Stage names are a pretty good invention in general. If you’re born Norma Jean but want to be a glamorous movie star, you dye your hair blond and become Marilyn. If you’re born David McMahon and want to write music and make fun DVDs for kids, you’ve have to get…
Family vacations are supposed to be fun and stress-free–especially if you are a 6-year old. After spending a lovely week in San Antonio with the family, my parents decided to stop off at a snake farm on the drive home. Their next great idea was to put their extremely young…
Ever since Barack Obama took office, have you noticed a springier spring in your step? A little extra oooo in your ooomph? Well, you have David Plouffe to thank for it. Because the press release announcing the former Obama campaign manager’s appearance in Dallas wants you to understand, in no…
My little sister was obsessed with Stuart Little when she herself was, you know, little. We watched the movie and the sequels over and over at the movie theater. She even had a copy of E.B. White’s book about the second son in the Little family who “was no bigger…
I must have watched eleventy-hundred episodes of Whose Line Is It Anyway? back in the day, from the British version hosted by Clive Anderson to the American bastardization hosted by Drew Carey, which featured plenty of improv talent trying way too hard to be family-friendly–though to be fair, it did…
Some people get all emotional when they see commercials where the kid comes home from school and surprises Mom, or when Sally Struthers and those starving kids in Africa show up on the screen. Me, I’m a sucker for Pedigree ads (thank you, David Duchovny) and those ones for the…
To say that singer-songwriter Tom Russell has led a colorful life is the quite the understatement. Sure, his songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Guy Clark, Joe Ely, k.d. lang and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. And yes, he’s released around 20 albums since he started playing Vancouver strip clubs in…
There’s nothing more heartwarming than a message about humanity. Well, maybe…if you throw in some pearly white costumes, lyrics and some groovy dance moves, you’ve got yourself both a deep, philosophical message and a guaranteed hit. At least that’s Uptown Players’ philosophy. Join them for their production of Breathe, an…
Woody Allen has a muse whose influence surfaces in nearly every film he has ever made. It’s not Diane Keaton or Scarlett Johansson–even they take second billing to his real love: New York City. Anyone who has sat through an Allen flick can tell you that many of his stories…
I first saw The Graduate when I was about 17. I remember that I liked it, thought it was artistic and visually stunning, and I understood the general idea behind some of the symbolism. I saw it again a few years later, when I was the age of the main…
Both times I’ve seen Todd Barry live were during music festivals, so perhaps my perspective on him is skewed. But my favorite part of his act is when he unleashes hilariously withering critiques of hipsters, bands, photographers and the entertainment industry as a whole, all delivered in his bone-dry deadpan…
To me, Jamie Kennedy is frozen in time as the virginal horror flick fan in the Scream movies. These days, he’s moved on to more adult stuff, like executive producing, doing stand-up and acting in The Ghost Whisperer with his girlfriend, JLo Hewitt. And he spends waaaay too much time…
Can strides, jumps and gallops really be captured on a flat surface? Sure, maybe in a photograph, but can you capture it in a painting? Susan Rothenberg thinks so. She’s been doing it for 35 years. Known for her eccentric paintings of movement and action, including jumping horses in “Cabin…
If you’re looking for William Shakespeare’s well-known productions with drawn-out soliloquies and tragic suicides, think again. It’s time to experience a happy ending from this historical playwright. Shocked there’s a possibility that he even wrote a romantic comedy? Don’t be. If all you know of Shakespeare is gloomy endings, the…
Dr. Saul Friedlander, a survivor of the Holocaust, grew up in France and survived the German occupation hiding in a Catholic boarding school. His parents weren’t so lucky; they were caught trying to escape to Switzerland and gassed at Auschwitz. After the war, he finished his education and became a…
Ma’am, I’m sure your son has worked very hard to be the most-feared power hitter in Highland Park. Sir, your son’s curveball is the toast of Plano Senior High, and I won’t begrudge you that. But please recognize that this week, when players from the Puerto Rico Baseball High School…
My house is definitely not a net zero energy house. But such things do exist. GreenCraft Builders just put up a new house in Lewisville–the TimberCreek Net Zero Energy House–and as its name suggests, the house produces as much or more energy than it consumes over the course of a…
Calling all aspiring filmmakers! Hey, guy in the Woody Allen glasses, I’m talking to you. The Video Association of Dallas wants eight teams to come up with movie shorts for the upcoming VideoFest at the Angelika. But there’s a catch: The teams must shoot a three-minute flick on 100 feet…
All too often, it seems like the art world is dominated by the same old, same old. That’s why, to get to the truly great stuff, you have to break from the herd and keep an eye out for those who have their own voices and their own styles. No,…
Every year a shiver of anticipation ran through my elementary school as teachers got mysterious packages and a certain classroom at the end of the hall was closed off, the window in the door covered with red construction paper. This had nothing to do with Santa or Halloween candy, but…
Flying around stage in capes, singing about sad cities and dancing on graves is only a few reasons why Ghostland Observatory has attracted crowds from all over the world. The electro-pop duo from Austin released two albums in less than a year, has played in countless music festivals–including Austin City…
Stories about the Hook Man, Bloody Mary and the spirits of children who haunt the local railroad tracks scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. The best kind of scary stories screw with your mind and leave behind the lingering doubt that maybe, somewhere, it really happened. Expert…
