“If part of your goal is to find the great love of your life, and you went on a date holding a list of attributes that you wanted, and you had the whole night scripted, that’s not going to work,” says George Saunders, from his self-proclaimed writers’ compound in the…
“I like criticism, but it must be my way,” said Mark Twain. That also goes for the actor Val Kilmer, currently portraying Twain at the Wyly Theatre (through April 22) in a one-man touring production he wrote and directed. To be granted tickets to last night’s performance of Citizen Twain,…
In Ink Spot, we stop people in Dallas to shoot, and learn about, their body art. Know an interesting human canvas? Leave a tip in the comments. Justin Wilson combines his appreciation of remix culture and traditional tattoo art in juxtaposed images on his arms. “I like a subversive take…
You don’t have to go far if you want to see Terrence Malick’s new movie, To the Wonder, this weekend. You don’t have to go anywhere, in fact. Though the movie, starring Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams, opens at the Dallas Angelika on Friday, you can already watch it in…
We’ve already snooped ahead into several residences that will be on the White Rock Home Tour, and yes, architecturally speaking, they’re damn sexy. Do you want to go? Cool. We want to get you there. See also: Peer Inside: A Look at Dallas’ Finest Modern Homes from the White Rock…
Every week we highlight the best comedy of the coming weekend. Find more comedy events at dallasobserver.com/calendar. George Willborn at the Arlington Improv Attention, ladies: There is no magic dress. If you looked fat out of the dress, you look fat in the dress. Pearls of wisdom from George Willborn,…
Happy 4/20 weekend! As a perfect merging of events, 4/20 falls on Record Store Day and the Deep Ellum Gallery Walk — yeah, you’re welcome. There’s an opera festival kicking off in Fort Worth, a screenprint showcase, a boxing match, GIF art, George Saunders (we’ve got free passes for that),…
By now, every media slob in Dallas has interviewed Val Kilmer. The 53-year-old actor’s been in town for a couple of weeks, rehearsing his one-man Citizen Twain show, playing April 18 through 21 at the Wyly Theatre. He wrote the one-act performance after a decade of research for a movie…
Dallas moviegoers this weekend will finally get their chance to see Upstream Color, the sophomore film from DFW-bred filmmaker Shane Carruth, whose first film, a time-travel movie called Primer, won the top prize at Sundance nine years ago. The movie, which is roughly about mind control, opens in Dallas on…
The camera establishes a tent in the middle of a field. We’re in the country, we assume, far away from any metropolis. Then, with a cut to the interior of the tent, we see two cots. A young woman lies on one, a small pig on the other. A mysterious…
If only we could tithe to the muse who inspires the strange and wonderful plays Matthew Posey thinks up and puts on at his Ochre House theater. His latest, written and directed by Posey, starring Justin Locklear, Elizabeth Evans and Posey, is Dreams of Slaughtered Sheep, a two-act comic meditation…
The Joads do finally make it to California in The Grapes of Wrath. Though not without a great many problems. Now onstage at Addison’s WaterTower Theatre, Frank Galati’s inelegant stage adaptation of the magnificent Steinbeck novel is directed by WaterTower artistic director Terry Martin. He’s put some seriously talented local…
After working a packed auditorium into a frenzy at last September’s premiere of Lords of Salem at the Toronto International Film Festival, Rob Zombie anxiously took his seat and watched his audience watch his film, his first independently financed feature. It’s also the first film he’s made following a messy…
There’s a thin line between what’s truly mysterious and what’s totally bogus. A movie that leaves you feeling unclear about what’s happening isn’t necessarily mysterious — it may just be inept. In other words, the problem may be it, not you. Shane Carruth’s second feature, Upstream Color, a dystopian romance…
Do you love whisky? Like, so much so that you don’t mind the missing E? Then there’s a society for you. And they don’t demand a pocket fob or a walrus mustache, either. It’s called The Scotch Malt Whisky Society and it’s co-hosting the 20th Annual Single Malt & Scotch…
Dallas’ Continental Gin Building (3309 Elm St.) is a creative stronghold, a rented crashpad for ideas by artists of every medium. There you’ll find the studio of local geometric head-game trickster, Ricardo Paniagua; the workspace of seduction-ready clothing line Status; and the 20-year painting quarters of oil artist Bob Nunn,…
Love him or hate him, David Lynch has produced some of film’s most discussed specimens, and his surrealist style has secured him his place in cinematic history. Eraserhead, the film that introduced the masses to Lynch’s brand of entertainment, has spent the past 30-something years working its way from being…
Back in February, Hurst Conference Center (1601 Campus Drive, Hurst) hosted the first sold-out boxing match in Bud Light’s Pro Fight Series. Friday night, fight number two’s Welterweight Collision Course ropes off some buzzed-about Texas talent, like Irving’s Hector Vazquez, Dallas’ Julio Cesar Rangel and Fort Worth’s Tony Lopez, with…
Reading your first George Saunders novel is like seeing your first 3-D movie. He adds a roundness of thoughtful dimension to his subjects that’s unlike anything you’ve ever explored. I remember opening The Braindead Megaphone Essays at a South Florida CiCi’s Pizza and experiencing a feeling of overwhelming joy, which…
Record Store Day has its champions and detractors. Some suggest every day should be RSD, while others use the limited-edition special releases to fatten up their vinyl collection. Beyond the pursuit of commerce, RSD is a chance to catch Dallas music fanned out around town. Good Records (1808 Greenville Ave.)…
So, you’re between hits. With DIFF cut and wrapped and USA Film Festival another week away, your mind sees the world around you as a movie. If you’re Dallas-to-New York artist Keri Oldham, that isn’t a cinematic hangover, it’s everyday living. Her watercolor world embodies themes, compositions and event title…
Earlier this month, the Dallas Opera kicked off its spring season with a production of Puccini’s Turandot, which was high on style but lacking in passion — at least on opening night. The Fort Worth Opera keeps the momentum going, as it presents another Puccini opera at Bass Performance Hall…
