Cover Story
From Service to Homeless
“I’m prepared to go back on the streets. I’ll have to find a place to store my stuff … memories. There isn’t anything like that out there for homeless people.”
Cinema Clips: Independence Day: Resurgence
I enjoyed the goofy, funny, balls-out alien invasion movie that was Independence Day (1996). The film was dumber than a stoned golden retriever in a Harvard calculus class, but Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum and, yes, Randy Quaid made the grandiose stupidity somewhat of a blast. Two decades after the original, Independence Day: Resurgence finally arrives,…
Casa Video Top 10
Important: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is finally out on DVD so you can enjoy some 2002 nostalgia before the heat and/or monsoon rains decide to kill us all. Here’s your Casa Video Top 10 for the week: The Revenant My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Zootopia Hail, Ceaser! Midnight Special Whiskey Tango Foxtrot …
Cinema Clips: Tickled
David Farrier, a New Zealand reporter tasked with finding human interest stories stumbles upon a competitive tickling website and decides to cover the “sport.” Before long, he’s getting threats from an overseas entity both legal and personal. David comes to the United States to investigate further and uncovers some sort of evil fetish tickling ring.…
Cinema Clips: Free State of Jones
Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey), a Confederate army medic, decides he’s had enough, and deserts. He returns to Mississippi where his people are being harassed by looting soldiers. He winds up in the swamps with escaped slaves where they form a pact, and eventually create a militia to rebel against the Confederacy. Based on a true…
Global Girl Power: Tell Me What You Want, What You Really, Really Want
This remake of the Spice Girl’s 1996 “Wannabe” video is just what the world needs. The original song, released twenty years ago on July 7, has been transformed with international young artists to support the Project Everyone campaign and their U. N. Global Goals initiative. The Project Everyone campaign is a United Nations supported coalition of corporate…
Rep. Randy Friese Tells Us Where He Stands on K-12 Funding
Voters and the media should demand that candidates for state legislature explain their positions on K-12 funding, in detail. If they don’t do it on their own, they should be asked the question by every journalist who interviews them and by the public at every forum they attend—with follow-up questions to pin them down on specifics. Rep.…
Cinema Clips: The BFG
And with this, the startling run of Steven Spielberg duds continues. After delivering two of the dullest movies of his career (Lincoln, Bridge of Spies) Spielberg does the almost impossible; he makes Roald Dahl completely boring. Oscar winner Mark Rylance delivers a motion-capture CGI performance as the central character-the Big Friendly Giant-that results in more…
Homeless Photographers Exhibit Work in First Public Showing
Sylvia Sander, local private investigator, began fielding interviews with the homeless early this year as a volunteer. She said a common complaint of the many homeless people she met living in the downtown area concerned the issue of photographs, namely those taken by street photographers and tourists who snapped shots of individuals living on the…
Update: Tucson Man Arrested for Conspiracy to Commit Terrorism
Documents were released Wednesday, June 6 in the case of Mahin Khan, who was arrested last week and accused of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism in Pima and Maricopa counties. A heavily redacted two-and-a-half page document contains information on Khan’s alleged correspondence efforts with several individuals in regards to terroristic actions and intentions. In…
Milo Needs a Home
Hi, I’m Milo! I’m a sweet 2 year old boy who needs a new home! I’m very shy in the kennel, but I love to be around other dogs and I really enjoy play time. I have good history in my previous home of being around kids, and I’m hoping to find a home where…
Swiss Army Man is Destined for Cult Classic Status
Swiss Army Man, like the dead corpse at its center, is a multipurpose entity. It can be a lot of different things to the viewer. It can be a story about the wild things starvation and desperation can do to the brain, and the strange movies that play in your head when you are losing…
Prop 123, Tucson Area Schools, and Salary Hikes
I read the article in the Sunday Star about teacher salaries in the Tucson area post-Prop 123, three or four times. I was trying to figure out exactly what it meant. The thrust of the article is, TUSD is being stingy with its salary hikes after receiving the recently disbursed Prop 123 funds while many…
Tucson City Council May Fight TEP on Solar Energy Incentive Changes
The Tucson City Council is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution that opposes plans by Tucson Electric Power to do away with the state’s metering rules for solar energy—something that tells the utility company to buy back, at full retail price, any excess energy that a solar customer did not use. TEP filed a…
Miss Teen USA Eliminating Their Swimsuit Competition is Only a Small Step in the Right Direction
Miss Teen USA contestants will be trading their swimsuits and high heels for sports bras and running shoes. The high profile beauty pageant has decided to discontinue their swimsuit contest, now judging the 51 contestants in a brand new athletic wear competition instead. Insert slow clap here. While the organization has always promoted and defended…
Apparently These People Think It’s a Good Idea to Bring Dolphins to Arizona for Entertainment Purposes
