'SPANK! THE FIFTY SHADES PARODY'
8 p.m. Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville. $20-$45.
If ever there were a cultural phenomenon that was ripe for mercilessly sadistic mockery, it is the so-called erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey." I mean seriously, y'all. I know that the reception to the book was largely all like, "ooh, BDSM, how controversial," and that a good number of critics took issue with its depiction of dom-sub relationships or whatever.
But this thing started off as "Twilight" fan fiction. Now, that would be a pretty clever put-down right there, only it's actually true. Here's another pretty good one, from Salman Rushdie: "I've never read anything so badly written that got published. It made 'Twilight' look like 'War and Peace.'"
So the only reasonable response to the novel — aside from the bummer of realizing just how banal so many people's lives are — is laughter. Thus, "Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody," which is apparently a pretty good bet for a fun girls' night out.