Americans can't seem to agree on much these days, but all must allow that these are tense, restless times. War, terrorism, a divided electorate, and a widespread debate about the nation's purpose are everyday subjects on television, in newspapers, and at the local java joint, yet few contemporary plays and...
Stuffed frog, pork organs in broth, monitor lizard, fertilized duck's eggs -- do we need more examples of why Filipino cuisine can so easily terrify unsuspecting diners? Many dishes from the world's second-largest archipelago make the perfumed delicacies of Thai food or the gutsy surprises of Korean recipes seem as...
A good friend likes to say that there's only one kind of great pop song -- the song that someone had to create, as though the writer and performer had no choice. The song can be corny or cynical, upbeat or downhearted; it doesn't matter. All that counts is that...
Jennifer Van Bergen opens the door to her tenth-floor apartment on Hallandale Beach, a law review article in her hand and eyeglasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She looks up, squinting. "Have we met before?" she asks, standing about 25 feet from a balcony that overlooks the Atlantic...
After incubating in South Bronx parks, the hip-hop virus became airborne sometime in the late '70s, initially infecting NYC's uptown clubs with thick grooves of funky breaks and big bass before jumping the confines of the Rotten Apple and metastasizing first in New Jersey, then in Connecticut. The beautifully zealous...
NOW SHOWING Desert Storm: Jim Tommaney's antiwar fable balances three stories: soldiers on the war front, their concerned parents back home, and inside the Oval Office as the first President Bush and aides discuss U.S. involvement in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. The fictional plight of the soldiers and families...
Whew! Summer is here with a vengeance, a fierce season that is, in some ways, a little like winter up north. Most everyone starts spending more time indoors and plotting how to minimize the time spent walking in full sunlight between car and destination, while the spare room or the...
Let's begin with the bottom line: By any measure, The Shakespeare Project, the New Theatre's summer repertory of King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream, is an undeniable success. These masterworks, played by a plucky acting ensemble of 13, are delivered in visually striking stagings by artistic director Rafael De...
It's not easy being a Kiss fan, even a reformed one. I haven't been able to stomach the self-proclaimed "hottest band in the world" for years. I still cringe every time it hawks another overpriced trinket or embarks on its annual farewell tour. It's almost too tough to bear. You...
Some people might call it luck that the 9-month-old Chima Brazilian Steakhouse continues to attract customers to a lonely little shopping plaza down on Las Olas Isles. The site has been a restaurant heartbreaker since long before Il Tartufo took a tumble there two years ago. But the Brazilians would...
It's charming. It's hilarious. It is perhaps the most beautifully crafted, lovingly rendered portrait of extreme geekitude ever to grace the screen. It's Napoleon Dynamite -- the first feature film from 24-year-old Brigham Young University student Jared Hess -- and, if there is any justice, it's going to be huge...
Tom Jenkins' Bar-B-Q, 1236 S. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, 954-522-5046. Lunch and dinner 11 a.m. till 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. till 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Jack's Barbecue and Smokehouse, 500 E. Oakland Park Blvd., Wilton Manors, 954-567-9595. Lunch and dinner 11 a.m. till 10 p.m. Monday...
Mixing standup comedy with political correctness is about as funny as, well, politicians trying to be comedians (Bush's joke about looking for missing WMDs under a couch, you might've noticed, was neither funny nor PC). Comedy is an art form of sorts; it shouldn't be held to the same standards...
SAT 7/24 We're looking at the picture of Mod 27, trying to figure out who's who. "I'm the tall, beautiful one," says 27-year-old Tom O'Donnell. That would make his partner, Dave Hyland, 32, the short, beautiful one and their other partner, Sergio Soltero, 25, the average-height but devastatingly gorgeous one...
Bad Fortune And imprudent jurisprudence? Trevor Aaronson's July 15 story on Melody Fortunato ("Below the Bar") could have been called "Below the Belt." This so-called representative of the people screwed me bad during my divorce in July 2000. She was supposed to represent me for a child support hearing before...
Where are we, in Riyadh?" I asked as we walked, and walked some more, from a distant parking spot to the all-white, multidomed, Saudi-styled Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Located on its own little 86-acre oasis (technically a "reservation" -- wink, wink) just off State Road 441, the 130,000-square-foot...
THU 22 Once upon a time -- 2003, actually -- "destroyers of bulls" Jordan Lorow and Christopher Macfarlane "realized what they must do. They knew that they would need help; an army." So they recruited Joseph Nay and Daniel Levie to play in their band, Lost, My Love? When they...
When it comes to interviews with overexposed, platinum-certified stars such as D12, the conversations can sound a bit... scripted. For example, check out this chestnut posed to group-member Swift: "What makes you stand out from Kuniva, Bizarre, Kon Artis, Proof, and Eminem?" "I'm a hardcore MC. I'm a lyrical assassin,"...
In the western expanse of Palm Beach County, where sugar cane stretches to the horizon like an endless green sea, sits the Osceola Farms refinery, an island of grime-covered cement, an eyesore of human creation. A maze of steel pipes rings the five-story factory that billows waste from a pair...
A throng of teenage boys mills around the registration desk at the Palm-Aire Racquet Club. It's just before 8 a.m. on a breezy Saturday in September as 32 boys, age 16 and younger, await pairing off for this weekend's tennis tournament. A mix of tension, anticipation, and nascent testosterone swirls...
Bright beams of colored light swirl and sweep across the crowded dance floor, illuminating sweaty, muscular bodies. The relentless bass is more than just loud; it's a full-body massage at 130 beats per minute. Neon green go-go dancers gyrate wildly on elevated platforms as artificial fog wafts around the room...
Maybe it was that name, shimmering with possibilities: "Othoniel: Crystal Palace." I envisioned some magical environment out of, say, Lothlórien, home of the tree elves in The Lord of the Rings. Or something as droll and pixilated as some of the settings in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or The Wizard...
