Cover Story
Tactical Terror
I look at the house, and it’s just another drab slap-up on a bland suburban street few will recall a hundred years hence. Except for the video. Very likely, those images are enough to guarantee immortality. Because even in this Internet era, it is chilling to watch a man die. So it is with Jose…
Dog Feces, the Board Game
As a parent to a ten year old, I’m aware of children and their general fascination with all things scatological, I’m almost certain that this game’s mere presence in my house would cause me to bash in my own head with a bat. Thanks for nothing, Europe!: Doggie Doo, Europe’s top new action game, has…
Most Supermarket Shoppers Are Inconsiderate Jerks
A blog at Discover Magazine’s site has a summary of John Trinkaus’ limited observational research about the behavior of supermarket shoppers, who apparently can’t be bothered to throw away garbage, put their carts where they belong, or care about item limits in express lanes: An informal enquiry of the behavior of 500 supermarket shoppers clearing…
Arts People, Help Us Help You
While it might seem a little early to you, putting together our Spring Arts Preview is serious business. As you read this, Calendar Girl (as editor Jimmy Boegle puts it, “her term, not mine”) Linda Ray is working hard to put together our comprehensive guide to what’s happening between January 15th through the summer in…
Wait, Is That Wonder Woman on That Couch?
Nope, just some woman wearing an incredibly deceiving slanket. Somehow, I assume most of these are being sold to people with $33.18 to spare (plus shipping) and a fetish they never thought could be made real, but I could be wrong. [Neatorama]
Poll: Arizonans Warming to Gay Marriage and Prefer ASU to UA
A few more tidbits from that Public Policy Polling survey that looked at Arizonans’ attitudes on a whole range of issues: Old folks don’t like gay marriage, but the kids are cool with it; people still like Barry Goldwater; ASU (heartbreakingly) beats out UA as a favorite university (although Democrats like UA and Republicans like…
(Old) Career Advice for Aspiring Journalists
The Atlantic dug up a video from Vocational Guidance Films, Inc., which makes journalism seem awfully glamorous, as long as you’re a man and it’s still 1940.
Calexico: Inaugural Rock
Calexico – Two Silver Trees – The most popular videos are here It remains to be seen what kind of mayor Jonathan Rothschild will turn out to be, but I gotta say he’s hitting the right first note by having Calexico play at his post-inaugural luncheon with his fellow council members. Joey, I’m sure the…
Talking Comics: Move to Bisbee Editon
Eric describes part of this comic as “American Idol for superheroes” and there’s an one-armed man involved. There’s more to Eric and Arnie’s review than that, but I don’t want to spoil it. They brought notes this week, so they’re SUPER PREPARED. Also, Talking Comics co-star Eric Esquivel has a Kickstarter running for a comic…
The Life of a Door to Door Meat Salesman Must Be Rough
A truck pulled into my refuge west of Tucson yesterday and a man got out and proceeded to deliver one of the better sales pitches I’d heard in a while. It would have had me reaching for my wallet if he hadn’t been selling steaks and seafood. Not that Larry Whiston’s steak and seafood isn’t…
The Bacon & Craeggs Challenge Has Been Defeated
Probably surprising to no one, the person who managed to eat a “10 piece bacon plate, 6 sausage rounds, 6 eggs, 2 texas toast, 4 pancakes, and homefries (4 potatoes worth)” in under a hour was Tucson eating legend Cardboard Shell. Yeah, and she did it in nineteen minutes according to Bacon and Craeggs’ Facebook…
Grab Mom or Abuela: Help Out With Historic Photo Project
As part of a collaborative project between the Arizona Historical Society and the Pima County Public Library, Tucsonans who lived in Barrio El Hoyo, Barrio Viejo, Barrio Anita, the Dunbar/Spring and South Tucson areas before the “urban renewal” projects of 1960s, are invited to assist in the selection of historic photos of the barrios for…
Google Maps Goes Under the Roof
While this is only available for Google Maps on Android for now, the mapping of indoor spaces makes a lot of sense. I know how to get to the mall, but I often forget which level the Cinnabon is on. Not the Cinnabon by the food court; the employees there are stingy with the icing.…
Congrats, Obama Haters…You’ve Got GQ on Your Side
GQ’s year-end “Least Influential People Alive” list by Deadspin contributor Drew Magary is an entertaining read, especially for the brutal takedown of MSNBC’s Ed Schultz: “Hannity is a piece of shit, but at least he can get your average 85-year-old, gay-hating, gold-hoarding grandma to tune in. Then there are pundits like Schultz.” However, it might…
Not a Great Move, BAE Systems
If you’re OK with feeling wildly infuriated by something you read today, check out Wired’s story about how a defense contractor defamed a war hero for disagreeing with their policy of selling sniper equipment to Pakistan: Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer is perhaps this country’s best-recognized war hero, a man who risked his life over and…
Rick Perry Has No Idea What’s Happening
Dear Gov. Perry, I think we’ve both realized that you won’t be president at this point, but could you please stick around for another month or so? XOXO,Dan Gibson The latest: Falling in the polls, Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry can’t afford to discount all voters between 18 and 21 years old. But that’s what…
New: Thai China Bistro
There’s a new restaurant called Thai China Bistro where Buck and Lil’s BBQ used to be at 5121 E. Grant Road. Check out the menu, which includes boba tea and a short selection of sushi rolls, over here.
