Best Moments
Betty Ford, you don't know nothing
If you watch enough Discovery Channel, you'll learn that most intelligent desert creatures are nocturnal—including me. So why did I love the Hard Rock Hotel's Sunday Rehab pool parties? They were the most original, out-of-control and just plain fun parties of the year, that's why. Plus, my horny eyes haven't been so happy since my high school's Cheerleader Car-Wash Day.
Can a Wonder Twins Club be far behind?
Like the Superfriends' Apache Chief, the Vegas club scene doesn't seem to have any limits to its growth. We've seen the openings of Body English, Teatro, I-Bar, Forty Deuce, Mix, Tangerine, and coming up is Pure. Let's hope this endless birth of new clubs and lounges doesn't cause the scene to buckle.
See Digital Tony in the upcoming King Kong
My mom thinks I know Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, but can ya blame her? I've been to an assload of red-carpet gigs this year, and even walked the walk a couple of times. Not bad since I'm just some schmuck. But at the Body English opening party, someone in the crowd thought I was Jack Black and the paparazzi started to flash. I threw on my shades, ducked my head and played along. Hilarious!
Ice, Ice, baby
The Ice gang is brave for inviting a TV crew into their world to air all of their drama and misadventures. But The Club has made for some unique television every Wednesday at 9 p.m. on Spike.
Howard Hughes' plane crash in The Aviator
As filmed by Martin Scorsese with disturbing point-of-view intensity and searing sound effects, we're in the cockpit with the burning, blackened and bleeding Leo DiCaprio, ribs shattering, skin cooking, as he erupts into a fleshy fireball. It's difficult to sit through—and one of the most riveting action sequences ever shot.
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator
The best thing about Martin Scorsese's excellent biography of Howard Hughes is DiCaprio's captivating lead performance. After his overhyped turn in Titanic and his bland performance in Gangs of New York, DiCaprio emerges as the best actor of the year. Every line, every expression, every movement is pitch-perfect, and as the center of nearly every scene in an almost three-hour film, he is the key to lifting it to greatness.
The survivors driving into a sea of zombies in Dawn of the Dead
Finally, a shot that truly captures the idea of an undead apocalypse the way we horror fans envision it.
The ending of Before Sunset
The perfect capper to a near-perfect movie, the final moment of Richard Linklater's sublime sequel to his 1995 Before Sunrise manages to preserve the integrity of the characters, story and previous film while leaving things open for interpretation. Sunrise didn't call for a sequel, and it's hard to make one that surpasses the original, but Linklater made a film that is both better and able to stand on its own. It's easy to imagine Linklater picking up again years later, and just as easy to see he doesn't have to.
Parting is such sorrow
The entire bittersweet daydream that is Before Sunset, but especially the ending: "You are gonna miss that plane ..."
Kevin Kline as Cole Porter in De-Lovely
A gorgeous portrayal of the bisexual (advantage: gay) composer who blessed the world with a bushel of indestructible classics. Just the scene of Porter patiently prodding a singer stumped by the rhythms of "Night and Day" into a joyous rendering—once he discovers its delicious melodic charms—leaves an indelible mark on the soul.
"Truth or Dar—put that away!"
"Name the film, or pay the forfeit." A game of movie trivia gets serious in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
It's impossible to pick just one aspect of this exhilarating, adventurous, marvelous film, easily the year's best. Everything, from Charlie Kaufman's hyperactive and poignant screenplay to Michel Gondry's vibrant and inventive direction to the stellar and moving lead performances from Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, is perfect. And at Oscar season, when safe, predictable Andy Wangards-baiting dramas are filling theaters, it's important to remember what truly inspired filmmaking looks like.
The collapsing house scene in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I actually felt the pain of regret as deeply as Jim Carrey's introverted character.
Michael Caine doing the ol' soft-shoe at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Around the Bend
Yes, it's just as silly as it sounds. And thoroughly, utterly charming. Caine onscreen is still extra-crispy.
Being Jim Carrey
Midway through having Kate Winslet erased from his memory, Jim Carrey decides he wants to remember her, and tries to hide her from the eraser guys in memories where she doesn't belong, until she is dumped out onto the New Jersey Turnpike and ... oh, sorry—wrong movie. I was referring to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but either way, her reaction to the circumstances is appropriate. When she is placed in the memory of his baby-sitter—complete with 4-year-old Carrey crawling around on the floor—she leans down and whispers, "This is sorta warped!"
The end credits in Exorcist: The Beginning
They prompted the filmgoer beside me to wake me up so I could go home.
