Big Brain Awards 2012: Cash Prizes for Emerging Creatives

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Nothing beats creativity -- especially if it's used to make a wave in the local community. 

Since 2010, we've been on the hunt for emerging creatives in the Valley who are working on cool projects. Call them designers, performers, chefs, singers, dancers, painters, sculptors... 

We're sticking to Big Brains

Starting today, we're taking names of Phoenix residents who deserve $500 to further their own creative venture in one of the following categories: visual art, design, fashion, performing art, and culinary art.

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Seven Things We Should All Give Up for Lent, Please.

Categories: Top Lists
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via Piedmont Fossil on Flickr
The days of simple sacrifice are long over. 

For those who practice Lent, the next 40 days are a test -- survive without something you truly care about and earn the right to binge on Easter Sunday. 

Since the introduction of mobile connectivity, apps, Tumblrs, and hashtags, our obsessions are constantly being fed. We have more to lose -- but we could use the cleanse. 

Here seven things we should all give up for the next 40 days: 

7. Mustaches: It's time

6. Nail Art: Yes, without your daily sins, you'll have plenty more time for self-decoration. But for the love of God (literally), get a vajazzle, curl up in a vagisoft, take your boyfriend to get a manzillion if you have to. 

No one wants to see your mangy nails that you've decided to plaster with lucha libre masks, watermelons, or God forbid (almost literally) newspaper

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Three Cheers (and a Recipe) for National Margarita Day in Phoenix

Categories: Cocktail Hour
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The Sueno Mojado at Gallo Blanco
Nothing suits the end of a long day quite like a glass of boozy liquid that comes standard with salt, a lime, and a straw.

Yeah, we're big on margaritas. And at the end of today, you'll likely find us saddled up to one of the bars in town hosting special celebrations (we're talking $2.50 margaritas at Distrito) and dishing out sweet and salty discounts.

Check out 10 of our favorite local margaritas in today's round-up on Chow Bella, and the recipe for Gallo Blanco's sweet-and-sour take on the classic pick-me-up after the jump ... More >>

Oscars Fashion: Five Dresses We Want to See on the Red Carpet

Categories: Fashion, Film
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Sally Field in a great Oscar moment ... or the greatest Oscar moment.
Like all good celebrity worshippers, we enjoy the Oscars telecast, the jokes from Billy Crystal, the awkward mispronunciations during foreign film awards, feigned surprise, looks that could kill, and incidental swearing in acceptance speeches. 

But, we gotta say, our favorite part of the movie-maker merriment is the red carpet.
 

Our penchant for dress criticism rivals that of Joan Rivers, and makes us both the most fun person at Oscar viewing parties and also the bitchiest.

That's why we've selected a handful of gowns -- nothing less than stunners -- for the five Best Actress nominees to parade around in during the pre-show, while posing pretty and answering Ryan Seacrest's inane questions. Should the ladies don these duds, we'd have no choice but to shut up (no matter how difficult that might prove).

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Justin Vargo's Roadkill

Categories: Shot Caller
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Nicole Smith
Justin Vargo at Shady's in Phoenix has a killer "house birthday shot," that breathes German liqueur. What does German booze and roadkill have in common? Uh, we had to ask (dun, dun, dun).

Name: Roadkill

Ingredients: Equal parts Jägermeister (translated literally as "hunt-master"), Barenjager (or "bear hunter"), and Goldschläger (just for good "Germanic umlaut" measure).

Flavor: Death, but a very sweet and cinnamon-honey one.

Cost: $5

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Art Condoms: For When You'd Rather Just Display Your Goods

Categories: Don't Wear That
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Keith Haring
If you get​ lucky enough to stumble across a limited-edition rubber by the GARAGE collaborative, you should know better than to use it. 

The condom packages are stamped and pasted with designs by Keith Haring, Mat Collishaw, Sue Webster, and Tim Noble

They'll be scattered about Fashion Weeks in New York, London, and Paris, included in the current issue of Russia-based GARAGE magazine, and available (in limited quantity) in the bathrooms of Le Baron in New York and Paris.

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Turquoise Floral Tea Dress at Holy Smoke Vintage

Categories: Fashion, Gem

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Courtesy of Holy Smoke Vintage
Each week Gem features one standout piece from a local shop. Whether it's a jacket, necklace, or handbag, it's on our have-to-have list.

What: With head-to-toe florals (somewhat unsurprisingly) making their way to the spring runways, this turquoise tea dress encapsulates the all-over botanical statement -- which we saw in the Pre-Fall lines of Doo Ri, Pringle of Scotland, and DKNY -- without being overly busy and giving a nod to the overarching jazz age trend of Spring 2012 .

Where: Holy Smoke Vintage's Etsy Shop

Cost: $24

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13 Design Treasures Spotted During Modernism Week in Palm Springs

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Photo by Jessica Testa
​​Phoenix's annual Modernism Week is still a month away, but Palm Springs Modernism Week is raging on just four-and-a-half hours away.

The city of Palm Springs, whose midcentury modern architecture holds the gold medal over Phoenix's bronze, has hosted its Modernism Week since 2006.

But the week wouldn't exist without the Modernism Show and Sale, an exhibition of 80 national and international vendors launched in 2001 to benefit the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation.

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Sticker Phiends 5: MADONE's Big Plans for a Return in October

Welcome to the Morning Buzz, a catch-up on interesting happenings around the city and country and a quick guide to what (and who) to keep your eyes on. We'll be here, first thing every weekday, to get you going. Here's what's buzzing this morning:

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MADONE and EVOKER

​It's no secret that we're big fans of stickers. And if you've been to any of longtime Phoenix artist MADONE's annual Sticker Phiends shows, you're likely to understand our obsession.

When MADONE jumped on the Portland bandwagon last year, he said he wasn't sure he'd be bringing the event back to his hometown. 

But a short year later, he posted a flier and gave the green light -- Sticker Phiends is back for a fifth year and is currently scheduled for October. 

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Hunger Games: Grab Your Tickets and Meet a Few of the Actors in Scottsdale

Categories: Film
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Attention Hunger Games addicts: your chance to grab tickets to the Hunger Games film and meet a few of the film's stars is coming sooner than you think.

If you're willing to stand, sit, or camp in line, the odds might be in your favor.

Tickets for the March 23 midnight premiere will be on sale February 22 at 10 a.m. at the Harkins Theatres' box offices and online

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