Watch the three shorts playing Saturday during a silent movie marathon at the Garland’s Plaza Theatre, and you’ll understand why we still revere Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy. There won’t be any CG or loud explosions, just four masters of physical, expressive comedy doing their business to…
So Buzz is sitting here trying to get a peek at healthcare.gov, the government website for health care insurance exchanges unveiled today as part of the Affordable Care Act. Six tries in, and we’re still stymied. But that’s fine. Universal health care wasn’t built in a day, and if you’re…
Every week or so, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, nicotine-addicted, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz. So The Associated Press last week reported the results of a survey it sent to the top Republican candidates for statewide office, including Texas Attorney General…
It seems a little odd that someone — particularly someone not in drag — would make a career impersonating Dolly Parton, seeing how Dolly isn’t, not to be crass, dead. Elvis impersonators? He is dead or returned to his home planet or otherwise not available, so that makes sense. But…
Every week, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, nicotine-addicted, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz. At some point, Buzz supposes, Cathie Adams, the former Texas Republican Party chair, fearless “Moozlum” hunter and popular voice of the state GOP’s batshit wing, will fade to…
Every week, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, nicotine-addicted, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz. Pity Texas Senator Ted Cruz. The poor man can’t even go to Iowa for a little praying, a little fundraising and a little defending of traditional marriage without…
UPDATE: FreedomWorks spokesman Julie Bodnar sent Buzz a message informing us we made an error in linking the Koch brothers and FreedomWorks in this post. Specifically: Hey Patrick, Hope you had a great 4th of July weekend! I saw your post about FreedomWorks and BGTX, and there was a major…
In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 30 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Stanton Stephens. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here. Imagine sitting down with media company execs today and making this pitch for a show: a shout-free,…
By now our lovely regular readers are familiar with Voice Places, the listings engine behind all of the Dallas Observer’s restaurant reviews and calendar picks. This week, that engine got a lot more powerful, with a new design that brings even more content to the fore. Take a look. You’ll…
You can’t always tell by watching Texas politics, but there are subtle distinctions to be made between being an arch conservative and being a colossal dick. Here’s how to tell if you’ve crossed the line: Look in a mirror. If you see Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s face, you’re safely in…
During a spring when things have been blown up or blown down with disturbing frequency, it’s easy to lose track of all the people in need of help. Luckily for the people in Granbury whose homes were damaged by a tornado May 15, students in the award-winning photography program at…
Really, Governor Rick Perry and Texas legislators, is that the best you could do? No concealed handgun permits for fetuses? No requiring persons with diacritical marks in their names to register proof of American-ness? No seceding from the union? Governor Rick calls a special session of the Legislature, and so…
Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s this? Could it be that the ever-popular paleo diet, which encourages us to eat like our Stone Age hunter-gatherer forebears, is not based on a solid foundation of science? Wow, that’s shocking. If we can’t trust Internet-touted fad diets, then just who can we trust? But…
Every week, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, nicotine-addicted, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz. Well, hey, would you look at that? There’s an actual bona fide Dallas City Council election this Saturday. Sure doesn’t seem like that’s been getting a lot of…
Alice Laussade is now officially the funniest freakin’ food journalist in America. The James Beard Foundation just said so tonight at its 2013 food journalism awards. We knew this already, of course, still it’s nice to hear from other people. Or as Alice put it on Twitter: “Everyone please take…
They say the devil can quote scripture as well as the righteous, which helps explain the confusion sown by Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who whipped out his New Testament this week and rained thunder down on Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles. Price is burning with holy…
Eric’s post this morning about the shit storm controversy stirred up by Molly Forthright, a columnist for Fort Worth, Texas Magazine who came down firmly against mothers breast feeding their babies in church — or pretty much anywhere else — drew the usual pro- and anti-nip commenters. Yeah, we expected…
Every week, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, nicotine-addicted, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz. Awwww, man. Why Texas? Why must you always be the turd in the punch bowl of progress? Buzz is talking — this time — about Texas A&M, the…
The Observer’s very own Alice Laussade, who for years put her cast-iron stomach on the line as The Cheap Bastard to bring you reviews of Dallas’ low-cost lunch spots, was named a finalist in the humor-writing category of the 2013 James Beard Foundation Awards, which is like the Oscars of…
Every week, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, nicotine-addicted, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz. The message that rolled into our inbox earlier this week was upbeat. A “juggernaut of marijuana bills” is rolling its way through legislatures across the nation, the Marijuana…
Every week, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, nicotine-addicted, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz. OK, everybody relax and just breathe easy (though not too deeply). That whole global-warming, energy-supply, sooty-air thing is taken care of. We know this because unlike many, many,…
Every week, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, nicotine-addicted, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz. Good news for those of you heartbroken when Big Tex, the 52-foot tall, 60-year-old icon of the State Fair of Texas, burned in a spectacular fire on the…
