Not as foreign as the Cannes, not as full of snow-jacketed Hollywood starlets as the Sundance, the Arizona International Film Festival still brings the best and the latest in independent filmmaking to Tucson.

For 12 years, the Arizona International Film Festival has been considered a unique opportunity for Arizona and, more recently, Tucson citizens to experience film in a different way. Most of the directors and people involved would agree there is no match for the festival's impact on the Tucson film audience. [Read article]

Opera doesn't always have to be boring. "Opera Scenes," a biannual performance given by UA students, gives other UA students a chance to see the most entertaining scenes in opera.

With composers ranging from Mozart to Strauss, this hour-long performance covers a wide variety of genres, time periods, and stories in order to introduce opera to students who would not ordinarily find themselves watching opera on a Tuesday night. [Read article]

Girls start crying when they hear Britt Daniel, from the band Spoon, sing. It seems unbelievable, but at a show in New York last summer, girls cried when Daniel played one song by himself on an acoustic guitar. They held hands and smiled and wept like, well, little girls.

It's hard to tell exactly what brought on this outpouring of emotion. It could be Daniel's songs, which are effortlessly beautiful; their uncomplicated melodies are layered in guitar and piano, backed by Jim Eno's (Spoon's only other permanent member) drumming. More likely it's Daniel himself. He is coolly distant while performing, almost obnoxiously self-confident. Couple this with his voice, deep and raspy; then that voice with his lyrics, which are sometimes sentimental to a fault. Perhaps it's the conflict between his onstage personality and his songs that bring girls to the breaking point. Or maybe it's just because he's hot. Whatever it is, Daniel doesn't understand it either. [Read article]

Chris Dacre said he used to be dragged to church twice on Sunday and every Wednesday night. Then the unthinkable happened: The church dedicated a week to the End Times, complete with a movie series.

"We had Revelation Week in church and I was like, 'What the hell? Why are they showing this?'" Dacre, a fine arts graduate student, said. "It scared me so much that I just kind of became numb to it." [Read article]

Calling all self-proclaimed vido game geeks! The Multimedia Tech Fest will offer you everything you've ever dreamed of: a Nintendo music cover band, free video game playing and video game movie screenings.

Club Congress will host its first multimedia-type expo tomorrow. The concert portion will feature The Minibosses, I Hate You When You're Pregnant and the Okmoniks. However, the insanity doesn't end there. The expo will offer video game playing stations as well as screenings of the films "Tron" and "Super Mario Brothers." The show is also considered a kickoff party for the Arizona International Film Festival. [Read article]

This year's spring Club Crawl might feel cozy, with zero bars on North Fourth Avenue participating in the event, leaving East Congress Street to handle all the rocking itself.

"Basically, the (Fourth Avenue) bars backed out," said Jeb Schoonover, event coordinator and Rialto Theatre owner.

Despite playing the Grinch role, Fourth Avenue bars will still be accepting drink orders.

"I think there was the attitude amongst them, that they could benefit from the event and not be part of it. Personally I think it's a bad attitude to take," Schoonover said. [Read article]

The Arizona Repertory Theatre is concluding its 2003-2004 season with the darkly hilarious musical "Little Shop of Horrors."

Holy shit!

Let me say it again.

Holy shit - this production is good! Funny, macabre and beyond campy, "Little Shop" delivers more than tulips and daisies.

For those of you unfamiliar with the storyline, allow me to brief you. Florist assistant Seymour is kind of a drip. He's unsuccessful, slovenly and a bit shy with the ladies. He's also in love with his co-worker, Audrey. She's sweet, if ditsy, wears leopard-print stilettos and talks through her nose. Audrey's a bit of a ho, but Seymour loves her unrequitedly, and that's his big problem. Then one day, he discovers a mysterious and amazing plant, which he names Audrey II. [Read article]

Quentin Tarantino's at it again.

BUCHIK: He shot a pansy cuddle fest and called it "Kill Bill Vol. 2."

SMITH: Wow. All right, let's call KB2 the ying to KB1's yang. It's a pacing/balancing act. The action and intensity is a bit lopsided in the two movies. I went into "KB2" salivating for the smattering bloodfest to end all, but got something way different: Tarantino dialogue. [Read article]

The Alamo bit. Only one person in the whole theater enjoyed the movie when I saw it, and he was sporting a "Don't Mess With Texas" shirt, an "I Love Dubya" hat and working on a Texas Instruments calculator for the better part of an hour. That last part's a lie. Apologies.

The beginning of the movie starts with the end, when all of the characters we will come to know are dead. I just don't understand why the filmmaker decided to give away the ending like that. That way, everyone in the theater knows exactly what's going to happen. It's a strange tactic to be sure. [Read article]

Carina Round

Sounds Like: A less angry Fiona Apple lounging on a chaise.

See Also: Fiona Apple, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The Disconnection

Carina Round's sound fits right in with the new laid-back, yet complex genre of music, piloted by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. That's not to discredit her, though. Her music is innovative, and her voice ranges from sultry alto to powerful '80s vibrato. [Read article]

Today

NOFX - Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St. NOFX rocks the Rialto in support of getting Bush out of office. With Alkaline Trio, Authority Zero and former Dead Kenneys member and writer Jello Biafra. 7:30 p.m. $25 in advance. 740-0126

UA School of Art's Annual Senior Exhibition - Student Union Gallery, third floor. Paintings, sculptures, photography and more will be on display from graduating art students. 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. [Read article]