A&E
Soundscraper
French industrial, French punk, Japan Nite
March 24th, 2011
For the Francophiles among us, the cheese-eating, wine-guzzling, slender-citizened country of France blesses buffet-gorged, football-beered, fat-touristed Vegas this month with two wild rock bands. Read more »
Movie Review
More Alf Than E.T.
Paul raises a playful middle finger to the sci-fi genre
March 24th, 2011
Paul, the latest (and, perhaps, weakest) offbeat comedy from British comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), is ostensibly about a rogue alien, but true fanboys beware: This is a buddy comedy masquerading as science fiction. In other words, expect few probing questions into the existence of extraterrestrial life and more jokes about anal probes. Read more »
Music
CD Reviews
Night Creatures EP, Hex and Mare Decendrii
March 24th, 2011
Jacuzzihidive, Night Creatures EP (Self-Released); Gatto Fritto, Hex (International Feel); Mamiffer, Mare Decendrii (Sige) Read more »
Movie Review
Brooklyn Bound
Familial bonds are tested when one brother tries to escape to a better life in White Irish Drinkers
March 24th, 2011
White Irish Drinkers is a thoughtful coming-of-age story with bracing performances, solid writing and direction by John Gray, and inescapable take-home values that give you a feel-good lift. Set in 1975 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, it tells the story of a bright, sensitive 18-year-old named Brian Leary (charismatic newcomer Nick Thurston) from a working-class family grappling with hardships to make ends meet and find purpose in a bleak existence. Read more »
Reading
Getting Lit, Neon-style
Monthly readings give a public platform to UNLV creative writing grad students
March 24th, 2011
Soon after Kathryn Kruse enrolled in UNLV’s MFA creative writing program, she noticed something was amiss: There were no opportunities outside academia to read her work and hear the works of fellow students. So two years ago, she started Neon Lit, a monthly event held the last Friday of each month during the school year, usually at Contemporary Arts Center (CAC). Read more »
Movie Review
Limitless (PG-13)
★★★☆☆
March 24th, 2011
In this speedy thrill ride, Bradley Cooper plays underachiever Eddie, whose luck changes when he takes NZT, a drug that allows him to use his full potential. Read more »
Reading
The Librarian Loves ...
Selected by Jeanne Goodrich, executive director for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.
March 24th, 2011
Maisie Dobbs (Soho Press, 2003) is the first in Jacqueline Winspear’s charming series about a plucky female private investigator who operates in post-World War I England. From her humble beginnings as a housemaid, Maisie’s intelligence, personal drive and perception take her to Cambridge, to France as a war nurse, and ultimately to London, where she opens her own business. Read more »
Movie Review
I Am Number Four (PG-13)
★★★☆☆
March 24th, 2011
It’s Twilight with aliens! In this endearingly dumb, surprisingly entertaining sci-fi flick, John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) tries to blend in at his new school while harnessing superhuman powers and running from a murderous gang of tattooed villains who look like Voldemort at a leather bar. Read more »
Art
High Beam
Using a flashlight to illuminate the public art struggles of ‘Paintbrushes’
March 17th, 2011
This month, Las Vegas looks to “Flashlight,” Claes Oldenburg and Cossje Van Bruggen’s famous sculpture at UNLV. Since March 1981, “Flashlight” has cast its warm glow upon the university’s performing arts plaza. A seminal work representing Oldenburg’s distinctive pop sensibility, the upside-down flashlight looks like a mysterious yet monumental black column. But as one nears it, Oldenburg’s sense of humor takes hold and viewers are able to discern what exactly it is: an understated light in a city where lights are usually designed to dazzle. Read more »
Art
Art From the Gut
Artist Aaron Sheppard forces viewers out of their ‘maleboxes’
March 17th, 2011
A guy who names his paintings “Surfing on a Butthole and a Belly Button” and “Mariah Carey Cracker Salad,” probably isn’t afraid to push his viewers out of their comfort zone. In his Locals Only show at Centerpiece Gallery in CityCenter, Aaron Sheppard blitzes your senses with multimedia sculptures and paintings that ooze sensuality and explore gender themes. Take, for instance, the 12 square drywall and wood sculptures with a hole in the middle simply—but suggestively—titled “Maleboxes.” The “glory hole” sculptures allude to the 12 apostles with their unique personalities and are displayed at waist height to convey something a little more sensual. Read more »
