This Olympics, 2008, we mortals have been in the company of gods. Michael Phelps. Eight golds. Seven world records. Usain Bolt. Two golds. Two world records.

No-one who watched Usain Bolt actually break stride, look around, slow down and beat his chest in victory 15 METRES BEFORE THE LINE could have any doubt that you are watching a supreme athlete.

Athletes are the supreme example of physical genius. Full Story »

Today S&R presents a second TunesDay, completely free of charge.

The anticipation is finally over: Project Phoenix, the new CD from Fiction 8, is now out. And was it ever worth the wait.

S&R readers may know F8 front man Mike Smith without realizing it: he’s a frequent commenter here (and I’ll let him unmask if he so chooses). So for us, this TunesDay is about family, sorta.

The new disc represents a significant step forward for the band. Full Story »

by Katie Clark

Whether you’re Denver born-and-bred or one of the 50,000 visitors expected to descend upon the city for next week’s DNC, it’s the perfect time to tap into the city’s most prized tradition – its beer. The convention’s first three nights are closed to all but delegates, so here are our picks for the best places to catch the political action while celebrating America’s hard-won right to brews. Err… we mean… choose.

Scrogues and scrogue sympathizers:

As the National Stonewall Democrats are expecting a record number of LGBT delegates at the upcoming shindig, and there will surely be no shortage of bloggers and journalists of all stripes looking to dance, drink and otherwise “something else” the madness away, the following installment for the rainbow-striped comes to you courtesy of Denverite Daniel Gonzales, whom you may know from the gayzette blog, Box Turtle Bulletin, Beyond Ex-Gay and Ex-Gay Watch.

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So. You had a great dinner. Or you’re out relaxing and enjoying the evening. Or maybe you read this post and promised yourself to seek out something cold and obscenely creamy. One way or another, though, it’s time for dessert.

How about some gelato? If you aren’t familiar with gelato, it’s Italy’s version of ice cream. And it’s like ice cream, except it has about half the fat and twice the flavor. Not sure exactly how they do that, but there it is.

We’ll start with the place that’s going to be closest at hand - Gelazzi. Since it’s located at 1411 Larimer, conventioneers will probably wander past it once or twice a day. By all means, wander in, because the gelato is wonderful.

Now, let’s talk about the best dessert experience in town. Full Story »

— Zhang Linsen, the 44-year-old founder of a media and graphic design company in Songjiang, China; he owns a black Hummer H2; July 28; emphasis added.

— Herve Kone, director of a group that promotes development, social justice and human rights in Burkina Faso, quoted in the Washington Post Foreign Service’s Kevin Sullivan story about the impacts of the African food crisis on women and children; July 20.
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The sign reads “Floore Country Store.†Everyone knows it’s “Floore’s†– everyone from around here, that is. Tonight at 9:00 Lyle Lovett takes the stage with a pared-down Large Band. Full Story »

Like the DNC, Burlesque has taken Denver by storm, and the best place in town to catch the best of classic and neoburlesque is the gorgeous Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret!  Burlesque is rooted in political satire, and what better way to enjoy this historic pairing than by enjoying Denver’s finest burlesque, vaudeville, and variety acts? Full Story »

When you think of cities with great sushi, you probably think of places on the West Coast - Seattle, San Francisco, LA, and so on. You probably don’t think of Denver. However, despite standing some 1000 miles from the nearest ocean, our fair city is home to some not-bad-at-all sushi. I don’t know all the places in town, but I can say for sure that there’s at least one pretty good spot and one outstanding place to get your wasabi on.

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by Janet Manley

Though Denver began as a strip of saloons and brothels blown together on the Platte River, today the area has achieved the atmosphere of a whimsical English seaside town, with an accompanying innocence and frivolity.

On weekends, expect to see the Bobsy Twins floating on inner tubes below the man-made rapids in front of REI, with dogs leaping in and out of the water, and action men navigating the kayak course with ease. Full Story »

Well, sorta. Check out this stroke of genius.

You read that right. Full Story »

For those of you who spend more time watching your kid crawl then doing a pub crawl, here’s a few places to bring those smaller versions of yourselves.

Got a kid who loves bugs? Butterfly Pavilion has creepy crawlies (Say hi to Rosie for me!), a starfish touch tank, and huge butterflies. Go at 12:30 or 3:30 to see the staff release some butterflies and learn a bit more.

Does your family prefer fish? Check out the Denver Aquarium. Not only are there a ton of fish and birds, but there is a tank of stingrays you can feed and touch, and tigers!

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— Ed’s Pub patron Michael Gallardo after a 5.4-magnitude earthquake shook the Los Angeles area; July 30.
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For better or worse, cultures tend to rank genres of fiction.  So-called serious works, written by the likes of William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce, rate well above mysteries, westerns, romances, science fiction, and (certainly) comic books on the literary org chart.  There’s justification for this.  We rank the stunning complexity of Mozart’s music ahead of chopsticks for a reason:  Mozart exhibits genius of the highest order, taking our most talented musicians years of study and practice to understand and master, and the first rendition of chopsticks was composed and taught to a wildebeest in under 19 seconds.

Or, to put it another way, Hamlet is clearly a more complex and wonderful work than Everyone Poops.

