Blogs

The problem with being a football fan is that the off-season is so much longer than the season. By the time the Broncos take their next meaningful snap, the Presidential contest will be a two-man…er, two-person race, the Beijing Olympics will have run their course and we’ll be months removed from discovering if the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is really just a metaphor for Indiana Jones’ fight against devil-worshipping hippies (I sure hope so). Eight long months of anticipation gives way to a quick four months of cipation; two-thirds of the year, fans have nothing but variations on “what if” and “what will be.”

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It's one of the most ecologically diverse areas in Colorado, but there are already some natural gas drilling rigs on private land on top of the plateau. Extending the drilling to the Roan's vast, untamed public lands could prove a billion-dollar windfall in lease payments to the state within a year, the pro-drillers claim, but environmentalists and local officials say that's bunk. Governor Bill Ritter wants to protect the place, kind of, and drill at the same time, but it's the feds who will make the critical decisions.

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A Year in Photos

Moovers and Shakers 2007: A Year of Amazing Local Music

11 Concerts You Probably Should Have Seen

Los Comicos Super HIlariosos is a monthly gathering of Denver's best underground comics for a celebration of cheap booze and jokes. And last was ... well, it was interesting. Transplant Tig Notaro (who you can see tonight at the Oriental Theater, and I highly recommend that you do) absolutely killed it last night with what was by far the best set of the evening. But don't take my word alone; click through this slide show from last night featuring sound clips from each performer.
-- Sean Cronin

Comedian Ben Roy attempts to sweep Ben Kronberg off the stage at Los Comicos Super Hilariosos on December 27.

The first time I saw comedian Ben Kronberg, he pulled a rabbit out of his hat, scaled Everest with a Sherpa on his back, and split a molecule of hydrogen with a karate chop so imperceptible the action could only be noted by the explosion that destroyed Denver, leaving a smoking crater in its wake. Satire, kids. Actually it was the Squire, and he did something I thought just as impossible, he held a room full of cynical hipsters and Colfax-swilling bottle rocketeers rapt between the blue lines of his little notebook. It is against the laws of physics for a body that size to exert such a gravitational pull.

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Here are the transcripts to the Cadorna v. City and County of Denver case profiled in Alan Prendergast's December 13 feature, "Blackburned."

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

Day Six

Day Seven

Day Eight

Why the Rocky is so annoyed by breasts is a mystery. And to single this woman out for having the most annoying breasts of all is kind of cruel, in spite of the photo crop. Foreshame Rocky, foreshame.

Why give something the considered judgement is creators would prefer when you can make a snap judgement in 45 seconds.

Assassin’s Creed
Xbox360

Okay, this one took me a little while just to figure out what was going on, the stupid kid in line ahead of me at Best Buy apparently had been playing all day because he’s really far into the game. Maybe I’ll just press the punch button a lot and see what happens. Okay, now people are chasing me. Is this supposed to be Jerusalem? Arg, punch punch punch… death. Ah crap, that little kid is coming back, I’d better get out of here before he realizes I destroyed his game.

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Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday

Thursday and Friday:
Yesterday was my last day of work for the week. Typically I would never get Friday off, but my progress has been superb, my body has found its health, and my trainer knows this. My trainer also knows that Santa is watching him, and in a pathetic attempt to win brownie points with Father Christmas, he gave me today off. He's so transparent.

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In 1994, Westword published its eleventh Best of Denver issue, a celebration of the city that saluted everything from Best Italian Restaurant (the brand-new Carmine’s on Penn) to Best Makeover (the renovated Herb’s Hideout) to Best New Arts Venue (the Bug, on Navajo Street) to Best News for Blues (the reopened Bluebird Theater). But 1994 wasn’t all about things that had opened: By then, Denver International Airport had already missed one opening date, and it would also blow through our Best Guess When Denver International Airport Will Open. But one DIA feature was right on time, and right on target: Gary Sweeney’s “America, Why I Love Her,” the Best New Public Art.

DIA’s budget included $7.5 million for art, and although a few pieces flopped and one — Luis Jimenez’s horse — is now thirteen years late, Sweeney’s “America: Why I Love Her” is legendary. To create the large wooden map, Sweeney (a longtime fixture on the local art scene, and also a Continental baggage handler) traveled the country snapping pictures of odd tourist attractions. More than 200 of them — everything from Dan Blocker Memorial Head to the Steven Canyon statue in Idaho Springs — are featured on DIA’s most beloved feature. Sadly, when Continental pulled its planned hub from the finally open airport, Sweeney wound up relocating to San Antonio, where he continues to work for the airline — and continues to make art. But he left behind yet another reason to love Denver.

Here are the rest of the winners from 1994:

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If you've not yet finished your Christmas shopping, here's a great gift idea for the man who has everything. It's this simple: there's this guy in Canada who just had breast implants in his leg.

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Like many daily newspapers around the country, the Rocky Mountain News has said farewell to loads o' staffers who've left on their own or taken buyouts to go away. Nevertheless, editors still need writers to fill the pesky blank spots between ads that occasionally pop up on pages -- and copy borrowed from publications such as the Colorado Springs Gazette can't plug all those holes. That's why the paper is offering to give those who remain on the payroll restaurant gift cards if they recommend competent freelancers -- the sort of scribes who may one day replace them, too.

Here's the memo describing the deal:

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Monday
Tuesday

Wednesday:
I awoke this morning before the sun. I opened my blinds to a firey orange suggestion that it may soon follow my lead. I arrived at work bleary-eyed and as I approached the glass doors that lead into the cafeteria, I hit an icy patch that sent me into the splits. This was an unwelcome test for my healing groin that I thankfully passed without much more than a heavy sigh. The glass doors and windows to the cafeteria are tinted, so I wasn't sure if anyone inside saw me pull a Jane Fonda on the pavement. Thankfully, I was spared the laughter.

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As documented in this September blog, John Scherer and his Colorado company, Video Professor, play hardball when it comes to criticism -- hence the legal action it took against anonymous online gripes about the firm, which aggressively markets computer-training products via ubiquitous commercials and infomercials that screen nationwide.

This time around, though, it appears that the Prof, a 2006 Westword profile subject, may have overreached. According to the press release below from Public Citizen, a Washington D.C.-based consumer advocacy organization, the firm "has dropped its fight to identify customers who criticized the company on two consumer Web sites, according to a motion filed in federal court."

Here's the scoop:

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Longtime Denver artist Mark Travis died last week in his home and studio near downtown. In precarious health for many years, he is thought to have suffered a heart attack.

Travis was born in Ohio in 1952. After moving out West, he became a noted contemporary artist in Denver during the 1980s and '90s, and examples of his work can be found in many private and corporate collections in the area. His distinctive pieces were shown in local galleries over the years, including Payton-Rule, Studio Aiello, Walker and currently Space Gallery at 765 Santa Fe Drive.

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