A while back I cracked a dumb joke about all our presidential candidates being corrupt. My wife hit back with this: “You’re a JibJab!” She referred, of course, to the animated viral sensations of America circa 2005 or 2008, the once wildly popular political-parody videos that, in the interest of…
In the world of Difficult People, the cutting comedy returning this week to Hulu, the game is rigged against Julie (Julie Klausner) and Billy (Billy Eichner), but perhaps only because they rigged it against themselves. As their friends find success, the two struggling comedians feign interest in jobs that pay…
There are 151 unique Pokemon in Pokemon Go, the app that has people in Dallas bumping heads and begging restaurants to let them inside just to catch a Pikachu that’s hiding on their patio. In order to “catch ’em all,” you have to visit different environments, since certain Pokemon live…
Steve Allen didn’t know what to make of Frank Zappa. The clean-cut young musician was promising to “play the bicycle” on the set of The Steve Allen Show in 1963, spinning the wheels and tapping on the spokes. The result, with the help of a tuneless orchestra behind him and…
Bob Mazur, in his bestselling memoir, sounds like any of us when we shift careers, writing that he wanted something that “kept my interest, that didn’t box me into the same boring routine.” The only difference is that Mazur didn’t break the box quitting an ad job to launch a…
Kindly allow this lengthy aside and conspiracy theorizing: I can’t start my review of Paul Feig’s redo of Ghostbusters without first mentioning the stupefying chaos that attended last Thursday evening’s press screening, the only one of two scheduled a half-hour apart in New York before the movie’s opening. This unprecedented…
It’s only been a week since the release of Niantic’s free Pokemon Go app, but the revival of the popular ’90s franchise, which allows players to catch cute little cartoon monsters in real life using their smartphones, has already taken over Dallas. Pokemon Go: DFW Community, one of several local…
The box set sitting under glass at Holly Johnson Gallery isn’t your standard rock compilation. And while its contents resemble CDs in their size and shape, they are actually custom 5-inch vinyl records — little palm-sized things, complete with sleeves, album art and liner notes. Housed inside their grooves is…
Independent and foreign film screenings are hard to come by in this town, making festivals, which are often run by passionate volunteers, an integral component of the Dallas film scene. The Oak Cliff Film Festival just wrapped up its 5th, and arguably best, year this June. The higher profile fests,…
“The camera, for me, is a weapon,” Richard Andrew Sharum says. “Every time I pull that shudder is like pulling a trigger.” Sharum is a photographer and activist who has been shooting professionally for 12 years. He’s taken photos all over the country as well as abroad, but for the past…
Jeffery Xiong was 5 years old when he played his first game of chess. His friend was playing a game by himself at a birthday party when Jeffery decided to join him. Ten years later in 2016, he is currently the best under-16 chess player in the world, and the…
Dallas is still in mourning. We need opportunities for distraction, community, quiet exertion and some plain ol’ escape into fantasy. You’ll find a little of everything amongst our suggestions for the week: Welcome to Night Vale: Ghost Stories 7 p.m. Monday, July 11 Majestic Theatre 1925 Elm St. $25-$30 Do…
Do This!The quarterly North Texas Comic Book Show takes over the Doubletree Dallas Hotel from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. In addition to lots of comics for sale, some as cheap as $1, there will be special guests from Marvel and DC Comics and a cosplay contest. Admission is…
Comedian and musician Craig Robinson probably doesn’t have to do stand-up comedy anymore. He’s been a recognizable name since his breakout role as warehouse foreman Darryl Philbin on NBC’s American remake of The Office. That led to memorable roles in hit movies such as Knocked Up, Pineapple Express and This is the End…
Kyle Steed makes public art with a message. His best known contribution? The Dallas City Mural on the Trinity Strand Trail, bearing the following twist on President Kennedy’s famous statement: “Ask not what your city can do for you, but what you can do for your city.” In the wake…
Dallas is known as a town that loves to shop, and the one thing we know about true shopaholics is that they hate having the same thing as everyone else. Fashion is about the thrill of the hunt; finding that one piece that completes a unique personal statement. So why…
It is perhaps a defining characteristic of Texas Chicken Ranch: When it comes to Texas’ most famous whorehouse, people apparently enjoy being in the dark. In its bedrooms. In the telling of its history. On stage and on the silver screen. But a Texas writer is turning on the lights…
Eric Miller and Lin Wang moved to North Texas from Brooklyn in 2010, with no particular interest in Texas art. But once they got here, they immediately found themselves with questions. They noticed gaps in knowledge of local art history, particularly from the late ’60s until the early ’80s, and…
Deep Vellum Books, which had a soft open on Commerce Street last fall but has not yet turned into the full-fledged bookstore originally announced, looks to be on the road to fulfilling that vision after all, now that publisher Will Evans has found a partner in Anne Hollander, who will…
If you want to take improv, stand-up or sketch-writing classes in Dallas, Dallas Comedy House has become the go-to place. The business Amanda Austin opened in 2009 has blossomed into a community; people sign up for classes and routinely stick around to teach, perform and support their friends once they’ve…
Works On Paper & William Wegman: Good Dogs On Nice Furniture at Barry Whistler Gallery 315 Cole Street, No. 120 Through August 13 Two new exhibitions are currently on display at Barry Whistler. Works on Paper features artists Terrell James, Otis Jones, Lawrence Lee, Michael Miller, Dan Rizzie, Andrea Rosenberg, Lorraine…
For the last five years, WAAS Gallery has exhibited a blend of emerging and established artists in a space on Logan Street, near Fair Park. As director, founder, owner and curator Brandy Adams and her new curating partner Emma Saperstein took the gallery into 2016, they promised radical changes on…
