People can be, shall we say, incredibly emphatic when they talk about religion. But, sometimes, they’re a little too emphatic. Enough that you can’t help but wonder what they really feel.Today’s FLP, “Fanatic Aunt” by r. mateo diago, one of four pieces in a series titled “iChat God Talk,” examines…
Welcome to another edition of Geek-Offs, where you’ll find the perfect distractions to help you muddle your way through hump day each week. I have a confession to make. One of the main reasons I wouldn’t update/upgrade/sync my old iPhone 3G was because of my fear of losing one game:…
An exciting moment late in the day yesterday: The debut of the official trailer for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequel, you know, The Hobbit. Finally. If you didn’t know, Tolkien’s book is being adapted by the pretty much same crew as LOTR (including an epic soundtrack by Howard…
The greatest old broad on TV, Betty White, doesn’t just outlive her contemporaries; she outworks them, too. She’s about to turn 90 and will celebrate with a TV special, Betty White’s 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America’s Golden Girl, airing at 7 p.m. CT, Monday, January 16, on NBC. Joining…
You have until Christmas Eve to catch Dallas Theater Center’s robust production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. For this one, the company moves back to its old home at Kalita Humphreys Theater on Turtle Creek, and that’s a treat. Kalita really is such a perfectly snug place to stage…
Most writers hold book signings at book stores. Gregory G. Allen is not most writers. Tomorrow you can find him at Krimson and Klover, an upscale fashion boutique in Uptown, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., dedicating copies of his new novel, Well With My Soul, a 2011 USA Book News…
“The biggest dick in the world … and not in a good way,” says Kevin Rubén Jacobs, of the eponymous gallery owner. Jacobs is laughing before he even finishes the sentence. The truth is, “Oliver Francis” may or may not be a figment of Jacobs’ brilliantly diabolical imagination. Or, he…
Couple of weeks ago, City of Ate teased the arrival of the rampaging Santas–where hundreds of folks march on Dallas and bar hop along DART, you know, in Santa costumes and stuff. It’s a colorful event that rarely yields unusable photos. This year was no different, as our roving photographer…
This month, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider 500 feet beneath the Franco-Swiss border announced they are one step closer to proving the existence of the Higgs boson, what’s informally called, the “God particle,” the fundamental building block of life theorized to inform all. In other words, The Force, the…
So, as I walked up to the Cathedral of Hope on Friday evening, I smelled … “incense.” If a three year stint in Cambridge, Massachusetts afforded me anything, it was a nose finely attuned to the distinct aroma of “incense.” Hippies. I love them. A couple of months ago, Katie…
Outside, standing toward the back of a line of 500 or so fans of the MTV reality show Jersey Shore, Janessa Salas, 12, and her mother Stacey were super excited about getting VIP tickets to meet Snooki. Janessa, a seventh grader at Allen’s Curtis Middle School, was dressed in Snooki-like…
This weekend brings us the release of not one, not two, but three sequels, which also happen to be a few of the biggest cinematic adventures to hits theaters this holiday season! I hope you are the type to pay a visit to the snack bar on your movie theater…
There are plenty of holiday activities for the younger set, and why shouldn’t there be? The holidays are for kids and kids love giant Christmas trees, gingerbread house villages and Santa’s temporary home away from home – the mall. But we’re too old to enjoy winter wonderlands and sit in…
Though I am not particularly religious, I can’t say that atheism, as a “movement,” means all that much to me; it is simply not my battle. However, as a lover of words, etymology, elegant syntax, the Oxford comma, philosophy, journalism, trenchant logic, audacity and the “writer mystique,” I cannot help…
Over on Unfair Park, Robert Wilonsky posted the full release from the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics picks of the best films of 2011. Descendants, the Alexander Payne drama with George Clooney, is a topper as well as Drive (full Q&A with the director right here), Martin Scorcese’s Hugo, and Steve…
Over here at Observer HQ, it was a year of street cars, Texas craft liquors, Pomplamoose and NASCAR, eight-tracks and fracking. And, you know, other things. Clearly you’ll find a great horde of final best-of-end-of-totally-ranking-year-end lists all over the dern place, and by golly we’re no different. We just loooove…
He survived schlepping Fed Ex boxes for Hollywood fashion stylist Rachel “It’s bananas” Zoe, and now Brad Goreski will star in his own cable TV “docu series,”It’s a Brad, Brad World. Premiering at 9 p.m. CT, Monday, January 2, the show is a spin-off of The Rachel Zoe Project, following…
Earlier this year, the Alamo Drafthouse released a video of a completely real-life voicemail from a rather-upset film patron who was booted from the theater after texting during the film. The Drafthouse, which I’d argue is one of the great theaters in our Milky Way, is very clear about their…
You may remember back in November, after Art Conspiracy 7, which temporarily transformed 511 West Commerce into a house-that-art-built, Unfair Park hinted at the possible wad of cash the event generated for a worthy cause. This year’s cause, of course, was Musical Angels, which provides piano lessons to hospitalized children…
Described as a “psychotic prom-queen bitch,” the anti-heroine of Young Adult is a prize part that affords Charlize Theron one of the season’s prize performances — although, to judge from the voting at the New York Film Critics Circle conclave last week, few of my colleagues seem to agree. Perhaps…
Although supplying boy’s adventure thrills on the side, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories are remarkable for how they make the process of empirical brainwork, and the resulting discoveries, breathlessly exciting. Each Holmes tale simultaneously unlocks a mystery while deepening the enigma of its hero in a miraculously sustained piece…
There’s something to be said for seeing the world in shades of gray. For 26 years that’s been the philosophy of Dallas’ Pegasus Theatre, which performs its annual murder mystery comedy in trademarked “Living Black and White” style. This year’s show, opening at the Eisemann Center in Richardson on December…
