Back in the day, it was no easy feat to discover whether someone was a real princess or not. First of all, you had to place a pea on the floor. Then you covered the pea with twenty mattresses and twenty eider-down beds. Today, of course, it would be much…
As any frequent peruser of dusty discount record bins knows, there are a handful of record albums that you’re constantly flipping past. A few of the usual suspects, like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, are noticeable not for the dazzlingly impressive art work, but because of the sheer numbers of copies. But…
Let’s say you really like pizza, but you don’t like tomato sauce or cheese. So you order pizza without tomato sauce and cheese. If you’re still calling that piece of bread with pepperoni on it “pizza,” you’re a crazy person. Or maybe you love mammals, but not fur or things…
What is it about conservatives writing books about their father figures? First Tim Russert wrote Big Russ and Me, and Clarence Thomas published My Grandfather’s Son. My theory is that it’s a last-ditch effort at achieving the love Papa denied them growing up. Not that I have experience with this…
Two words: polka festival. Either you’re already rollin’ your eyes, or you’re hearing the music and envisioning a kolache in one hand and a Pilsner Urquell in the other. This Memorial Day weekend Ennis, Texas will host the 42nd Annual National Polka Festival. Located 30 minutes south of downtown Dallas,…
What do you get when you put more than 200 artists in one place displaying, demonstrating and selling their creations? A paintball tournament without the balls. No, that’s not right. Actually, what you get is ARTFEST 2008, a juried event bringing together said artists at Fair Park. It goes down…
I don’t need much ammunition to rationalize going out for some sushi. But now RA Sushi has given us all a bona fide reason to pig out on maki. From Sunday to May 31, 100 percent of sales from select food items and beverages at RA, 7501 Lone Star Drive…
I’ll say three names, and you tell me what they’ve got in common. Or don’t, because if you do, you’re going to be the creep talking back to the alt-weekly paper, and the dude next to you at New Fine Arts might get the wrong idea. Anyway, here are the…
There’s this cool cat I know–Byron. At least that’s the name that the family uses daily–I’m not privy to his other two names, after all. He parades around our shared courtyard with a distinguished yet mischievous air, and I’m fairly convinced that he’s actually a runaway stage performer from one…
I may never understand Leslie Jordan’s career. Somehow, the little Southern gay man has turned those four qualities into a successful lifelong stint that never goes away. Whether he’s popping up on Will & Grace (or more brilliantly in Boston Legal) or running Del Shores’ plays and films like Southern…
Benito Huerta’s art runs the gamut in both style and medium. From ancient cultural experience to new perspectives, Huerta uses paper, board, canvas and metal sheeting as tools to convey ideas and to transcend stereotypes in new, creative ways. Huerta is currently being honored for his broad and numerous contributions…
From Hillary’s recent self-deprecating sniper-fire jokes to McCain’s farcical announcement on The Daily Show that The Office’s Dwight Schrute would be his running mate to Obama’s, um, dancing on Ellen, presidential candidates are aware of the important role silliness and charade play on the tollway to the Oval Office. In…
Every few years someone in Hollywood decides to put out a film in 3-D, hoping to recapture a little of that 1950s magic, when well-groomed youngsters thought nothing of wearing nerdy red and blue glasses through a nausea-inducing 60 minutes of bad sci-fi. Director James Cameron (Terminator, Titanic, etc.) is…
If there’s one thing we love it’s a good heist movie, whether it’s Ocean’s Eleven, The Thomas Crown Affair, Inside Man, Kelly’s Heroes, A Fish Called Wanda, Home Alone or uh, Home Alone 2. (OK, so maybe we’re stretching with Home Alone 2, but come on, it’s awesome. We still…
“Superior old world craftsmanship” doesn’t make me think of men sweating over European or Chinese workbenches. I picture my Native American ancestors. Some estimate that 40 million people lived in the Americas before European “discovery” in the 1400s. Luckily much of the artistry of these indigenous tribes have survived either…
Relay races are risky. You’re putting your future (and sometimes potential cash money) in someone else’s hands, and unless those hands are extremely capable, you’re gonna get screwed. Reality shows love having relay race competitions because they can only end in disaster. Or catfights. But, as we all know, people…
Presidential campaign, what? Everyone has an opinion on who should be our next leader, what they should focus on, where they should pull out from, who they should appoint as a running mate and if their clothes really send a good message to “the people.” Big deal. It’s the latest,…
You can call A Dog’s Life, by Sean Grennan and Leah Okimoto, a “howlingly funny new musical” all you want, Theatre Three. I’ll bet you $10 that I’ll bawl my way through the whole thing. See, apparently young pup Jack was adopted by a family. He was subsequently tied to…
University of Texas psychology professor Sam Gosling wrote about the revolutionary idea that you can tell things about people by the things they keep. Oh really, professor? So you’re saying that by examining his girly posters and fraternity paraphernalia, I could have deduced that my college roommate was a douchebag?…
Calling a play Intimate Apparel is a pretty, uh, ballsy move. With a name like that, you have every right to expect a stage production full of bustiers, garter belts and banana hammocks, in other words, plenty of reasons to fork over full price admission. But don’t be fooled, the…
The Texas/Mexico border is a geologically and culturally diverse area inhabited by “ambiente fronterizo,” people who have combined the two country’s cultural ideas. Border Studies documents these people and the terrain of the border through historical maps and photographs. Unfotunately, photos might soon be the only way to see this…
Twenty Wishes, Debbie Macomber’s new novel, is all uplifting because the characters in it make a list of the “wonderful things they hope to experience.” As a promotional contest, Macomber and her publisher are giving $10,000 away to the person who writes the best 50-words-or-less summary of their own wildest…
