Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Election season is here and things are, well, ridiculous. But tonight, ladies, we're going to take a night off from jamming to Donald Trump's tweets and debating the merits of the Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigns. Tonight, we're celebrating our say in who takes over the Oval Office.
The 19th Amendment was ratified 95 years ago today:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.Pour yourself a gin and tonic, tonight we're toasting progress.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
For those of you who have been re-watching “This is Spinal Tap” or “Best in Show,” quietly praying that mockumentary king Christopher Guest would return to his forte, rejoice.
Netflix announced today that Guest would be joining their growing list of big time movie folks creating smart, funny and popular originals for their streaming service.
“Mascots” will be Guest’s first directorial project since 2006’s “For Your Consideration,” a film that didn’t really hit well with fans or reviewers. (This is the only film of his that I haven't watched and quoted a zillion times. Once, was enough, though I say that with respect and disappointment.) The new feature will hearken back to what the fans love him for, satirical mockumentaries about funny people in niche worlds. From dog shows, to washed up rock bands and folk performers, this comedy will tell the untold story of mascots. Think of it as, the heart and soul beneath giant animal heads out on the football field or basketball court.
Not much has been released about the film, just a short plot description and promotional poster.
“Welcome to all the drama, intrigue, and occasional excitement of the 8th World Mascot Association Championships, where a group of 'unusual' men and women, with big heads and furry suits, compete to win the prestigious Gold Fluffy Award and be crowned best mascot in the world.”
Though the cast has not been announced yet, I am willing to bet that some of his right hand men and women will be returning with their fearless brand of wit.
Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard making jokes through big, hot animal heads. Yes, Please.
Parker Posey making some reference to Busy Bee, while maybe in a bee costume herself? I have been waiting for the day.
While no official release date has been announced, I am sure fans are just waiting, ready to dial it up to eleven.
Tags: Christopher Guest , Mascots , Netflix , OMG Where Have You Been Guest! , Movies
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
In case you still didn't know, Tucson's Museum of Contemporary Art is housing some really cool repurposed dumpster pools in its Great Hall this summer. As interim director Samuel Ireland said in a previous interview with the Tucson Weekly, the mobile pools at MOCA are more than just a place to swim.
“It’s great to get into the pools but the goal is more than that,” Ireland says. “We want to showcase to locals that MOCA provides a place to gather and share ideas for artists.”On Friday, August 7, the mission to bring together and showcase local talent will coalesce into a special pop-up pool party event. With food, live music, video games, on-site screen printing and more, the event will make for a great opportunity to rub elbows with other art-types in town in a super casual setting.
The event, which is presented by local designer Patrick Foley, will also mark the end of Foley's Carne and Queso line with one last release, while celebrating the launch of his new brand Error 404. The new brand will be showcasing a small collection alongside limited run clothes from Vista Skate Co. and Raw Dog Clothing. Live performances from Headlock and Get a Grip will provide a thrashy, shreddy backdrop for the event, and crispy, crunchy fresh arepas from the Ricuras de Venezuela truck will keep crowds fed.
While the party itself is free for all to attend, the pools are, as always, for MOCA members only. Memberships to the museum are as low as $4 per month for individuals (for an annual membership) and come with perks ranging from access to new exhibits to the use of those awesome converted dumpster pools. You can learn how to become a member by visiting the MOCA website.
For more on the formation of the mobile pool concept itself, check out MOCA curator Jocko Weyland's interview with Vice regarding his new book Danny's Lot.
Tags: moca , mobile , pools , dumpster , repurpose , tucson , art , museum , party , carne and queso , error 404 , patrick foley , get a grip , headlock , ricuras de venezuela , food truck , samuel ireland , jocko weyland
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
In the vast and twisted world of the horror gene there is a diverse and potent selection of ingredients to induce a nightmare. From slashers, to the supernatural, to creature features, zombies and all things beyond the grave, horror is a creative insight into the subjective nature of fear. Hell can look and feel like a lot of different things. Most of the monsters and ghoulies and people that scare us do so because they want, will or are currently trying to eat, maul, sacrifice or vamp us. Or else, they represent something inside in the dark bowels of human nature that frightens us of one another.
In the proud and spooky hall of genre icons, one big bad shines out for his kind of intellectual way of enjoying our sweet sufferings.