Love as therapy in Garden State
Zach Braff climbs onto a piece of construction equipment and screams into the infinite abyss below—releasing 17 years of repressed emotions. Then he leans over and kisses Natalie Portman in the rain.
Proof that women are more flexible than men
With a leg stuck in one door, her midsection caught in another, and an arm in a third, Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) takes out at least seven bad guys (using various body parts!) to show just how far a mother will go in The Incredibles.
The emergence of Natalie Portman
All you have to do is watch a 13-year-old Portman in The Professional or a 15-year-old Portman in Beautiful Girls to see that she's always been a great actress. But it was with her adult roles this year in Garden State and Closer that she proved she is as capable and captivating as any performer in Hollywood.
Ryan Gosling's critically ignored brilliance in The United States of Leland and The Notebook
If great performances happen onscreen but there are no critics around to praise them, do they make an impact? You bet your existential ass, they do.
The Notebook's defiance of critics
Despite cynical reviews ranging from indifferent to hostile, the unabashedly sentimental, old-fashioned weepie with Ryan Gosling and rachel McAdams as young lovers torn apart, and impeccable pros James Garner and Gena Rowland as their older counterparts, hit respectable box-office heights, reaffirming that moviegoers still have a say on these matters, too. And hearts unafraid to lose themselves in lush romanticism.
Shaun slipping on blood in the mini-mart in Shaun of the Dead
A hilarious little touch that symbolizes what's truly brilliant about the film's first third.
The new universe of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sadly a failure at the box office and dismissed by some critics as an exercise in gimmickry, Kerry Conran's visionary retro-futuristic film is an overlooked masterpiece. Although his artificial backgrounds are jarring at first, Conran uses his technological achievements to serve his story, a cheeky and fun romp through the old adventure serials of the '30s and '40s. The moment when you forget about the technology and immerse yourself in his universe is pure movie magic.
SpongeBob leaping from one of David Hasselhoff's hairy calves to the other in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
The most bizarre action set piece I've ever seen.
Doug Baker in Man of La Mancha at Spring Mountain ranch State Park
Nearly outshining the stars above Spring Mountain ranch's open-air theater, Baker pulled off the comeback performance of the year after his disappointing work in Sweeney Todd. He fully exploited his innate stage likability as Cervantes' noble knight, yet when slipping back into Cervantes' skin, Baker was nuanced enough to do so without breaking his stride, or our enjoyment.
Melony E. Franchini in Nevada Conservatory Theatre's Proof at UNLV
Big things come in small packages. Need proof? Try Proof. Franchini, a petite student actress with fire-breathing stage presence, galvanized this production as Catherine, twentysomething daughter-caretaker to her brilliant but increasingly disturbed math-professor papa, who frets about whether she inherited Daddy's genius, madness or both.
Psycho Beach Party by Test Market
Deliciously, deliriously in love with its own deviance, TM's take on Charles Busch's cracked homage to the Frankie and Annette oeuvre voraciously riffed on sado-masochism, gay love, child abuse, virginity, a fading movie sex queen, Yiddish, anal stimulation, a beating with a jockstrap and Jean-Paul Sartre. Oh, and surfing, too.
Sweeney Todd's production values at CCSN
Remove the lead performance from the equation and Vegas community theater has rarely seen this level of Great-White-Way-wannabe professionalism: five Equity actors, a mature approach, vivid sets, eerily effective lighting, crisp staging, even a barber chair that dumped corpses into Mrs. Lovett's meat-pie-making basement, plus a power-packed orchestra carved out of the Las Vegas Philharmonic. Departing the theater, you'd be forgiven for expecting to exit onto Times Square. It was that damn good. Technically.
Waiting for Godot by Test Market
Allegory of all allegories, Godot is the allegoriest, but within its aBenjamin Spacekurdity resides theater's most clearheaded depiction of the world. And TM's Godot shimmered with solid-gold performances by Ernest Hemmings, T.J. Larsen, Eugene Kirk and Joel Waymann. If it didn't all add up to much? Well, isn't that the point?
Beastie Boys at the Huntridge
On June 9, a week before the release of To the 5 Boroughs, their first disc in six years, the Beastie Boys played a special show at the Huntridge as part of an MTV concert series. The band made it in rap, but its roots are in punk, as was displayed by the choice of venue, the $10 T-shirts and the live premiere of "An Open Letter to New York City," which sampled "Sonic Reducer" by legendary punk wastrels The Dead Boys.