The Return of Asshat: Consider Yourself Warned
According to an announcement from Occupy Tucson, Asshat is planing to make a downtown comeback beginning tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the sidewalk facing Veinte de Agosto Park and no, the name of his forum has nothing to do with us. Asshat’s been hanging out at the occupy, even participating in the occasional general assembly.…
Sen. Lori Klein: If Cain Didn’t Hit on Me, He Wouldn’t Hit on Anybody
State Sen. Lori Klein: “I am not an unattractive woman” As Herman Cain decides whether to continue his doomed presidential campaign in the wake of new allegations of infidelity, state Sen. Lori Klein—best known for pointing a loaded pistol at a reporter and/or reading a letter loaded with unproven racist claims on the Senate floor—comes…
Did Ann Coulter Call John McCain a “Douchebag” on Morning Joe?
Politico reports: Ann Coulter was bleeped on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show on Tuesday but the censoring didn’t work and the conservative pundit could be heard using some words not fit for TV—apparently about Sen. John McCain. Coulter appeared to call the Arizona Republican a “douche bag” on the morning show, in the context of a…
Goodbye, Society. It Was Fun While It Lasted.
How is it that the catchphrase “Git-R-Done” isn’t on the front of this box? It seems so simple. “When you’ve given up on life, but still need to make dinner for the family…Larry the Cable Guy will help U GIT-R-DONE!” Seriously, marketing people…now that this brilliant merger of celebrity and product is finding itself on…
Karl Rove Is a Delightful Human Being
Nice instance of the pot calling the kettle black, I suppose, when Karl Rove writes for FoxNews.com that Barney Frank is “incapable of feeling shame, regret or a sense of personal responsibility,” he probably knows from his own experience as a soulless political hack: It was because he was going to retire anyway, lost a…
Someone Make This Mixtape Thing Happen Here
While there’s something a little strange about the fact that people are all of a sudden into audio cassettes again, now that I’m the owner of a vehicle with a cassette deck again (don’t ask), I’d really like to have something to listen to in that once-obsolete format, so if there were some sort of…
Occupy Tucson Protestors Elude Police by Climbing Trees
Alex Maldonado As the number of citations grow and the court options dwindle, Occupy Tucson protestors have taken to avoiding police the same way that primitive man might have avoided predators: They climbed up into trees when the police came by. Here’s a press release from Occupy Tucson’s Alex Maldonado: In a rare direct action/resistance…
We’ve Been Reheating Pizza All Wrong
I haven’t had a chance to try this myself, but a blog called Food Wishes seems to have figured out the great mystery of how to fix leftover pizza. I’ve largely given up on trying to get slices anywhere near their original state, so I’ve generally just gone with eating leftover pizza cold. This doesn’t…
People Who Like Paula Deen Are Filled With Sadness
For some reason, for the people of NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, the fame of Paula Deen is a great and peculiar mystery, similar to why people choose to live anywhere outside of our nation’s major metropolises. However, thankfully, our liberal conscience in audio form got to the bottom of it all. Despite the fact that…
Poll Says Obama Will Lose, Unless He Doesn’t
The standard November polling caveat still applies here: none of this really matters, except that millions of dollars in time and manpower will be spent as a result of these sort of polls. However, at this particular moment, it would appear that President Obama should cross his fingers that anyone but Mitt Romney gets the…
Carmona Picks Up an Important Endorsement (From Someone Some People Remember)
While Don Bivens jumped out first in an effort to grab the Democratic nomination for Jon Kyl’s Senate seat, it really does look like things are lining up for Richard Carmona to be the chosen one. While there are going to be a significant number of potential voters that won’t remember Dennis DeConcini, there has…
You Should Watch This Woody Allen Documentary
Coming back from the holiday, it’s probably not the best day to watch a two hour documentary while pretending to work, but if you missed Robert Weide’s documentary on Woody Allen that aired on PBS’s American Masters this month, you can thankfully catch it online (at least for the time being). The first twenty minutes…
Treasure Hunts Are Fun
If you have riddle-solving skills, check out a treasure hunt happening on the Tucson Reddit tomorrow. While the choice of prizes is a bit strange, who doesn’t enjoy puzzles and prizes? Who: Any Redditors who want to take part What: First three winners get to choose among these three prizes $25 Subway Sandwich Shop gift…
Today in Miley Cyrus News
If you were waiting for Miley Cyrus’ Euro-house take on Occupy Wall Street, today’s your lucky day. It’s time for a Liberty Walk, everyone! I don’t know what that means, but I don’t want to seem anti-Liberty. I just know that we’re going to get it when we live it, whatever “it” happens to be…
Shocker! Joe Arpaio Endorses Nearly Irrelevant Presidental Candidate!
