Roald Dahl’s inner child was evidently a contrary lad — precocious, dark-minded, contemptuous of adult supervision, and fueled by a sense of justice that often proceeded via cruel whim. In Dahl’s twisted children’s stories, villains throw kids out of windows, beautiful women turn out to be hideous witches in disguise,…
If Vince Vaughn puts any effort into what he’s doing, it doesn’t show, which is perhaps one of the benefits of always appearing to be hung-over. The man probably has to check the bags under his eyes at the airport, and he’s about as in shape as a toddler’s fistful…
At the stroke of midnight in the dark morning of Saturday, July 16, cash registers all over the world will be singing “ca-ching, ca-ching” for bookstore owners when the sixth tome in J.K. Rowling’s super-successful Harry Potter series makes its debut. Expectations for the latest installation, Harry Potter and the…
THUR 14 The campus is quiet, the students are gone. But the art scene at the University of Miami is still very much happening, and now’s a great time to check out the displays at Casa Bacardi (1531 Brescia Ave., Coral Gables). Tonight at 7:00 come for the opening of…
Jacquelyn Jackson Johnston noticed the stray animal problem in her Little Haiti neighborhood as soon as she began working on her Faktura Gallery space. Curly-tailed feral dogs and fierce alley cats darted from behind overflowing Dumpsters and abandoned car parts. “I rescued the first dog about a month ago,” says…
Join in this Haitian religious celebration SAT 7/16 Vodou, Santería, Camdoble, Obeah. To the uninitiated, those words conjure images of black candles burning in a dark room, bloody chicken feathers, and frightening dolls purposefully pierced with pins. But in their countries of origin, these traditional beliefs all harken back to…
Get into the Groove with Miami’s baller SAT 7/16 ontrary to popular belief, you can spell summer without Zo. But a steamy season without the annual charity fundraiser from everyone’s favorite health-challenged Miami Heat center just wouldn’t feel right. Having just made an impressive run for the NBA playoffs, Alonzo…
But it’s just as riveting TUE 7/19 Why are child narrators always so damn precocious? And we’re not just talking about Jonathan Safran Foer’s new incredibly loud wunderkind. No, it’s any number of prematurely articulate youngsters who’ve peppered American fiction since Huck Finn. What of the majority of children who…
It’s time to see the old man TUE 7/19 Ernest Hemingway began spending time in Key West in the late Twenties. Let the breezy clime coddle his gentle moments. Let the azure sea challenge his manhood with its brawny marlins. Hemingway said of the island: “It’s the best place I’ve…
What good clean fun: gathering at a splendid subtropical vista to enjoy music. No, not exceptional for South Florida, where any activity can be integrated with a day at the beach. Except this particular sonic amusement takes place entirely beneath the surface of the ocean. The annual orchestral immersion known…
Jamaican Julie has a dwarf stature and a tangy flavor. Graham comes from Trinidad and has yellow skin that darkens to a pink blush. Rosigold is silky and ripens early. Tommy Atkins is available anywhere in Florida. The Indian Alampur Baneshan has a complex, somewhat overpowering flavor that will appeal…
And don’t worry about breaking a nail NOW 24/7 What’s happened to the bowling alleys of yesteryear? You know, the ones that reek of spilled Pabst Blue Ribbon and stale Pall Malls. There are still a few of those around, but they’re going the way of drive-in movie theaters and…
They’re more than rats with radar SAT 7/9 They’re not blind, related to rodents, or interested in sucking your blood. In fact they are vital to our ecosystem. But the poor little bat still has a hard time getting a break. The Misunderstood Mammal: The Bat at Greynolds Park (17530…
A Brutal, Human Touch In an overview of Azaceta’s work SAT 7/9 Luis Cruz Azaceta, one of the most accomplished Cuban-American artists of the last half-century, has never shied away from tackling the ugliest aspects of human nature, often arousing the spectator with an unapologetic chokehold on the senses. Known…
Showcase of Rhythms FRI 7/8 Tomorrow marks the 189th anniversary of Argentina’s independence from Spain, so instead of fireworks, how about a bit of tango to spark a fiery fiesta? Join Oscar Caballero, Roxana Garber, and the Tango Times Dance Company in celebrating Argentina’s freedom at tonight’s “Caminos a Mi…
For complete up-to-date South Florida stage listings, click on Culture on the navigation bar to the left, scroll down to the Listings Search and “Category” pulldown, then select “Stage.” Modern Orthodox: Culture clash always makes for great comedy. It’s fun to poke fun at ourselves through the archetypes we witness…
Directing attention toward art displayed in a public place always presents a challenge because the audience is busy, focused on the daily grind — meetings, studies, exams, deadlines, lunch. Everyday folk are not prepared art aficionados arriving at a gallery for the sole purpose of playing spectator. The optimum way…
For complete up-to-date South Florida art listings, click on Culture on the navigation bar to the left, scroll down to the Listings Search and “Category” pulldown, then select “Art Galleries” or “Museums.” Absurd World: The world masterfully created by Mexican painter Armando Romero is not quite absurd, but definitely strange,…
So little time, so much trouble. In the 24-hour period that’s dissected in Heights, the first feature from Harvard/Cambridge/USC film-school-educated Chris Terrio, an aspiring Manhattan photographer named Isabel (Elizabeth Banks) gets cold feet about her upcoming marriage to a dull but pleasant lawyer named Jonathan (James Marsden); a needy Broadway…
Quite simply and quite literally, Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds is Close Encounters of the Third Kind turned inside-out: They’re still out there, only this time the aliens are out for our blood, which they spray all over the countryside like so much red paint…
THU 7 There’s big buzz around Hustle and Flow. The indie scooped up the coveted Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It’s the story of a Memphis pimp named DJay (Terrence Howard) who struggles to make his way out of the ghetto by hustling hoes and writing rhymes…
The Andrews Sisters, who rose to mega-stardom during the World War II Big Band era, were the Dixie Chicks of their time. That is, if you first replace the Chicks’ antiwar sentiment with patriotism and then add an unbridled popularity no girl group since the Andrews Sisters has ever quite…