Great classic rock shows
After years of table-scrap versions of crappy bands like Styx, Kansas and Journey, Vegas this year got to host some classic rock that did not suck—including great concerts by the trinity of David Bowie, John Fogerty and Brian Wilson.
Good News For People Who Like Bad News, by Modest Mouse
A disc that sounds fresh and meaningful, and for once the tortured artist at the center is still playful enough to keep things fun. With Good News For People Who Like Bad News, Modest Mouse lived up to all the hype and expectations and major label pressures and even managed to hit the charts—not that Eminem is likely to be feeling the breath of Modest Mouse hitting his necklace chains anytime ever.
Kanye West, The College Dropout
I'll remember this record full of brilliant and hilarious moments primarily for the best come-on in history: "I'ma play this Vandross / You gon' take your pants off."
Eminem goes political
Love him or hate him, you couldn't deny the power of the words of the rapper's anti-Bush screed "Mosh," nor the animated images of its video. It may have come too late, as some say, and it may have just been one more voice in this year's anti-Bush musical chorus, but it was a loud voice that the average music fan actually wanted to listen to.
Jem's Finally Woken
You may not think you've heard this album, but if you've been watching TV in the last six months or so, you have. Songs have popped up in commercials and on TV dramas, each utilizing Jem's breezy, genre-bending folktronica to maximum effect. Too often compared to Dido, with whom she does share a few qualities, Jem is an original whose album only gets better with each listen.
The rise of the Killers
The Vegas music scene finally got respectable with the popularity of the new wave-loving, skinny-tie-wearing band, who may have been part of a trend but also actually wrote good, catchy pop songs. We can only hope these Killers don't get Slaughtered.
The Postal Service vs. the Postal Service
The U.S. Postal Service sends a letter to indie sensations Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello asking them to stop calling their musical act the Postal Service. Postal Service meets with Postal Service officials, who are surprised the young men are articulate and well-groomed, and a settlement is reached. The Postal Service can use Postal Service music in ad campaigns and Postal Service agrees to perform at a Postal Service conference.
Chronicles by Bob Dylan
The great enigma explains himself in comely, reasoned prose. Here is the short version: Bob Dylan knew he would be great, seemingly never had to work a day job, found being famous a pain in the ass, and yes, of course, even he knew he made crappy records in the '80s.
Richard Abowitz
Rachael Yamagata, "Worn Me Down"
At the end of an episode of the increasingly sucky O.C., as Seth realizes he may have lost Summer for good, Yamagata's vocals convey all that Seth's smart-ass mouth never could. The lyrics are so sad, but the song sounds so hopeful, too, reminding you that when, like Seth, you're young and socially retarded and brokenhearted, you at least have the rest of your long life to recover.
Saturday Looks Good to Me, Every Night
Every song on this album of indie pop inspired by the 1960s is pretty fabulous, but the closing track, "When I Got to New York," stands out as the sweetest and deepest-cutting song ever about how hipsters who romanticize New York often end up with the most unromantic lives ever. It's an intervention in the form of a ballad, and like all the best moments, it ends too soon.
Metal stays heavy
Pantera's tragically slain "Dimebag" Darrell should be looking down and smiling on the metal scene, which recovered this year from the doldrums of nu-metal and experienced a rebirth of heaviness. New albums from the likes of Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, God Forbid and Slipknot achieved success while remaining uncompromisingly brutal, pulling elements of hard-core and death metal into their music. Even one-time nu-metal wusses like Papa Roach and Drowning Pool turned their music to a heavier sound.
Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell, "Drop It Like It's Hot"
During a poker tournament in an underground club, a Hasidic guy who happens to be perhaps the worst gambler I've ever seen, went all in. As everybody pondered his latest reckless move, he started yelling, "And if a ni--a get an attitude / Pop it like it's hot / Pot it like it's hot." Everyone cracked up, but everyone still folded.
A Best Country Album Grammy nomination for Tift Merritt's Tambourine
Sandwiched between mainstream superstars Tim McGraw, Gretchen Wilson and Keith Urban, and critically praised legend Loretta Lynn, is this gem of a record, the best country disc of the year. Merritt, who made a tasteful, restrained splash on the alt-country scene with her 2002 debut, cuts loose here, combining soul, roots rock and folk with her warm country twang to make for an artful, adventurous album with beautiful songwriting.
OutKast in Brass
At half-time of a high-school football game this fall, I cheered when the Cimarron-Memorial band ditched the tired standards—"Iron Man" and "Rock 'n' Roll, Part 1"—for a run at, of all songs, "Hey Ya." And it worked. That's when I finally, fully comprehended the greatness of this song.
