It’s begun. The Dallas International Film Festival is rolling out its selections for this year’s fest, which will consume our minds and eyes from April 4 through April 14. The first 10 films were just announced, and two of them are products of filmmakers who get their mail delivered in…
I know what you’re thinking: Did I drop acid and step inside of a paint-by-numbers, again? Possibly. Also, Night Comfort! It’s Friday’s celebration of music video and Beta-era television footage. What’s that Dallas? You’d like dirt track championships, tripped-out musicals on film, Irish Festivals, live comedy, great art AND opera…
In Death by Microphone, local Brit and barbecue blogger Gavin Cleaver attends stand-up comedy classes at the Dallas Comedy House and reports back for our amusement and education. Check back next week to revel further in his failure. It’s all in the preparation, you know? You can’t just stand on…
Editor’s note: Observer contributor and local piano instructor Katie Womack was especially moved by the death yesterday of pianist Van Cliburn, whose namesake competition she was gushing about just last week. We asked for her take on Cliburn’s death. Wednesday morning one of America’s most storied classical music performers, pianist…
Every Thursday we highlight the best comedy of the coming weekend. Find more comedy events at dallasobserver.com/calendar. Paul Reiser at Hyena’s in Dallas You’re hearing the Mad About You theme song in your head, aren’t you? Well, if you weren’t, you are now. Reiser is the author of three damn-funny…
There’s a reason, beyond basic Judd Apatow oversaturation, that hardly anyone went to see his mewl of middle-aged despair This Is 40. A movie about a marriage already in progress — as opposed to one about a marriage just waiting to happen, the province of the romantic comedy — is…
To paraphrase Stephen Sondheim, there are big, tall, terrible, fleshy, bulbous-headed giants in the sky in Jack the Giant Slayer. And what would a big-budget, mildly revisionist, 3-D spin on “Jack and the Beanstalk” be if those fearsome beasties didn’t somehow make it down to sea level, where a storybook…
Actor Kieran Connolly sits in full view for 20 minutes before the first word of Red, the two-man bio-drama about artist Mark Rothko now running at the Wyly Theatre. As patrons take their seats, Connolly leans back in a chair, silently, intently staring at a huge red and black painting,…
There are great gay playwrights like Tennessee Williams whose plays have become classics because they deserved to be. There are good gay playwrights like Terrence McNally whose work is perceived as great because it’s just a little better than a lot of other stuff out there. And there is Del…
Honestly, when it started six years ago, Californication was provocative, ballsy and fun, with laugh-out-loud dialogue and plenty of smart musings about love, sex, family and responsibility. Over five seasons, anti-hero Hank Moody (David Duchovny) has drank and fucked his way through a series of Hollywood writing jobs, all the…
Mark Frauenfelder isn’t human. The former editor-in-chief at Wired magazine online just does too much to be mortal. When he breaks from contributing to The New York Times Magazine, Popular Science, Business Week, The Hollywood Reporter or Wired, the efficiency aficionado is banging out his next DIY project to be…
Girls on the Run of DFW brings LUNAFEST traveling film festival to Dallas on Thursday. The one-night-only event will be held at the Studio Movie Grill off North Central Expressway near Spring Valley. The evening will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by a screening of selected short…
What has Paul Reiser been doing lately? That’s no doubt a question that causes you to wake up in a cold sweat at 2 a.m. So, to soothe your anxious heart: The actor/comedian/author/Mad About You star attempted another TV run with 2011’s The Paul Reiser Show, which only aired two…
You’d better not have abandoned seduction for Lent, because award-winning international burlesque star Honey Cocoa Bordeauxx is bringing sexyback with her Electric Saloon Burlesque and Cabaret Revue. The Creole Bombshell brings her stuff to the stage at Rubber Gloves for a night of adult entertainment, and she’ll be joined by…
I run only when chased. I make an exception to that rule, but it involves a limited number of doughnuts, a large group of cubical workers and a short jaunt to the communal kitchen. Otherwise, inertia and I are best bros. Lifemates, really. So no, I do not understand the…
Miss the Fort Worth rodeo already? The Dickies Iron Cowboy IV hits Cowboys Stadium in Arlington (1 Legends Way) this Saturday, bringing you 24 of the best and most extreme professional bullriders on the circuit, vying for a cash prize. If you’ve ever spent an afternoon accidentally getting lost in…
Hauntingly beautiful and layered behind a scrim of hazy melancholy, Ted Kincaid’s images seem to capture a distant, mystical world. But what actually composes that “reality” is the debatable question. His famous Thunderhead Clouds begin as actual photos which are hyper-altered, manipulated and distorted. His newer pieces, which resurrect possibly…
While other kids played house you drifted off, dreaming of a xeriscape yard, minimalist furniture and an angular home built brilliantly into a rocky hill. There, your toys would hide in tucked-away wall cubbies with click-open, fingertip technology. Your dog would be hypoallergenic and match the rug positioned underneath your…
If the thrill of the 75 isn’t enough for you, maybe the Port-A-Cool Texas World Dirt Track Championship at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth will be. It’s a down and dirty, pedal to the metal, fuel-injected hootenanny where you can scream as loud as you want because the engines…
Thanks to Bob Barker, generations of Americans learned daily about the importance of having pets spayed and neutered. And though Drew Carey continues to carry on the message, we know that the best pet advocates still exist locally, and few do that better than the SPCA of Texas. The 70-years-strong…
Tommy, the Who’s 1975 musical based on their 1969 album of the same name, has been psychoanalyzed, contextualized, repurposed and transformed into a cult hit referenced across 30 years of pop culture. It also gave the Who the distinction of being one of the first bands to approach the rock…
The good people of Dallas hear the words “Irish” and “celebration” and instantly think of passing out in a pile of green beads. Ah, the parade. Of course, there is every reason to love our St. Patrick’s Day festivities, but very little of it has to do with Irish heritage…
