3 things to do for free in Denver this week, December 24-27

If holiday presents and apocalypse preparation left you broke, don’t worry. Denver is giving back this week, with lots of free events. From an Improv-a-Thon to a tribute to the godfather of soul to a pop-up shop and dance party, here are three of the best ways to celebrate the…

Lucky ’13: Musician and DIY venue operator Gregg Ziemba

This past year has been tough for many people, and we’re eager to kiss 2012 goodbye. In hopes that 2013 will turn out to be much luckier for many, we invited some of the town’s cultural tastemakers — entrepreneurs and entertainers we’re lucky to have in Denver — to answer…

The Stick of Truth hopes to be the first great South Park game

As if South Park, Colorado, doesn’t have enough problems (Canadians, Gingers and the fearsome Jewpacabra among them), Cartman, Stan, Kyle, Kenny and the whole South Park gang will soon lay waste to the hapless burg in the upcoming video game South Park: The Stick of Truth. See also: – 10…

Reader: My Little Pony has already had a makeover

Since Hasbro’s Easy-Bake Oven is finally getting a makeover so that little boy cooks won’t have to use pink and purple models, Jenn Wohletz thinks it’s past time to update other girl-centric toys to reflect reflect American society’s changing views on stereotypical gender roles. Toys like My Little Pony, for…

Bee People film encourages people to get “bee fever”

Bees have been stung with something of a bad reputation, but they make a big contribution to life on earth by pollinating plants. And the people behind the documentary Bee People are out to prove that bees deserve a better image….and a better chance at survival. See also: – The…

Lucky ’13: Stand-up comedian Heather Snow

This past year has been tough for many people, and we’re eager to kiss 2012 goodbye. In hopes that 2013 will turn out to be much luckier for many, we invited some of the town’s cultural tastemakers — entrepreneurs and entertainers we’re lucky to have in Denver — to answer…

Apocalypse how: Your guide to handicapping the end of the world

As you’ve certainly heard by now, the world is ending tomorrow. Thanks to infallible Mayan prophecies and/or calendar design, we know the whole shebang comes to a hard stop on December 21, 2012. What our helpful future-seeing friends didn’t see fit to tell us is how the world ends. Sure,…

Reader: Keith Garcia should stick to picking films, not lottery numbers

For our New Year’s Guide, we asked thirteen cultural tastemakers three specific questions — but since they’re all very involved in the local arts scenes, their answers were very different, and very wide-ranging.As programming manager for the newly christened Sie FilmCenter , Keith Garcia works hard to bring eclectic first-run…

Susanne Mitchell documents African culture at Edge

Denver artist Susanne Mitchell has taken over both of the front spaces at Edge Gallery for her solo, Crossing Into, a visual exploration of the cross-cultural currents represented by her marriage to an African immigrant. That union has since dissolved, but while they were together, the couple had a child,…

Now Showing

Becoming van Gogh. Timothy Standring, the Denver Art Museum’s curator of painting and sculpture, is the brains behind the very compelling, very interesting and, most of all, very successful Becoming van Gogh, on display now. When we think of van Gogh, we are actually only thinking of the work of…

Now Playing

42nd Street. A big, glitzy show filled with great songs and requiring dozens of tapping feet, 42nd Streetis one of those musicals that spoofs the genre while at the same time providing all its shmaltzy pleasures. Peggy is a star-struck youngster who arrives in New York to audition for a…

The Fitzgerald Family Christmas delivers fine dramatic fare

If you knew you were dying, and it was Halloween, your first impulse might not be to gather your whole estranged family together for one last night of spooky, costumed tomfoolery. Christmas is this whole other deal. From Michael Keaton’s dead dad in Jack Frost to Ed Asner’s dying father…

Jack Reacher: one beautiful beat-’em-up action flick

In his 2005 novel One Shot, writer Lee Child lays out nine rules for surviving a five-against-one alley fight, a challenge his hero, the ex-Army cop Jack Reacher, is about to face. These include “Be on your feet and ready.” “Identify the ringleader.” “Don’t break the furniture.” Rule number nine…