An antiquities expert is summoned in the middle of the night to a major European city in order to investigate a mystery that he soon realizes is a cross-historical conspiracy with devastating modern implications. If you thought, “That’s the plot of The Da Vinci Code,” you’re close, but it’s actually…

The recession, construction on I-95, the oppressive heat–there are plenty of reasons to be stressed out this summer in Miami, and that’s why it’s nice to be able to escape to that tiny, air-conditioned oasis on 125th street we know as the Luna Star Cafe. Run by inimitable Alexis Sanfield,…

Orchid lovers are obsessive to a degree that surpasses any other group of collectors. Show them a rare Bornean and they practically wet their pants with appreciation, and who can blame them? With a beauty unmatched in nature and literally countless possibilities in blending species, orchids are the puzzle designed…

“Stars! Laughs! Songs! Spectacle! And Beauty!” Or so says the original theatrical trailer for 1949’s Neptune’s Daughter, a musical comedy shot partially in Central Florida’s Weeki Wachee Springs. The exclamation points aren’t an exaggeration. Filmed in ’30s-style Technicolor, the flick features enormous set pieces, ham-handed physical comedy, a full orchestra,…

“History is written by the victors,” Winston Churchill said. According to The Last Ember, the debut novel of Hollywood-born Daniel Levin, it is also rewritten by the victors. A page-turning thriller that takes place over the course of 24 hours, The Last Ember uses the real-life controversy over the Waqf…

If evolutionary theory is correct and nature really does select the animals that best adapt to their surroundings, humans in year 10,000 are going to have some bulbous optic nerves. Those thin channels now have the weight and size of dental floss, but at the rate we’re sucking down YouTube…

Ain’t no party like a hurricane party ’cause a hurricane party don’t stop. So why wait for the hurricane? Head to the Historical Museum of Southern Florida for its Hurricane History 101 Family Fun Day this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Experts will show storm lovers how hurricanes have…

Remember when Hollywood finally got Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in the same movie? And it was sort of like having two great point guards on the same team, but no center? Remember when the Arizona Diamondbacks somehow got the two best starting pitchers in the Major Leagues —…

Just got back from the Miami-Dade County Cultural Affairs Town Hall Meeting at the Miami Science Museum, where close to 300 people showed up to voice their dissatisfaction with Mayor Alvarez’s proposed budget cuts of $11.168 million in public arts funding.The 240-seat auditorium was completely filled and patrons were standing…

Green Day has come a long way from a couple of 15-year-olds in Berkeley, California, smoking too much weed. Originally a teenage punk band called Sweet Children, the band has constantly re-invented itself over its 22-year existence (a virtual eternity in rock ‘n’ roll), winning new fans, losing old ones,…

Remember when there was an understanding that if an actor’s career crossed the hills into the San Fernando Valley, she was done as a serious actress? My, how things have changed. Sasha Grey, the 21-year-old porn star who calls herself a “sexual athlete,” has made the opposite leap — out…

Origin stories have taken over comic books; why not the rest of literature? Herman Melville’s Captain Ahab is one of the more intriguing characters in American bookdom, but by the time we meet him, he’s already a whirling dervish of vengeful hatred. The closing film of the eighth annual Perrier…

Jazz combos helmed by a bass player have a solid track record: Charles Mingus, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, and, if electric is your thing, Stanley Clarke. Maybe one day, 27-year-old local Diogo Brown will be added to that list. He plays the electric bass and runs an outfit that fuses…

Julio “the Kidd” Diaz was born in Coachella, California, presumably during the third encore of a Wilco concert. Inside that seasonal cloud of dehydrated hipsters, Diaz grew up to be one of the baddest lightweights in the history of boxing. And this Friday, he takes his 36-5 record (26 KOs)…

What is Montreal’s impact? Mostly banana-hammock bathing suits, “Je me souviens” license plates clogging the fast lanes in February, and the band Of Montreal, whom no one over 26 has ever listened to. Also, a smaller version of the bagel and some of the best strip clubs in the world…

Our daddies taught us two important lessons in life: Never start a land war in Asia, and never play dominoes against a guy with a Puerto Rican flag tattooed on his arm. We’ve done pretty well avoiding the first, but this Saturday at the second annual AT&T North Beach Tropical…

The silver lining around the Pig-Pen-like cloud of humidity that descends over Miami is that Miami Spice — the citywide festival that offers gourmet food at incredible discounts — is back. So even if you have to change your shirt after walking from the car to the restaurant, at least…

What: The final weekend of The Toners Live! Toners in Time at the New Theatre.Better than: An hour’s worth of free Jupiña and rum.If the premise doesn’t grab you–two unknown dudes from South Miami travel in time to the year 2002 for a chance to become the originators of Reggaeton–then…

Miami Art Museum is two-for-two in 2009 lectures.On March 15, the museum delivered artist Richard Tuttle, and next Sunday, August 2nd at 3 p.m., it’ll host Thomas Crow.Crow is the Rosalie Solow professor of modern art history at the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU, but he’s had previous appointments at the…

Love conquers all this weekend, when 75 area students ages 12 to 17 will perform the classic Bernstein and Sondheim musical West Side Story at the Roxy Performing Arts Center (1645 SW 107th Ave., Miami).Twenty-four Miami-Dade schools have at least one student among the cast, and all proceeds go to…