Pick-Up Artist

Talking trash with Ann Rose

• by Abby Mendelson

Highly Offensive?

Broadcaster faux pas that have generated FCC complaints

• by Chris Young

Miles to Go: After more than a year of being the face for police accountability, Jordan Miles is now adding his voice

"Those cops, they are brutal and they were wrong."

• by Chris Young

Burgers and Rice Bowl

Your one-stop for cheap and tasty American, Asian and Cuban fare

• by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth

Pisco is South American brandy for people who don't like brandy

Brandy is not for everyone. As a result, many consumers probably never heard of its more palatable, South American cousin.

• by Brian Tierney

A slice of life at DiCarlo's Pizza

• by Charlie Deitch

Punk rock karaoke goes live at Howlers

The event takes the best part of karaoke -- performing your favorite songs for a crowd of drunk people -- and combines it with the fun of seeing, and being a part of, a sweet rock band.

• by Margaret Welsh

CD Reviews

New local releases from Ben Shannon, Sean Jones and Tom Breiding

• by Andy Mulkerin, Gordon Spencer and Margaret Welsh

Wes Eisold goes pop with latest band Cold Cave

"I didn't want Cold Cave to come with 'Here's this hardcore guy's new band.' I didn't want it to have any ties or preconceived notions."

• by Justin Jacobs

Critics' Picks

Local shows featuring Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Danzig, Cave In and My Cardboard Spaceship Adventure.

Whitey Morgan and the 78's bring outlaw country to Thunderbird Café

The band makes music that could be from 1972 just as easily as from 2011.

• by Andy Mulkerin

Miral

On its surface, Julian Schnabel's film about the last few decades of Palestinian-Israeli relations isn't nearly that deep or complex. Yet despite its limitations, it's at least thought-provoking about something of importance. Miral opens in 1947, then skips through history, rounding up the usual arguments and dilemmas, before getting to Miral, a Palestinian girl raised among what her culture sees as the Israeli occupation. She flirts peripherally with radical solutions, and she befriends a Jewish girl in love with Miral's cousin (circa early 1990s). This is all very didactic, and because it's not incendiary, it's also a little dull. Schnabel simply wasn't the right person to helm this reluctantly optimistic film, which certainly would have benefited from the insight of an Israeli or Palestinian director (or both). In English, and some Hebrew and Arabic, with subtitles. Manor (Harry Kloman)

• by Harry Kloman

The First Beautiful Thing

A bittersweet soap opera with whimsical touches

• by Harry Kloman

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

In his new documentary, Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) wallows in the mire to expose a scandal: Hollywood filmmakers take money to place brand-name products in their movies. To be fair that's not quite (or not entirely) what the film is about. Spurlock's movie is mostly about the danger of ubiquitous advertising. Spurlock is a playful fellow, and the premise of his film -- he documents his efforts to fund it by finding sponsors to place their products in it -- certainly yields some flashes of humor, insight and sly social commentary.I could tolerate a superficial movie if it were a little more entertaining. But Spurlock's last half-hour is interminable, like an infomercial, only without food or things being cleaned up. If you don't like commercials, then don't buy the products being advertised. Spurlock would say it's out of our control, and he'd be wrong: The choice to be duped by a sales pitch is ours and ours alone. Starts Fri., May 20. Pittsburgh Mills (Harry Kloman)

• by Harry Kloman

Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar

James Rasin's recent bittersweet documentary revisits the short but fabulous career of Candy Darling (born James Slattery, in a Long Island suburb). Living as a woman, Darling became an actress and a fixture in the 1960s New York art scene, including Warhol's Factory, before dying young from cancer. Rasin mixes interviews of Darling's contemporaries with archival footage and excerpts from Darling's letters and diaries. A must-see for Warhol completists. Starts Fri., May 20. Oaks (Al Hoff) CP Approved

• by Al Hoff

Queen of the Sun

Honey bees are the focus of Taggart Siegel's docu-essay, and, specifically, their current alarming plight. The film interviews experts for their insights on "colony collapse disorder," which involves bees not returning to their hives, abruptly disappearing. CCD may be caused by pesticides, monoculture, destruction of habitat, "mobile bee factories," mites, genetically modified plants or some other imposition of our modern life on the natural order. But the math is simple: Bees pollinate the majority of the fruits and vegetables we eat (plus the flowers we enjoy), and the disappearance of bees could be catastrophic. Many of the well-meaning apiarists and scientists interviewed tend to be cerebral, earnestly organic or even a bit mystical. (There are brief forays into artistic celebrations of bees.) But then there is the working-class Londoner who takes his late-day pint and smokes up to his rooftop hives to relax with his "beautiful girls." That's the challenge really: Bees will need everybody's support. Starts Sat., May 21, through Wed., May 25. Melwood (Al Hoff) CP Approved

• by Al Hoff

At the Carnegie, You Are Here probes how we relate to architecture both in life and in museums.

Your view may depend on whether you rely on a structure for shelter or simply ponder its aesthetic qualities.

• by Charles Rosenblum

Digging a Hole

No matter who wins elections, opponents of gas drilling lose.

• by Chris Potter

At the Edge of Friendship

A poem by Sarah Williams-Devereux

Cirque du Soleil delivers with Totem.

Totem is jam-packed with edge-of-your-seat entertainment performed by an international cast.

• by Steve Sucato

Louder, Faster

Louder, Faster is as funny as a death rattle.

• by Ted Hoover

Festival showcases a regional array of tomorrow's dancers at the Byham.

For the second straight year, the Regional Dance America festival brings 500 student dancers -- and some quality dance works -- to town.

• by Steve Sucato

Short List: Week of May 19 - 26

Highlights of events happening around town.