The Modern Bard

If plays were drinks, the New Theatre’s Twelfth Night or As You Will would certainly be a New Age smoothie. Rafael de Acha and company have whipped up a colorful froth of a show that’s a decided departure from their sober Othello, the first half of the company’s two-play Shakespeare…

Romancing the Drone

From the lofty American vantage point, Mexico’s New Wave filmmakers have materialized like magic, the unexpected fruit of a renaissance that even many cinematically alert Yanquis hardly took the trouble to notice. Meanwhile these new directors have fashioned a vivid style that combines, in various proportions, Latin American literary experimentation,…

Heaven Sent

There’s magic in Northfork — both in the movie, by twin brothers Mark and Michael Polish, and in the Montana town soon to be drowned by the opening of the dam keeping the baptismal waters at bay. Northfork is a beguiling and bittersweet fantasy set in a netherworld where the…

Chick Pick

By day you slog away as a receptionist, waitress, sales executive, whatever. By night you eagerly await your big chance to become the next singing sensation who takes the record industry by storm. But where in this venue-barren town can you strut your talented stuff? On the first Tuesday of…

Tyranny Re-Examined

Taking swipes at oppression and authoritarian rule, Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles has gained a reputation around the world as an advocate for human freedom. His works often put observers in uncomfortable situations to emphasize the inhumanity of tyrannical rule. In previous installations visitors have had to navigate a floor covered…

Photo Eroticism

Friday August 1 Our voyeuristic society loves a good peep show, despite the dirty feelings left over from Puritan guilt. But primp up the peep as an art show and apply appropriate pseudo-intellectualism — then guilty pleasure whittles down to just pleasure. And that’s the only thing that’ll whittle at…

Muscle Worship

Friday August 1 There is something addictive about showing off your body to strangers. Once you get some attention you crave more. The need intensifies if you are a bodybuilder. After spending hours a day working out and planning precision nutrition and exercise (not to mention drug) regimens, there is…

Fun in the Footlights

Friday August 1 Put 21 kids together in a room and usually you’ll get a cacophony of varied interests and wants … unless they have a mission. During 4 intense weeks, the Musical Theater Development Summer Camp’s class of 2003 came together to create What’s Wrong & What’s Write. The…

Hey, Good Looking

Friday August 1 How is one supposed to interpret being chosen for a total makeover? Is it a polite gesture, like being told you have spinach in your teeth? Or is it a backhanded compliment that implies, “Hey dude, those hip-huggers make your ass look like a chick’s.” Either way,…

Musical Scoop

Thursday July 31 Quartetto Gelato may be the first classical crossover group in outer space. At least their music made it onto the Columbia Space Shuttle in 1997. Which may tell you something about their sound: eclectic, quirky, and popular enough to include in the U.S. space program. The classical…

This Week’s Day by Day Picks

Thursday July 31 For the past few weeks at the Tower Theater (1508 SW Eighth St.), Miami-Dade College has been previewing documentaries set to air on PBS as part of the series called POV (Point of View). Not only have people gotten the opportunity to sneak a peek at the…

Wholly Decorated

Now 24/7 Trading Spaces, Area, Surprise By Design — all those TV decorating shows are convincing you that your living room — or any other room — could use a makeover. But no matter how you try, the furniture always ends up plunked against the wall in the most unexciting…

Good or Bad Dogs

Now 24/7 Hot dogs. Buns. Wieners. Sex and one of America’s favorite hand-held edibles are inextricably linked. During July, which is National Hot Dog Month, animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is using that libidinous association as part of its campaign encouraging folks to skip…

Family Circus

Friday July 25 What circus boasts regal roots dating back to 1690, when the outfit’s namesake and founder, the Irish-born Michael Hanneford, performed for King George III of England? It’s the Royal Hanneford Circus. Now headquartered in Osprey, Florida, the family-run show travels 11 months annually, and stops at the…

Studs and the City

Saturday July 26 Do you ever need an excuse to go watch hot men lurking poolside on Miami Beach? What if funds are raised for Care Resource, South Florida’s oldest and largest HIV/AIDS not-for-profit organization? Then surely local event wizards Brian Z. Guertin and Tony Miros (a.k.a. Mr.Nightlife) can lure…

Life’s a Drag

Thursday July 24 South Beach isn’t the sole epicenter for fabulous drag queens. Fort Lauderdale has its glitzy surprises as well, one being Diva Diaries. The new musical, created by Broadway producer Andrew Kato (who also serves as director), opens in the drag club Pandora’s Box as it prepares to…

Existential Kitty

An artist is always alone — if he is an artist. — Henry Miller At first glance it would be easy to think the most recent production at the Miami Light Project is standard Mad Cat fare — smart, glib twenty- and thirtysomething actors playing smart, glib twenty- and thirtysomethings…

Art at Any Price?

That painting on your wall that you bought at a local gallery (at a steep price for such a young artist) is more than “beautiful.” Remove the Romantic veil. What you have is called an investment; something similar to a Chippendale armoire, an ancient coin, or a 1936 32-ounce cone-top…

Ninety Miles and Counting

“I went out to protest the traitors to the Revolution. Little did I know I was about to become one of them.” Juan Carlos Zaldivar’s words foreshadow the series of contradictions raised in his documentary 90 Miles. As a thirteen-year-old Cuban boy from the small town of Holguin, Zaldivar was…

I Am Siam

If, in keeping with current fads, you seek movies featuring females kicking a bunch of ass, your appetite will be tended (and cultivated) at the multiplex all summer long. Wander into your local art-house, however, and you may find a fine if somewhat challenging import called The Legend of Suriyothai…

Draw At Bridge

Following suit, trumping. Sound familiar? Those everyday expressions come straight from the card game bridge. You know, that game your parents or your grandparents might play in their spare time. But who in this age of fast-paced everything — 200 cable channels and video games, movies, and magazines designed for…

This Week’s Day by Day Picks

Thursday July 24 As you crunch your way through a box of Goobers while watching 2 Fast 2 Furious, you might mistake that sweat rolling down your temples as the product of too much excitement. Or you might blame it on the air conditioner in the theater being on the…