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Photos: Allston Footbridge Art Show

"Take It Outside" at the Allston Footbridge on June 26, 2010
Artists bring their work to a showcase at the Allston Footbridge on June 26, 2010.
By LINDSEY PAYSON | June 29, 2010

Review: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

The latest Metal Gear Solid sends mixed signals
For a couple of hours, I was enjoying the latest iteration of the long-running Metal Gear Solid series, which is called Peace Walker . Unlike the massive, bloated, self-important Metal Gear Solid 4 , this portable installment felt lean and mean.
By MITCH KRPATA | July 02, 2010

Theology class

Letters to the Phoenix editor, July 2, 2010
My religion teaches me that I have a responsibility to work to create a better world for humanity and for all living beings in the world that God created.
By PHOENIX LETTERS | June 29, 2010

Review: Thornton's Grille

Giving people what they want
Restaurants are notoriously difficult businesses to start up, with survival rates not unlike those of small countries with larger, hostile neighbors. But some people know how to put them together so they'll stick around awhile.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | June 29, 2010

Photos: Metric live at the WFNX Clambake

Metric live at the WFNX Clambake, House of Blues Boston, June 27, 2010
Metric live at the first annual WFNX Clambake, House of Blues Boston, June 27, 2010
By SCOTT M. LACEY, MELISSA OSTROW, AND DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN | July 01, 2010

Review: Stoddard's Fine Food and Ale

Boston's gastropub world has a new champ
Some of the great ones do it by instinct, but William Ashmore, owner of Stoddard's (and Ivy across the street) appears to be someone given to second thoughts, maybe nots, and serial inspirations.
By ROBERT NADEAU | July 05, 2010

Mix Flavor Brazilian Grill

Mastering the hearty, diverse, and frugal pleasures of churrasco
The churrascaria is a great friend to the tight-fisted carnivore.
By MC SLIM JB | July 05, 2010

Crappy carnival rides

Big Fat Whale
Bieber cars!
By BRIAN MCFADDEN | June 30, 2010

Malt liquor madness

Sipping at the other end of the spectrum
Malt liquor is alternately derided as preying on our nation's poor, as a cheap way for frat boys to get drunk, and as just terrible beer.
By JOSH SMITH | June 30, 2010

A Congolese feast

Beans and rice, with African flair
I met Constance Kabaziga at the checkout at Mittapheap World Market. She was buying frozen cassava root and dried beans, and I really wanted to know what she was going to do them.
By LINDSAY STERLING | June 30, 2010

Review: El Parque

A Mexican oasis in Portsmouth’s Island Park
Recent talk of favorite eateries turned to places with "a good vibe." That certainly holds true for El Parque, a relative newcomer to Portsmouth’s Island Park neighborhood.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | June 22, 2010

Holy war

How an unholy alliance of Catholics, Mormons, and evangelicals seeks to control our lives
And so it came to pass, Roman Catholics, Mormons, and evangelical Protestants have banded together to battle, well, the rest of us — the heathens, the godless liberals, the Hitchens-reading progressives.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 28, 2010

Stuff and nonsense

Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle returns
Despite millions in production design, Peter Strietman's splendid photography, and some witty if trance-inducing music by Jonathan Bepler, the six and a half hours of Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle is sheer movie tedium, inert and unmoving, broken up by imagery that's more irritating than fascinating in its self-indulgent preciosity.
By PETER KEOUGH | June 26, 2010

Review: Basho Japanese Brasserie

A tasty fusion of new and traditional Japanese fare
Weirdly situated in the Fenway, this large restaurant from the owners of Back Bay's Douzo conveys an immediate sense of space well apportioned, with the minimalist fascination of the best haiku.
By ROBERT NADEAU | June 24, 2010

An education funding formula, hailed as a breakthrough, faces its critics

Fuzzy math
For years, Rhode Island was one of just two states in the union without a funding formula for its public schools. And then, for a time, it was the only state with that dubious dis-tinction.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 24, 2010

Grin and bear it

Derek Jackson's portraits of large men
If you thought you knew how to spot a bear, think again. Derek Jackson's 10 fabric portraits may have made the definition a little fuzzier.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | June 25, 2010

Mr. Patrick Goes to Franklin Park

'Deval in the 'Hood' Dept.
As Deval Patrick engaged constituents at the third annual 10,000 Strong Boston barbecue in Franklin Park on Father's Day, it was clear that his support from black voters doesn't derive solely from the luster of his climb from Chicago's hardscrabble streets to the top spot on the Beacon Hill food chain.
By CHRIS FARAONE | June 24, 2010

Review: Kelly's Roast Beef

A new Allston outlet captures the flavors, if not the charm, of the original
In a city with hundreds of unreviewed independent restaurants, I generally avoid chains. But the new Kelly's in the former home of Marty's Liquors in Allston felt different.
By MC SLIM JB | June 26, 2010

Food for the hungry

Gourmet chefs seek to feed Maine's kids
For many Maine kids, the end of the academic year means an end to regular meals.
By LEISCHEN STELTER | June 24, 2010

Beyond the State: What's reopening where

Venue Watch
As we enter Portland's busy season, there are several comings-and-goings (we'll focus on the comings and less on the goings) to keep track of as we plan our summer outings and evenings on the town.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 24, 2010

Review: Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies

Linking movies and Cubist painting
Picasso seems to have done so, though preferring Chaplin slapstick and cowboy silents to artsy fare, and biographers place him at several screenings of Lumière shorts.
By GERALD PEARY | June 24, 2010

Review: Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

Passion among the titans
"I want to breathe ," says Coco Chanel as she cuts off her corset.
By BETSY SHERMAN | June 24, 2010

Review: Ondine

Mysterious mer-woman takes up with a fisherman
Love in a Neil Jordan film is almost always impossible: a guy falls for another man’s wife, or for his own mother, or (unwittingly) for another guy, or for the Blessed Virgin Mary.
By PETER KEOUGH | June 24, 2010

As Fast As at the Empire, Grand Hotel's new album, and more

Sibilance
AS FAST AS are playing a reunion show of sorts July 3 at the Empire.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | June 24, 2010

Pulling political churches' non-profit exemptions

By JEFF INGLIS | June 23, 2010

The keys to Heaven can make for good fundraising

By JEFF INGLIS | June 23, 2010

Cinema paradisos

As Hollywood's summer fare goes cold, local film festivals heat up
Here's the dilemma: you love movies, but you also love the idea of taking a vacation to one of the many inviting resorts that New England has to offer — the beaches of Cape Cod or the Islands, picturesque towns in Maine or Rhode Island, or even the cultural and historical enclaves of Boston itself.
By PETER KEOUGH | June 16, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Review: Fresh

Really grows on you
As a latecomer to the growing crop of food-industry exposés, Ana Sofia Joanes's even-handed documentary on the evils of factory farming doesn't live up to its title. Yet despite tilling familiar ground, its argument for sustainable alternatives intrigues.
By ALICIA POTTER | June 15, 2010

Review: Trash Humpers

Harmony Korine: older enfant terrible , or just plain old terrible?
A gang of elderly morons have sex with garbage. What more can I say about Trash Humpers ?
By PETER KEOUGH | June 15, 2010