Now that the season of incredibly emotional charity commercials has closed, we’re feeling pretty good about the opportunity to give locally with a smile, swollen heart and, most important, an empty stomach. Café Momentum helps the at-risk youth of our city by providing culinary training, a real-world skill set and…
Mike Winfield is a special comedic talent, and trust us, you know his face. He’s parlayed guest appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, Showtime’s Comics Without Borders, BET’s Comic View and Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham into a recurring role at everyone’s favorite paper company, Dunder Mifflin, on…
The years of slovenly dripping your way through life have concluded. This year, you’re going to get dressed up and cultured. Beginning your path to betterment is a one-weekend-only performance by sexy Scottish violin superstar Nicola Benedetti. She joins the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. Thursday for a concert…
When pirates began invading ships and taking hostages in the seas surrounding Somalia, it was world news. We heard daily about these hostages and ransoms and the rather archaic seeming bandits responsible for the acts. What we heard little about was why these Somali people suddenly began hijacking giant vessels…
Not to be confused with the Odd Couple, the old couple in The Ochre House Theater’s production of OLD are a thousand times more surly, snarky and entertaining. Plus, the Odd Couple never spent time with pimps and whores … that you know of. Dubbed a vaudeville tragedy in two…
While some people may claim that popcorn is a delectable treat perfect for sharing, the folks at Pocket Sandwich Theatre think popcorn is more appropriately used as a projectile for audience engagement. Yes, it’s superhero spoof time with Captain Phantasm once again on the stage of Pocket Sandwich Theatre (5400…
There was a corridor of time when Cuba’s potential felt unlimited. Revolution brought power, and — at least for a while — it seemed like everyone would get a slice. Castro had some big ideas about how to make that happen, but one of his grandest involved a golf course,…
Creative collaboration comes naturally to Austere Magazine’s co-owners Natasha Stoked and Nikki Crouse. Friends since childhood, the pair knew early on that they wanted to convey ideas as a profession. So while others piddled away their formative years, the future business partners spent theirs experimenting with Photoshop and developing a…
“I think science appeals to me more as I’ve gotten older,” comedian David Huntsberger mused into the phone. “‘Cause of the varying hypotheses on stuff, the attempts to explain human existence. It always seems to be pursuing that. I mean, what the hell are human beings, and why are they…
Some will tell you that comedian Neil Hamburger wasn’t born in a traditional sense, that he instead materialized in the coat check of mid-scale pizza parlor off the I-30 frontage road in Atlantic City. Hamburger speaks in a collective “we,” and whether he’s including his phantom “management,” adoring fans or…
Dallas Theater Center now has a full-time playwright-in-residence. He is Will Power, recipient of a fat grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which is spending $3.7 million to support new playwrights-in-residence programs at 14 regional theaters across the country. As DTC’s in-house playwright and a member of its artistic…
Some say opera is a dead or dying art form. On its way out, it fills old spaces with almost-dead people to hear old music by way-dead composers. Don’t tell that to the Fort Worth Opera, though, which announced yesterday an enormous plan to keep the genre not just alive,…
Because a news reporting bird, hamsters in a blimp, a kitten halftime show and 63 puppies hadn’t been adorable enough to initiate world peace, Animal Planet announced a new addition to its roster yesterday: a “squadron of cheerleading hedgehogs.” They’ll take the field for the main event from 3 to…
Gavin Cleaver is the Observer’s British barbecue correspondent. I’m not a consistently funny man. And while I’m a huge fan of stand-up, I’ve never looked at it and thought “I could do that!” I might be mildly funny in text format sometimes, but in text I have the chance to…
Du Chau, the ceramist and teacher at several local colleges (Brookhaven, SMU), tries his hand at printmaking in an undeniably lovely exhibition at Kirk Hopper Fine Arts. The artist uses a mix of techniques to emphasize life and energy in clear defiance of war and violence and, for balance –…
Va-va-voom! Those gutsy dames of Viva Dallas Burlesque were back at it on Friday night at Dallas’ Lakewood Theater. Performers Iris Le’Mour, Miss Malicious, Ruby Joule, Coco Lectric, Angi B Lovely, Blaze and Donna Denise peacocked their glitziest feathers at Burlesque Royalty, a show that would make any king blush…
You know the back of his head better than the front. That’s because Joel Hodgson is the human creator of Mystery Science Theater 3000. For six years he served as camp cinema’s whistleblower, pelting verbal tomatoes at sacrificial B and C genre films with assists by snarky robot sidekicks. Now…
Should we blame a script oversight or shoddy editing for our collective emotional blue balls? It’s a question Downton Abbey fans are asking themselves after being left at the alter midway through the season three premiere. After two years of following Mary and Cousin Matthew’s dramatic push and pull, we…
The war’s over. The soldiers have left the Abbey to recuperate off stage. Lavinia’s absence makes Cousin Matthew an honorable bachelor, and with that scendelous newspaper man out of the picture, it seems he and Mary might finally celebrate their love. Most importantly, what’s going on with Bates and Anna?…
The DMA launches its new membership program, DMA Friends, later this month. Until now, we knew only that it was a free public program offering general admission access to the community, hinged around visitor engagement. On Monday they’ll present the master plan to the Dallas City Council, so we looked…
Editor’s note: The author is British, so this thing is, like, authentic. Downton Abbey returns Sunday, so to celebrate, buy the finest wine you can afford to drink in large quantities, send the staff away for the weekend, become horrified by the smallest social faux pas, and sip gently and…
HULK SMASH! Everyone’s favorite Hulk, Lou Ferrigno is posing for pictures this weekend at the North Texas Comic Book Show — man, I hope he’s wearing those castaway pants. Wake up! Dude, you’re still in vacation mode — it’s all over your face. You’re sitting at a desk, sure, but…
