• Errol Anderson/Arizona Athletics
• Brigetta Barrett

The Summer Olympics are right around the corner, if you hadn't heard somehow from one of the million ads run lately promoting the games, but with so many sports and athletes, it can be a challenge deciding what to watch and when. Thankfully, the University of Arizona Athletic Department put together a schedule of when athletes from the past and present of the program will be in competition. If you're focusing on Wildcats, get ready to watch a lot of swimming:

UA-Related 2012 Olympic Competition Schedule

Times listed are PDT. Schedule subject to change. CLICK HERE for complete details.

Wednesday, July 25
Women's Soccer (Montoya): Colombia vs. Korea, 11:45 a.m.

Saturday, July 28
Women's Soccer (Montoya): Colombia vs. United States, 9 a.m.

Sunday, July 29
Men's Swimming (Shapira Bar-Or/Townsend): 200-Meter Freestyle Preliminaries, 2:20 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Grevers/Thoman): 100-Meter Backstroke Preliminaries, 3:13 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Burnett/Grevers/Nilo-Oliveira/Townsend): 4x100-Meter Freestyle Relay Preliminaries, 4:05 a.m.
Men's Basketball (Iguodala): United States vs. France, 6:30 a.m. Men's Swimming (Shapira Bar-Or/Townsend): 200-Meter Freestyle Semifinals, 11:37 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Grevers/Thoman): 100-Meter Backstroke Semifinals, 12:25 p.m.
Men's Swimming (Burnett/Grevers/Nilo-Oliveira/Townsend): 4x100-Meter Freestyle Relay Olympic Final, 12:54 p.m.
Men's Basketball (Javtokas): Lithuania vs. Argentina, 2:15 p.m.

Monday, July 30
Men's Swimming (Shapira Bar-Or/Townsend): 200-Meter Freestyle Olympic Final, 11:41 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Grevers/Thoman): 100-Meter Backstroke Olympic Final, 11:56 a.m.

Tuesday, July 31
Men's Swimming (Nilo-Oliveira/Shapira Bar-Or): 100-Meter Freestyle Preliminaries, 2 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Burkle): 200-Meter Breaststroke Preliminaries, 2:47 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Basson/Townsend): 4x200-Meter Freestyle Relay Preliminaries, 3:17 a.m.
Men's Basketball (Javtokas): Lithuania vs. Nigeria, 6:30 a.m.
Women's Soccer (Montoya): Colombia vs. France, 9 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Nilo-Oliveira/Shapira Bar-Or): 100-Meter Freestyle Semifinals, 11:30 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Burkle): 200-Meter Breaststroke Semifinals, 12:17 p.m.
Men's Swimming (Basson/Townsend): 4x200-Meter Freestyle Relay Olympic Final, 12:47 p.m.
Men's Basketball (Iguodala): United States vs. Tunisia, 2:15 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 1
Men's Swimming (Townsend): 200-Meter Individual Medley Preliminaries, 3:14 a.m.
Women's Swimming (Anderson): 4x200-Meter Freestyle Relay Preliminaries, 3:39 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Burkle): 200-Meter Breaststroke Olympic Final, 11:30 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Nilo-Oliveira/Shapira Bar-Or): 100-Meter Freestyle Olympic Final, 12:17 p.m.
Men's Swimming (Townsend): 200-Meter Individual Medley Semifinals, 12:36 p.m.
Women's Swimming (Anderson): 4x200-Meter Freestyle Relay Olympic Final, 12:57 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 2
Men's Basketball (Javtokas): Lithuania vs. France, 1 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Schoeman): 50-Meter Freestyle Preliminaries, 2 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Shapira Bar-Or/Subirats): 100-Meter Butterfly Preliminaries, 3:21 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Schoeman): 50-Meter Freestyle Semifinals, 11:30 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Townsend): 200-Meter Individual Medley Olympic Final, 12:16 p.m.
Men's Swimming (Shapira Bar-Or/Subirats): 100-Meter Butterfly Semifinals, 12:51 p.m.
Men's Basketball (Iguodala): United States vs. Nigeria, 2:15 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 3
Women's Soccer (Montoya): Quarterfinals, TBA
Men's Swimming (Townsend): 4x100-Meter Medley Relay Preliminaries, 4:04 a.m.
Men's Track & Field (Rivera-Morales): Long Jump Preliminaries, 11:50 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Shapira Bar-Or/Subirats): 100-Meter Butterfly Olympic Final, 11:38 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Schoeman): 50-Meter Freestyle Olympic Final, 12:09 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 4
Men's Basketball (Iguodala/Javtokas): United States vs. Lithuania, 6:30 a.m.
Men's Track & Field (Rivera-Morales): Long Jump Olympic Final, 11:55 a.m.
Men's Swimming (Townsend): 4x100-Meter Medley Relay Olympic Final, 12:27 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 5
Women's Track & Field (Moline): 400-Meter Hurdles First Round, 11 a.m.