Pinhead, of Clive Barker’s horror-novel-verse and the Hellraiser film series, has been a staple of horror since he first stepped into this dimension in the 1986 novella, “The Hellbound Heart.”
After watching the rock star of the Cenobites completely tear souls apart with ripping hooks, chains and painful flesh removal throughout his long residency in books, films and comics, it’s hard to remember he was once just a couple of sentences.
Barker has always been open about his own surprise at the Pope of Hell’s journey to fame. He really hadn’t intended “Pinhead” to become a big star but he has sure been living with the monster all these long years. Pinhead was a bit of a puzzle box himself for his creator, Barker becoming synonymous with him above all his other works. ("Books of Blood" is a close second.)
Now, 25 years later, Barker has written one final Pinhead story, the last of the sadomasochistic hell priest in his erotic, twisted canon. “The Scarlet Gospels,” Barker’s long awaited new novel, left readers in a living Hell waiting years for him to write the long promised death of Pinhead. Released May 19, the novel marks Barker’s return to adult fiction and is the first sequel he has actually ever written to his original novella.
In a May article with Rue Morgue magazine, Barker spoke about his long promised plans of killing off his iconic and defining character.
Tags: Pinhead , Clive Barker , Girl on Gore , The Scarlet Gospels
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
One of the joys, one of many, in living alone is the fact that you can sit around in your birthday suit, binging on Netflix and snacks with quiet, private dignity. While any day can easily be an appropriate nude day, today is the day to really bare it all and let it all hang loose, keeping the law in mind of course.
National Nude Day, celebrated by primarily nudist organizations and folks with too much time on the Internet, like myself, is unofficially celebrated every July 14. (Bastille Day who?) Like most “obscure” holidays, this one’s origin story is shrouded in mystery and is seemingly without any form of official, or unofficial, documents. From what I can find, it has been celebrated since 1976 by American nudists and naturalists and might have originated in New Zealand, who is much more public in their observance of the holiday.
So, you want to celebrate without getting arrested? Go out and stay at a nudist resort if you want. If this isn't your first naked rodeo you can streak till the cows come home, but if you want to celebrate with a little restraint, or you're not so into the idea of seeing or being seen by other naked people here are five, legal ways to celebrate the naked body.
1. Spa Day
Spas are a perfectly acceptable place to be naked. So, consider the 14th an excuse to go treat your self. Saunas are a great way to relax and detoxify. And stripping down for a massage with nothing between you and a stranger’s hand but a soft towel is totally not awkward if you keep your eyes closed for its full duration.
2. Skinny Dipping
Not that we have a plentiful supply of water just sitting around for the taking, but if you have a pool, or have a friend with one, a sans-swimsuit dip could be a great way to declare your nude body love. I’m not going to encourage you to break into an apartment pool, or surprise your neighbors in their hot tub. But, if you have LEGAL access to a private pool, swing that constricting bikini around your head like a prideful flag and leap in. Hell, invite your friends to join in.
Tags: National Nude Day , Silly holidays , July 14 , Image
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Tucson is ripe with stories. Important ones, happy ones, sad ones, funny ones and pissed off ones. With a population heavy with creative, humorous types, we are lucky to have skilled hands to take on every one of these tales. For the last 10 years, some of us here in Tucson have looked not to a person, but to a panda. A pissed off one.
Pissed OFF Panda, the brainchild of Tucson transplant Frank Powers, is a comic book character with a big chip on his shoulder. An outlet for his creator to speak on Tucson and life, the character's 13 years in existence have led into the development of a dedicated fan base, merchandise, Comic-Con appearances and now an upcoming, on-going comic series.
Powers says his character wasn’t so much a creation as it was a meeting of two like minds.
“He lets me vent about everything that I find mind-numbing and hate,” he says. “I didn’t just invent him though, I actually met Pissed OFF when I impulsively flew across the country because I was in love with a girl, wound up in San Diego and went to the San Diego Zoo. Their big thing is pandas so when I was in the gift shop, there was one doll that was sitting on the shelf and sticking out like a sore thumb. He looked mis-stitched and I said, 'Look at him! He looks Pissed OFF!'”
