We would have paid good money to sit in the room when Nintendo got the big pitch for their disastrous WiiU console. Some guy who probably just got done running a Jack in the Box barges into the board room with crude drawings of what appeared to be an iPad…
Leave your e-readers at home and stock up on bookmarks, because Dallas’ newest publishing house is throwing a party. Publisher Will Evans will be unveiling the cover art for the first round of books from his company, Deep Vellum. These are no ordinary indie tomes however. Beginning this fall, Deep…
There’s art everywhere. In this cubicle, there’s a graphic print next to a Robert Motherwell postcard, above a notebook covered with an Andy Warhol photograph. And that’s just one corner. We cover everything in art to make life more beautiful. Perhaps that’s why designer and illustrator Michael Sieben began covering…
The noir detective flick was good for about two things: highly stylized filmmaking that keeps Christopher Nolan in a permanent state of arousal; and liberal, unapologetic overuse of cliché. Chock full of classy dames and private dicks, the genre left a lasting impression on filmmaking, but man…if you took a…
The eye of heaven is certainly beginning to shine too hot as we make the slow descent to summer’s summit. In due order, Shakespeare season is back. The annual onslaught of iambic pentameter anchors summer stages with productions of his most beloved works at theaters across the Metroplex. Like in…
Shakespeare’s plots are more complicated than the brain of an angsty teenage girl. Perhaps that’s fitting because many of Shakespeare’s plays are about angsty teenage girls. Much Ado About Nothing, for example, chronicles the thorny twists and turns of men trying to woo the affection of two young cousins, Beatrice…
I thought the creepy neighbor from American Beauty had the corner on finding beauty in the mundane. I mean, that plastic bag “dancing in the wind” changed the way I saw litter forever. But he has nothing on Fort Worth artist Brian Moore. The title of Moore’s 20-piece photography exhibition,…
When The Dallas Opera decided to stage Death and the Powers, Tod Machover’s challenging modern sci-fi opera, they called on conductor Nicole Paiement to handle the complex score. Paiement was a smart choice: as Artistic Director of San Fransisco’s Opera Parallèl, a professional company dedicated to producing contemporary operas, she’s…
Plan to treat yo self, Dallas. Tom Haverford Aziz Ansari announced via Twitter this morning that he’ll be bringing his swag to the American Airlines Center September 13. All year, he’s been taking his cheesy smile and well-pressed suits to cities across the U.S. on his “Modern Romance” tour and…
On the heels of a number of dance companies following the theatrical standard of announcing their season’s offerings, fledging company Avant Chamber Ballet is presenting a line-up that promises to keep audience and dancers busy in the coming year. Avant Chamber Ballet is one of the newest ballet companies on…
Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Know an artistic mind who deserves a little bit of blog love? Email lauren.smart@dallasobserver.com with the whos and whys. Calling Paul Varghese Dallas’ first breakout comedy star really isn’t giving him enough credit. Dallas wouldn’t…
When you walk into most tattoo shops, you expect certain things — biker-looking dudes, rat-tails and surliness. They grunt. You point. They tattoo. And you can’t wait ’til it’s over. Rudy Hetzer of Dallas Tattoo & Art is out to change that. He’s got a shop, a clothing line and…
The Fault in Our Stars made heaps of money at the box office, and film critics Alan Scherstuhl and Stephanie Zacharek wonder if a recent piece declaring that adults should feel ashamed to read young adult novels has any weight to it. They also talk about The Immigrant and film…
By Scott Mitchell Inside the modest digs of one of the newer galleries in Expo Park, Cohn Drennan Contemporary houses a new round of art from local photographer Dan Allen. Today, Allen appears as a stark contrast to his documentary photography hanging on Drennan’s walls. The exhibit, which consists of…
When was the last time you saw a film with a female protagonist you felt like you could actually relate to? You know what I’m talking about. The film world is saturated with rom-com, super women, nymphomaniac, unemployed but NYC-dwelling bull shit. Where are the normal women? Complaints aside, there…
Saturday night in Deep Ellum the gallery scene was busy. Cohn Drennan Contemporary opened its doors with Dan Allen’s scrapbook, a photography exhibit chronicling the alternative music scene in Dallas, specifically featuring portraits of the punk, gothic, and riot girl musicians and fans. Visitors overflowed into the street, while the…
Every year Dallas hosts the high-nerd homecoming A-Kon. Tens of thousands of costumed characters clogged the hallways of the Hilton Anatole this weekend, where nearly 100 vendors sold everything from DVDs to broadswords and rooms were filled with card dueling gamers. Meanwhile, I was looking for something off the fairly…
“Dogs should live in a world where we the human beings create balance and harmony,” says Art Ortiz, owner of DogFit Dallas. “Humans complicate things because we’re so emotional, because we’re intellectual. We think about the past, we think about the future. But we don’t spend much time living in…
Monday, June 9 Lev Aronson Legacy Cello Festival Last year, Thornton founded the Lev Aronson Legacy Festival to memorialize the man who changed countless lives with music. This year the festival returns to the camp of Southern Methodist University June 9-14, with performances by former students – including Kirshbaum and…
Willie Baronet is an artist who wears his intentions on his sleeve. His primary interest is interventionist art and he spends much of his time creating projects that force people to pay attention to someone or something. Currently, Baronet is preparing for a coast-to-coast homeless sign buying trip that will…
Some fans express love for their favorite entertainment franchise by endlessly watching, reading or buying the things that spawned their love for it. Ghostbusters fans go a step beyond, especially in Dallas. Thirty years ago this Saturday, the blockbuster comedy became a phenomenon in spite of the fact that no…
Playwrights seek inspiration everywhere. Dallas-based writer Jonathan Norton is no exception. The prolific dramatist is constantly on the hunt for a good story, particularly one that strikes a chord with him. For his newest play Mississippi Goddamn, inspiration arrived on a trip to the titular state where he was reminded…
