Even though 450,000 spring flowers are in bloom at the Dallas Arboretum, don’t go questioning your green thumb skills. After all, they are professionals. Bring your kids, your camera and your Claritin (ahhh-choo!) to this year’s Easter Extravaganza and 25th Annual Bloom Festival at the Dallas Arboretum. Check your blossom-planting,…
The original lineup of Dallas punk rock legends The Nervebreakers have reformed (just as had been suggested on DC9 by an anonymous commenter a few weeks back). But it’s not just for a couple Austin gigs during SXSW and an April 11 gig at Club Dada. No sir. See, there’s…
Known as the sport of kings, Thoroughbred horse racing has a devoted following, but for real fans, it’s about more than just the Triple Crown. Sure, you want to get started on shopping for this year’s Kentucky Derby hat, but before that time comes, you better pick your pony and…
Everywhere we look these days, we’re constantly bombarded with mixed messages, whether they’re about alcohol, body image, economic bailouts or clean coal. Appallingly, artist Frances Bagley only wants to add to this maelstrom of confusion by creating the three-dimensional mixed-media installations compiled in the appropriately named exhibit Mixed Messages, on…
I was watching Animal Planet the other day when this show called Cats 101 came on. It was a segment about short-haired Orientals, and it focused on a woman with a 10-year-old autistic son, whose life was drastically changed through animal therapy with their two Oriental cats. Before they got…
In case you’re still of the opinion that the Trinity River and its surrounding forests are kind of a dump, the Sun to Moon Gallery’s latest photography exhibition, Great Trinity Forest and the Trinity River/i>, may change your mind. A portion of the proceeds from the work by photographers Dan…
The 1986 science fiction classic Aliens is a rare treat, one of the few sequels that may be as good or even (gasp!) better than the original. We all know that Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece, Alien, is an atmospheric work of artistic genius. The film’s set design and nail-biting tension…
While exploring the great outdoors, we have encountered drunkards with loud speedboats, a-holes who pump their window-shaking bass late into the night, screaming children on wheelie shoes and proles who can’t be bothered to transport a used condom or spit cup to the nearest trash can. Guess we can at…
The movie 12 is a Russian adaptation of the classic 12 Angry Men, with 12 jurors deciding the fate of a Chechen boy accused of murdering his Russian stepfather. Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov, the film received a Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival and was subsequently nominated for the…
Growing up, I never once attended a puppet show, unless you count our school counselor using stuffed animals to teach us about self-esteem and saying no to drugs and bullies. Personally, I always thought the idea of an adult sticking their hand up a doll and using their high-pitched voice…
Sometimes I think Texas is too big, and I feel bad for those unfortunate smaller states that are the size of our largest city. I mean, we do have at least four major theme parks, numerous beaches and four of the Big 12 schools. Then I realize that it’s just…
A new musical promises to entertain the whole family despite its title–Are We There Yet?–a question that generally signals the beginning of boredom. However, a local blogging mom–now there’s a scary thought–who reviewed the show gave it a big thumbs up, describing it as a heartfelt, motherhood-relatable play that brought…
Set a mere two decades ago, Greg Mottola’s Adventureland seems as if it could be taking place on a distant planet, less for the leg warmers and knee socks clinging to lower extremities than for the legions of pre-Internet Luddites who gather, like the apes at the start of 2001,…
With the molded-rubber face of Savalas, the basso profundo of Stallone and the name of an underdog gas alternative, Vin Diesel’s already-dubious ripped-tough-guy star has dimmed enough to warrant a return to the car-chase series that made him—and money. In the latest, notably slack Fast & Furious (number four), incidental…
The stripper alone should make Patrick Marber’s play Closer a red-hot ticket. The character’s name is Alice Ayres, and in a scene in the second act, she performs a seductive dance for a man named Larry. In the debut production by Enter Stage Left, in residence at Teatro Dallas, the…
OMG, GIRLFRIENDS! Round up your Carries and your Samanthas and your Charlottes–leave that sulky bitch Miranda at home–’cause it’s time to get your makeup on! Girls love makeup! Especially when it’s live! Like at Beauty Live! Exclamation points! And lipstick! Beauty Live bills itself as the largest consumer beauty show…
Texas country singer-songwriter Max Stalling’s been at it for years now, playing damn near every honky-tonk in Texas and releasing four studio albums over the past decade and change, all the while cultivating a smooth vocal style that separates him from many of his Texas peers while still writing the…
I spent many an hour combing through rock shops as a kid, fascinated with fossils and minerals of all shapes and sizes. If only I’d spent a few of those hours combing through the dirt of Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park, perhaps I’d be a richer man today. Beginning…
Several new Dallas-area restaurants offer organic and locally produced menu items in an appeal to environment…and health-conscious diners. It seems like “locavores” are growing in number everywhere in the United States–even in Dallas, despite its conservative political bent and prominent placement on annual “America’s Fattest Cities” lists. Unfortunately, the locavore…
Being a rock star comes naturally to you. You’re all about windmills, headbanging and breaking stuff. You’re the king of stage dives, the world’s fastest autograph signer and the life of all the after-parties. But you’re also 8 years old, so you don’t exactly have a stage to dive off…
I’ll admit that thanks to the perfection that is Top Gear (that they’d ever try that show in America is a travesty, by the by) and to my car-loving beau, I’ve learned a bit about the high-octane world of four-wheel competitions. But after having seen televised versions of races far…
If there’s anything thing in this world that’s a sure beating, it’s a comedian with a guitar. Sure, there are exceptions (like the wildly inventive Demetri Martin, for example) but usually, you know you’re in for either barely funny novelty songs or horribly concocted impersonation scenarios like the one David…