After coming to Tucson, Powers dug into the source material of the city, made up of eccentric characters and the strange, beloved places they inhabit. Pissed OFF’s world is one many of us were part of, the late hours and cups of coffee at the now closed Grill, formerly located at 100 E Congress St.
“I’d always wanted to make a book about Grill to capture all the insanity that the place offered," says Powers. "I have many creative projects, comics and characters and I realized I’d use all the projects as ingredients in one giant, Tucson-centric project. I merged my cartoon characters, life stories, Grill adventures, podcasting and everything into one succinct parody of Tucson. It’s all seen through the eyes of my angry little jerk of a cartoon character, Pissed OFF Panda- whose job is exactly what mine was- working the graveyard shift at Grill, which is alive and thrives in my cartoony-verse.”
Tags: Pissed OFF Panda , Frank Powers , Kickstarter , Comics , Comedy , Art , Tucson is Home of Funny People and Animals
Thursday, June 18, 2015
It’s pretty hot right now. So, any chance for a laugh, one that isn’t caused by manic dehydration, is to be cherished. Luckily for us, comedian and all around funny lady Jen Kirkman is coming to Congress this Friday.
Kirkman utilizes self-analyzation and observations on society to create stand up that is easily relatable and humble. Her brand of comedy has her put herself completely on the line, giving her ego up to the audience and landing successfully. It works, because many of us are way too consumed with stubborn pride to say what’s on our minds. It feels good to laugh at ourselves with the safety of an entertainer as an outlet.
Kirkman says establishing confidence and respect with an audience plays a big part in making someone laugh.
“They are kind of in your hands, and if you treat them like they’re idiots and you’re rude they won’t laugh at you,” she says. “They want to know that you’ve got this, that they are in the palm of your hands and you are confident. I think there has to be a lot of humility in trying to make people laugh. You can’t think you are doing some big, powerful thing, otherwise people will feel like you’re condescending.”
This rapport with the crowd and her pride free confessions of personal, laughable experiences translates effortlessly to her latest achievement, a comedy special on Netflix called, “I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine).”
The 78 minute special is comprised of everything she has been doing on the road for the last few years.
“I didn’t have to do anything differently,” she says. “One day I showed up and just like any other show there was a camera. I wore a lot more makeup then I would normally wear on stage.”
Netflix was an attractive outlet to Kirkman because it offered her freedoms most cable television couldn’t touch.
“I was lucky that I knew Netflix was interested," she says. " I always knew that I wanted to do a special that was not going to be on the kind of cable that has commercials, that doesn’t let you be in control of the editing. That’s why I wanted to work with them. I feel like comedy, when you’re doing it in a night club or comedy club, you can swear, there’s no commercial break and it’s about having a great time. It’s sort of a place where grownups talk about things you don’t talk about in high society. When comedy specials are on television they are all cleaned up and nice and I don’t really understand why that’s funny.”
Tags: Jen Kirkman , Congress , Comedy , I'm Gonna Die Alone(And I Feel Fine) , Laugh Riot , Ladies of Comedy
Friday, June 12, 2015
"It was totally gnarly," Dara Silverman, playwright and actor for the Agile Rascal troupe, says, "It was really rough."
Her group of seven cyclists and actors primarily from the Bay Area found, while bike touring their play from Encinitas to Tucson, that riding in the desert isn't easy in June. They started off carrying all of their set and props on their bikes with them, but quickly found they had to "make sacrifices" in order to get to their destination.
"We kept lightening the load and modifying how far we went every day. We were getting up at 2 and 4 in the morning, taking showers roadside with a solar shower and drinking lots of water," Silverman adds.
Now on the outskirts of Tucson, Silverman and her Agile Rascal team have already found parallels between their journey and the radical play that they will be performing at BICAS on Saturday, June 13. The play, titled "Sunlight on the Brink," centers around a gas station in the southwest during a time when a catastrophic drought forced a mass evacuation of the western states. The gas station attendant watches and waits as people move from one side of the country to another. However, Silverman says the donation-funded production has found the troupe at several southwestern gas stations already.
"We wrote the play with the intention of it overlapping with our trip, but I didn't know at the time how much I'd be living off gas station food along the way," Silverman says, jokingly.
"It wasn't meant to be but it's really become an experiment in taking care of each other," she says. "It's been intense."
