The siren song of illegally copied Japanese anime DVDs is a hard call to resist, even among the most honorable devotees. Staying on top of the animation niche known for saucer-eyed hot chicks and cyberpunk samurai is an expensive hobby, with movies averaging $30 to $50 and specialty items going…
Music teacher Tresa Waggoner is having a devil of a time in Bennett, where the school board has put her on paid leave while it investigates a handful of complaints that she showed snippets from a video on Charles Gounod’s Faust — a video that the teacher, an opera singer…
Look, I’m not going to lie to you. Originally, this column was going to be a cheap attempt to make fun of a hippie. I wasn’t really proud of that, but I was going to do it anyway. Because it was so there for the taking. It was as if…
Although many Denver sports fans have never heard of talk-show host Dino Costa, he’s determined to seize their attention — and once he does, he’s convinced that local listeners will recognize his greatness. “If and when I ever get an opportunity to work on a station like, let’s say, KOA,…
No Whine Before Its Time Chipotle off the old blockhead: Do you pay Adam Cayton-Holland? I just finished reading the February 2 What’s So Funny, and I have noticed this column evolving into Adam’s whine piece to get free food, VIP tickets, invitations to parties, etc. Can’t you guys pay…
Here’s how you get from the center of Denver — the intersection of Colfax and Broadway — to the center of the mapping universe: Start out going SOUTH on Broadway. Turn RIGHT onto West Colfax Avenue. Proceed less than one-tenth of a mile. Turn RIGHT onto 15th Street. Turn RIGHT…
Beware! Here there be Horndribbles. They slink with squishy tentacles and fuzzy antennae, a menagerie so grotesque it makes the denizens of Where the Wild Things Are look like Beanie Babies. Only a few dozen of the creatures have ever been seen by human eyes, tracked down in the wilds…
It seemed like just a goofy political crush when www.drafthick.com, a website pushing John Hickenlooper for governor, first popped up in April 2005. Even though Hizzoner repeatedly rejected their advances, the besotted individuals behind the drafthick campaign continued to believe he was just playing coy and kept sending mash notes…
My freshman year of college was not going so well when my mother paid a visit. My attempts to write a column for the shitty school rag had blown up in my face like Peter North on an Asian, and it seemed my sophisticated new Connecticut acquaintances were not nearly…
To former Wall Street Journal scribe Jonathan Weil, a “biopsy” is an inquiry into a seemingly healthy enterprise that exposes a potentially fatal disease — financial irregularities, perhaps, or evidence of fraudulent behavior on the part of an executive. In contrast, an “autopsy” is a piece detailing why and how…
Digging for the Truth Buried treasure: I would like to praise Joel Warner’s “Digging Deep,” in the January 26 issue. My grandparents came to McElmo Canyon in 1913, and my grandmother taught at a country school near the Castle Rock site. When I was a small child, she told me…
The invaders arrive in the cool, early morning. The imposing sandstone edifices and towers, dotted with darkened windows, had been quiet and peaceful, a silent city hidden deep within a rocky tableland rising hundreds of feet above the Colorado desert. But now the canyon echoes with voices and the sounds…
This weekend, you may notice a dull “ohm” emanating from the Colorado Convention Center. That’s the collective mantra of participants in the World Wellness Weekend, a gathering of yogis, masseurs, medical intuitives and other purveyors of spiritual and retail enlightenment. It would make more sense for these pilgrims to congregate…
This city has suffered through Denver Broncos losses far more ignominious than Sunday’s debacle. After one Super Bowl blowout, a national newscast reported that this cowtown had never been number one in anything but air pollution — a charge that had then-Congresswoman Pat Schroeder rushing to Denver’s defense, with claims…
Is What’s So Funny really going to write about the Denver Broncos again? Doesn’t that little fancy-pantsed dandelion remember the outpouring of heinous, misspelled hate mail sent by the slack-jawed “Superfans” the last time he set pen to paper on the Donkeys? Is he really mimicking the disbelieving voice of…
According to Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi, “It’s the media’s job to make sure and report the news, not to make sure everybody gets along.” Lucky thing, because when it comes to immigration, an increasing number of Coloradans are miles apart philosophically, and members of the media often get caught…
A Wild Ride Concrete cowboys: Regarding Luke Turf’s “Road Rage,” in the January 19 issue: I can only agree that some “people drive like frickin’ idiots here.” How else can I explain the statistical fact that auto insurance here is at least twice (!) as high as when we lived…
The clock was pushing closer and closer toward three in the morning, and Jody Velarde had still not heard from her boy. For most mothers, this would not be that unusual; few expect to get a call from a grown son after he’s spent a night out on the town…
On March 28, 2005, toothpaste was Eli Harris Ashby’s top priority as he cruised toward home on his crotch rocket to pick up his girlfriend, Carly Drienka. The two were planning to go to Target so they could use a gift card to pick up some items — toothpaste, first…
Talk about a hard cell! In 1999, a Westword writer attended a national convention of prison vendors, which tried to sell him stun guns and water cannons, barbed wire and suicide-resistant toilets. The resulting article (“Captive Market,” August 26, 1999) featured photos of the more bizarre exhibits, including a Saddam…
The last decade has brought big changes to the Radio Bums — and all of them have been for the better. DJ Chonz, Francois Baptiste and Hakeem Abdul Khaaliq formed the Bums in 1996 to champion hip-hop’s music and lifestyle in a part of the country that was behind the…
Requiem Mourning becomes electric: Dave Herrera, your January 12 Beatdown was a beautiful article. I was sitting in a library to access my e-mail and got all choked up and teary-eyed in public. I am so sorry about the loss of your father. I lost my own dad (and best…
