Here’s my metaphor for why the American public continues to put up with the Bush administration’s utter incompetence and rejection of constitutional and Geneva Convention rights: olfactory fatigue. If you were forced to live in an outhouse, thanks to this phenomenon, the stench would bother you for less than a…
In the aftermath of Michael Richards’ infamous N-word meltdown, comedian Paul Mooney vowed to stop using the word that torpedoed the career of his fellow comic, calling on others to join him in banishing the word and claiming that Richards’ hateful tirade “cured” him of the word. It wasn’t a…
Chalk up another one for the “you can’t judge a book by its cover” crowd. Here I was, all stoked for Journeys Backyard BBQ, planning for an afternoon of yummy barbecue ribs and some “Don’t Stop Believin'” sing-alongs in a park somewhere, but once again it seems as though they…
If you enjoy coming dangerously close to wetting your britches from body-rocking laughter (who doesn’t?), then grab a ticket to an Ad-Libs Comedy Improv Troupe show. The performers are squatting at a venue called MOUTH, and although the space may be temporary, the hilarity has been fully cemented in Dallas…
Maybe it’s the absence of a preposition that makes Taste Addison 2008 (instead of Taste of Addison) sound mandatory rather than suggestive, but if these organizers think they can push me into an eat-to-bloat, three-day food fest without being nice about it, they know nothing about my capacity to consume…
Remember the good old days, when Wes Anderson made quirky films that didn’t bleed indie-rock-noxiousness and feature gratuitous naked shots of bruised, be-socked Natalie Portman? When Jason Schwartzman looked like an actual nerd instead of a hip dude appropriating nerd chic? When you and your friends had to dress up…
You know what your mom really, really, REALLY wants for Mother’s Day? No, not flowers or candy or a Hallmark card. She wants a picture frame made out of popsicle sticks, or a macaroni necklace, or a really crappy breakfast-in-bed with runny pancakes and burnt toast. Yes, those things are…
Artist Michele Mikesell may live and work not far from DECORAZONgallery in Oak Cliff, but she’s a nationally known painter represented by many notable galleries. Mikesell was raised without a television, and she gives this fact a lot of credit when it comes to her artistic development. At a young…
I find it fascinating that once Oprah declared environmentalism suitable for the masses the way she did with literacy, it suddenly became cool to talk about your carbon footprint and recycling programs over dinner. It’s really too bad Oprah didn’t clear her couch of polygamists and diet gurus 20 years…
In one corner, you have an uno-hit Latino singer with a pretty decent song. In the other, a multi-hit wonder with a lot of hair. So which to choose? That depends on your pseudo-nostalgic pop needsâ – or your desperation. Secada’s “Just Another Day” was a listenable 1992 hit that…
In one corner, you have an uno-hit Latino singer with a pretty decent song. In the other, a multi-hit wonder with a lot of hair. So which to choose? That depends on your pseudo-nostalgic pop needs…or your desperation. Secada’s “Just Another Day” was a listenable 1992 hit that predated that…
There are two very large, very obvious, protruding reasons to see Dolly Parton perform in person. And then there’s a slew of others, not the least of which is the fact that the country music icon ain’t getting any younger. No, the 62-year-old singer hasn’t shown any signs of slowing…
Sometimes I feel bad for Peter Sellers. It seems like there have been so many representations of him and references to him after his death that no one under the age of 50 even remembers what he looked like. If you watch The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, starring…
Landscape art can be a risky venture. For instance, for every Ansel Adams, there are practically 10 Thomas Kinkades (and just one is plenty scary for us). Thankfully, the artists of Un-Ordinary Horizons each take vastly different approaches to the art form, and none of them claim to be “masters…
Whether Johnny Cash is singing an old spiritual or a song by Trent Reznor, there’s something sacred and sincere in his raw, earthy voice that makes me feel like everything is gonna be all right. And, at first, the idea of a jukebox musical featuring 38 of the Man in…
Every time I think of the work of Molière I can’t help but also think of John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club: specifically the scene in which Judd Nelson’s John Bender sits on a card catalog “re-alphabetizing” the cards, pausing at one to drawl, “Moe-lay really pumps my nads.” Oddly, The…
If there’s one thing about the Chinese culture, it’s that it pays great honor to tradition and history. So do the written works of New York Times best-selling author Lisa See. Steeped in Chinese history, See’s works are love stories, ghost stories and emotive sagas. See discusses her fifth novel,…
Could have sworn I’ve seen this episode of Baby Mama before—like sometime in January 2007, when it was originally titled “The Baby Show” and aired on the other prime-time series starring Tina Fey, 30 Rock. (Wait a minute—you say Baby Mama’s a movie and not a TV show? Seriously? Coulda…
Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg wrote Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle with the novel idea: What if you made a John Hughes movie, but instead of writing garishly caricatured bit players with names like Long Duk Dong, you cast an Asian actor as the smart, handsome, upwardly mobile…
In the second hour of Bent, two men carry rocks, one at a time, from one pile to another. When all of them are stacked, the same stones are hoisted again, placed back in the space so carefully emptied moments before. The repetitive action of men dressed in soiled striped…
First of all: God bless Atlus. As a publisher devoted to bringing obscure Japanese gaming gems to the West — basically, the much-needed heir apparent of Working Designs — Atlus is the only hope for gamers who crave oddball, strange, or downright niche titles from the Land of the Rising…
If you don’t remember a game called The Typing of the Dead, you’re not alone. Released on the failed Sega Dreamcast system, this gory, hilariously titled arcade-style shooter was in many ways exactly like its popular counterpart, The House of the Dead. But instead of aiming a gun at the…
