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SEX
Foreign affairs, adventures
By ASHLEY ROSS | Apr. 15, 2009Voulez-vous couchez avec moi, ce soir? Me vuelves loco. Ti desidero. Ez csodalatos volt.
The Avenue
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SEX
Rules of Attraction: when is it too soon to have sex?
By ASHLEY ROSS | Apr. 8, 2009Sex is a never-ending complex. It shouldn't be that complicated, but it is.
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ART AND THEATER
Death of Polaroid is end of an era
By LEE ZIESCHE | Apr. 8, 2009For most, the start of the new year signaled a fresh beginning, but for Polaroid film it marked the end of an era. Last year Polaroid announced that it would stop making instant film, and it should be phased out of stores by 2009. To many people in this digital age, Polaroids are no more than ancient relics, but to those in fashion, art and photography industries they are very much alive.
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ART AND THEATER
Q&A with Jason Estala, costume designer
By STEPHANIE GRANADA | Apr. 8, 2009Behind every great production is a great costume designer. After all, what would Sex and the City have been without Patricia Field's stylistic talents?
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LIFESTYLE
Lil Wayne is voice of generation, represents humanity
By DAVID LOW | Apr. 8, 2009Lil Wayne is the voice of our generation.
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LIFESTYLE
Danger is sexy, alluring in college
By ERIK VOSS | Apr. 8, 2009Danger is sexy when you're in college. It's a short time in your life when you can get away with making bad decisions. And nothing's more of a turn-on than knowing something can go wrong at any minute.
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LIFESTYLE
College acceptance letters bring back memories
By ERIK VOSS | Apr. 1, 2009Right now, high school seniors all over the country are hearing back from colleges and preparing to take that next big step into college. For nostalgia's sake, let's recall what was running through our minds as we read our own college acceptance letters:
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LIFESTYLE
Bromance makes sense
By STEPHANIE DUNN | Apr. 1, 2009Brody Jenner stared at me from the other side of my TV, spray-tanned and wide-eyed. "What's a bromance?" he asked, incredulously. As if I should innately grasp the homosocial premise for his new series. Uh, you tell me - dude.
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ART AND THEATER
Hippie revival more than just a musical
By ASHLEY ROSS | Apr. 1, 2009Grab your tie-dye, your peace signs and your anti-war slogans - it's time to let your hair down and let the sun shine.
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MUSIC
Texas band takes on Gainesville
By Mae Basiratmand | Apr. 1, 2009"Who's Tebow?" asked Michael Murray, lead guitarist of the band The Banner Year.
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FASHION
Fashioning Kimono: Now on display at the Harn Museum of Art
By Mae Basiratmand | Mar. 25, 2009A flurry of colors and designs ranging from cartoon floral prints to men on fishing boats adorn the kimonos now on display at the Harn Museum. One "little boy kimono" is embellished with images of battle ships and airplanes flying over water, which signifies the mark of World War II. Many of the women's kimonos display vibrant colors and geometric shapes. These were to mimic the idea of "art deco," influenced from Western culture. Fashioning Kimono, the exhibit flaunting numerous types of kimonos, dates from the late 19th century to early 20th century.
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MOVIES AND TV
Watchmen intrigues, compels
By JACK BENGE | Mar. 18, 2009I must confess, I have never read "Watchmen." So I can't speak of the movie's faithfulness to "the most celebrated graphic novel of all time." But I can tell you that one of the most anticipated movies of this year delivered on its big blockbuster promise.
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FASHION GFW
Fashion Week fits Gainesville
By NICOLE DAMBRO | Mar. 5, 2009And ignorance claims another victim - Matthew Meltzer.
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FASHION GFW
Fashion Week doesn’t represent real–life Gainesville fashion
By MATTHEW MELTZER | Mar. 3, 2009When you throw a festival of some sort, typically it is supposed to be in a location that has something to do with what the festival is about.
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MUSIC
Album review: U2 – “No Line On The Horizon”
By ROBERT HILSON | Mar. 3, 2009Noisy, surging guitars; octopus-arm polyrhythms; Bono hollering on like a hopped-up Pentecostal preacher; spectacularly transparent declarations of purpose whooped in flailing whoa-oh frenzy. These are the first sounds of "No Line On the Horizon," U2's new album, and they combine to say what, with this band, goes without saying: This is a statement.
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SEX
Sex on the Beach
By ASHLEY ROSS | Mar. 3, 2009Oh, glorious day. Spring break is finally here.
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MUSIC
It's Elephant's Makes Debut
By Abigail O’Connell | Feb. 25, 2009What do you get when you mix Fugazi with The Beach Boys?
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MUSIC
Album Review: Dalek – “Gutter Tactics”
By ROBERT HILSON | Feb. 18, 2009If the election of President Barack Obama was a big can't-we-all-just-get-along inquiry to the good people of America, then "Gutter Tactics" is a scathing, unqualified "Hell no!" Or "not yet," anyway. Atop corrosive grooves tangled in haywire electronic beats, this Garden State duo spits tales of torture, war, civil rights abuses and the like, exposing every closeted sin, protesting all the wrongs that still need be righted. "Armed with Krylon" and "Who Medgar Evers Was" make up a suite of continuously devolving ambient rap that taps a well of run-for-your-life paranoia. The latter track works off a big, beefy drumbeat, spiraling feedback and lyrics about assassination. Indeed, this is dark stuff that takes nerve to slog through, and that's speaking nothing of the introductory monologue - a caustic, hell, fire and brimstone throwdown from the Rev. Wright himself. Or as Dalek likes to call it, "feel-good music."
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MUSIC
Album Review: The Bird and The Bee – “Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future”
By ROBERT HILSON | Feb. 18, 2009Aside from an obvious flair for album titling (makes you want to shout, "'Ray Guns' are now, bitch!" doesn't it?), vocalist Inara George and soundboard extraordinaire Greg Kurstin also have a way with swinging '60s pop music set to fantastically modernized, yet still retro, production. Does this make sense? If not, think of "Ray Guns" as the aural equivalent to Disney's Tomorrowland - both create a future that will never exist by looking to tail-finned Cadillacs and moon landings as points of reference. This record awaits the mythical Year 2000, and in so doing, delivers groovy neo-psychedelia ("Ray Gun"), doo-wop era Motown complete with seductress spoken word bits ("Baby"), and breathy cocktail lounge balladeering ("Meteor"), all in a sleek electronic shell. "Diamond Dave," George's irresistible tribute to the great David Lee Roth, is not only the most catchy song here, but the only appropriate evidence by which to date this offering. It's Van Halen hero worship dressed in spacey beats and a plat-blond 'do, and as such, cooler than Judy Jetson in a discotheque.
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MUSIC
Album Review: Loney, Dear – “Dear John”
By ROBERT HILSON | Feb. 18, 2009Emil Svanängen is moving on up, literally. Having recorded his first album on a laptop microphone and CD-Rs in his mother's cellar, the Swedish popsmith now makes a big enough name for himself to afford real studio equipment, a high-end computer, and presumably, his own home. In keeping with the little-guy theme, "Dear John" comes off like techno-fied Belle and Sebastian - Svanängen sings in breathless, hushed tones, as if trying to carry on a conversation in a library after running a marathon. Most of these songs flirt with electronic chamber pop, veering at alternate forks into "Phantom of the Opera"-esque theatrics ("Harm") and somber, Postal Service dance tunes ("Summers," which would fit snuggly on "Give Up"). If there's a turnoff, it's that a lot of these tracks are too prettily twee for their own good, like a good-looking guy who never makes the first move. And winds up living in his parents' basement.