On rare occasions, though, a writer takes the unique features of a lowly literary genre and uses it to illuminate life in a manner that, perhaps, could be accomplished in no other way.  In 1895, HG Wells published The Time Machine, transforming science fiction from a mere, gee-whiz exploration of technical wonders to a spelunking crawl through the human psyche, illuminating the toothy growths of social terror clinging to the walls and ceilings along the way.  Only science fiction gave him the freedom to vastly alter the world and explore the unchanging human condition as it adapts to that world.  Only science fiction could give anthropologist Ursula Le Guin the platform she needed to explore humanity in the absence of fixed gender, as she did in The Left Hand of Darkness, or Isaac Asimov the frame of reference he needed to study the very meaning of what it means to be human in I, Robot.  Full Story »

We write about music here from time to time and I know that a lot of our readers look forward to posts about tuneage. If you love music and want to hear more, let me introduce you to a new music site you may appreciate, and one that comes with the coveted S&R Seal of Approval: Pop Underground. Full Story »

In a long-overdue move, Boulder prosecutors have officially cleared the family of JonBenet Ramsey in the girl’s December 26, 1996 murder. I say “long-overdue” because for those of us who’ve paid attention to the evidence it’s been clear for years now - painfully, maddeningly clear - that the family was innocent.

I emphasize “evidence” in that sentence for a reason. There are facts in this case, and pretty much without exception those who are convinced of the family’s guilt are people who are relying not on evidence, but on media reports that run the gamut from “inaccurate” to “creative writing.” Full Story »

— Rush Limbaugh on presidential candidate Barack Obama; Mr. Limbaugh has renewed his contract with Premiere Radio Networks and Clear Channel Radio, which will pay him more than $400 million; Mr. Limbaugh once referred to Sen Obama and actor Halle Berry as “Halfrican American” on the Jan. 24, 2007, broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show; July 6.

— former senator Phil Gramm, one of presidential candidate John McCain’s top economic advisers, likening the nation’s economic problems to a “mental recession“; July 10.
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In “Is Lara Logan being smeared for her criticism of Iraq war coverage,” at Attytood, Will Bunch wonders why the love life — old news — of CBS’s chief foreign affairs correspondent is being splashed across newspaper and web pages. Bear in mind, she’s been complaining in print and on TV over the difficulty she’s been experiencing getting stories about Iraq on the air: “Is this just another low-grade tabloid scandal — or a message to journalists who dare to criticize big corporate media’s growing blackout on news from Iraq?” Maybe if CBS would let her report on Iraq in earnest, she wouldn’t have time for all these affairs. Full Story »

Wow - imagine my surprise at discovering that the German language has a word for music!

Ahem. As you no doubt are aware, Euro2008 crescendos tomorrow afternoon as Spain and Germany meet in the final. In honor of the summer’s premier athletic competition (well, until the Olympics start, anyway), SVR today presents the music of the four semi-final nations, along with some brief explanation as to why a nation’s music tells us a lot about their soccer teams. Full Story »

— George Carlin, who died early this week at age 71; June 23
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It’s hard to think of a band that was greater for longer with less payoff than the now-defunct Catherine Wheel. From 1992’s staggering debut, Ferment, through their much (and unfairly) maligned 2000 coda, Wishville, CW gave us three brilliant records, two good ones, and an outtakes/B-sides compilation (Like Cats and Dogs) that was better than most of the best original studio efforts being released today.

Oh yeah, and a lot of insanely great (and obscenely loud) live shows. Full Story »

One Life, by Johnny Clegg, first released 2006, 16 tracks, ASIN B000I5YROM

“If you have a patch of ground the size of a door, you can feed a family of four,” rhymes my friend, John Broom. John is well over 80 and has been involved in teaching gardening and feeding schemes in Africa for the Quaker Peace Foundation for decades. I believe him.

Africa itself is a vast and fertile land. Full Story »

As the season known as The Most Important Presidential Election Ever nears its apogee (or nadir, depending on your opinion of politics), news organizations ought to be putting as much time, treasure, and talent as possible covering the non-horse race aspects of the campaign — important stuff beyond “who’s gonna be veep,” such as whom the candidates would appoint to what, legislative initiatives they’ll champion, Supreme Court litmus tests, energy and tax policies and the like.

The stakes in this election, pundits say, are the highest ever. (I heard that when Richard Nixon first ran for president.) So what does the Associated Press do to reliably keep us informed of the ins and outs of the really important stuff in presidential politics?
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Yow. If you missed the story, US PsyOps personnel are using music as a torture tactic on captives in Iraq. How silly, you say? Torture someone with music? Well, check out the playlist.

In his (London) Independent article, “No, Johnny, No: Chuck Berry joins chorus of musicians snubbing McCain’s campaign,” Leonard Doyle writes: “There was a groan at McCain headquarters as it suffered yet another musical derailment. An attempt to use Abba’s ‘Take A Chance On Me’ also bombed. We played it a couple times and it’s my understanding [Abba] went berserk,’ Mr McCain said.”

In “Why Are People Like Me Left Out Of Your Health Care Proposal, Sen. McCain?” at Think Progress back in April, Elizabeth Edwards wrote about health-care companies balking at covering the old and ill: “I suspect that if they could, they would write obstetrical-only policies for nuns.” Full Story »

Today SVR honors the noble Scottish Terrier, a breed famed for its courage, tenacity and unswerving faith in the wisdom of its own judgment. Up first, Shootout at the Scottie Corral, a short video proving that Scotties are trainable.

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