America’s confidence still high, according to Next Top Model casting call

See more photos at westword.com/slideshow. They say we’re beaten down, beleaguered, ready to collectively empty our 401(k)s and slit our wrists with our sliced-in-half Visa cards. But if the several hundred high-heeled, high-smiled women standing in a line that stretched halfway around downtown Denver on Tuesday for an America’s Next…

The Westword.com blog shortcut, March 10 edition

Bring it on! Today in Backbeat Online: • Brooks Center Arts Tea House closing? • Last Night: The Bad Plus at Soiled Dove. • So What! back at Sengers on the Fax tonight! • The economy sucks, so here are 570 free songs. Today in Cafe Society: • For ladies…

Denver Blogs: How the military’s homophobia cost a cadet $30,000

These are the fruits of our daily blog-surfing labor. Make our jobs easier by sending nutritious links here. One cadet’s experience with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: As you might guess, it pretty much sucked. It was also expensive. (Colorado Independent) Lawmakers have asked the governor to squash new oil-and-gas rules…

Today’s featured event: With V-Day, vaginas can lead to victory

V-Day doesn’t correspond to a specific date on the calendar. Rather, it’s an organization dedicated to ending violence against women and girls across the globe. And tonight offers a highly enjoyable way to support the cause: a benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues, the award-winning play penned by Eve Ensler,…

What? Not all comments posted to blogs are accurate?

The old adage about not believing everything you read goes double for comments placed on blogs. Today’s example: An item attributed to “Buster,” which popped up on a piece entitled, “Denver Post Chairman and MediaNews Group CEO Dean Singleton Responds to This Week’s Message Column.” It reads: Every time Mikey…

Colorado Public Radio story goes national

This morning, National Public Radio broadcast a first-rate report about mortgage scams. Yet its source was more surprising than its content — because it’s a product of Colorado Public Radio. The appearance of a CPR package on the national broadcast shouldn’t be that rare. After all, the service is by…

The Westword.com blog shortcut, March 9 edition

Here are some things we published not too long ago… Today in Backbeat Online: • Over the Weekend: Cut Off Your Hands at the hi-dive. • Over the Weekend: Tauntaun and Kingdom of Magic at the Bluebird. Today in Cafe Society: • Prime (rib) time at Dazzle. • A Milking…

Major behind-the-scenes shuffling at the Denver Post

The just-published blog “Former Enemies Penny Parker and Bill Husted Finding Ways to Co-Exist at the Denver Post” describes the intriguing repercussions of changes at the broadsheet since the closure of the Rocky Mountain News — and plenty more are on the way. Earlier today, Post editor Greg Moore sent…

Kenny Be’s Yard Arteology: Daily Platitudes

The study of neighbors through their lawn ornaments… Figure 10. Hilltop: Daily Platitudes In addition to sculptors and painters, there is a more literal sub-species of yard artist known as the yard author. These creators are small in numbers and usually have big problems finding successful ways to transform the…