You’ll be reading all about Basil the amazing bot in this week’s Westword cover story (which will be available online later today, December 17). But you can see him in action here. While the video above may not look all that exciting — Basil’s not slinging any beers or electrocuting…

In case you haven’t had enough of Westword-christened Saggy Boob Electric Penis, the molten-red glistening pile of suggestive public-art bulbousness that now graces one end of the Highland pedestrian bridge, click below to see a delightful video collage “BunchaHicks,” one of our blog commenters, directed us to. It’s full of…

What’s up with Colorado and crappy houses these days? The multi-unit rectilinear abominations sprouting up in West Highland and Sloan’s Lake led to a neighborhood-splitting battle last spring about how to stop them (to get a taste of what we’re talking about, here’s a gallery of some of the most…

Main Street Pedicabs owner Steve Meyer, Broomfield-based rickshaw-peddling extraordinaire, is dead set on bringing his three-wheeled contraptions to the world — and now he’s one step closer thanks to the most recent New Yorker cover, shown here. Congrats, Meyer: Now your devices will be known by pretentious snobs everywhere! Huzzah!…

Up-and-coming Aurora city councilman Ryan Frazier put his political career on the line by backing Amendment 47, the hugely controversial right-to-work ballot measure that failed in the polls last month. Among other political attacks, the 31-year-old Republican was the subject of an ominous television commercial questioning campaign contributions he received…

As you may have read last week in “Denver Aquarium Unequipped to Handle Piranha Attacks or Reporter Queries,” on a recent visit to the Downtown Aquarium I was disturbed to discover just how easy it would be to stick my hand into the open-top piranha tank — and even more…

Millions of bleary-eyed Americans were greeted this morning by the sight of a big blue bear — a living embodiment of the iconic “I See What You Mean” bear statue on the side of the Colorado Convention Center — waving cheerfully to them from their televisions. It was part of…

It all began with an innocent question. Never did I intend to uncover potential death and dismemberment, not to mention bureaucratic chaos, at the Downtown Aquarium. For some context, my family and I stopped by the aquarium this weekend. Besides the exorbitant entry fees and shameless retail schlock, one thing…

Just when the world seems in capable hands with the election of Barack Obama, some disquieting news comes out: The president-elect has hired a disciple of Leeroy Jenkins, the wacko who gained global fame by running beserk in the online game World of Warcraft. (To learn about the mild-mannered local behind this viral-video…

Harry Potter fantatics come in all shapes and sizes. If you aren’t over-cinematized from the Denver Film Festival, you may want to check out We Are Wizards, starting at the Starz FilmCenter, 900 Auraria Parkway, on November 26. The film looks at the heady and often hilarious world of Harry…

Thanks to “EC,” who commented on yesterday’s blog “Denver ArtsWeek: Welcome to the Mile High City, Saggy-Boob Electric Penis,” about the new public sculpture at the base of the 16th Street Pedestrian Bridge. EC referred us to this sculpture in Fort Smith, Arkansas, with which Denver’s artwork would seem to,…

For photos of the Snowboard Bandits in action, go to westword.com/slideshow. The guy in the surveillance tape looks more like he’s ready to hit some epic powder than stick up a bank. The black form-fitting mask over his mouth and nose could have come off the rack at a ski…

John Hickenlooper with Saggy-Boob Electric Penis. It’s a daunting task: What to call the new public sculpture at the base of the 16th Street Pedestrian Bridge. No ordinary name will do for such a creation, with its stack of bulbous crimson sacks rising, slipping and sliding, twenty feet into the…

A missing-person playing card. Soon, playing cards in Colorado jails could be replaced by ones emblazoned with the photos of missing persons and unsolved homicide victims, says a Colorado Department of Corrections representative, who adds the new playing-card program “hasn’t actually started, but is a work in progress.” If so,…

No Botanic Gardens for you!. It seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. My East Coast folks in for the weekend, we decided to take a jaunt down to Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield, a place we’d never been but about which we’d heard many a tantalizing tidbit. Nature…

Ryan Frazier. Aurora city councilman Ryan Frazier was largely unflappable during his beleagured year-long attempt to pass Amendment 47, the right-to-work ballot issue he sponsored; see the Westword feature “Ryan Frazier Puts His Job On the Line for Amendment 47” to learn more. And he’s just as composed confronting the…

Union Station. The developers behind the new-and-improved Union Station — the subject of the August feature story “Union Station May Become Denver’s Gateway Again… If It Stays on Track” — are hard at work crafting a plan for the public spaces around this future transit hub — plazas and walkways…

Boo! — Joel Warner…