The harsh surroundings getting to Tucson for the show also mirror the play's major themes, which deal with the preciousness of life and water as well as human's interconnectivity with the environment. Silverman says to keep the play light, as it is a family-friendly comedy, the use of "wacky" characters like sea creatures and the Internet come into play. Overall, though, she says wants the play's message to be up for interpretation.
"I think art asks questions," she says. "Anything where you can just say the meaning, then you can say the meaning and that’s it."
While the play itself only uses bikes as props in some scenes, Silverman and Agile Rascal will be biking across the country for a three month tour with their play "Sunlight on the Brink." You can see the only Tucson performance of the play on Saturday, June 13 at BICAS (44 W. Sixth St.) beginning at 8 p.m. Remember to bring money to donate, too, so Silverman and her crew can stop eating at gas stations.
Tags: agile rascal , dara silverman , bicas , sunlight on the brink , play , tucson , cycling , bikes , touring , performance
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
"At the time I was laid off, bankrupt and so I just said 'fuck it, I'm throwing parties for a living." To really boil it down, that's how Jared McKinley started his annual celebration of a very specific style of music—the Yacht Rock Party. Though his party throwing efforts resulted in planning many events like the Glitter Ball, Underwear Party and several other one-time one-offs, the Yacht Rock Party is still going strong after five years and McKinley largely attributes it to the music.
"When it started, there was a lot of wanky club music in Tucson's nightlife scene," he says, "and there still is."
As an alternative, the Yacht Rock Party celebrates music that sprung from the "cocaine drenched '70s" to a time when folks were looking to "smooth out the edges."
"That's why it makes sense in summer here. We're all looking to smooth out some edges," McKinley says.
You can expect tunes from acts like Steely Dan, Christopher Cross, Ambrosia, Kenny Loggins, Toto, Starbuck and more from DJs Ben Beshaw and E__Rupt. Dirty P and the Thunderchiefs will also be performing some smooth rock jams. Admittedly, though, this isn't a genre most people own up to liking. Even McKinley says it took him, and his party co-founder Kenny Stewart, some time to warm up to it.
"Kenny and I were having a conversation about music while watching yacht rock videos on YouTube and laughing," he says. "I grew up hating that music. The Ramones and KISS were all I cared about."
Tags: yacht rock party , la cocina , jared mckinley , kenny stewart , white wine spritzers , tucson , events , Video
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Who doesn’t love a celebration? Every year there are holidays promising us holiday pay at work, an excuse for bad behavior, free booze, food and family time, of course. We know the staples. Each store gives us at least two months’ notice of Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day and Christmas.
You know what you never see holiday displays in Target for? Worldwide Knit and Crotchet in Public Day. Oh, you didn’t know June 13 was set aside to make scarfs for the whole world to see? Thanks to an internet black hole, which cruelly tossed me from Tweet, to video, to Reddit comments, I learned I have missed out on some seriously amazing holidays my whole life.
There are at least three unofficial holidays a day. They are sometimes sweet, mostly strange and often defy logic. Don’t lose out on experiencing these special days. Here are my picks for the best holidays in this wacky and wonderful week.
June 7-13: National Body Piercing Week
This is by far one of the more normal sounding things being celebrated this week. From June 7 to 13, give your body piercings some love, because it is all about the jewelry we like to put in our faces and belly buttons. This celebration of studs and hoops comes from a really legitimate source, the Internet. Who named this week? Why is this week significant in the world of piercings? Who started this thing? Apparently no one knows. So, there are no National Body Piercing Week sales or parades I can think of but hey, somebody is getting pierced somewhere right? Go ahead and treat yourselves.
Honorable mentions:
End Mountain Top Removal Week
Bed Bug Awareness Week
June 8: Upsy Daisy Day
What a shame we didn’t know about Upsy Daisy Day just a little bit sooner. This holiday is dedicated to waking up with a smile on your face. Creator Stephanie West Allen declared this an unofficial holiday in 2003 with the hope to remind us all to laugh, smile, be happy and be positive. It’s all pretty sweet and as far as missing out on this one, I’m really just more focused on declaring my own holiday right now. If Allen can make a happy day, I’m sure I can make a Free Pen Day.
Tags: Unofficial holidays , National What Day , Calendar stuff , June
