Pot For All, Gigi in Wynwood, Second Saturday Art Walk, and Never Let Me Go

Michael McElroy

Take in some smoky reading.

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If you put in the necessary hours at the office, work overtime on weekends when needed, and generally eat enough shit from your bosses, every once in a long while it all  turns out to be worth it. Your job/career grants you a cosmic thank you in the form of an assignment that makes all the crap heaved in your direction slide off your shoulder, at least for a time. Just such a situation befell staff writer Francisco Alvarado recently. And the fruits or plants of that labor are on display for all of us to read this week in "Legalize Marijuana in Florida."

Alvarado has written some doozies in his day, but nothing quite like

this magnum opus to Mary Jane which tells us everything we always wanted

to know about pot in Miami and Florida. Learn about the voter petition

drive to change the laws on Miami Beach so that you get a ticket for

toking (rather than spend a night in jail), the Fort Lauderdale suit

whose dealer is Uncle Sam and why cops keep rolling snake eyes in their

costly gambit to curtail weed. 

Michael McElroy

Asian-inspired bowls at Gigi Noodles BBQ Beer.

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When that high of Alvarado's pipe de la resistance wears off, you'll

have the munchies. Perfect time then to read over Lee Klein's review of

Gigi Noodles BBQ Beer

, a new Wynwood restaurant (just across the street from the Shops at

Midtown) that serves up former Top Chef heartthrob Jeff McInnis's

Asian-inspired creations for a very reasonable price.

If restaurants had IQs, Gigi would be a genius. Everything about the

place is smart, starting with the décor and ambiance: lofty, industrial,

urban chic; a contemporary crunch of glass, stainless steel, and

concrete; loud acoustics; a boisterous buzz. It bespeaks big city...

late night... youth... energy... fun.

Once you get your food fix, you'll be looking for something to do.

Luckily, art reviewer Carlos Suarez De Jesus previews the Second Saturday

Art Walk 

this weekend. Get a taste of the former Soviet Union with Anton

Solomoukha's series of manipulated photographs titled  "Little Red

Riding Hood Visits the Grand Louvre" and "Little Red Riding Hood Visits

Chernobyl."

Anton Solomoukha

Little Red Riding Hood Visits the Grand Louvre.

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At first blush, Solomoukha's pictures appear more paintings than

photographs. He typically arranges his cast of characters -- men, women,

and children -- in elaborately staged settings based on drawings he first

executes using Photoshop. He then photographs his clothed and nude

models against a tarry black background to diffuse the light in

erotically and psychologically freighted scenes. The result is both

seductive and discomfiting.

Fox Searchlight Pictures/ Alex Bailey

Longer life, bigger problems.

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Finally, this week's film review answers the question, "would we still

be fucked up if we could live forever and never got sick?" J. Hoberman

critiques Never Let Me Go,  and answers the questions with an emphatic--probably.

The movie derives considerable poignancy by pondering a child's naive

interpretation of the monstrous status quo -- in this case, an exclusive

boarding school evocatively known as Hailsham. As rich in rustic charm,

English tradition, and magical thinking as the Hogwarts School of

Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hailsham is equally unnatural.