If you think your family is dysfunctional, go see Quemar las Naves. Chances are, you’ll feel better about it. Miami Latin Gay Film Festival opens tonight with a fascinating tale about a brother and sister living in a crumbling, isolated villa with their dieing mother in central Mexico. Directed by…

Luxe vending machine at the Mondrian South Beach defies the recession

It could be the most important legislation for Floridians with mental illness since the Baker Act in the 1970s. But you wouldn’t know it from the amount of press it’s getting. A House panel approved a measure yesterday that would divert some of the state’s most mentally ill to treatment…

Fred Zeledon is thin man in his thirties with an easy smile and sensitive hazel eyes. He also has mild muscular dystrophy, a disability that causes him to slur when he talks and drag one side of his body a bit. He works at Wal-Mart on Northwest 13th Street near…

You could probably fill the Jackie Gleason Theater with the number of shoppers who have sworn they’ll never return to South Beach. It’s usually prompted by the same thing: Folks drive in, park a car, buy some gelato, maybe see a movie — and return to find their wheels missing…

Thank God for websites like Askmen.com. Without them, where would the single males of the world learn jewels of social wisdom such as “Why being nice doesn’t work” and “Ten things to have in your house that women love”? (Attention, gentlemen: You should apparently “try to get your hands on…

Norland Senior High alum Bruce Perlowin has some damn good managerial skills. Back in the ’70s, the teenage hippie-cum-drug lord ran what feds called “the West Coast’s largest marijuana-smuggling ring,” complete with a fleet of 90 ships that hauled 500,000 pounds of pot from Colombia to the San Francisco Bay…

Riptide is a bit contrary by nature. So when we heard that critics from Rolling Stone and New York Magazine were raving over The Cove — an environmental exposé-meets-heist documentary starring South Miami guy Ric O’Barry — we secretly wanted to hate it. But when filmmakers showed the first public…

This morning, Riptide posted a blog about a former pot smuggler’s plan to organize a Norland Senior High reunion. It notes Bruce Perlowin — the west coast’s biggest marijuana importer in the seventies — has been planning a 40-year reunion-festival for the class of 1969. He has gotten some opposition…

Norland Senior High alum Bruce Perlowin has some damn good managerial skills. Back in the ’70s, the teenage hippie-cum-drug lord ran what feds called “the West Coast’s largest marijuana-smuggling ring,” complete with a fleet of 90 ships that hauled 500,000 pounds of pot from Colombia to the San Francisco Bay…

Shock jock Enrique Sanchez isn’t exactly known for his social sensitivity. He has made fun of everything from domestic abuse to racial tension — but he swears he’s serious about one thing: obesity. The blunt, pudgy 34-year-old cohost of the Enrique y Joe radio show just started lobbying for city…

It’s been an interesting couple days for the sex offenders living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway. In case you missed yesterday’s opinion piece in the Herald, a woman named Voncel Johnson — who plead guilty of lewd and lascivious exhibition on a minor — just joined the 52 banished men…

If it gives you a recession-era headache to see the value of your house drop faster than the Miami Herald’s staff, try living in Miami’s Grosse Pointe Highlands. Homeowners here — between Northwest 27th and 37th Avenues and Flagler Street – were horrified to learn their modest, middle class houses…

Radio personality Enrique Santos isn’t exactly known for his social consciousness. He has made fun of everything from domestic abuse to racial tension — but he swears he’s serious about one thing: obesity. The blunt, pudgy host of  98.3 FM’s Spanish-language radio show Enrique y Joe just started lobbying for…

If Miami were a lady, you wouldn’t take her home to mom. No, unlike Chicago, who would make a good mother, or New York City, who is working on her doctorate, Miami is, well, unique. She’s the kind of gal you’d meet for a mojito and then promptly pull into…

Judging by the moose-shootin’ hockey mom on the presidential ticket this past fall, political strategists have discovered a little secret: Women outnumber men in this country. And that shows up at the polls.It’s for this reason that Florida Senator Bill Nelson might want a re-do when it comes to a…

If Miami were a lady, you wouldn’t take her home to mom. No, unlike Chicago (who would make a good mother) or New York City (who is working on her doctorate) Miami is looking for something else. She’s the kind of gal you’d meet for a Mojito, then promptly pull…

Miami Beach Police got the call just after lunchtime. There was a problem, a woman reported: Two thin, unfamiliar men were lurking in her neighborhood near Collins Avenue and 70th Street. They had parked between a yellow $1.1 million waterfront house and an abandoned tan bungalow, and were carrying furniture…

It had the makings for talk show gold: Divorce court. A cult leader. Protesters on the steps of a courthouse. But then there were the bored camera guys and the cops who stood twiddling their thumbs as the 20-or-so followers of Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda paced silently — and…

Miami Beach cops got the call just after lunchtime this past January 26. A woman reported the following: Two thin, unfamiliar men were lurking in her neighborhood  between a yellow $1.1 million waterfront house and an abandoned tan bungalow. They were carrying furniture from the houses to their pickup truck…

Experts have said it all along: Sex offenders in transient environments are far more likely to repeat-offend. To say that’s the only reason for an alleged sexual battery that occurred Monday is a stretch — but it certainly didn’t help. Miami police charged Julia Tuttle Causeway resident and registered sex…