Spin me right round
Every square inch of the elegant, 175,000-square-foot addition to the Forum Shops screams "Shop me!" And who can resist, with stores like Anthropologie, Scoop, Chrome Hearts, Nanette Lepore, Ted Baker, Fresh and Vosges Haute Chocolate? Plus, the circular escalators are downright fascinating.
Tickle me any color
Downtown's rainbow Feather Dyeing Co. was the most pleasant outing of the year. Artisan-owner Bill Girard creates the most fabulous boas and feathers in the most meager setting imaginable.
What a place
Not only do we really like Mandalay Place's break from the chain-store approach, we love Fornarina, 55 Degrees, The Reading Room, Portico and Samantha Chang. The Burger Bar also is quite a treat, and the valet parking is ideal.
Just doing it first
For years, Adidas was the best all-around sports brand on the planet. It revolutionized marketing with its sponsorship of soccer teams and rap groups like Run-DMC. It was smart enough to create its Originals line when it sAndy Wang the cool styles from the late '60s and '70s were back in. Now, Las Vegans can reap it all at the new Adidas Store on the Strip, inside the Showcase Mall just north of the MGM.
Take that, Victoria's Secret
The most mentionable unmentionable boutique in town is the Hard Rock Hotel's Love Jones. Not only is this fine lingerie fantasyland cleverly named, but it is our first store to offer 24-hour room service to guests—because you never know when you're going to need a pair of fur-lined handcuffs.
Sneaking around the statue guards in Thief: Deadly Shadows
Avoiding detection by homicidal pieces of gothic art chanting "Find and kill" had me so tense, my arms throbbed for days.
Invading Las Venturas in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The game lets you cheat your way to Sin City early, but ups your wanted status (In San Fierro, jump into the bay, hijack a boat and sail to the outskirts of Las Venturas, maxing out your wanted status; run past the dozens of cops shooting at you to the freeway, steal a car—most likely a cop car, as there will be several—and hit the gas). I managed to tour the whole Strip at 90 mph before the cops blew me up.
The CG intro movie in Onimusha 3: Demon Siege
This action-packed prologue looks so good, it almost makes the rest of the game seem mundane by comparison.
Puking in first-person view in Breakdown
As if eating a hamburger in first-person wasn't impressive enough, when it came back up minutes later, I knew I was hooked.
Getting decapitated in Resident Evil 4
When that chainsaw-toting freak with the burlap sack over his head finally got me, it was such a superbly cinematic horror moment, it was almost worth the demo ending.
The Tony Curtis exhibition at UNLV's Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery
The highlight was Curtis' oddball assortment of shadowbox assemblages, in which he collaged various found objects, à la Joseph Cornell.
Standing in front of "Persimmon" at Godt-Cleary Gallery
I won't even try to improve on what I wrote about it in August: "The persimmon red is shot through with barely perceptible veils of hot pink and the aqua drops are glowing coals of matter from a planet where cool is hot. Even a second's glance at one patch sears its opposing-tone after-image on the retina as the image ripples over it."
It's still Frank's world
Earlier in the year, in the same space, Godt-Cleary, when I understood that Frank Sinatra actually knew something about painting. His show there comprised work from later in his life, and it was hardly astonishing, but it was, well, accomplished. He had an understanding of tone and rhythm in paint as well as in song.
Simply said
Wandering through The Pursuit of Pleasure during its preview at the Guggenheim Hermitage, I found myself standing next to a woman about my age, whom I'd never seen and am likely not to see again. We were both admiring Velázquez's "Luncheon" (c. 1617-8) and she said, "Isn't it wonderful?" It was and that's all that needed saying.
Like a ball pit for grown-ups
In May, I visited Ujazdowski Castle, home of Poland's Centre for Contemporary Art, for a show by British conceptualist Martin Creed, including a room filled up to knee level with pink balloons. A matronly guard motioned me to enter and wade through them. And I had a grand old time doing just that.
Elton John's Red Piano
Elton John has so many hits that even if he were to stick to them only, he could not play them all in one concert. So, for The Red Piano, all John had to do was show up and collect a check for a string of guaranteed sellouts. But he didn't become among the most successful pop songwriters in the history of the recording industry by skimping on showmanship. With The Red Piano, John has created a show that is worthy of his vast catalogue and irrepressible personality.
The Fashionistas
John Stagliano, an adult-industry legend who gained fame as Buttman, had a dream to create a dance review based on his epic porn film The Fashionistas. Featuring amazing production values and an extraordinarily talented cast, against all odds, the result is easily the best erotic show in Vegas—and it isn't even topless.
