Leukemia. Animal cruelty. Child abuse. War. Birth defects. What do these misfortunes have in common? They are all part of the reality that will never be shown on “reality” television. They’re also all funnier than Theo Von, one in a long line of assholes to grace the small screen as…
Most people think that ballet is all pink pointe shoes, tutus and the stuff of Swan Lake. But thanks to choreographers such as Alvin Ailey and Ohad Naharin, and contemporary ballet companies like Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal that perform said choreographers’ cutting-edge and boundary-crossing works, ballet isn’t stuck…
The first film between supreme collaborators Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, 1973’s Mean Streets followed on The Godfather’s heels as part of the new, glorious age of gangster films. Harvey Keitel is Charlie, a small-time guy who operates in New York’s Little Italy, collecting protection money. Between his secret…
I moved to Dallas from a line of little bitty Oklahoma and Texas towns where presidential candidates were often talked about but never seen up close. The coolest thing that happened in those places was usually when a highway sign was erected announcing what “celebrity” was born there, especially if…
From what I recall, Sylvia was this chick who used to hang out at Trees, or at least that’s the story David Garza liked to tell. We’ve all known our fair share of Sylvias in the world, but there’s a new expert on the subject and, love Garza as I…
The French have never been afraid to take it one step further, especially when it comes to cinema. When Marilyn Monroe’s wind-up-the-skirt scene in Seven-Year Itch couldn’t be shown from above the knees or below the shoulders, Brigitte Bardot was baring everything in Et Dieu Créa la Femme. Another comparison…
Paul Rudd wears the constant look of glazed-eye amusement; everything seems to tickle him, even that which annoys or frustrates or disappoints him. He’s frat-boy handsome and therefore almost anonymous when he stands in a movie-star lineup; in Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things (2003), Rudd received a supposedly extreme…
If you traveled the length of John Malkovich’s medulla oblongata, hung a sharp left at the desk where Beckett’s Krapp recorded his last tape and walked through the adjoining door of the interstellar hotel room at the end of 2001, you might end up somewhere in the vicinity of Charlie…
Those who believe that Jonathan Demme went all soft with Philadelphia and never recovered may not be reassured by his latest movie, an ensemble tale of family pathology gussied up with vérité camera work, world music, and improvising actors both trained and not. You can find the worst and the…
A neon portrait of its composer-lyricist smiles down on Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn, now playing in WaterTower Theatre’s studio space. Bald, bearded and over 50, Finn isn’t a pretty man in the flesh, much less in neon light, but he sure writes pretty tunes. In…
At about this time last year, folks like Martin Sheen, Patrick Fugit and Robert Rodriguez descended on Fort Worth for the very first Lone Star International Film Festival. If you couldn’t make it, or just couldn’t get enough, there’s good news: The LSIFF is back for its second year of…
What did women do during the political season before the 19th Amendment gave them a voice at the polls? Just because females couldn’t disappear into a voting booth and put their choice on the ballot doesn’t mean they did not make their political opinions known. They sure didn’t sit around…
The members of The Second City comedy troupe are kind of like the Texas Rangers of the comedy world, just paying their dues before moving on to bigger contracts and brighter things. To give you a taste of the group’s influence, alumni of Second City stage shows and writing programs…
Bridges to nowhere have been a hot political topic of late–but at Craighead-Green Gallery, the artistic “bridges” of exhibition trio David Crismon, Danna Ruth Harvey and Jeff Wilson definitely go somewhere. Crismon, working in oil painting on metal, creates new presentations via manipulation of historical works in Dislocated Histories. He…
When the weather turns cold, there is nothing better than coming home from work to a Crock-Pot full of hot chili. It’s part of the reason I look forward to winter so much–just thinking about opening the front door and getting a whiff of that spicy, peppery, onion-y goodness is…
The Confucius Institute at the University of Texas at Dallas celebrates its first anniversary on Saturday with events that include a Chinese film festival (all films subtitled in English), performances of Chinese folk dancing and music, calligraphy demonstrations and even a fashion show. The institute was founded to promote the…
A painter drawing influence from nature or other artists is nothing new, but I have to wonder how many contemporary artists are likely to be found frequenting the deserts of the Southwest, wandering around gazing at art painted, glazed or carved on the walls of mountains, canyons or caves thousands…
When I was 13 years old, I used to sneak into the dollar movie theater near our apartment in north Dallas. This was a common occurrence for me back then; my middle-class version of juvenile delinquency. Memories of that time are now mostly vague smudges, but I do remember one…
Imagine our delight to find an art exhibition that focuses on life as affected by contemporary media. Except, well, it isn’t so much media proper (newspapers and the like), so our egos weren’t stroked as much as we’d like…but hey, a nod is a nod, right? Anyway, 500X hosts Open…
There’s something about a three-course tea that makes you feel civilized, as if you’ve taken a stroll through time back to the British Empire or stepped into the pages of a Jane Austen novel. The Dallas Arboretum offers Harvest Tea at the DeGolyer Garden Café Tea Room Wednesday through Sunday…
Buy some original art and help abused children at the same time? You can do just that at the annual ART + Advocacy art auction benefiting the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center (DCAC) on Thursday. Speak up or put pen to paper–donated art in several media is featured in both live…
I’ve always wanted to go to Italy to look at art and consume copious amounts of pasta and red wine, but given the state of my checking account, this musical will likely be the closest I get to Florence anytime soon. Based on the novella, The Light in the Piazza…
