5 things we love
Free Comic Book Day ...
Is today! The annual event is a giveaway of exclusive titles at participating stores nationwide. Check out www.freecomicbookday.com/storelocator or your favorite shop’s website to find participating stores, and head to freecomicbookday.com for the 54 titles and some inside previews, including “Hip Hop Family Tree” by Pittsburgh comic-book creator Ed Piskor.
Dancing for art’s sake
The staff of the Westmoreland Museum of Art was among 28 worldwide represented in the When You Work at a Museum Dance Off competition. The “Imagine What’s Possible” video (view it on YouTube or at whenyouworkatamuseum.com fell short in the first round of online voting. With more than 2,700 votes, it was second to the Hamilton, Ontario, Tourism and Culture Division and ahead of Springville (Utah) Museum of Art and Corpus Christi (Texas) Museum of Science and History.
If these colanders could talk ...
The oh-so-cool colander light fixtures on the restaurant side of Marty’s Market, the airy specialty food shop at 2301 Smallman St., have a story behind them: Each comes from another restaurant. Owner Regina Koetters came up with idea of taking new colanders to Strip District restaurants and trading them for used ones, then bringing their history and interesting shapes out into the open at Marty’s.
There are no small roles
“When it comes to small roles, Stan Lee is the biggest,” says Kevin Smith, who directs the creator of comic-book marvels in a comedy short for Audi. In the two-minute film, Mr. Lee schools Michael Rooker, Tara Reid, Jason Mewes and Mr. Smith in the art of the cameo — a parody of his appearances in every Marvel movie of the 21st century, including “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Watch it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8m-NxpUIP0.
Phipps vows to get weird
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is getting all “weird and wonderful” with its Summer Flower Show, opening today, which it says will showcase some of the plant world’s most curious oddballs — from spiky porcupine tomatoes and reptilian crocodile ferns to stinky devil’s tongue arums and pyramidal monkey puzzle trees. Oh, and there are butterflies fluttering around, too. Details: phipps.conservatory.org.