7/8 Remember that time you left the black Sharpie in your jeans pocket and the cap came off and ruined an entire load of laundry and your mom’s sparkling white washer? She made you scrub the tub with rubbing alcohol, and you got such a head rush, then such a…
7/8 Porn for Puritans is a play. And it’s not. It’s sketch comedy, stand-up, songs, monologues, dialogues and tangos. “It’s Defending the Caveman meets The Vagina Monologues as done by Nickels and May,” says Tim Wardell, who co-wrote and stars in the, well, whatever it is. Leigh Tomlinson, his business…
No pun intended, but the Lodge is one of the most well-rounded gentlemen’s clubs in Dallas. Not only is the club clean and comfy, but, as a woman, it’s the classiest joint we’ve visited where scantily clad lasses are the main attraction. And we don’t use “classy” to describe only…
All you need to know about Spider-Man 2 is revealed in the opening credits, in which comic-book artist Alex Ross recaps the 2002 original in lovingly, lavishly painted panels. Spidey and Mary Jane Watson are once again entangled in that now-iconic upside-down kiss; nutty Norman Osborn, out of Green Goblin…
Samurai have never been strangers to film; in fact, an entire genre has sprung from their legend, with plenty of attendant offshoots, cross-pollinators and beneficiaries (Westerns, slasher films, Star Wars). Lately, the feudal Japanese warriors have enjoyed a particular bounty of screen time: 2003 brought us The Last Samurai, in…
In the secular world, the space of the art gallery constitutes hallowed ground. Its white walls beckon those willfully wayward members of the flock who by habit choose to while away their Sundays at the mall rather than before the pulpit. On Friday night you’ll find them at the opening…
Michael Smith Michael Smith’s videos, installations and photographs break down many of the barriers of art while paradoxically remaining fully within its confines. Smith’s installation “Famous Quotes From Art History” draws attention to “art” not only as a thing but also as an institution. Playing on art’s role as a…
The Dining Room In the stuffy but elegant confines of an East Coast WASP-ish household, 60 characters come and go over six decades of meals, arguments and reconciliations conducted around one large dining table. Playwright A.R. “Pete” Gurney, now a master at chronicling the lives of upper-crusters who turn out…
William Shakespeare plagued you from orientation to graduation. You glanced at him as he sat on the cover of his works, coiffed and cocky, with a smug smile that said, “I know what you’re in for, but I don’t want to spoil all the fun.” Arrogant jerk. Agonizingly lyrical prose,…
Thursday, July 1 We do our fair share of joking around in Night & Day, but there are definitely issues we hold near and dear. Most of the time, we aim to alert our readers to entertaining or fun things to do, but Thursday offers an event that is important…
This one time, at band camp, we wore black bike shorts under ripped jean shorts and participated in a dance contest. So, it’s definitely a good thing our parents stopped shipping us off to camp right before puberty kicked in. Who knows what further embarrassments awaited us. Not that we…
7/5 In grade-school years, you were probably asked to collect family recipes and contribute to some fund-raising cookbook. For our Camp Fire group, we forked over the coveted recipe for Granny’s pecan pie. Bored one summer day after that, we figured we’d try to prepare one and surprise Mom. We…
7/1 Surely, you remember the Dream Team. The 1992 USA basketball gold-winners proved that legends such as Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson could set rivalries aside to rip the rest of the world’s sorry butts to shreds. Too bad those days are long gone, as America’s greatest have…
7/1 If the British comedy Red Dwarf has taught us anything, it’s that there is no problem that can’t be solved, or created, by a chicken vindaloo. This spicy Indian dish–containing, at least on the show, chicken, beer and curry powder–can give you indigestion, improve a boring pizza or become…
7/4 In Texas, Willie Nelson and the Fourth of July go together like peanut butter and jelly, cold beer and a foam Koozie, Joanie and Chachi. One is fine; both is better. I know this, particularly in how it relates to Willie and Independence Day. But I’ve never been to…
America’s Heart & Soul, the debut feature from commercial director Louis Schwartzberg, is being depicted in some quarters as the antidote to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, mostly because it’s a documentary, being released around the same time, about the USA. For more simplistic minds who equate anti-Bush sentiment with hatred…
Sometimes a few orders of well-made appetizers can be as satisfying as a four-course meal. So it is with The Dining Room, now playing at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas. A.R. Gurney’s two-act play offers nibbles of story, several tasty characters and enough good lines to chew on to forgive the…
Cast: Photographs by Jin-Ya Huang In her photographs, Jin-Ya Huang turns fuzziness and blur into a visual vocabulary of the indecipherable. The illegibility of her images is by no means frustrating. The combined result of the artist’s secret prop choices and photo-digital process, these images will keep you guessing while…
6/24 Defining rock and roll’s birthday is nearly impossible. But Memphis staked claim to the date July 5, 1954, the day when a very young Elvis Presley recorded “That’s All Right (Mama)” at Sun Studio. Arguably, others were doing it first. And according to an article by David Hajdu from…
A strong toxin requires a strong antidote. In the case of the Bush administration, the cure is being served in significant part by Michael Moore, who previously delivered the rousing documentaries Roger & Me and Bowling for Columbine. This time, however, the exposé feels even more personal, as Moore reveals…
It’s often a challenge to fairly assess a film that, by its very conception, is simply targeted to an entirely different demographic from one’s own. I am not by nature romantic or female; for those who are, it may have to suffice that the mostly double-X-chromosomed crowd watching The Notebook…
It’s charming. It’s hilarious. It is perhaps the most beautifully crafted, lovingly rendered portrait of extreme geekitude ever to grace the screen. It’s Napoleon Dynamite–the first feature film from 24-year-old Brigham Young University student Jared Hess–and, if there is any justice, it’s going to be huge. Remember that kid who…
