The 100th Gasparilla Pirate Fest invades the city on Saturday with bedecked buccaneers, booze and a bounty of beads to share with a projected crowd of hundreds of thousands — but it won’t be like the bacchanal of years past.…
Gasparilla Children’s Parade Is Swashbuckling Family Fun
Bid ahoy to young mateys along Bayshore Boulevard as they pick up all the plastic bead booty they can carry at Saturday’s Children’s Gasparilla Extravaganza, the official kickoff of the city’s annual pirate-themed festivities. Thousands of young revelers flock each…
Dave Bautista and Other Wrestlers Who’ve Gone from Mat to Screen
With a summer blockbuster behind him and a role as a henchman in a James Bond film on the horizon, Dave Bautista is the latest professional wrestler to flip successfully from the ring to the multiplex. “Wrestling is storytelling,” Bautista…
4 Reasons to Keep Loving ‘Longmire’
Sheriff Walt Longmire favors a Ford Bronco on duty instead of a horse, but the cable series bearing his name has such a strong Western presence that he’d seem equally at home solving crime from a saddle. Passionate fans of the Wyoming-set…
Pinocchio Redux in “The Avengers: Age of Ultron”
Few writer-directors today have a pop-culture touch like Joss Whedon, so it’s thrilling to see the helmer of “The Avengers” twist an icon like Pinocchio into Frankenstein’s monster for the superhero team’s sequel. However, it’s not entirely unexpected: The themes…
Ron White, wife double the fun at Tampa shows
Comedian Ron White might be bawdy onstage, but on the phone, he’s full of Southern charm. “Hello, darlin’,” he says upon introductions. Of course, that doesn’t preclude the jokes. I talked to White, who shot to mainstream fame on the Blue…
Go Wild at the zoo’s food benefit, Zoofari
Executive chef Rene Marquis is ready to take roughly 2,000 guests at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo on a culinary safari. Zoofari is the zoo’s 28th annual food-based fundraiser benefiting expert animal care and educational programs operated by the Lowry Park…
“Big Hero 6” and the Need for Cute
Disney’s “Big Hero 6” looks too intense for my 4-year-old son to tolerate, but the trailer alone has made him (and me) enamored with Baymax. This robot is unlike any we’ve seen onscreen. His inflatable, soft limbs and belly remind…