Monday, Aug. 6
Women's Soccer (Montoya): Semifinals, TBA
Women's Track & Field (Camarena-Williams/Labonte'): Shot Put Preliminaries, 2:45 a.m.
Men's Basketball (Javtokas): Lithuania vs. Tunisia, 3:15 a.m.
Women's Track & Field (Camarena-Williams/Labonte'): Shot Put Olympic Final, 11:15 a.m.
Women's Track & Field (Moline): 400-Meter Hurdles Semifinals, 12:15 p.m.
Men's Basketball (Iguodala): United States vs. Argentina, 2:15 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 8
Men's Basketball (Iguodala/Javtokas): Quarterfinals, TBA
Men's Track & Field (Lagat): 5,000-Meter Run First Round, 2:45 a.m.
Women's Track & Field (Moline): 400-Meter Hurdles Olympic Final, 12:45 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 9
Women's Soccer (Montoya): Olympic Final, TBA
Women's Track & Field (Barrett): High Jump Preliminaries, 1:30 a.m.

Friday, Aug. 10
Men's Basketball (Iguodala/Javtokas): Semifinals, TBA

Saturday, Aug. 11
Women's Track & Field (Barrett): High Jump Olympic Final, 11 a.m.
Men's Track & Field (Lagat): 5,000-Meter Run Olympic Final, 11:30 a.m.

Sunday, Aug. 12
Men's Basketball (Iguodala/Javtokas): Olympic Final, TBA
Men's Track & Field (Abdirahman): Marathon Olympic Final, 3 a.m.
Men's Mountain Bike Cross Country (Wells): Olympic Final, 5:30 a.m.

My series of posts asking the Loft Cinema to bring films I'm particularly interested in to town has had mixed results so far (YES: the Muppet film festival and Jiro Dreams of Sushi; NOT YET: the Replacements documentary), but where else can we count on for the weird and off-mainstream stuff to show in Tucson, right? So, where else could I possible turn to in order to see the Irish monster film Grabbers on the big screen?

Loft Cinema people, can y'all help a guy who wants to see a movie about people getting drunk to fight off squid attacks out? Thanks in advance.

This is a truly local video by singer songwriter Tucsonan Sahara Starr. There's lots of familiar shots including Hotel Congress, the Boneyard, Lupe's Mexican Restaurant and many desert scenes. A rare video where you watch and say, "I've been there!" The video was filmed by Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli and assisted by Tucson's Commotion Studios.

On Thursday evening hundreds of Harry Potter fans of all ages gathered at Hotel Congress for festivities inspired from the bestselling book series. The event was co-hosted by Bookmans, and some of the activities included wizard chess tutorials, a quidditch video game, face-painting and tea-leaf readings. The band, Harry and the Potters, performed two shows of upbeat jams that centered around the wizarding world from the perspective of Harry himself.

More photos below the cut.

You'd almost think his recall or possibly the fact that his former friend and cohort committed a mass murder in May might convince Russell Pearce to choose his words slightly more carefully, but nope, apparently the people of Aurora should have been prepared to fight off a shooter in tactical gear, armed with tear gas and a gun that could shoot 50 to 60 rounds a minute. But, yet, it was the Republic that twisted his words. Some people, truly, never learn.

Tonight on Arizona Illustrated's Political Roundtable: Republican strategist Amilyn Gordon joins Pima County Democratic Party chairman Jeff Rogers and Tucson Tea Party founder Trent Humphries to talk about the latest legal twists for SB 1070, Sheriff Joe Arpaio's hunt for Obama's birth certificate (and his ongoing racial-profiling lawsuit), the battle for abortion rights in Arizona, the impact of Rosemont Mine on local county races and more.

