Barbecue chicken is one of my favorite summertime dishes. I like every part of it — the tomato-based sauce (the spicier the better), the crispy skin, even the bones.

LAS VEGAS — To step into club XS at the Wynn Las Vegas is to enter the dreamscape of a modern artist with fetishes for gold and bronze and bodies in motion.

LOS ANGELES — Isabella Rossellini's search for the meaning of maternal instinct in "Mammas" looks at nine animals where things like polygamy, lying and dying convince her that "anything goes."

President Obama’s new “religious tolerance” consultant to the Pentagon, Mikey Weinstein, wants Christian military service members who openly talk about their faith in uniform to be charged with treason, which is a crime punishable by death according to military law.

My friend Bob would shudder if he knew that I planted plantain today.

In the galaxy of big-screen superheros — a rather glum lot — Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man is the snappy one.

NEW YORK — Bodies tensed and noses twitching, the dogs sniff the hunting ground before them: a lower Manhattan alley, grimy, dim and perfect for rats. With a terse command — "Now!" — the chase is on.

Happiness is... a warm cheese sandwich.

There's a siege mentality about Michael Bay's movies, as though viewers are the enemy holed up in a bunker and he's the guy ordering heavy-metal music around-the-clock to wear down our morale and force us to surrender.

LOS ANGELES — Lily Tomlin's admiration for elephants began when she met Ruby and Billy.

Mark was on the verge of losing it. A deadline was approaching for an important client and the success of the project was hinging on his teams activities.

Eddie Castillo said that the South American culture has the empanada, the British have the pasty, and he and his business partner Mike Caliendo are giving Arizona the hand pie.

You may better know her sister, Dakota, from box-office smashes like “War of the Worlds” and “The Twilight Saga,” but 14-year-old Elle Fanning has already made quite a name for herself among the arthouse set, appearing in such acclaimed works as “Babel,” “Somewhere” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” This month, she takes center stage in a new drama from writer/director Sally Potter entitled “Ginger & Rosa” – a coming-of-age tale set in 1962 London as the threat of the Cuban missile crisis looms overhead.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Most folks know Memphis for its barbecue and Philly for its cheesesteaks, but how about Nashville and its hot chicken?

This weekend downtown Chandler will be piled high with more than 20,000 pounds of BBQ at the Great American Barbeque and Beer Festival. The roster of restaurants dishing up ribs, brisket, pulled pork and chicken includes old favorites Famous Dave’s, Honey Bear’s BBQ, Joe’s Real BBQ and Tom’s BBQ, along with some newcomers including Porkopolis.

As if a festival celebrating beer and barbeque couldn’t get any better, it just did: Rock bands Smash Mouth and Hoobastank will headline The Great American Barbeque & Beer Festival on March 23.

This week's "Jack the Giant Slayer," a 3-D retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk legend, contains all the elements of the classic tale: farm boy, beans, giants, etc. But along for the ride is a new character, Princess Isabelle, played by Eleanor Tomlinson.

We have our fair share of Disney animated favorites, but from time to time it’s fun to treat the family to a live theater production of a classic fairy tale. Valley Youth Theatre’s “Rapunzel,” playing Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through March 10, is a great option.

If you had attended as many NRA meetings as I have, you would realize that there is a wide spectrum of personalities among NRA members. About 90% of the members are sensible and rational citizens like me who own guns for home protection and sporting use, and who don’t believe in passing any new laws that cannot be enforced. 90 percent is really a pretty good turnout. Most homeowners’ associations can’t do nearly this well for their annual meetings. The other 10 percent are raving loonies who really ought to have a net thrown over them. Unfortunately, NRA President Wayne LaPierre tailors his message to the ten percenters. In his defense, it should be noted that Wayne talks crazy because we pay him $1 million a year to talk crazy, and he delivers. If he can whip up the hysteria and paranoia to an even greater level, I suppose we will pay him even more. We have always done so before, and this year he seems to be headed for a pay raise of epic proportions.

Last year “Money Magazine” rated Chandler as one of the 50 best places to live in America — in part because of its annual mouth-watering barbecue and beer festival in AJ Chandler Park.

It took just four minutes for Pinnacle to set the tone in its first-round boys soccer state tournament match against Hamilton. The aggressive Pioneers parlayed a loose ball into an amazing bicycle kick goal by Mason Robertson to take an early lead.

“Another garment factory fire in Bangladesh. These factory owners/operators should be punished by being impaled on a stake in front of their burned out factory. And their execution should be televised.”