“I don’t know if it’s something that we’re taught as small children, or just the fact that they’re so beautiful to see,” notes the Denver Botanic Gardens’ Will Jones, “but a lot of people come back year after year because they have a great experience individually, and it becomes a…
Zoo Lights enters its twentieth year tonight, and this edition offers plenty of reasons to make the trip. In addition to the more than 150 animated light sculptures over 38 acres, there will be breakfast and dessert buffets with Santa, live ice sculpting and fire dancing, a Kwanzaa celebration and…
Like an overinflated balloon, the holidays strain at the seams with cultural expectation—the good cheer, the idyllic family life, the perfect gift for that special someone. It’s a pretty picture few actual lives can match, and for most, it all adds up to little more than disappointment and deflated hopes…
Every holiday is more fun with a little something that starts with the letter “b.” Booze? Boobs? “Both,” says Michelle Scheffer, who makes up half of Ooh La La Burlesque and is probably better known by her alter ego, Fanny Fitztightlee. Ooh La La’s fourth annual Fuck Christmas Party will…
If you’re dreaming of a white Christmas, why take your chances in Denver when merry and bright and white are guaranteed up at Winter Park? The free Christmas Eve festivities begin at 4 p.m. with Christmas carols by the bonfire at the base of the Zephyr lift, then continue at…
Glitzy Aspen will get even glitzier with the twentieth annual Aspen Film Academy Screenings, which sparkles tonight with a showing of the Coen Brothers’ new film, True Grit. The fest, which is open to everyone, will feature eighteen buzzworthy movies before it ends on January 1, including Rabbit Hole, The…
Nothing reeks of holiday spirit like obscene phone calls, home intrusion and a couple of dead sorority girls. Luckily, Black Christmas — the 1974 precursor to the slasher-film genre — fills all such festive requirements. As part of the Denver FilmCenter’s Watching Hour series, the Bob Clark classic (Clark is…
“There’s no better programming for the holidays than a little Japanese ghost story,” says Denver FilmCenter programmer Keith Garcia. So anyone who’s looking for a break from Christmas overkill will feel right at home viewing the Japanese horror flick Kuroneko, made in 1968 by Kaneto Shindo, during its one-week holiday…
Born in Sweden, the transitional early-twentieth-century painter Birger Sandzén came to the United States expecting to be here only a few years. But instead, he settled in Lindsborg, Kansas, a small town with a reputation for being a “Little Sweden,” where he taught and later ran the art department at…
For many, the very act of showing up to Christmas dinner requires a certain amount of improvisation. So does opening presents, as it’s not easy to act impressed with a bad gift. But those gifts are the inspiration behind the Groupmind Foundation’s Improv Combo Platter, which takes its material from…
If you’re Jewish and looking for something to do today, Heebonism 2010 is the do for you. Organized by E-3 Events, a not-for-profit organization that hosts social gatherings for young Jewish adults in Denver, it will be the largest Heebonism party to date. “We supplanted the notorious Matzoh Ball three…
Feeling disillusioned this holiday season? Well, there’s a holiday for that, too. A Festivus for the Rest of Us was originally a Seinfeld plot arc, but it’s gained a very real following outside the sitcom. Rick Gold, who’s also a co-founder of Denver Flash Mob, is hosting his second Festivus…
Denver comedian Josh Blue has been out of the local circuit for quite a while now, keeping busy with tours and television and headlining shows across the country. But he’s back in town tonight for a hometown gig at the Comedy Works. “I’m excited to come home and perform in…
Once a year here at Westword, the overlords let us out of our “blogging cage” and send us home for a four-day weekend, equipped with homing devices so we don’t try to escape. We’ll be gone until Monday and the blogs will be quiet (we’ve still got you covered on…
Apparently a full day in the powder up in Summit County wasn’t enough for Shaun White: On Sunday he popped in to skate the bowl at Woodward at Copper. Looks pretty fun, right? Skateboard sessions in “The Barn” start at $4.99 for two hours or $9.99 for a full day…
Tomorrow, Rick Gold will host a traditional Fesitvus celebration at the Shag Lounge. There, you can commune around the Festivus pole, air some grievances and perform some feats of strength. There will also be a ($5 maximum) gift exchange. In honor of disillusionment everywhere, we present 10 more alternate celebrations…
We’re all hearing a lot of talk this holiday season about shopping local and what it means to a community. But Talulah Jones shop owner Robin Lohre is doing more than that: Beginning December 1, Lohre will host a reception showcasing a different local artisan every night through Christmas Eve…
Quietly, very quietly, over the last year since the venue opened, Illiterate Gallery director Adam Gildar instigated a resident artist program, wherein Illiterate offers artists who go through an application process a chance to stage a solo show at the gallery and, for a small monthly fee, prepare for it…
Just because it’s Christmas this weekend doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of activities to take part in on the cheap. Whether you’re looking for something to do on Christmas day or if you’re interested in getting away from the family this weekend, we’ve got you covered with dance parties, light…
This list might have just as easily been titled Ten great Japanese horror movies in the vein of Kuroneko, since we’re only dealing with a certain type of horror film here. Kuroneko, which premiers at the Denver FilmCenter on Friday, is a more subdued, fantasy-driven horror than the type people…
It’s been ten years since the first installment of Meet the Parents paired Robert DeNiro as an overbearing, somewhat menacing father-in-law with Ben Stiller as an awkward, you know, every character Ben Stiller ever plays. But get this: His last name is — this is hilarious! — Focker. Ten years…
Not to toot our own horn or anything, but it’s already time to start gearing up for Westword’s Artopia on February 19, that epic, five-venue block party of art, music and awesome. This year, the folks over in marketing have told us we can put a pair of people on…
