The Phantom Tron Menace Legacy: It’s the same movie

Tron: Legacy, hittin’ the streets on DVD and bluray yesterday, was supposed to be a coup of geekery. A sequel no one really wanted but diehard fans of a box office flop from 1982; it got made anyway — and against all odds, it looked like awesome 3D geeknip. Jeff…

Gratuitous randomness: F*ck!

It’s an interesting little fun fact that the most versatile and flexible word in the English language is also the most obscene; what that says about the culture we live in is an entirely different matter, but we’re going to assert that it’s probably an indication of our collective sexual…

Browser game of the week: Osada

This week’s browser game isn’t really much of a game in a traditional sense, it’s more of an experience. Okay, that sounds really stupid and you can punch us for saying it, but there isn’t a better way to describe Osada. Maybe you could call it an interactive music video,…

Comment of the day: “Do you read? Do you comprehend?”

Whatever your opinions about him — and don’t lie; you have some opinions about him — there’s no doubt that Barry Bonds is one of the most polarizing figures in modern sports, almost universally either revered or reviled. The thing that polarizes people about him is his use of steroids,…

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Emilio Lobato and Sangeeta Reddy. Mixed-media artist and painter Emilio Lobato is surely near the top of anyone’s list of abstract artists in the region. His work relates well to that of the late Dale Chisman, as both artists studied with Mary Chenoweth at Colorado College. His latest creations, many…

The Elephant in the Living Room lands at the Oriental Theater

Laws governing the keeping of exotic animals as pets vary from state to state in this country — and some states have no restrictions whatsoever, which means there’s a vibrant subculture of raising some of the most dangerous animals in the world as common household pets. That’s the premise behind…

Your Highness is a dirty-joke blooper reel set in EverQuest land

Your Highness plays like a dirty-joke blooper reel made by the cast of a junky sword-and-sorcery epic, streaked with carelessly contemporary-sounding blue humor, blunt profanity replacing the naughty-naughty, tankard-sloshing, heaving-bosom ribaldry that goes with the period setting. The scene: a generic medieval realm from an EverQuest or Forgotten Realms module…

Lynn Nottage illuminates the plight of Congolese women in Ruined

One of the most troubled and lawless places in the world right now is the Democratic Republic of Congo, suffering the malign aftermath of colonial rule, riven by inner conflict, the site of proxy wars involving neighboring countries, and made particularly dangerous by the presence in its soil of rich…

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Fiction. In the first scene of Fiction, two people argue and flirt in a Paris cafe. They seem entirely familiar with each other; their argument, though heightened and intensely clever, still has the comfortable, teasing, accustomed rhythms you expect of a conversation between lovers. But in the second scene we…

Rope swing fail: Your moment of lulz

Ah, those halcyon days of summer: relaxing on lounge chairs, guzzling cold beers, loping on down to the swimming hole and taking a swing on the rope that ends in mild bodily harm and humiliating failure — the good times. Since heavy day-drinking in an integral part of any summer…

Our Commercial Culture: Outcasts Unite

What kind of idiot eats a sandwich while standing over an open casket? A very special kind, and you just gotta love him. This advert for a good cause requires just as much creativity as advertising for a bad cause. Maybe even more. It takes the ability to pull at…