Courtesy of Imaginations Inc.

Double d-bags

Get off the couch. Get outta the house. Here are our top picks for things to do this weekend.

Douchebag Party @ Smashboxx
Fear not the douchiness within. Embrace your inner fake tan, hair spikes, popped collar, and roid arms. Young d-bag, repeat after us: "If you're looking for douches, they're on aisle me." (Okay, we totally stole that from Parks and Rec. Whatev.) Got it? Good. Now you're ready for the third annual Douchebag Party at Smashboxx in (duh) Scottsdale. Admission is $40. The douchebaggery starts at 7 p.m. will spill over to neighboring club Dollhouse.

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Art walks are more often about people watching and shenanigans and less
about the actual art. We're here to guide you through both. Presenting
our very own Field Guide -- an evolving guide to art walks around town.

From time to time, we'll introduce some of our favorite spots and dish out some insider information. If you have any tips or tricks, share 'em in the comments section. Here's a peek at our guide to Downtown's First Friday for May 4 ...

Illustration by Claire Lawton

click on the image (or right here) for a full-sized version or find one in a few of the galleries and coffee shops in downtown Phoenix.

More hints after the jump ...

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If Bob Ross were alive today, he'd be painting happy little trees all over the place in ecstatic fervor for all the arts and culture happenings in Phoenix. To help you see the forest for the trees, here's a recap of the top arts and culture stories of the week.

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Laura Gill

If you're not familiar with bleach pens, buckle up. These handy little pens hold a bleach gel intended for stain removal, but they're also absolutely great tools for a quick and easy projects.

Here follows a few of my favorite bleach pen inspirations from Pinterest ...

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B.T. Indrelunas via Flickr

Though the Icehouse may be a bit off the beaten path when it comes to Downtown Phoenix art spaces, you might want to consider visiting the venerated venue during First Friday. Especially since its proprietors will unveil two artsy enterprises located on the property, as well as a brand new exhibition.

Urbane Recycler, a combination "junk/arts salvage shop" and secondhand store, and the Quiet Mind Tea & No Frills Coffee Bar will debut later tonight at the venue. Peter Conley, the director of the non-profit organization that oversees the Icehouse, says that both businesses will hopefully bring more people to visit the venue and help fund future projects and events.

"The objective is to get people to come to the Icehouse and really decompress and chill out while being able to wander around and visit the Cathedral Room or White Column Room while supporting the cause," he says.

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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:

If you're not headed out of town for the weekend (or the summer), you can thank Google for the stay-at-home entertainment.

Using Street View technology, Google developed and unveiled its World Wonders Project, a virtual guide to worldwide heritage sites and cultural landmarks of the ancient and modern worlds including the archaeological areas of Pompeii, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the Historic Center of Prague, and the Dorset Coast, to name a few. 

With Street View, users can explore each site at street-level and learn more about each location before splurging on a plane ticket and seeing it in person (also highly recommended).

See the Wonders here.

John Groseclose

Johanna Carlisle in Heddatron

There are more challenges to having five robots on stage in a production of Elizabeth Meriwether's Heddatron than you might initially think. For a lot of theater people, the most obvious and common issue is affording five robot actors and finding someone who will provide you with them. Then there's getting that kind of thing, which is not usually part of live theater, accomplished as part of a typical live theater timeline.

Then there's getting the robots to operate the way you want them to and the human actors to accommodate them. I'm sure there are several other issues, but I'll close with the one that hadn't crossed my mind until I took my seat to watch the play: If the bots are remote-controlled (which they are in Stray Cat Theatre's current production, and probably in many others), the set design and the placement of the operator(s) have to be precise -- the robots have their own space needs, and the radio waves have to be able to reach them. Holy complexity, Batman!

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In theaters Friday: Kristen Stewart stars as Snow White, a beauty to overthrow Charlize Theron's Evil Queen.

Lips a standard pinky-orange. Hair a dark, dusty brown. Accent...sort of British. That's Kristen Stewart for you, as dear, dear Snow White.

Stewart - the child actor turned Twilight megastar - is often criticized for taking that old adage of acting for the camera ("Do nothing") a bit too seriously, though she's proved her chops in smaller flicks like Adventureland and The Runaways. It's true, casting characters that are defined so largely by their beauty is never easy; see Diana Kruger as Helen of Troy or Clemence Poesy as Fleur Delacour. But to cast the likeable tomboy next door (assuming it's a neighborhood of Hollywood insiders) who looks surprisingly fetching when styled by Elle as a young woman whose beauty is destined to surpass Charlize Theron's? Mirror, please.

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Katie Johnson

Old town Scottsdale is an enigma wrapped in a Red Bull can, wrapped in a bodycon dress.

Its paradoxical nightlife consistently delivers the same old same old, despite the constant flux of businesses. There are, however, a select few that stand apart from the herd, case in point: AZ 88.

For more than 20 years, this contemporary bar/restaurant has managed not to keep up with Scottsdale, but rather challenge Scottsdale to keep up with it, featuring ever-changing art installations, late night dinner and drinks, and some of the oddest bathrooms in Phoenix. But if there's one thing that AZ88 has kept consistent, it's the quality of its cocktails.

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photos by Claire Lawton, mural by Calle 16

For months, the team of muralists and painters behind Calle 16 have gathered at their headquarters to paint a tribute to their neighborhood.

Gennaro Garcia, Lalo Cota, Angel Diaz, Breeze, and others completed a 27-by-7-foot canvas that will be plastered to the wall in the Silvana Salcido Esparza's airport satellite of Barrio Cafe.

Esparza founded Calle 16 Mural Project in 2010 with the hopes of bringing the neighborhood together and showcasing its culture in a positive and public way.

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