Alamo Drafthouse’s Texas Monthly Rolling Roadshow has been kicking up dust around the Lone Star State for the last month, screening 10 Texas film gems in their locales of conception: Blood Simple in Austin, The Searchers in Groesbeck and No Country For Old Men in Marfa, etc. But the finale…
Featuring more than 5,000 meters of vibrant fabrics and various materials ranging from plastic slinkies to bugs, Cirque du Soleil is taking one of its most famous performances and kicking it up a notch. With its debut in 1999, Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion drew in and captivated more than seven…
You came, you voted…and, yeah, you dissed a dead guy, a legendary musician and a cinematic smartass by quite a large measure, and an improv queen by notsomuch. At the close of the poll, historian Erik Larson beat the pack scoring a little over 40 percent of the total votes…
You probably didn’t know this (I didn’t either), but the annual gathering of Mages and magicians, professional tricksters, practicing misdirectionists and wide-eyed neophytes, has alighted at the Sheraton Hotel. The 83rd Annual Convention of the International Brotherhood of Magicians is upon us, folks, so I wandered the yawning, psychedelically carpeted…
Local marketing and design consult, Gorilla vs. Bear creative director and, in my opinion, Polaroid Pro David Bartholow was asked by the Impossible Project to field test their new color film for the 600 Polaroid Cameras. In case you weren’t aware, Polaroid stopped producing their analog instant film in February…
There’s nothing more American that grilling burgers, lighting things on fire and passing out drunk in a bedazzled flag shirt. That’s right: It’s time to celebrate our independence and what better way than to catch a screening of an American classic in which the Motor City descends into hell where…
For some July 4th weekend pure happiness: The Dallas Comedy House flash-mobbed Half Price Books, and there’s smile-inducing video to prove it. Comedy House mob leader Clay Barton has confirmed the DCH performed the number this month at Half Price Books on Northwest highway. We’re certain this needs to happen…
Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of literature’s manliest men: Ernest Hemingway. About a month ago, author Marty Beckerman released his latest book, The Heming Way. I figured it might be a tribute until I read the subhead, How to Unleash the Booze-Inhaling, Animal-Slaughtering, War-Glorifying, Hairy-Chested,…
For obvious reasons, last decade saw a deluge of Texans descending onto Capitol Hill in the form of congressional interns, staffers, lobbyists and journalists. Today many of these “expats” are back Lone Star State-side and, impossible to rehabilitate, have since gone to law school, gotten MBAs or continued writing fervently…
There’s something quaint and elegant about seeing Shakespeare Dallas’ summer shows on the grassy lawn of the outdoor amphitheater at Tenison Park. Even if you’re wearing cut-offs and flip-flops, and picnicking on Slim Jims and Mike’s Hard Lemonade, it still counts as high culture. Goodness knows, in our crass, Snooki-fied…
My friend Kelly and I have been taking Boot Camp with Will from Power 212 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7 a.m. for the past three weeks. And we’ve lived to tell about it. First of all, it’s a small miracle I can even type after Boot Camp. Ninety…
Last night, some of the state’s most fashionable people descended on the Design District to celebrate original Texas fashion — yes, it does exist. It was the fourth annual Texas Next Top Designer Announcement Gala at eM the Venue with a runway show featuring 20 designers from around the state…
Last week I interviewed stand-up comedian/actor Ahmed Ahmed, who’s currently touring the U.S. to promote his directorial debut, the wonderful documentary Just Like Us. In the film, out on screens for a week now here in Dallas, Ahmed takes us and his stand-up routine around the world, showing a diversity…
Though now into her second year of producing Viva Dallas Burlesque, Shoshana Portnoy still finds that the best way of filling seats is walking up to people and asking if they’ve ever been to burlesque show before. Despite the word-of-mouth marketing strategy, Portnoy and her show have legitimatized burlesque as…
Like fireworks and fire ants, Shakespeare in the park is part of the summer landscape. Shakespeare Dallas, now in its 40th season, is already under way, with two classics in production. For the first time, they’ve strayed from the words of the Bard to put another author’s work on the…
For a movie called Larry Crowne, it sure is tough to get a solid read on the character of Larry Crowne. Directed, co-written by and starring Tom Hanks in that title role, the film seems to want to be some kind of post-recessional pick-me-up, an “It Gets Better” video for…
The two hours and 34 minutes of Transformers: Dark of the Moon are loaded with unimaginable violence, but only one spasm left the audience speechless at the theater where I watched it. They cheered the robot-on-robot slugfests, rendered in terabyte-straining slow motion and splashing Decepticon blood (oil?). The destruction of…
What the hell is the Village at Fairview trying to pull? They’re screening family-friendly movies for free on the first Saturday of the month throughout the summer and, get this, inviting families to come watch them. Together. We’re a little bit suspicious, as frankly, the idea of watching a movie…
The comedy scene is a three-ring circus, so it makes sense, that one of its greats is a former ringmaster. Paul Mooney started his career cracking jokes during his stint with the Gatti-Charles Circus, went on to write for Richard Pryor and Redd Fox’s Sanford and Son, and acted in…
Corn dogs are so inherently American that whenever someone says something is “as American as apple pie,” I mentally substitute the pie with “corn dogs.” It has been a long time since baking from scratch a pastry with fresh fruit was a significant part of the American cultural landscape. A…
There are two kinds of people in this world: Those that celebrate their country’s independence by guzzling beer and grilling bratwursts, and those that celebrate by going on an EIGHT THOUSAND meter run around East Dallas. If you belong to the latter group, then this Fourth of July, you won’t…
Frank Deford, arguably the best sportswriter in America, once told me that everyone’s fascination with soccer is as if the whole world likes bad movies. I get it. It’s slow, overly dramatic and you can watch for hours without seeing a point. But, it’s also a great way to show…
