Conjuring up new adventures for fictional characters and literary figures through fan fiction and cosplay (dressing as anime, movie or videogame characters) is a popular leisure pursuit for many different breeds of social misanthrope, from spazmotrons to dweebazoids. In this vein, Shakespearean Death Match is kinda like fantasy football for…
Curry is just a term for a blend of spices, rather than any one ingredient or flavor. My cat is 2 feet long and weighs 18.7 pounds. Six Flags Over Texas is 21 miles from Dallas. The average life expectancy of a spider monkey is 20 to 27 years. Dig…
When I used to live in New York I never went to plays, except the one time my brother came into town with free tickets to something called Tony and Tina’s Wedding, which everyone in the world had heard of except for us. Apparently, it’s one of the longest running…
As little girls, we loved our toy ponies. We loved to make them gallop across the carpet and leap impossible hurdles, like Matchbox cars. Old habits are hard to break, so we’re stoked to hear about some upcoming equine antics. If “horsing around” was that fun in miniature, we can’t…
If food was a drug, you know you’d be a junkie fighting your way out of rehab. Even if it wasn’t necessary for daily survival, you’d eat all of the time because you love food in all of its wonderful incarnations. To you, fast food is for those kids on…
I’m a big Paul Newman fan, but strangely I have never tried any product from his purportedly excellent line of salad dressings. Conversely, I have never heard the gospel singer known as Djore, though I have faithfully used his line of pore-clearing facial strips for years. This Wednesday I might…
In fifth grade, the guy next to us showed off what he called his “pink alien” and got two weeks detention and what I’m sure was a rather traumatic sit-down at home. I was sufficiently horrified. Odd then, that Katherine Baronet’s series of paintings, Pink Alien, doesn’t frighten us one…
Taking the place (literally) of Art Prostitute in Denton is Secret Headquarters, an art/music/hangout space perfect for making art, making noise and, um, hanging out. In addition to showcasing some of the area’s best musicians each Saturday, SHQ has added Movie Night to its calendar. Every other Tuesday SHQ will…
Hawaii has its merits, but the place is thousands of miles away in an isolated zone for a reason. Hawaiian shirts and tribal tattoos are meant for a world of island heritage and ocean coasts, not prep schoolers and Greenville bars. Seriously, Chet, put on a real shirt and quit…
Some people may think it’s a little too soon for a Terri Schiavo musical, but not the fine folks at the Richardson Theatre Centre. Never content to work within the stifling confines of “safe” theater, these brave thespians are bringing the legend of Ol’ Black Brains out of the headlines…
We are well-acquainted with the zebras at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose. Many times they’ve stuffed their handsome heads into our car window; beware the zebra sneeze. These days we’re more likely to get snot streaks on our windows because we’ve learned to close them as soon as…
Weekend Comedy doesn’t exactly have a high concept: Two couples are inadvertently forced to share a cabin for Memorial Day weekend. Wackiness ensues. Directed by Jeff Fenter, Weekend Comedy stars Don Long, Emily Roberts, Andy Copes and Lucia Welch. The play, presented by AmeriStage Players, runs Thursday through August 20…
Though this writing gig is pretty wicked, it definitely resembles school a little too much for my tastes. Pay attention, kids: If you want to abandon the world of perpetual homework, deadlines and returned essays covered in red ink after you finish high school and college, journalism might not be…
World Trade Center is about just that–the attacks on and the collapse of the twin towers on September 11, 2001. But 45 minutes in, a viewer might easily forget the movie is set during that nightmarish day. There is little talk of terrorism and scant suggestion that a mighty nation…
There is no modern-day antecedent to the movies Will Ferrell makes with writer-director Adam McKay, with whom Ferrell collaborated during their tenure at Saturday Night Live only a few years ago. To compare their offerings, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and the new Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky…
What’s the difference between a good liar and a good storyteller? The answer, or the lack of an answer, is a mystery at the heart of The Night Listener, a muted psychological thriller adapted from the Armistead Maupin novel. A writer’s elaborate what-if scenario extrapolated from an anecdote, it’s presented…
Just in time for its U.S. release, Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecrossí fierce docudrama The Road to Guantanamo received a giant shot of free publicity in early June with the news that three Arab inmates at the infamous detention center in Cuba–none of whom had officially been charged with any…
Monster’s Ball producer Lee Daniels makes his directorial debut with Shadowboxer, and it couldn’t be clearer that he’s trying to follow his previous formula for success. Oscar-caliber actors? Check. Interracial sex? Plenty. A violent demise or two, all in the service of character development? Oh yes. But Daniels maybe could…
The old Lucas/Spielberg stunt of turning B-movie peekaboos into E-ticket thrill rides remains the industry standard–to the virtual exclusion of other multiplex fare, particularly when school’s out. But as not every kid who remade Raiders in Super 8 either gave up the dream or morphed into Michael Bay, there’s at…
Once upon a time there were two musicals that began with the words “Once upon a time.” Into the Woods, now at WaterTower Theatre in Addison, and Brooklyn the Musical, on a national tour stop at the Music Hall at Fair Park, are tuneful fairy tales with twists (and shouts)…
V for Vendetta (Warner Bros.) Illustrator David Lloyd calls this adaptation of the comic he made with writer Alan Moore “very good” — so why did Moore beg to have his name removed? The intentions are noble, sure; name another big-studio blockbuster in which a government manufactures fear to keep…
Native American heroes are a rare commodity in videogames. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, released a decade ago, is the most prominent example. Now Turok finally has company. The best way to describe Prey is “Doom meets Cherokee mysticism.” And while most critics are fawning over this first-person action/horror title, don’t believe…