Beacher's Madhouse
The New York comic impresario Jeff Beacher shook up Las Vegas comedy. Even before his show opened at the Hard Rock, Beacher was banned by the MGM after diving into a fish tank to promote it. Since then, his Madhouse has become one of the most popular happenings in Vegas and has drawn national attention, including in Time. These days, even MGM is relenting a bit, offering Beacher the occasional day pass with a promise of good behavior. Nothing succeeds like success.
Linda Ronstadt at the Aladdin
For a brief, shining moment, the world cared what happened at a Linda Ronstadt concert. After praising filmmaker Michael Moore, the singer was cut off by the soon-to-be-replaced Aladdin management and asked to leave the casino.
Havana Night Club defections
After a few delays and many visa problems, Havana Night Club finally got going at the Stardust. The show received mixed reviews, but the encore deserved a standing ovation: 43 cast members engaged in a mass defection from Cuba.
Worst Moments
People should know better
Digital Tony is a fun gig, but it ain't all strippers and parties; there's a lot of PR, schmoozing, politics and bullshit. I did a less-than-favorable story on a club's new night—an event I had heavily promoted, and I even interviewed the guest DJ. After the column came out, I was barred from entry to the next week's event. Please, gimme a break. I'm just doing my job.
Nicole Kidman in Birth
With a damn near miraculously straight face—she's an Oscar winner, after all—Kidman utters dialogue that we guarantee has never been spoken by a real human being under any circumstance, and never will be: "I thought you were my dead huSteve Bornfeldand, but you're just a little boy in my bathtub."
The National Board of Review picking Finding Neverland as this year's best picture
This just reinforced all the worst instincts of awards-baiting producers. Make yourself a period movie about a famous real-life figure, throw in a precocious kid, a beautiful woman dying slowly and elegantly, and platitudes about believing in yourself, and you've got instant Andy Wangards. Let's hope the Academy sees through this sham of a film.
Christopher Plummer's over-narration in The Gospel of John
I cannot describe the horror I felt at the realization that Plummer would describe every mundane action on screen for the next three hours.
Eastwood, Ventura, Arnie ... The Rock?
Action stars with political ambitions. In the midst of his own trial, The Rock announces that he's running for sheriff. I'd vote for him—if it meant he'd stop doing movies like Walking Tall.
42nd Street at the Aladdin
So primed for pleasure was I that when the curtain inched up only enough to tantalizingly reveal those tap-dancin' tootsies on the A-Ve-Nue they were takin' me to, I was roarin' to rain praise on one of the best Broadway musicals ever—EVAH!—based solely on feet, ankles and a hint of calves. But then the curtain rose the rest of the way.
U2 and iPod destroy Pixar ... not yet but soon
The Incredibles was a spectacular movie about family and good vs. evil and being true to yourself. I especially love Dash's mischief and affection. Which is why my worst 903 or so musical moments of the year were all caused by the ubiquitous U2 iPod commercials. The song's bad enough, but my real fear is the Bono-Steve Jobs lovefest will continue and that U2 will end up writing the score to a Pixar movie. Run away, little Dash, run away while you still can.
The influence of Avril Lavigne
Although it's easy to hate Avril herself, her sound was something different when she debuted in 2002, an antidote to the Britney and Christina mechanical teen pop. She still writes or co-writes much of her own material and actually knows how to play the guitar. But her success has led to pseudo-musicians like Ashlee Simpson, Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan positioning themselves as "rockers," cheapening both the label and the genre, and denying teen pop its danceable, disposable fun.
Britney Spears' Onyx Hotel Tour in March
It's likely that the sight of her reportedly puking in the Hard Rock parking lot a couple weeks ago was more entertaining, and certainly it offered a more authentic vocal performance.
Drop the attitude when you pin on your name tag
The shopping mall valet staff who lost my car keys wasn't the low point of my year. Mistakes happen, and it was an unprecedented experience. No, it's been poor-quality retail clerks who have been, at best, standoffish, and at worst, downright rude. A salesperson's attitude should not be a deal-breaker, so be nice: Shopping exclusively online is always an option.
Consecutively playing Tales of Symphonia, Sudeki and Star Ocean
Getting through 160 hours of role-playing by deadline had me screaming at villagers, "Cut to the damn chase and tell me where to go next!"
Enough with the explanations
The wall-panel texts at the Las Vegas Art Museum, which always seem to poison pleasure by overstating the case for the art exhibited or needlessly censuring some other kind.