If you’re part of the rapidly shrinking Venn diagram intersection of “people who care about what Joe Arpaio thinks” and “people who still think Rick Perry will win the Republican nomination”, here’s some news for you: Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a well-known immigration hardliner, will endorse GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry by the end of the…
Mars Science Lab: The Tucson Connection
NASA/JPL-Caltech Alan Fischer of the Planetary Science Institute fills us in on the local connection to the Mars Science Laboratory and the Curiosity rover, which launched on Saturday: With the Mars Science Laboratory speeding through space on its way to an expected August 2012 arrival at our neighboring planet, Planetary Science Institute researchers R. Aileen…
“Virgin Diaries”: Now My New Favorite TV Show
It hasn’t even aired yet, but based on this shaky YouTube video shot off a TV screen, TLC’s Virgin Diaries looks like it will be a source of minutes of low quality humor at the expense of others. Here’s how TLC’s website describes the show: Whether by choice or circumstance, many have yet to experience…
Axl Rose and Some Other People Are Coming to Phoenix
It’s been a really long time since Guns N’ Roses have played anywhere in Arizona (a show scheduled for December of 2002 was cancelled, and I think the last time Axl Rose actually took a stage in our state was back in early 1992 when the band played two nights at Compton Terrace with Soundgarden…
Alison Davison: ‘A Society Fueled by Curiosity, Wonder, and Compassion’
Alison Davis, the former coordinator of the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance who recently relocated to Seattle, on Transgender Day of Remembrance and so much more: Often my scope of activism is narrowly focused on gender and transgender related issues. I participated in my 10th Transgender Day of Remembrance last night. It was my first in…
Bob Ross Bottle-Feeding a Squirrel
No, seriously. That’s exactly what happens in this YouTube clip. Bob Ross, of “happy little cloud” fame, bottle-feeds a squirrel. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, then there’s this. [Buzzfeed]
Writer’s Block: Nicholas Campanella
Short Stories by local author Nicholas Campanella has been published by The Moon Publishing and Printing (www.moonpublishprint.com). Campanella grew up on the Jersey Shore, in Seaside Heights. He says he used to listen to the Beatles and Rolling Stones “blasting over the ocean and down the boardwalk in the 60s.” He majored in creative writing…
Talking Comics: Heart (Not the Band) Edition
Much to my disappointment, this is not a graphic novel involving the Wilson sisters playing rock and roll and fighting crime in Seattle. Instead, Eric and Arnie talk about hugging, Fight Club and some other stuff.
Rep. Giffords Helps Serve Thanksgiving to DM Troops
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Capt. Mark Kelly serve the holiday meal at Davis-Monthan AFB. In her first event among constituents since January 8th, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is spending part of her Thanksgiving among the airmen of Davis-Monthan today. From her office’s press release: U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords helped serve a traditional Thanksgiving dinner today to…
Media Watch
The American Cable Association doesn’t like the KMSB handoff; Funny 1450 is no more
Now Showing at Home
Evil Dead 2: 25th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray); Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume One (Blu-ray); My Fair Lady (Blu-ray); Blue Velvet (Blu-ray)
Open For Business
It’s been derided for its location and chastised for not having enough bells and whistles. It’s been abandoned by not one, but three high-profile tenants. Yet 14 years after it was built, all signs point to Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium and the surrounding athletic complex becoming a respected—if not quite profitable—multi-use facility. “It’s become a…
Simple and Delicious
If you’re looking for a high-priced, fancy burger, Eat-a-Burger is not the place for you. However, if you’re looking for a simple, inexpensive and tasty downtown lunch, it fits the bill perfectly. A former food-truck operation that now has a permanent home, the small downtown restaurant is housed in a Pioneer Building spot that has…
K. Rat
[iamge-1]
The Skinny
Newt Gingrich is the current pick of Arizona Republicans … The city of Tucson remains divided against itself … The Community Food Bank could use some help this holiday season … and more!
