E3 2013: Five Takeaways From Yesterday's Gaming Press Conferences

Categories: Lists, Video Games

e3_ps4_commercial.jpg
"This is how you share your games on PS4."
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is home to the year's biggest gaming announcements, from new consoles to the latest games from your favorite publishers and developers. This past Monday, Microsoft, Sony, EA, and Ubisoft held major news conferences to showcase all the goodies that will make our wallets hurt this fall and beyond.

With each conference packing at least an hour full of hardware and game announcements, that's a lot of information and bright, shiny pixels to take in. Don't be overwhelmed, fellow gamer -- we've broken it down for you after the jump.

More »

Five Reasons to Get Hyped for Hero Hype Con

Categories: Lists

hero_hype_con_credit_theherohypecon_dot_com.jpg
via theherohypecon.com
Dust off that Batman costume. It's con season, and there's a new event in town!

The Hero Hype Con is the latest entry in the Miami geekiverse, debuting this Saturday, June 8. With all the awesome events going on in South Florida this weekend, it would be easy for an up-and-coming convention to slip through the cracks. Especially one that hasn't yet earned a great, geeky reputation.

But though Hero Hype Con's a Miami n00b, it's worth checking out. Here are five reasons you should give this one a shot:

More »

Four Outsiders Who Are Ruining Miami

Categories: Lists

Miamiskyline560.jpg
via Flickr daspader
Miami: the city beautiful.

Miami long ago stripped New York City of its ultimate melting pot status. We have all types here, and the constant influx of outsiders seems to be in perpetual motion with no end in sight. Outsiders arrive by plane, boat, car, raft, inner tube, parachute, and FedEx on a daily basis. And while diversity is awesome, its side effects aren't: driving up rents, winning our lotteries, and worst of all, taking our parking spots.

We've come up with a few possible solutions, and our favorite is erecting a glass dome over the county, much like the government did to Springfield in The Simpsons Movie. But our economy ain't got time for that. So instead we're calling out the worst offenders here. When you recognize them on the street, make sure to scowl at them. That'll teach 'em.

More »

The Ten Best Parks in Miami

Categories: Around Town, Lists

south_pointe_park_350px_wikipedia.jpg
via Wikimedia CC
Paradise. That's what this city is. It may often be perverse or peculiar, but have no doubt: Miami is the paradisiacal metropolis of the south. And the beauty of this place won't be found within the pulsating walls of LIV or along the bustling, crowded sidewalk of the Corner. The sublime appeal of this town radiates from the trees and the sand and the mangrove-entwined waters -- from the natural fibers of Miami.

But as in all great cities, the expansion of Miami has made that natural beauty a bit harder to connect with. Enter the Miami-Dade County department of Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces, who've have helped carve out pockets of earth, both small and large, in order to sustain a few fine spots where one can wander, relax, and enjoy the sense of serenity that comes with entering a peaceful, green space. And as the sun hangs higher and longer with each passing day, nobody should go without a few strolls through those spaces. So, for your strolling pleasure, here are ten of the best parks in the county of Miami-Dade.

More »

The Ten Best Art Deco Buildings in Miami Beach

Oceandrive.JPG
Via Wikipedia
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.


More »

Florida's Five Greatest Urban Legends: From Love Bugs to Skunk Apes

Categories: Lists

Mexican_pet_edit.jpg
Google CC
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.

More »

The Ten Best Skyscrapers in Miami

downtown.jpg
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
More »

Larry King Visits North Miami: Five Miamians He Could Marry Next

Categories: Lists

larry_king_twitter.jpg
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.

More »

Alex Trebek Is Leaving Jeopardy? Top Five Miamians to Replace Him

Categories: Lists, Television

trebek.jpg
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.

More »

Hollywood Loves Nerds: The Year in Geeks on Film, From J.J. Abrams to Videogame Fails

star_trek_into_darkness.jpg
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.

More »

From the Vault

 

Clubs

©2013 Miami New Times, LLC, All rights reserved.
Browse Voice Nation
  • Voice Places Miami

    Voice Places

    Find everything you're looking for in your city

  • Happy Hour App

    Happy Hour App

    Find the best happy hour deals in your city

  • Daily Deals

    Daily Deals

    Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%

  • Best Of

    Best Of...

    Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city