The Mexico-based Dolphinaris is bringing a “swim with the dolphins!” park to the Arizona desert. Here’s the company’s mission statement on the upcoming Dolphinaris Arizona, set to open this summer next door to the OdySea Aquarium, which is also currently under construction, near the 101 and Vía de Ventura in Scottsdale: Dolphinaris is developing the “next generation”…
Diane Douglas on Testing and the Classrooms First Initiative Council
I was at Wednesday night’s sparsely attended meeting with Ed Supe Diane Douglas. About 30 people showed up in the main library’s conference room to hear Douglas talk about what’s going on in Arizona education, a far cry from the packed auditorium at her Pima Community College event in April, 2015. Maybe the small crowd…
Marijuana Legalization Group Submits Initiative to Secretary of State’s Office with More Than 250K Signatures
Well, it’s official, guys: Arizona could well be on its way to legalize recreational marijuana this year. Today, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted more than 250,000 signatures to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. The measure only needs 150,642 valid signatures to make the general election ballot, so the fate of legalization…
FC Tucson Ticket Giveaway
Busy Sunday night? We’re giving away a four pack of tickets to the July 3 FC Tucson game against Laguna FC. The game is at 7:30 p.m. at Kino North Stadium (2817 E. Ajo Way). All you have to do to enter is fill out the form below. We’ll contact the winner midday on Friday, July…
Cactus and Clouds Exhibition at The Galleria
The Galleria at the YW is currently featuring a group art exhibition with more than 20 artists entitled Cactus and Clouds. The exhibition just opened June 29 and will run through Aug. 27. An artist’s reception featuring DJ Buttafly will be held Friday, July 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition and reception can be found in the…
B-Sides: Chuck Inglish
Following the release of his new album with L.A.-based production duo Blended Babies, Chicago rapper Chuck Inglish (formerly half of the Cool Kids) is hitting up the Scratch Shack.
Police Dispatch
A young man didn’t even bother to make the lamest excuse when a cop caught him showing off the speed of his Chevy Camaro in the middle of town at 2 a.m.
Roll Out: Sushi-Kito
With ingredients like bacon, carne asada, cream cheese, Queso Chihuahua and more, the truck isn’t concerned with offering traditional Japanese-style sushi at all.
Bad Suns Rising: Bad Suns
The goal for Bad Suns’ current tour is road testing some of the new songs, and with Tucson as the first performance.
MMJ Notes
A new measure has been approved by the U.S. Senate Committee that would allow banking institutions to offer financial services to marijuana businesses
Monsoon Mystery
Out of the Past, starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas, follows the story of a detective forced to relive his seedy past in a world of corruption and danger.
Prints, Prints, Prints
“The Fine Art of Printmaking,” will run until July 30.
Police Dispatch
A few dripping-wet young men made a small spectacle while clumsily trying to flee the law after breaking into a UA swimming pool in the middle of the night.
Planes of Existence: Karima Walker
“There were about two years where I was really dissatisfied with what I was doing. I kept writing songs like I had always been writing,” she says. “I rejected that for a little while and was down on it. I feel more okay with that part of my creative process now…I didn’t want to deny…
The Quantified Life
The current show, Tucson 3 Ways: A Foray into Digital Alchemy, is another big installation, again made by out-of-towners. This time, it’s a pair of Los Angeles-based artists, Steven Joyner and Jason Pilarski, who operate as the duo MachineHistories. Unlike their predecessors, though, they’ve barely set foot in Tucson.
Editor’s Note
Other cities have developed programs that provide housing with supports as needed, but no strings attached and maybe that’s the direction we need to go next.
Assessing the Assessor
Pima County Assessor Bill Staples is so confident about his work in office for the past 12 years that he says he isn’t asking for monetary contributions or currently seeking endorsements for his re-election campaign as he faces a challenger in the August Democratic primary.
Paul Rudd Not Included
A true summer classic splashes its way back to Congress Street on Saturday.
The Skinny
Pima County Supervisor Miller stormed out of a board meeting after she came under fire.
B-Sides: Patsy’s Rats
Although Patsy’s Rats might be a Portland-based act, it’s undeniable that the band has some real Tucson ties.
Dare to CREAM
C.R.E.A.M. (cash rules everything around me) is a to-the-point mantra for a business, but the Wu-Tang Clan song of the same name has been a steady source of inspiration for Patrick Foley, who, along with Chris Hall, started CREAM Design and Print four months ago
Wave Flags, Blow Glass
Fourth of July happens every year, so why not try something a little different for 2016?
Alien Farts
While the original Independence Day was a stupid blast, the sequel is the equivalent of a nasty two-hour alien fart.
Dust Devil
I remember driving out Silverbell, a curving tow-laner with the foothills rising on the left
Outer Limits
As Pima County’s World view moves closer to entering the space tourism biz, there are regulatory issues to be sorted out.
B-Sides: DJ Bijou
Blending familiar rhymes from hip-hop heavyweights like Ice Cube and NWA as well as newer rappers like Gucci Mane, Bijou’s trance style offers something you probably already know and love, but morphed into another completely different thing that demands you get up and move.
Pleasure Activist
The story of the most popular accidental sex toy.
