We bestow many great honors upon prominent deceased members of our human race. Some are immortalized with statues, others are featured in portraits painted or photographed by the world’s most talented artists. Big, shiny buildings borrow a deceased’s surname, and scholarships and foundations do the same. Bo-ring. Who wants a…
Did anyone know that there was a National Button Society Convention? Yeah, buttons. And it’s a big deal that celebrates the fancy miniature works of art that Jackie Onassis collected and Charles de Gaulle preferred. Who knew? The Texas State Button Society hosts the national convention show and sale here…
One of the first videos I saw at the tender age of 12—back when MTV still showed music videos—was the amazing minimalist masterpiece “Goodbye to You” by Scandal. Patty Smyth, the pouty-lipped lead singer, did the “Molly Ringwald Dance” clad in her mini-dress and white belt. Her band looked like…
Sommore will have you know that she is more than just a comedienne. She’s also a patron of Glamour Shots and a lover of smooooth jams, and this I learned just from visiting her Web site’s home page. Further investigation into this diva o’ comedy revealed that she was featured…
You could wile away the hours conversing with the flowers but if you only had a brain you’d oil your rusty tin can, slip on your ruby red slippers and follow the yellow brick road to the Bass Performance Hall, Fourth and Calhoun streets in Fort Worth, where Casa Mañana’s…
My overriding memories from Giza’s pyramids are of sweating profusely under an enormous, life-sucking sun, attempting to keep my eyes clear of vast quantities of dust, and fending off swarms of relentless vendors hawking tours and mementos. Sure, it was cool to see the towering wonders of the world and…
Look! Up on the stage! Is it a Russ Meyer film? The life story of Kitten Natividad? No, it’s the Valley of the Dolls regional premiere as a stage adaptation. It’s easy to be confused but this presentation by the Uptown Players is based on the 1960s Jacqueline Susann novel…
I had a boyfriend once that was obsessed with dinosaurs. One commercial for a Discovery Channel special about the T-Rex, and he’d drop all his bad-ass rock and roll pretensions and whimper “dinosaws”. Years later, I still find myself knowing a lot about the brontosaurus (and not enough about why…
UTD will honor the art grad as it presents concurrent solo exhibitions by graduate students Eric Baze, Christi Nielsen and Diane McGurren. The works are varied, but all rely on photography and digital technology. Baze uses digital photography to emphasize the human form in his digital print series, Idle Worship…
Chicks, man, how they go gaga for that Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice. They’re all, like, “Oooh Mr. Darcy this and oooh Elizabeth Bennett that.” Not this all-hetero dude. Sure, I’ve read the book twice annually for the past 30 years, but not because of the romance. I’m a…
Some of my favorite things come from the Brits: The Cure, Curly Wurly bars, Minis and Clive Owen. But not everything English translates well to our shores. Whoever decided that it was a good idea to drink hot tea in the middle of the afternoon surely didn’t grow up in…
At 7 p.m. Sunday at Pizza Hut Park, 6000 Main St. in Frisco, Nickelback performs (with Daughtry and Puddle of Mudd). And I got the interview. Me: So, Nickelback, are there any plans in the works for you to stop singing like a constipated goat? Nickelback: How the hell’d we…
Sometimes in life, we’re forced to make small talk with strangers when we just don’t feel up to it. You’ve had a long day at work, you’re grumpy and the last thing you want is to hear someone else’s discourse. So what do you do? You could run screaming from…
How best to describe the good souls who are willing to even think about organic gardening when the temperature hits 100 degrees? Environmentally aware, perhaps. Devoted. Earth friendly. Or how about ker-ray-zee? It’s hot. Hothothothot. In August, Mother Nature can go hump herself. Give us Dow Chemical, automatic sprinklers and…
Have you always wanted a good excuse to crawl around Uptown? Do it for charity. We’re talking about traveling throughout the neighborhood, of course, sampling the ambiance and offerings of its pubs. The Uptown Crawl, benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, includes local favorites like Christie’s, Central Park, the Idle Rich…
With the Cowboys’ preseason victory over the Colts, it seems the long, lonely post-Baron Davis summer of the Dallas sports fan is finally over, to be replaced henceforth by smiling Romos and the benevolent dynasty of Papa Wade. Honestly we had our doubts about Phillips at first, but after one…
You can always count on suburban community theater for presenting the basics in stage productions. Steel Magnolias? Grease? All coming up around town soon. These aren’t the places you go to find edgy works with full-frontal nudity or abundant profanity. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) For some good,…
It takes a certain genius for a film director to intentionally use surreally garish colors, hyper-stylized sets and goofy/serious plot entanglements to reflect a realistic humanity. This is exactly what the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar has done for almost 35 years. Though he’s made films since 1974, Almodóvar first made…
Just in time for the release of The Ten comes another chance to see director David Wain’s first feature, Wet Hot American Summer, on the big screen. You might know Wain and co-writer Michael Showalter from The State, MTV’s groundbreaking sketch comedy show of the early nineties. In fact, you…
One great thing about the digital age is that even the most obscure failed TV shows are now available on DVD. You can’t call it “obscure,” but one of my favorite cancelled TV shows is now out on DVD. Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist was one of the funniest cartoons on…
Do you think the Frisco RoughRiders realize they share their name (not the Frisco part) with a freaky sex-grade condom? Studded to be exact? Perhaps they have absolutely no idea and this article will induce a slew of locker room jokes the likes of which haven’t been heard since little…
Tex-Mex, we appreciate what you’ve done for us, but sometimes we want to hang with your big brother. No hard feelings, I swear, but Mexican taquerias are where it’s at these days. And they have the goods to make us come running, like Urban Taco’s Mucho Margaritas happy hour. Featuring…
