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South Beach, in the decades since its boom in the '30s and '40s, has grown into a full blown cesspool of touristic masturbation and a parade ground for this city's local breeds of yeyo. In spite of this, it has also remained one of the most beautiful and architecturally enchanting slivers of Miami-Dade. And while South Beach may be home to a range of architectural styles from Mediterranean to MiMo, none are more associated with this city's image than Art Deco.

South Beach was reborn in Art Deco. After the vicious hurricane of September 1926, which utterly razed the city, wrought havoc, and left some 400 dead, Miami Beach saw a building boom that lasted the better part of 20 years. That era of rebuilding focused primarily on resurrecting the fledgling resort community in the chic new style that had come out of the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Artes Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, which would be shortened simply to 'Art Deco.'

See also:
- The Ten Best Skyscrapers in Miami

Now, South Beach is home to over 800 Art Deco structures, according to the National Register of Historic Buildings, making the main drags of Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue a fascinating pastel spectacle. And while the scores of three-story hotels that compose that list may start to seem ubiquitous after a certain point, they all have their fair share of aesthetics, personality, and charm. Here are ten buildings among them that carry an especially great deal of all three.

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Is this the legendary "Mexican pet"?

Florida is known for being, let's say, somewhat off. Lots of weird going on here -- unexplainable things. Hard to explain phenomena like giant rattlesnakes (true), bath salt zombies (not true), and LeBron James' skill set (very, very true).

Of course a state such as ours, a state that ranks up there with California, Texas, and New York for serving as a playground for the most serial killers ever, has produced a plethora of urban legends over the years, from the "butt spider" to the skunk ape. Welcome to Florida, y'all!

Read on to learn more about mutant insects, giant sewer rats, and hidden corpses.

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Miami is a flourishing, young city, barely a century old and fluid in its rhythms, its culture, and its image. That image has evolved year by year with the rising and falling of skyscrapers all across the county, as we continue to find ourselves wandering about fascinating new pieces of architecture that pierce upward along our flat horizon. And while one of the most significant periods of that architectural evolution took place in the '80s, in the wake of Miami's cocaine renaissance, the ill-fated boom era of our economy that came to a grinding halt in 2007 saw a flurry of activity in the form of mega-cranes and legions of construction companies pushing our skyline higher.

Soon, that skyline will have itself a new occupant in the exciting form of Zaha Hadid's first skyscraper on this side of the planet. As Miami's architectural landscape prepares for yet another change, we're taking an affectionate look at the wonderful buildings we know and love around town. From downtown Miami to the northern throes of the Beach, here are the ten most exquisite heights in our expanding jungle of glass-and-steel behemoths.

See also:
- Zaha Hadid's One Thousand Museum Tower Will Make the Rest of Downtown Look, Like, So Ten Years Ago
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The return of the King.

Florida International University has scored a major coup for its journalism students. Larry King, the Elizabeth Taylor of broadcast news, will be speaking at the Biscayne Bay Campus as part of the 2013 Lecture Series presented by the Student Government Association.

King hosted his namesake show, CNN's highest-rated program, for 18 years, and has interviewed just about every significant public figure throughout that time, including Tony Blair, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Apart from his illustrious broadcasting career he's also known for wearing suspenders and getting married eight times. Proving his intellectual curiosity, King chose various kinds of women to betroth, from a Playboy Bunny to a math teacher.

Since the infamous King, who got his start on Miami radio, will be in town, we figured we'd set him up with a date, one who has a serious chance at becoming Mrs. King IX. Here's our list of potential candidates. We know there are some already hitched parties mentioned here, but that's nothing a Mexican courthouse can't fix. All's fair in love and La La Land.

Feel free to vote for your favorite candidate.

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The mustached reader of teleprompters.

Alex Trebek's contract expires in 2016, and rumor has it he'll step down as host of Jeopardy! He's been running that shop for so long it's hard to imagine someone else treating geniuses like morons.

Rumors are circulating that ABC is thinking of Matt Lauer from the Today Show, but who are they kidding? Lauer has less personality than a paper bag. ABC needs a real showstopper to replace the disdainful, snooty Trebek, and there's only one place to find that kind of person: Miami.

But which Miamian has the right combination of cojones and chutzpah to replace the iconic reader of teleprompters? We have five possibilities who could make television history.

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It's a bittersweet time to be a geek. On one hand, mainstream media is finally wising up to our beloved stories and giving them life through films at an unprecedented rate. On the other hand, mainstream media is wising up to our beloved stories and is "giving them life" through film. For every Star Trek reboot (which deftly used a break in time-space to give us Kirk/Spock in all new adventures), there is a Super Mario Bros. Or Prince of Persia. Or Jar Jar #&^@%ing Binks. Or Doom. Not even Karl Urban could save that hot mess.

Like it or not, Hollywood's march through nerd culture will continue through the rest of 2013. Find out what movies are coming down the pike to test our love for our franchises, what we might dig, and what will most likely be screwed up -- and why J.J. Abrams could be the best-loved or -hated man in the geekiverse.

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We can think of at least five stereotypical Miamians more entertaining than the cast of Buckwiild.

We never thought we'd live to see the end of reality TV's fascination with guidos.

For three years, Jersey Shore pounded the stereotype into our collective consciousness with nonstop fist-pumps, hairspray, and GTL-ing. Ever since, the United States of America has been under the psychic spell of the Italian-American.

But with the news that MTV's redneck reality mega-hit, Buckwild, has been renewed for a second season, its clear that the nation has shifted its fetishistic voyeurism away from hard-partying grease balls and onto hard-partying Southerners. And Buckwild star Salwa Amin's recent arrest on drug possession charges will only keep viewers tuning in.

West Virginia's new to the game, but the Magic City reigns supreme when it comes to pissing awaying brain cells and dignity while living like a nocturnal Caligula. So why haven't we had a generalizing and parodical reality TV series based on one of our myriad booze-swilling ethnic minorities? No, the second season of Jersey Shore doesn't count --but after the jump, you'll find five stereotypes that would.

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Gloria's cool and all, but we can think of at least 10 better subjects for a musical theater plot.

Miami music patriarchs Gloria and Emilio Estefan are about to embark on one of their biggest projects to date.

The die-hard Latin-pop vets will be developing a new theatrical production that will tell the story and share the sounds from their wild ride from Cuba to the top shelf of Spanish-language pop in North America. "We are very excited to share this story, which is based on hope, determination and the belief that with hard work and passion, our dreams can become our reality," the Estefans said in a statement.

But who cares? We can think of at least ten other Miamians whose lives we would rather see performed on stage with music. For example:More »

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This year, pay close attention to "WAAAZZUUUP!" with Super Bowl commercials.

Commercial advertising is practically hypnotism.

Every night, we think we're logging into Hulu because we want to re-watch the first season of whatever TV show we are presently marathoning. But really, we are psychically addicted to a tension-and-release psychic addiction that lures us in with entertainment and then wraps our consciousness in the burning desire to spend money.

In the lead up to the Super Bowl of advertising (which happens to also be the literal Super Bowl), we thought it might be useful to break down some of the more commonly abused subliminal archetypes. Then we added beer, because: football.

See also:
- Iron Man 3 Preview to Debut During Super Bowl XLVII (Video)
- The Ten Sexiest Super Bowl Commercials Of All Time

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