tonight. “Twenty years later, quite a few of them — Metallica, Van Halen,…
Interning at Westword has played an important role in my evolution as a journalist. Without this position, I never would have learned to be creative and take initiative in a professional setting. And I’ve only had to get my editor coffee once. The same goes for the interns at +…
“I look at the way that sports and politics collide in society — sometimes with very gruesome results, and sometimes with very inspiring results,” says author Dave Zirin of Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics and Promise of Sports. “But the book focuses more on the gruesome.” How could…
If you’re the type of person who ransacks your parents’ closet in search of Christmas presents or looks at the end of a book before you’re through the first chapter, then you’ll be overjoyed to know that the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center’s Extremely Grand Opening is throwing a little…
Out & About Show Home: Tour the the world’s first urban home built exclusively by GLBT and GLBT-supportive contractors, suppliers and tradespeople. Proceeds benefit the Alexander Foundation. Fridays, 3-7 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 12-5 p.m. Starts: Aug. 3. Continues through Aug. 18…
