Devaspa is one of more than 120 spas offering specially priced treatments during Spa Week
Multiple locations
October 11-17, $50
www.spaweek.com
Spa Week, the twice-yearly festival in which spas offer two or three of their services at a special $50 rate, is now nationwide, with spas and sybarites in more than 10 states celebrating from October 11 to 17. But with more than 120 participating spots in Manhattan alone and now a dozen more in Brooklyn, New York City should be its capital. From quiet neighborhood favorites like Serenity Spa on the Upper East Side to laser medispa chains to the big names like Perricone and Trish McEvoy, Spa Week in New York City means being spoiled for choice. Among the offerings, we’re happy to once again spotlight the special seasonal facial at L’Institut Sothys New York; the winter detoxifying vanilla and warming caramel are the ingredients at this sleek New York outpost of the highly esteemed Parisian salon, and the wonderful Rose offers excellent manicures and pedicures at regular rates. It’s exciting to see the Sphatika Experience Spa on the menu: Among the most innovative and unusual spas in Manhattan, Sphatika offers a choice of three $50 facials, one of which includes their far infrared sauna treatment. Sphatika offers a very unusual suite of restorative mind, body, and spirit treatments including detoxifying skin brushing, a steam canopy, and natural quartz crystal skin care. And downtowners can rejoice: Deva Spa, part of the beloved Devachan hair salon, has head-to-toe offerings: a skin-brightening body exfoliation, an express facial and manicure, or an hour-plus deluxe pedicure, each with natural and organic ingredients. Be sure to check out the nearly overwhelming list of spas and salons online; you’ll need to join the SpaWeek mailing list to see them, but it’s free and easy to manage.
Writer, director, songwriter, and star Rob Stefaniuk (PHIL THE ALIEN) was well aware that he was daring critics and audiences to attack his sophomore effort by titling the vampire rock-and-roll horror comedy SUCK. Well, it doesn’t. SUCK, whcih is screening on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 at New York Comic Con, is a playful little piffle about the Winners, a loser of a group that is taking its last shot at the big time, going on a road trip from Toronto to New York City for a supposed CMJ showcase gig set up by their pitiful manager, Jeff (Kid in the Hall Dave Foley). But when bass player Jennifer (Jessica Paré) gets seduced and turned by master vampire Queeny (Dimitri Coats), the band starts getting popular, much to the chagrin of lead singer and songwriter Joey (Stefaniuk), who is not sure this is the best way to make it. Drummer Sam (Mike Lobel), guitarist Tyler (Paul Anthony), and Renfield-as-roadie Hugo (Alex Lifeson) have different ideas, as does afraid-of-the-dark vampire hunter Eddie Van Helsig (Malcolm McDowell). With teeth in neck – er, tongue in cheek – SUCK spoofs several genres in silly but fun ways, throwing in a little ROCKY HORROR here, some THIS IS SPINAL TAP there, and a dash of GET CRAZY over there, with hysterical guest appearances by Alice Cooper as a demonic bartender, Iggy Pop as a suburban record producer, Henry Rollins as an annoying radio host, and well-known vegan Moby as Beef Bellows, the lead singer of the Buffalo-based punk-rock band the Secretaries of Steak.
Written, directed, and edited by Julia Bacha, who also served as one of the producers, BUDRUS has been having an impact at film festivals around the world, including Sydney, Dubai, San Francisco, London, Berlin, Jerusalem, and Tribeca. The documentary follows a small group of protesters in the village of Budrus, population 1,500, as they battle the Israeli military, which has been charged with protecting construction workers who are bulldozing the people’s lifeblood, hundreds of acres of olive trees, in order to put up the wall known as the separation barrier, isolating the Palestinians in the West Bank; the “red line” also goes right through the village’s cemetery. But local leader Ayed Morrar decides to try something relatively different for the Middle East, emphasizing nonviolence and even permitting women, including his fifteen-year-old daughter, to participate in their dangerous movement. The Popular Committee Against the Wall’s mission appears destined to fail until they are joined by Jews who believe that the Israeli government needs to reconsider where they are putting up the fence and allow the Palestinians to keep their land and preserve their history. Bacha talks to people on both sides of the struggle, including the Morrars as well as Israeli soldiers Doron Spielman and Yasmine Levi, who all speak honestly about their complex situation. Made by a team of Jews and Palestinians who have formed Just Vision, an organization dedicated to bringing to light nonviolent peacebuilding efforts in the Middle East, BUDRUS could have easily turned into propaganda, but in the end its agenda is something difficult to argue with. The film opens at the Quad on October 8, with Bacha and producer Avni Ronit participating in Q&As following the 8:10 show every night.
