Calling all filmmakers! Put down the projector and stop screening your celluloid labor of love for your friends. The Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archive is seeking entries for its seventeenth annual film and video awards program. If your flick was made in or is about Florida, you could win a place amid other notable clips of local history and culture. Categories include films that incorporate archival material, historical or contemporary documentaries, clips of breaking news, features, special reports, sports, and artistic productions. Winners will be feted at an awards ceremony in June, and the entries will be showcased in the archive's Video Rewind screening series. Make haste, moviemakers -- your entries must be postmarked by May 6. A nonrefundable fee of $75 is required for each submission. Call 305-375-1505, or e-mail [email protected] for more information. (PEGY)
FRI 29
Hep cats and art buffs will love the newest artistic haven in the Wynwood art district. The Culture Complex (217 NW 36th St., Miami) is more than a typical art gallery. This funky warehouse accommodates a variety of creative ventures, including Meg Pukel's photography studio, the in-house Jana Bee Honey Comb thrift store, and the Bennu Collection, a woodwork and fashion company. Tonight's extravaganza will bring all the elements together. A film screening begins at 8:15, followed by a live fashion photo shoot at 9:00. From 9:40 until midnight, you can sip complimentary cocktails and enjoy performances by Def Poetry Jam alumnus Will Da Real One, soul improviser Big Brooklyn Red, and Miami mainstays Robert Dante and Renea L. Moss. After the live acts, DJs will turn out the dance floor by spinning the hottest house, hip-hop, funk, and reggae tunes. Call 305-576-2429, or e-mail [email protected]. (PEGY)
SUN 30
That five-o'clock-shadow look exudes more laziness than sexiness, and that scratchy stubble doesn't feel nice against a lady's cheek, but we understand that shaving isn't fun for you guys. Heck, we wouldn't want to put a sharp blade to our faces and necks every day. The right products could help soothe the burn and stave off those annoying bumps. The Art of Shaving shop and barber spa (9700 Collins Ave., Bal Harbour) is launching a customized aromatherapy event series featuring shaving products made from essential oils and specifically blended for the skin type of each customer. Eric Malka and Myriam Zaoui are a husband-and-wife team who founded the first store dedicated to fine men's shaving and grooming products in 1996. You can meet Zaoui and pick up some helpful shaving tips and products today from noon to 5:00. Complimentary refreshments will be served. Call 305-865-0408, or visit www.theartofshaving.com. (LO)
SUN 1
There are plenty of wine and sake tastings offered around town, but what about the hard stuff? If you want a little bit of knowledge mixed with your hard liquor, you can learn more about your poison (before licking salt off of your date's belly and downing shots) at the Spirits Take Flight tasting and food pairings event starting today at Two Chefs (8287 S. Dixie Hwy., South Miami). The series runs through the end of September, with two different potables offered each month, including rums, gins, vodkas, whiskeys, and cognacs. Each flight is personalized to meet your preferences and experience, and includes a selection of snacks to enhance the tasting. To launch the series and celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a Trio of Tequilas is the first sampling offered through May 15 and served nightly at the bar starting at 6:00. The flights cost $15 per person, excluding gratuity. Call 305-663-2100. (LO)
MON 2
Amy Poehler's character in Mean Girls showed us that there are some hip moms out there: "Now remember, there are no rules in this house. I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a cool mom!" It's time to celebrate your cool mom. (Mother's Day is Sunday, May 8; you've been reminded, so buy the card and order the flowers now.) You can pamper her and give back to the community today at J. Sisters International South Beach (669 N. Lincoln Ln., Miami Beach). Today from 10:00 to 8:00, you can indulge in salon and spa treatments, waxing and nail services, makeup tips, and antiaging treatments with 100 percent of proceeds (including gratuity!) donated to the Mount Sinai Medical Center Foundation. Call 305-672-7142, or visit www.jsisters.com. (LO)
TUE 3
There's a lot of misbehaving going on around town. People cutting you off in traffic, cashiers at the health food store who won't even make eye contact with you, and no one holds a door open for a senior citizen anymore. Come on, people! Where are your manners? Author Judith Martin (a.k.a. Miss Manners) offers some gentle reminders on how to be nice in her new book Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated. Packed with the latest essays, letters, and hilarious wit of the queen of politeness, Martin's book wrestles with cell phone etiquette (um, don't use them during a movie, duh!), discusses the deal with married women who've accumulated too many surnames, and reminds us that thank-you notes are still a nice gesture. (You do want to get another gift next year, don't you?) No word on if she can do anything about guys who say they are going to call and then never do. Learn some manners tonight at 8:00 at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables. Call 305-442-4408, or visit www.booksandbooks.com. (LO)
WED 4
For sneak previews of the coolest cutting-edge films, Gen Art's Indie Film Screening Series can't be beat. Tonight's movie Crash is an intriguing, star-studded ensemble piece. Sandra Bullock leaves her romantic-comedy shtick behind. Brendan Fraser abandons his action-hero ambitions. Cruel Intentions heartthrob Ryan Phillippe returns to the silver screen, and rap superstar Chris "Ludacris" Bridges steps away from the Billboard chart's "Number One Spot" and into a juicy role. The cast also includes recent Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle, Larenz Tate, Thandie Newton, and Matt Dillon. See it at 7:30 p.m. at the Regal South Beach Cinema 18, 1100 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach. At 9:30 discuss the film while sipping complimentary Boru Vodka drinks and frosty Stella Artois beers at the after-party at Hotel Victor, 1144 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach. Gen Art members can sail in for free, while tickets for nonmembers cost ten dollars. Call 305-695-8200, or visit www.genart.org. (PEGY)
By Lyssa Oberkreser and Patrice Elizabeth Grell Yursik
