Stocking stuffers might be the best gifts of all. Not only are they affordable, but they’re often functional or just plain fun. And not only are they good to give, but since these are the items we usually don’t bother to buy for ourselves, it’s particularly nice to get one…
The Assassin’s Creed video games are about skipping through tedious cut scenes set in the present so that you can vault into the past, through and over gorgeous recreations of the roofs and streets of medieval and Renaissance cities. Sometimes you chase floating feathers through Florence. Often, you’ll sneak behind…
Whether or not you celebrate the holidays, we’ve got an event for you.
The Edge Theater’s production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge doesn’t go for electrifying drama or make a point of foreshadowing the play’s incipient violence in the naturalistic early scenes. But this in no way diminishes the involving nature of the experience, the shock of the climax or…
Twenty years ago, director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson took us to the small California town of Woodsboro, where a horror-movie-obsessed masked killer was stalking and killing a group of teens who grew up watching slasher-film greats. This week, that film, Scream, celebrates its twentieth anniversary with a massive…
It never quite feels like the holidays until Christmas lights start twinkling around Denver and the Denver City & County Building glows like a color-blind kid’s birthday cake. Many of the biggest light displays in town have already kicked off, including downtown Denver’s Grand Illumination, but there are still more to come. Keep reading for where you can get lit through Christmas.
Books make great gifts for the holidays. It helps, of course, to find books that address your particular recipient’s passions and obsessions — and while you’re at it, why not throw in a few titles by local authors?
What’s scarier than I-25 in a snowstorm? Krampus, a Haunted Christmas, which took over the home of the 13th Floor Haunted House, at 4120 Brighton Boulevard, for two nights of a very scary Christmas this past weekend. Photographer Brandon Marshall braved the elements to bring back these pictures of a…
We’re in the final stretch of the Christmas season, which means it’s time to escape the seasonal stress by enjoying a free event or two. Nerd out on the Force, get down with some trippy beats or have a few laughs while eating cereal. Check the Westword calendar for even…
Lauri Lynnxe Murphy, honored for her work pushing and promoting Denver’s arts scene as a member of Westword’s first class of MasterMinds in 2005, took a break from writing about The Mayday Experiment, her tiny-house project, to pen a defense of DIY in the wake of the Ghost Ship fire and the…
Modernist artist Alexander Calder’s abstract sculptures will be showcased at the Denver Botanic Gardens York Street location starting in spring 2017.
Kids today just don’t get it. Back in the TV dark ages, stations would actually sign off between midnight and 5AM, cartoons were on Saturday morning, and the occasional holiday special were what marked the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just the sound of the announcement that there was a special program about to start was Pavlovian. These days, of course, kids can watch all of these specials on-demand, which makes them less of an event. Back then, they were, without a doubt, special.Of course, time has not always been kind to the delights of our youth, and the classic Christmas specials are no exception. Each one, even where they retain their charms, has a moral—whether intended or accidental—that if you consider it from a modern perspective sort of ruins it, or at least reveals the differences between the era of its creation and the place we are in American culture today. Just please: don’t let these foibles detract from the overall goodness of these TV holiday artifacts. This list is meant with nothing but love.
I have a few thoughts on these Golden Globe nominations, including: In what world am I living where eight men are nominated for their film scores, and somehow not included is the young luminary Mica Levi, whose music for Natalie Portman vehicle Jackie was one of the most jaw dropping…
I was fortunate enough this year to be at both Sundance and Cannes, so it was something like agony for me to watch the litany of critics and commentators who spent the summer and early fall complaining about the year in film — all while movies such as Manchester by…
Seriously: It’s time to wrap up that holiday shopping and put a bow on it. But you can still get it done conscientiously, mindfully and locally, thanks to these last-chance markets showcasing Colorado makers, artisans and artists. We’ve wrapped up twelve holiday markets in metro Denver this weekend where you can snag great gifts for everyone on your list.
With ten days left before Christmas, there’s still plenty of time to get to our shopping lists. In the meantime, why not have some fun? This weekend we’ve got space beers, earth weed and laughs to enjoy. Check the Westword calendar for even more entertainment opportunities. Star Wars Beer Release…
For Thanksgiving we tallied up the ten best Turkey-Day Sitcom episodes, and there were a surprising number of good candidates—but the November holiday of gluttony has nothing on Christmas, the holiday for which it seems sitcoms were made. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, or so sang Andy Williams (probably in a special televised right after some of the sitcom eps on this list), and TV embraced that to the utmost.So while you’re wrapping presents, baking cookies, stringing popcorn and cranberries, or whatever Christmassy thing it is you do to prepare for the big day, check out these ten holiday episodes—because sappy sentimental sitcoms are one of the reasons for the season.
In this, the harrowing year of 2016, I could jump into the Oscars talk. I could pick groundbreaking films that reminded me time and again that movies are alive and more vital than ever, like the heartbreaking Moonlight, the soul-stirring Queen of Katwe, the force-of-goodness 13th, the subtle and sweet…
Whenever I tell someone I’ve been binging on Hallmark Christmas movies all day, there’s a certain amount of apology involved. “I know, they’re the worst,” I’ll concede, before the other person has had a chance to say anything. “The one I watched this morning was a real winner.” Usually whomever…
Tokyo’s Akihabara district is a gamers’ paradise — and now Brandon and Tiffany Osha have brought Akihabara to Westminster, turning that suburb into a mini-gamer’s paradise. The grand opening of the Akihara Arcade and Bar last weekend attracted a crowd of gamers eager to take a turn at twenty different Japanese…
In a profile early this year, the novelist Dana Spiotta told the New York Times, “That’s seductive, being paid attention to.” Several of the films below — those that seduced me — feature pivotal scenes, whether in diners, at picnic tables or at kitchen tables, of one character raptly listening…
Clark Richert has been at his craft for over fifty years. Long acknowledged as a master of Colorado’s contemporary-art scene, in recent years he’s reached a wider audience through shows like West of Center at MCA Denver and Hippie Modernism, jointly organized by the Walker Art Center and the University…