Noshing Around
Mexican food in a trailer; Chickens!; More frozen custard coming to town; Colors re-opens
Police Dispatch
Drinkin’ and apologizin’; Breaking up is hard to do
His Own Path
Instead of a shout-out to his neighborhood or hometown, Murs opens his new record with an intergalactic greeting. “I use my rocket fuel to travel through the infinite / and this is what I brought to you,” raps Murs on “Epic Salutations,” a rapid-fire and wildly imaginative lyrical journey into outer space. It’s a song…
Weekly Wide Web
If there’s one thing you can count on with Facebook (other than your privacy being invaded somehow), it’s that the social-media hub creates a false sense of importance about nearly everything. Yes, there are certainly times, like Jan. 8, when the status updates appropriately reflect a community trying to understand what’s happening. But other times,…
Soundbites
Goodbye to the Red Room and The Bled; This week in benefits; and more!
Protest Persists
Images of escalating police brutality at Occupy protests across the country seem a world apart from the Occupy Tucson encampment at Veinte de Agosto Park. Not that the small park at Church Avenue and Congress Street is exactly a bucolic paradise. But on Sunday, Nov. 20, things were going smoother than Alex Maldonado expected they’d…
From Baltimore With Love
It all started with a transvestite eating a pile of dog shit. At least that’s when people started to take notice. When John Waters—the Pope of Trash, the Prince of Puke—wrote and directed 1972’s Pink Flamingos, with its film-closing scene of the cross-dressing Divine eating a still-steaming pile of canine crap, people not only began…
Nine Questions
Chris Pierce has been a fixture on the Tucson music scene for a few years. After touring the world multiple times as a member of reggae-artist Mojo Morgan’s band, he’s most recognizable to Tucsonans as the bass player for several local bands, including Faster Than Light, Steff Koeppen and the Articles, and Logan Greene and…
Through Native Eyes
Starting on Wednesday, Nov. 30, Tucsonans can peer into a world that’s right around the corner—but rarely seen. The Native Eyes Film Showcase—presented by the Arizona State Museum and the University of Arizona’s Hanson Film Institute, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian—will include more than 20 films that show…
Dum Dum Girls: Only in Dreams (Sub Pop)
The first thing to notice about Dum Dum Girls is the attitude—that audacious, flirtatious cool, with their don’t-follow-the-rules posturing. Debut album I Will Be was a musical exploration of that attitude, marking Dum Dum Girls as a fresh and intriguing buzz band. Only in Dreams takes that attitude and runs with it—in a few different…
City Week
Crafts galore!; Inspiring children’s voices; Describing Tucson; Family-friendly folk-rock
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster: IV (Ferret)
Birmingham, Ala.’s Maylene and the Sons of Disaster either have a severe identity crisis, or a strong and playful desire to leapfrog from genre to genre within the same album. I suspect it’s the latter, given how diverse singer Dallas Taylor sounds here, especially compared with his one-dimensional yet still heart-stopping screams in previous hard-core…
TQ&A
Nick Ray became the executive director of the statewide LGBT-rights organization Equality Arizona four months ago. He’s led a Phoenix-based LGBT youth organization and worked as a senior policy analyst with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in New York City, but he’s also called Tucson home, as a former volunteer and development director…
Lou Reed and Metallica: Lulu (Warner Bros.)
