11/11
Columbus found America. Magellan found the Philippines. Missy Elliott found Ciara. And Davy Rothbart found a bunch of crap that he compiled into a best-selling book. Random pieces of rubbish, such as love letters, kiss-off letters, doodles and other detritus, populate the pages of Rothbart's FOUND, a collection of scraps that lets readers peek into random moments in random strangers' lives. Often humorous and sometimes touching, these found items can also make us a little sad--like picking up a paperback at a used bookstore and finding a heartfelt inscription from an aunt or a friend or possibly a former friend. Were these gifts so easy to toss, loving words and all? Or was their loss an accident? Either way, that's part of the beauty of FOUND the book as well as FOUND magazine. It's almost a choose-your-own-adventure tale for readers. Not knowing what prompted or followed the fruition of the finds, readers can create a story of their own, finding happiness or flirting with disaster--just depends on the mood. In an effort to find more stuff and share some favorites, Rothbart and his brother Peter are traveling the country, arriving in Dallas on November 11. The Lone Surfer tour will have Davy reading from his latest book, The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas, a collection of short stories inspired by the sighting of a teenager practicing surfing in a Midwestern cornfield. Which just goes to show: Found people can be even more intriguing than the stuff they throw away. Catch the Lone Surfer tour at the Lakewood Theater, 1825 Abrams Road, at 8 p.m. Friday. Admission is $10. Call 214-821-7469. --Rhonda Reinhart
Virtual Insanity
11/13
Should you believe that videogames are a sharper reflection of pop cultural sensibilities than Hollywood, head to Frisco next Saturday to meet the authors of Smartbomb--the ultimate glorification of geekdom run amok. Chronicling the $25 billion videogame explosion, Smartbomb profiles the dreamers and innovators of an industry dedicated to giving people a virtual reality that's preferable to their own lonely, sexless existence. That's harsh, but we gathered such insight after skimming through a few passages of Smartbomb that seem to portray gamers as obsessed, prickly, delusional types who...OK, here we go again. I mean if playing videogames is an easy substitute for meaningful human experience, then where does reading about videogames fall on the list? OK. I'm done sounding 33. Hear co-authors Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby talk about their book. They'll be at Barnes & Noble Frisco, 2601 Preston Road, at 2 p.m. Call 972-668-2820. --Matt Pulle
Give Us a K!
11/12
If you're going to go, go all the way. Half-assed attempts at anything are just depressing--like expensive homes with crappy yards or wearing just one piece of bling. Same goes for the Pistons and Paint Kustom Car and Art Show this Saturday in Denton. The organizers already made the giant leap of language usage it takes to spell "custom" with a "K" but decided not to apply their rule to the word "car." Why can't "car" be treated with the same disrespect "custom" got? Is it just that much more distasteful to see the word "Kar" in print? Only the organizers, the Chupacabras Car Club, know for sure. The show features hot rods displayed at the North Texas Fairgrounds, 2217 N. Carroll Blvd., from noon to 6 p.m., and music from Shaun Young and the Horton Brothers at Hailey's, 122 W. Mulberry St., from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Admission to the car show is $3. Visit www.pistonsandpaint.com --Andrea Grimes
Revolutionary Romance
11/16
That forgettable movie Must Love Dogs gave reference to Dr. Zhivago as the ideal film representing true love in all its pain and joy. Or something like that. But then the characters throw the film around as if it were an old rag. Characters watch it nightly or just jaunt over to the theater where it's showing. What's wrong with these people? How did they come to be so lost? You don't just watch Dr. Zhivago. It's an event. Always. Good marriages are made in heaven, and a perfect example is David Lean's classic film and a worthy screening room. Thus, we praise the Lone Star Film Society and the new season of its film series, Classics at the Modern: Celebrity Choice, featuring Dr. Zhivago. See it as it should be, in widescreen glory, 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 3200 Darnell St. Score on the cash bar in the lobby at 6:15 p.m., but don't drink too much--the Russian love fest is more than three hours long. Call 817-735-1117 or visit www.themodern.org --Rich Lopez
How Puzzling
I11/12
If you're the type of person who enjoys solving puzzles on the porcelain throne, MENSA member Terry Stickels has just the book for you. The Little Book of Bathroom Sudoku contains 160 of the popular Sudoku number puzzles, which involve placing the digits 1 through 9 on a grid made up of nine sub-grids called "regions," all of which can only contain one instance of each number. If this all sounds a little complicated, don't fret--that smarty-pants Stickels can explain it to you when he signs copies of his book this Saturday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 934 E. Copeland Road in Arlington. Call 817-277-5184. --Noah W. Bailey
