Giving the Bird

The great irony is that pelicans secrete a little oil to waterproof their plumage. But the recent tarring of their feathers by BP’s oil spill will be one of the great tragedies of the decade. No longer able to regulate their temperatures, the birds could freeze to death, and every…

Senegalese, If You Please

As if exhibiting quarters armed with razor blades wasn’t provocative enough, the Museum of Contemporary Art is supplementing its Claire Fontaine exhibit “Economies” with films that influenced the French artist collective. Next up is Reassemblage, Vietnamese academic and filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha’s 1982 film about rural Senegalese women. This is…

Behind the Dragon Tattoo

William Shakespeare was actually an author collective comprising imaginative Zimbabwean midgets. OK, that’s a stretch, but there’s plenty of evidence that the Bard wasn’t who we think he was. The same goes for Stieg Larsson, credited with penning the best-selling Swedish Millennium trilogy, which begins with the popular The Girl…

Made You Look

In one of Frank Paulin’s most iconic images, a boy wearing a gas mask stands on the periphery of a playground, where carefree children run around monkey bars. The photojournalist began snapping bombed-out European cities during World War II, when he was employed to take Army ID photos. He moved…

Around Town: Lil Jon, Comics Convention, Paulina Rubio, and Father’s Day Hogs

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Heaven Sent

Much like director Luc Besson’s other films, Nikita and The Fifth Element, Angel-A tracks a mysterious beauty with unearthly powers. Angela is an angel, fallen from the sky, who helps a poor Parisian with his mounting debt and personal woes. It’s as if Wim Wenders’s Wings of Desire was made…

Got Your Goat

An exhibit that calls religious rites into question is perhaps a moot point in a town like Miami. You can see only so many decapitated goats discarded in Biscayne Bay without realizing that what’s pious practice to some is horrific animal cruelty to others. Still, even those dulled by prevalent…

Film the Right Thing

Not one to pander, director Spike Lee once said, “What’s the difference between Hollywood actors and my characters? Mine are real.” Lee has made it his mission to portray on the big screen the realities of being black in America. In Do the Right Thing, he sketched a rich portrait…

Planet Freestyle

Thanks to Power 96 in the ’80s, every Camaro and Trans Am blared freestyle’s syncopated drum machines and vocoder vocals. It was the heyday of Afrika Bambaata’s “Planet Rock,” which melded the tweaks of Kraftwerk with the soul of George Clinton. As the genre morphed, freestyle became synonymous with dance…

Disdain From Bourdain

On a recent trip to Egypt, Anthony Bourdain ditches the pyramids to feast on some stuffed pigeons. As he eloquently says, “Fresh from an orgy of pigeon killing, and still spitting feathers and beak bits on the floor of the cab,” he heads to the next meal — lamb nuts…

Sweat-Induced Hibernation

Just when we got in sync with the rhythm of the galleries and new exhibits opening every six weeks, along came summer. Don’t expect many new openings until fall, and some galleries might even close for the entire month of August. The current exhibit at David Castillo Gallery, “DCG Open,”…

Q&A: Lisa Loeb Talks Musicals, AC/DC, and Hello Kitty Guitars

For thritysomthings, the pop culture trifecta is Janeane Garofalo for laughs, Winona Ryder for drama, and Lisa Loeb for tunes. All three came together for the 1994 film Reality Bites — Loeb penning the hit single of the soundtrack, which included tracks from Juliana Hatfield, The Knack, and Dinosaur Jr…

Was Christopher Hitchens a Cuban Revolutionary?

The Daily Show With Jon StewartChristopher Hitchenswww.thedailyshow.comYou might be surprised to hear that Christopher Hitchens — best-selling author and contributing editor for Vanity Fair — toiled at a work camp for young revolutionaries in 1968 Cuba. Last week, on The Daily Show, he told Jon Stewart that he watched the…

Gold Coast Roller Derby Grrls Play Their First Match in Miami

Grab the nearest mouth guard, roller derby is coming to Miami. Actually, it’s always been here. We’ve just had to share a team with those less cool counties up north. (Suck it, New Times Broward-Palm Beach!) But this Saturday, South Florida’s Gold Coast Derby Grrls take on Atlanta’s Sake Tuyas…

A Possum Ate My Doily

If the words of Gabriel García Márquez were converted into paintings, they would look like Nancy Friedemann’s. Using enamel on Mylar, she paints lace-like designs on black backgrounds, evoking Colombia’s colonial past. In Forecast, brightly colored insects and flowers are tangled in a mass of ghostly, doily-esque designs. She explains,…

Naked Bike Ride in Miami Protests Gulf Oil Spill

If you’re like us, the first impulse you had after seeing your first oil-soaked seagull was to rip off your clothes and hop on a bike. This Saturday, you can do just that in the company of strangers at the Miami World Naked Bike Ride to protest our nation’s dependence…