Theater Caps are bite-sized punch-packing capsule reviews by resident theater critic Elaine Liner. Use them as a reminder — or a teaser, if you procrastinate — of her full-length reviews in The Mixmaster’s weekly sister. The stage version of the 1982 Blake Edwards movie Victor/Victoria takes what was a B-level…
This morning I got an alert from Google telling me I was mentioned somewhere on the Internet. Naturally, I clicked on the link so I could read what nice or horrifying things were said. In this case, it was an article posted by my pal Russ Fischer over at /Film…
Theater Caps are bite-sized punch-packing capsule reviews by resident theater critic Elaine Liner. Use them as a reminder — or a teaser, if you procrastinate — of her full-length reviews in The Mixmaster’s weekly sister. The 1961 musical How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying is like Mad Men…
Director’s Notes documents, from planning to performance, the challenges of local artist Katie Toohil as she mounts an original, independent theatrical dance production. Shortly after I decided to go forward with this Grieve project, a nagging question poked its head to the surface: “Will anyone want to dance in this…
We get it, OK? We live here too, and we know what’s going on. We’re not even going to mention what everyone keeps talking about. So, by all means keep updating your Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter (and giving us reason to drink), but ask yourself this: Is your bitching going…
Sure, sure, overnight this video blew up on the Interwebs (and we thought people slept! Pshaw). Even Kristen Schaal tweeted it. But who gives a shit because it’s that gross time known as “almost 9 a.m.” and this is pretty much the best thing we’ve seen. In a while. For…
A lesson in how to succeed at staging a creaky vintage musical comedy can be found in ICT Mainstage’s current uncreaky production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. It’s fresh, fun, funny. Everything works. Musical director Scott A. Eckert’s tight eight-piece pit band sounds lush, full of…
A uniquely Freudian entry in the body-switching comedy canon, The Change-Up stars Jason Bateman as standard-issue anal-retentive lawyer/family man Dave, and Ryan Reynolds as Dave’s classically anal-expulsive stoner/playboy childhood friend Mitch. When sober, Dave begrudgingly tolerates Mitch’s wild-animal routine. One night, when both are drunk, Dave admits he’s secretly jealous…
There may be nothing as Old Hollywood as the narrative about a pretty girl summoning up a dose of pluck to triumph over adversity. And yet Brit Marling — the lithe, stunning co-writer and star of 2011 Sundance Film Festival hits Another Earth and Sound of My Voice, who gives…
There are a few city leaders I sure hope make it to this exhibition examining how new architecture in a city’s historic districts can allow area neighborhoods to evolve without endangering the crucial character that made the areas worth protecting to begin with. Ahem. Context/Contrast originally appeared at the New…
When folks read headlines about floods, famines and other natural disasters around the world, they cope in many different ways. Some write it off to climate change and head to the bar with friends. Others circle passages in sacred texts or watch 2012 doomsday documentaries and set dates for their…
Since becoming a popular movement in the 1950s, minimalism has remained a powerful force in fashion, art and architecture. Of course, as with any art movement, there are critics who are quick to attack minimalist art as too simplistic or less meaningful than, say, impressionist or abstract art. But art…
Ladies in comics aren’t always relegated to the roles of helpless damsels in distress or impossibly proportioned Barbie doll heroines in skin-tight costumes, and ladies creating comics don’t have to fall into the mold of cranking out dull everywoman schlock like Cathy. Exhibit A: the awkward high school protagonist of…
Being a fan of chiles isn’t always easy. Lots of sweat, tears and glasses of milk are involved if you’ve got a serious obsession. Lucky for you, Blue Mesa admires your loyalty to being a hothead. Blue Mesa Grill’s 15th Annual Hatch Chile Fest is offering the biggest and baddest…
It may not be on Bravo or have Andy Cohen’s head talking after it airs, but HGTV’s Design Star is just as addictive as any of the Top Chefs, Platinum Hits or Work of Arts out there. The latest season of Design Star premiered with the same panel of expert…
A few weeks ago, we asked you to help us (help you) on the subject of the Best of Dallas Readers’ Picks Categories. Your suggestions didn’t disappoint. After throwing your advice in the hopper and giving them a test run, we now have chemically tested, FDA-approved poll for you. A…
Today marks the 10th anniversary of Angelika Dallas, and the movie theater is celebrating the occasion with free screenings of 10 movies from the last 10 years. They’re also rolling back prices on popcorn and soda to 10 cents, which means it’s cheap date night for all. We here at…
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and though many of you might disagree with that statement because it’s ball-sweat hot (even my metaphorical balls are sweating), it really is the best time of the year because it’s Shark Week. Shark Week! The one week of the year where…
Writer Miroslav Penkov put out his first book this summer, East of the West: A Country in Stories, a collection of eight short stories set in his native Bulgaria. The culmination of several years of work, the book is a fine delivery on the promise Penkov has shown in his…
OK, we’re not exactly sure that they were worn on camera. In fact, let’s just assume they weren’t. But whatever, for $20 you could have some faux turquoise chandeliers that were “issued to the set” of Dallas — OG, people — for use in several episodes. Again, not sure if…
Easy with that trigger finger, hombre; it’s time for the Weekly Tease!This week’s offering of a sneak snippet of the forthcoming print edition dropping in a couple of days gives us an interesting detailed look at … well, seems to be the business end of a gun. Either that, or…
The images in Leigh Merrill’s “North Texas Strip” look at once blighted and serene, like photos taken ten minutes after the Apocalypse. Merrill took thousands of photographs featuring buildings and streetscapes in the metroplex, then digitally assembled and reassembled them to make new images of unreal places. Some of the…
