Vibrators: A pop-culture history of this buzzed-about device

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Like gay marriage, marijuana use and tattoos, public perception of female sex toys is not what it used to be. While male sex toys still weigh heavy on the shame scale, a female pleasure device is mostly seen as a cute novelty. Encountering one while snooping is comparable to finding a rutabaga in the fridge or a Kid 'n Play record on the shelf: more "Oh, that's interesting" than "You filthy slut."

In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play, which opens tomorrow at the Bug, takes us back to a time before female sexuality was acknowledged, when the buzzing phallus was used to treat women for "hysteria" -- and once its alternative uses were made known, was vilified as an unmentionable weapon of evil, a disgusting appliance of hell-bound harlots.

In honor of this theatrical monument to the social evolution of female sexuality, we are proud to present this brief pop-culture history of the vibrator:

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Top five sci-fi films according to Dan Landes

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Mos Eisly Cantina...or City, O' City?
Science fiction isn't for everyone. But those who get it really get it. "Comics and sci-fi are the new archetypes of our culture; we relate to Star Wars and Stan Lee's characters, and we've created new mythologies through them," says Dan Landes, restaurateur and self-confessed sci-fi geek. And this Friday, May 4, Landes will make a long-held dream reality by turning his own City, O' City into a full-on orgy of nerdness with the May the Fourth Be With You sci-fi costume party. It's "the kind of thing that when you mention it to people, they immediately identify with it, they immediately have stories about the comics that they love or classic novels and sci-fi movies that they love," Landes explains. "This culture is just huge."

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Ten ways to celebrate Earth Day '90s-style

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It seems to some of us Gen Xers that celebrating Earth Day -- and any other holiday -- just ain't the same as it used to be back in our decade of Smashing Pumpkins, store-bought tie-dye sundresses and lesbian chic. But if we learned anything from surviving the '90s, it's that trends are fluid -- we also learned that John Cusack and patchouli are both awesome, but in totally different ways -- and we are free to bring them back whenever the mood or the bong rip hits.

In honor of Earth Day, here are ten ways to celebrate Earth Day '90s-style. And remember: "Puff puff, give. Puff puff, give. You fuckin' up the rotation!"

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The twenty best bicycle scenes in cinema, ever

Categories: Events, Film, Lists

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Is that Kevin Bacon on a fixie? Yes, yes it is.
With rare exceptions for the Smart Car, the tandem bike and whatever those contraptions are in the Dr. Seuss books, the human evolutionary process basically stopped when mankind progressed from two legs to two wheels. If you need proof of the superiority of the cycle, look no further than film, where bikes appear in some of the coolest and most nostalgic moments in modern cinema, thanks to great riders like Pee Wee Herman, the Fab Four and a little-known alien who really, really just wanted to make a house call already.

In honor of the Bicycle Film Festival, which makes its way to Denver April 17-19, we pulled together this list of the best scenes ever to highlight the power of the bicycle. Don't try some of these moves at home.

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The top five Titanic film flubs

Categories: Lists

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The sinking of the RMS Titanic is one of those reliable touchstones that can always be used as a time-keeper for historical fiction. Although only the fifth most deadly shipwreck of all time, it is undeniably the most famous. The drama of one of the most expensive, "unsinkable" nautical marvels of its time going down on its maiden voyage has a definite attraction for filmmakers looking to cash in on the public's endless fascination with the 1912 tragedy, and the combination of low-brow dramatists and one of the most heavily documented (yet sparsely attended) events in history has led to a long tradition of getting it all wrong.

This Sunday marks the hundredth anniversary of the Titanic's sole voyage, and in honor of the calamitous centennial the Denver Public Library is hosting a Titanic Survivors Brunch, celebrating the 706 of the Titanic's passengers who lived to tell the tale. Only two of those survivors are still alive today -- and both were too young at the time to have any memory of the event.

To set the record straight for them and everyone else, here are the top five Titanic film flubs.

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Ten best movie scenes where the undercover cop gets made

Categories: Culture, Film, Lists

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21 Jump Street
This is not the best time of year for new movies. So we have Wrath of the Titans, Mirror Mirror and American Reunion. Judging by the box office receipts, you went and saw Hunger Games like everyone else, and were probably were angry that Jennifer Lawrence is too fat and the little black girl from the books was played by a little black girl. You'd love to see Titanic 3D this weekend, but you don't want to pay $25 a person for a 3D markup ticket just to listen to Celine Dion screech at you and watch Kate Winslet lie to Jack about "letting go," considering she immediately lets go. You're probably also not a cat lady.

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Johnny Cash: The five most memorable portrayals of the man in black

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"Hello. I'm Johnny Cash." That was enough of an introduction for the country legend himself, but Cash's legacy has surpassed that simplicity. In his nearly fifty-year career, Cash played himself in dozens of film and television spots, but his death in 2003 opened the gates for others to take up the reins of his name on their flesh, on the stage and on the big screen. (Only two years later, a Golden Globe was dispensed for one attempt.) This month, Denver is home to two such tributes.

While Ring of Fire plays at the Stage Theatre through May 13, staff at the Jones Theater around the corner will channel the Music Hall of Famer with Square of Ice, a send-up of the larger play that parodies musical reality shows like American Idol. Through a battle of the bands, performers will reinterpret the man named John through comedy, poetry, the ukulele and the theremin, among other methods. As you attempt to imagine what 'Folsom Prison Blues" sounds like on the theremin, take a look at our countdown of the top five portrayals of the man in black -- present company excluded.

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Mona Lucero dishes on YSL and the magic of haute couture

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Courtesy Mona Lucero
Mona and Tribute to Georges Braque, 1988.
While I think I have taste, I'm just another plebe at the Yves Saint Laurent show, wandering through the DAM, slobbering and snorting smelling salts to keep from fainting at each new discovery. So when it came time to pick favorites, I asked someone with a more sophisticated eye -- Denver fashion fixture Mona Lucero, a designer who's been developing her Colorado niche for many years.

Lucero had the good fortune to work alongside the experts who unpacked and prepared each outfit for exhibition -- a sort of internship that gave her a front-row seat from which she could see all the detail and artful craft that's gone into each Yves Saint Laurent creation. We recently caught up with her to hear about the experience:

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Five things you may not know about Casablanca

Categories: Lists

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Once a film reaches the status of Casablanca -- retired to the vault of such designations as "classic," "legendary," "timeless" -- fans begin looking at the picture through the lens of their own memory. As with Star Wars or The Big Lebowski, devotees of Casablanca will always remember the first time they saw the movie -- and the many times throughout their lives that they viewed it again and again.

Tomorrow, March 21, Turner Classic Movies will provide both longtime fans and first-time viewers the rare chance to see Casablanca on the big screen. In celebration of the film's seventieth anniversary, TCM will host evening screenings in 450 theaters nationwide -- as well as matinees in select theaters. While many of you will have your own memories of the first time you saw Rick tear up over Ilsa, and Victor Laszlo run from the Nazis, here's a list of five things you may not know about Casablanca.

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Five things William Shatner hasn't done -- yet

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Everyone's favorite eccentric Renaissance man, William Shatner, is in Denver for his one-man performance of Shatner's World: We Just Live In It this evening at the Buell Theatre. For Shat-nerds, seeing this show will be a lot like making it with an alien hottie.

And for everyone else who needs a frame of reference, here are the top five things William Shatner hasn't done yet:

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