Remember when we mentioned our Seal ticket giveaway? Well, thanks to the fine people at Casino Del Sol, we now have two additional pair of tickets to giveaway to that show and three pair of tickets to Earth, Wind & Fire, performing at AVA on July 31st. If you entered the Seal contest, no need to re-enter, although you might want to get in on the EWF action. If you haven't entered either contest yet, what are you waiting for? The contests end a week from today on the 27th.

Our ticket giveaway headquarters is our Free Stuff page, located here. Good luck!

As a preview of his forthcoming Comedy Central show Kroll Show, comedian Nick Kroll put together an interesting take on the Chick-fil-A drama of late. Meanwhile, this weekend, I'm going to work on my own fried chicken sandwich recipe.

The monthly community dinners that Buddhist temple Wat Buddhametta puts on are getting quite popular. The people who organize the event tell us last month's attendance was up somewhere around 50 percent from previous months. Looks like word is starting to spread about the curry-heavy smorgasbord, which I think boasts some of the best Thai food in town.

It happens again at 6 p.m. this Saturday, July 21. From a description of the event:

The very best Thai cooks are preparing a wonderful buffet of Thai food including pad thai, egg rolls, vegetables, a variety of curries, Thai dessert and more delights. Bring the whole family and your friends. The buffet starts at 6 p.m. and will be open until 8 p.m. We are asking for a small donation of $10 per person, children under 10 eat free. This fundraiser will help to support the temple to offer all classes free of charge to the community. All are welcome and I hope to see you at Wat Buddhametta.

The temple is located at 1133 S. Swan Road. You can call 745-4624 for more info.

Walking into the University of Arizona Museum of Art, the scratch of graphite on plaster whispered across the gallery, soon to be overpowered by the slam of hammer on nail.

Ladders, scattered throughout the rooms, jutted out like aluminum stalagmites. Artists, balanced precariously, work away on masterpieces.

In the exhibit, Sol LeWitt Days, local artists are getting the opportunity to work in teams as they follow the instructions made by the famous minimalist artist.

Lauren Rabb, art curator, seemed to be pleased.

“I’m so happy with it,” said Rabb. “It’s perfect, it’s fantastic, it’s exactly, you know, what Sol LeWitt would have wanted.”

When LeWitt started, he made all of his own work. As he grew in popularity and his pieces grew in complexity, he began to take young artists under his wing. Following his instructions, they would then make the pieces, which led to LeWitt leaving directions to his work.

Jake Hunnicutt, a portrait artist, said he felt getting to explore his creativity through restrictions helps him to see LeWitt’s perspective.

“The steps that he’s laid out for creating the art does give you the ability to maybe see the world a little bit through his lens and understand how he viewed art and how he viewed the world,” Hunnicutt said.

The visitors experienced art in an new way, by watching the artists as they worked.

“It allows [people] to see working art, living art. It allows them to come down and participate and ask questions and become more involved, which is really a unique experience,” Carolyn Sotelo, another artist, said.
Sotelo and her group the Magnificent Five are creating pieces No. 103 and No. 869C. Both are done in graphite pencil and express LeWitt’s penchant for imperfect abstract art.

Another group called Construction Crew, made up of Hunnicutt and Leon McNeil, towered above others in the room as they hammered nails into painted patches on the wall. They used string to connect the various posts. Paint cans, brushes, nails and tape littered the plastic tarp protecting the floor beneath them as the sound of their work filled the gallery.

After already completing two of LeWitt’s pieces, No. 815 and No. 1097, the pair decided to write their own LeWitt inspired directions.

Made out of four squares of varying colors, which combine to create one large square, nails are then placed at random spots throughout the sections. The last step is to connect the nails by repeatedly tying black and white string from one point to another, as the piece displays influence from an earlier LeWitt artwork.

Rabb said she hoped the project will expose the community to art in a way that can involve everyone.

“Sol LeWitt’s premise is that art is for anybody and that you shouldn’t be afraid to do a project, it really is accessible to anybody,” Rabb said.

As well as benefiting Tucson, the exhibit attempts to improve the lives of local artists.

“I feel like it could give artists a chance to realize that you don’t have to be famous to do stuff in a museum,” McNeil said. “I mean that’s a big deal for somebody on my level who’s never done anything to this caliber, and so now I feel like I can go anywhere. I can do anything. I can be a famous artist.”

The artists will be working in the museum through July and the art will be displayed until the end of October. The museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday and Sunday from 12pm to 4pm with a $5.00 entry fee.