What do you say about an album that died on arrival? Before firing potshots, like an Internet cat-critic, it is worth giving credit to Lou Reed and Metallica for even attempting such an outré musical experiment, a musical mash-up based upon the work of German playwright Frank Wedekind (1864-1918)?Ultimately, for all its strange allure, it’s…
Dark Christmas
We’re just heading into Thanksgiving weekend, but over at Live Theatre Workshop, Christmas has come early. For LTW’s newest production, Craig Lucas’ Reckless, set designers Richard and Amanda Gremel have painted the stage a shiny, shellacked blue. It looks like it’s been covered with wrapping paper. This sets the tone for Reckless, which begins on…
Top Ten in Books
1. Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time Rick Hanson, New Harbinger ($15.95) 2. A Border Runs Through It: Journeys in Regional History and Folklore Jim Griffith, Rio Nuevo ($17.95) 3. Blue Nights Joan Didion, Knopf ($25) 4. The Necessity of Certain Behaviors Shannon Cain, University of Pittsburgh ($24.95)…
Editor’s Note
On one hand, I am a serious college-sports fan. There’s nothing else in sports like the atmosphere at a big college football game. On the other hand, I recognize that the NCAA has numerous, serious problems. At most schools, in the big college sports, money is the top concern, with winning a close second; other…
Making Her Mark
One evening in South Australia 30 years ago, a shaft of light broke through darkening clouds to the plain below. The moment was brief, but Kate Breakey caught it on film. She called it “Hole in the Sky,” and stashed it in a box. Many years later, on a winter’s day in the west of…
Live
People were smoking up a storm Sunday night during what was surely one of the last gigs at this much-loved Tucson venue. Screw it—what are you gonna do? Shut the place down? The Red Room—which was attached to venerable and now-closed 24-hour restaurant Grill—was a unique local institution and one of the favorite watering holes…
Danehy
This weekend, just a couple of days after having joined their fellow Americans in celebrating Thanksgiving, Catholics from all over the United States are going to look to the heavens, arms outstretched, and say in unison, “What in the hell’s going on here?!” For nearly 2,000 years, the Catholic Mass was celebrated in Latin. The…
Among the Navajos
Alwin Girdner grew up among fervent Plymouth Brethren missionaries on the isolated Navajo Reservation of the 1920s and ’30s. As subject matter for bedtime stories, this one doesn’t exactly leap. But Girdner made it work, and he entertained his kids for years with his memories of and knowledge about the Navajo people. Sometime in the…
Serraglio
Let’s see, it’s the 47th Thursday of 2011, which means it’s my 12th column of the year, which means it must be …Thanksgiving Day. Now that I’ve been writing these things on a regular schedule for the past few years, I’ve been stuck with this day every time around. I keep waiting for a Leap…
Forgiveness Tale
It can be difficult to accept George Clooney as the everyman. So much is known about celebrities these days that it becomes hard to, for example, divorce the fact that Clooney has an Italian villa from his work. But over the past half-decade or more, Clooney’s work in front of and behind the camera might…
Fog Begone
When the North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive in January 1968, Tucsonan Dwight Graves was a Navy Seabee with the 1st Marine Division, building bunkers for the U.S. Army near the demilitarized zone. His compound 10 miles from the border between North and South Vietnam came under heavy attack, as did scores of other U.S.…
Mailbag
A plea for MMJ card ease; Arizona politics summarized; All occupiers aren’t the same; City ballots aren’t secret ballots
Top Ten in Movies
1. Crazy, Stupid, Love. Warner Bros. 2. Water for Elephants 20th Century Fox 3. The Change-Up Universal 4. The Trip MPI 5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Warner Bros. 6. Captain America: The First Avenger Paramount 7. Larry Crowne Universal 8. Beginners Universal 9. Cars 2 Disney/Pixar 10. Bellflower Oscilloscope
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: Former Florida GOP Sen. Mel Martinez authored a decent compromise bill to resolve the growing illegal immigration problem in the United States. He broke the group of 11 million illegals into three classes, depending on the amount of time that they were in the country. Those in the United States for two or…
Letter Imperfect
The Arizona Supreme Court put at least a temporary stop to Gov. Jan Brewer’s effort to remove the chairwoman of the Independent Redistricting Commission last week. In a brief order, the court ruled that it had authority in the case and that Brewer had acted illegally in removing Colleen Mathis from the five-member panel, which…
Better Bella
The Stephenie Meyer teen-vampire saga gets notably twisted and bloodier with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part I, easily the most-demented—and most-watchable—chapter in the series. That said, I still haven’t met a Twilight movie that I’ve liked. This is the first movie in the series to have something resembling a dramatic pulse. Some of the thanks…
Top Ten in Music
1. Drake Take Care (Cash Money) 2. Childish Gambino Camp (Glass Note) 3. Wale Ambition (Warner Bros./WEA) 4. Adele 21 (XL) 5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (DVD) Warner Bros. 6. Florence and the Machine Ceremonials (Universal Republic) 7. Sigur Rós Inni (XL) 8. Webbie Savage Life 3 (Trill) 9. Megadeth Th1rt3en(Roadrunner)…
Voices of Occupy Tucson: Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011
TPD Chief Roberto Villasenor on Oct. 15 telling everyone at Occupy Tucson to line up for citations. On Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, The Range spent most of the day at Occupy Tucson looking for folks we first interviewed when the local Occupy started Oct. 15 at Armory Park. The following audio interviews (and apologies for…
