I’m not sure if it was Annie or the Carol Burnett Show that first alerted me to Her existence, but soon a snowball effect occurred. I dressed as “Carol” on Halloween, tried sketch comedy in the first grade talent show (fart jokes: works every time.) and tugged my earlobe at…
The Dallas international Film Festival has earned a respectable spot among American film fests. Recent years have seen stars old and new walk the red carpet to their premieres while the residents of the eastern section of the city have packed the theaters that host new documentaries, foreign features, shorts…
Gruesome horror flick The Evil Dead and its tongue-in-cheek sequels, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, are just about as good as movies can get. So if you’ve ever had the notion that they would be improved by combing all three films into a single theater production and adding…
If you want to know how to make panties drop, hop on the White Rock Home Tour. Seriously, if these houses were humans, they’d offer you a glass of wine, pull a rose from out behind your ear and have you in a silk shorty robe before you could say…
You probably grew up thinking of flea markets as crusty, dusty and every other -usty. Overflowing with busted-up dolls, chipped ceramics and rusted-out car parts for some reason. Fortunately, the Dallas Flea is none of those things. It’s a totally new time, mofos. And flea markets are in. I’m sure…
Weekend after weekend, the cars pile up on the service roads that lead to NorthPark Center and I wonder why. Why do we load the kids into the car, circle the lots and curse at predatory parkers only to enter a noisy, crowded space and then fork over our hard-earned…
In his new book The Big Miss, golf coach Hank Haney tells a story about how Tiger Woods decided he wanted to be a Navy SEAL a few years back. Apparently, Woods trained with them and even told Haney that the Navy was willing to waive their age restriction for…
Might as well prepare you now: David Sedaris is sold out. Has been for a healthy bit now. There’s no point in wasting your tears, though, so just make yourself feel a little better by getting on the wait list for tickets: Call 214-922-1818. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop…
Waxahachie probably isn’t the romantic subject of any great Texas country songs, at least not yet, but Webb Art Gallery, owned and operated by perennial favorite Bruce Lee Webb, reminds us that it’s no mere bump in the road en route Austin. About 30 miles south of downtown, this quirky…
Wearing “I love the Earth” shirts just won’t cut it this Earth Day. Neither will lying in the grass trying to identify the different faces and shapes of the clouds. But saying you attempted (and maybe even achieved) to break the world record for the largest simultaneous global picnic is…
They’re feeling the rhythm, partaking in the raunchy, satirical and fancy- free fun. There’s a little toe tapping and finger snapping goin’ on. Give ’em a little crass sass, a few laughs and a whole lotta floor. Throw in a bit of dessert or maybe some pie a la mode…
The largest accomplishment for Modern Family, the best sitcom to emerge on network television over the past few years, isn’t the fact that it’s racked up trophy after trophy for its genius. The most notable achievement is how the mock-doc style show has become the most consistently enjoyable half-hour on…
One mention of the indomitable Diane Rehm and you can just hear her theme song trumpets can’t you? Let’s face it: Rehm, whose National Public Radio talk program was called “the gold standard in civic, civil discourse” by the 2010 Peabody Award committee, is likely the most intellectually stimulating voice…
So, we’re halfway through DIFF. Surely by this point you have your favorite seat in each theater (no, I won’t tell you mine, otherwise there will be a popcorn fight) and you’ve made friends with your fellow fest-goers. If not, you still have five more days and dozens of movies…
It probably sounds completely obvious that for the past two days the repeating theme seemed to be creativity. Because, well, naturally, films are creative endeavors. But the documentaries and features (three of four, anyway) centered around creative people — big-time ones, indie ones and “What the hell do I do…
Last Friday night, The Dallas Opera produced Guiseppe Verdi’s La traviata in the Winspear opera house for the first time. La traviata is one of opera’s most frequently produced and biggest hits. Lead by strong vocal and instrumental performances and underscored by a stunning production, this La traviata is a…
Let the rest of the world bitch about Hump Day, you’re taking a bit of You Time and cozying up with the best independent cinema this side of the Mason/Dixon. Whether you’ve joined the Occupy DIFF movement or just plan to grab a casual post-work seat, we think you’ll like…
If it’s good enough for R. Pat and Jenny Aniston, it’s good enough for Dallas. No, I’m not talking about balayage highlights or Gucci toe-less socks; I’m talking about stand-up paddleboarding. People Magazine was the first person that told me about stand-up paddleboarding, (that bitch knows everything) so it’s been…
Much as you’d like to catch all 160 titles at this year’s DIFF, scheduling (and life) make it impossible, so you have to learn to pick, choose and hope you get awesome results. Leaning from Sunday’s mistakes (yeah, I’m looking at you, Bringing Up Bobby), I went with two Faust…
There may not be another 3-1/2-hour play that says as much about contemporary family life, and says it with such gritty realism, as Tracy Letts’ explosive, hilarious August: Osage County. Director René Moreno’s fine production up at Addison’s WaterTower Theatre winds up its three-week run April 22. It’s a chance…
With so many television series being filmed in Dallas, we’ve become accustomed to BRT, A-List even those rah rah Making The Team gals dipping their pedicured toes in the nightlife pool. But what we forget is that all productions need to be produced, and those folks producing them either live…
If you’ve been camping out in theaters for the last five days with your G Chat set to “unavailable”, we salute you. Living la vida DIFF isn’t for the faint of heart, or stomach for that matter. I’m curious: what’s the largetst thing you’ve smuggled into a theater by now?…
