New Times‘s Top DVD Picks for the Week of December 12, 2006

AFI: I Heard a Voice (Interscope) Air Buddies (Disney) Ali Rap (ESPN) The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Series (Paramount) Barnyard (Paramount) The Chronicles of Narnia: Four-Disc Extended Edition (Disney) A Dead Calling (Lions Gate) The Doors (Lions Gate) James Bond: Ultimate Edition Volumes 3 and 4 (MGM) John Wayne…

The Nutcracker

Okay, so maybe you’ve stopped dreaming of a white Christmas, but some things about the holidays never change. And on that list — right after department store sales and eggnog — is the immortal ballet, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. The timeless story of a little girl who finds much more…

Ivy Has Your Poison

It is easy for those not familiar with Miami’s massive territory to assume that anything not hugging a beach is a boring suburb. But even venues in the burbs know how to party. Amid the high-rises and upscale stores of Aventura sits a stylish number with just the right mix…

305, Kickin’ It Live

The hip-hop scene on South Beach has a bum rap. When crowds of rap-loving revelers flock to our sandy shores on holiday weekends, the po-po comes out with riot gear at the ready. Hooligans wearing throwbacks (that should have been thrown back) and half-dressed hoochies in dusty threads aren’t encouraged…

We Love That Jerk

In America it’s an insult that refers to a foolish, naive, or loathsome person (see the classic 1979 Steve Martin comedy for further elucidation). In Jamaica it’s a style of cooking that produces incredibly spicy, uniquely delicious meat. When it comes to jerks, we definitely prefer the kind that comes…

That Really Stings

Time to stop making excuses about how difficult it is for a championship team to motivate itself early in a season. The Miami Heat need to get winning, and get winning now, or they won’t even make the playoffs this year. Yikes. Time to bring back Stan Van Gundy? Maybe…

Oil’s Well in Andalusia

You might think that bottle of bubbly is champagne, but unless it was actually produced in the French province for which the elixir is named, it’s just sparkling wine. High-quality products are often given geographical misnomers to jack up the suggested retail price. One such example is Italian olive oil…

Rockin’ Hanukkah

Joke all you want about holiday shoppers going cyber merely to avoid another round of carols blasting from the store PA systems, but you really can’t get into the holiday spirit unless you keep yourself on a proper dosage of traditional tunes. Although klezmer is a secular form of music…

Angels and Demons

Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire is one of those films you have to see. Seriously. Ask anyone who has seen it, and they will tell you it is brilliant, beautiful, and life-changing. The 1987 film is set in the war-damaged city of Berlin, where trench-coat-wearing angels try to comfort mortals…

Do It Together

You will not be punished eternally if you decline donating to every fundraiser, walkathon, and charity event in the world. But one organization has pledged to raise $50,000 for a cause that hits close to home. The JunTos Foundation was created in honor of two local baseball players, Juanchi de…

Clip-Clop Shop

They sound like something out of a snow-covered, quaint New England Christmas: horse-drawn carriage rides. Except this holiday season, carriages will roll past palm trees, swank stores, and Mediterranean architecture in downtown Coral Gables. As part of the Holidays in Downtown promotion, free fifteen-minute carriage rides will be offered to…

Faire Enough

Get into the spirit of the season – the winter solstice, Earth-loving season – at this weekend’s Moonfaire. Hosted by the Witch’s Garden, this spiritual gathering will surely shake you from your December depression and inspire you to revel in your natural surroundings. You won’t find Santa or the Hanukkah…

We Heart Football!

It is never too early to get your wee ones interested in football. Go ahead, strap little Sawyer or Maddox into a helmet and some pads, and send him on his way to gridiron glory. (How else is he going to afford to be able to support your retirement dreams?)…

Ka-Chow!

What if you took all of your delinquent teenage nephew’s favorite pastimes – playing Gran Turismo on his Xbox, reading Maxim, ogling pictures of hot models, watching World Poker Tour, and downloading hip-hop – and blended them together, miraculously brought them to life, and sent them on tour across America?…

A Great Place to Party

When Chicago industrialist James Deering had his palatial retreat built on Biscayne Bay, the Magic City was still a sleepy hamlet with less than 10,000 residents. The cosmopolitan bachelor, who crashed at his swank tropical crib only during the winter months between 1916 and 1925, had traveled to Italy with…

Will Sing for Drinks

What are the holidays without a little singing? In this day and age, we can’t go a-caroling door-to-door (imagine that in Miami), but we can go to the beach and belt out a tried-and-true holiday tune. At least today we can – when the Lincoln Road Concert Series begins with…

A Community United

Despite the undeniable presence of Haitian immigrants, the community tends to celebrate its rich culture at disparate locations scattered throughout the city. Unity is the goal behind the first annual Haitian Art and Films festival. Today through December 29, island-culture lovers are invited to the Tower Theater for music, art,…

I Spy Pricey Panties

Eberjey underwear doesn’t come cheap. Lace thongs range from $18 to $25, and its famous French briefs — seen in movies like American Pie — cost $28 to $38. But that’s a small price to pay to support a Miami-born success story. A decade ago, founders Ali Mejia and Mariela…

Just an Illusion

Just as the tie-dyed hippie-magic-man Doug Henning eschewed the stereotypical top hat, tuxedo, and porn-star mustache for his stage productions, Miami’s own elfin magician Dylan Ace prefers to keep it casual for his performances. You won’t find smoke machines or mirrors on his stage, nor will you find sequins or…

Pablo Cano Wows the Grown-Ups

MoCA Cano with his princess Far from the hustle of Art Basel’s sundry fairs, Pablo Cano’s City Beneath the Sea, the artist’s ninth annual marionette show, played this weekend to a less-than-rapt audience of children — and their dazzled parents — at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami…

Welcome to Miami

Hey there, tourists! Help yourself to one of several guides, booklets, pamphlets and maps being provided at the Miami Beach Convention Center in conjunction with Art Basel this year. Should you be interested in this one, the latest issue of The Adventures of Bi Bi & Friends (right), have at…

Ripe and Juicy

Sweet stuff Before a crowd of hundreds packed onto the sand at Collins Park’s Art Positions late Wednesday night, digital dominatrix Peaches took off her undies. No doubt the gathered Art Baselites were not the sort of audience for whom the bikini clad rocker was used to performing, but this…