Common wisdom holds that books are usually superior to their film versions. Satisfying the individual expectations of thousands, if not millions, of fans is a Herculean task. There are exceptions, like Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar-winning The Godfather, penned by Mario Puzo. Or the monumental achievement by Peter Jackson, who delivered…
James Dean, the epitome of ’50s cool, raced cars — a hobby that led to his death. Dean had a soft spot for the Porsche Spyder — one shared his nickname “Little Bastard” — which had a sleek, rounded body and eye-popping headlamps. Dean wannabes can glory in mid-century cars…
Inevitable in every Fast and Furious flick is the tension-filled moment when pimped-out cars gather before an oh-so important street race. Gauntlets are thrown. Vin Diesel’s bald head shines threateningly in the headlights. Scantily clad girls with 10 percent body fat inexplicably dance around the cars. Does this happen in…
Tuesday doesn’t seem quite so far away from the weekend when there’s wine to be had. Hotel ZaZa wraps up its summer wine series with an ode to Spanish vintages Tuesday evening. Modest pours of five boutique wines will tease the tongue, along with tasty tidbits from the kitchen. The…
Even if you didn’t major in math, this is an easy equation: Gourmet food at a discount plus a tax write-off equals what? A no-brainer. Fancy Dallas-area restaurants with names that roll off the tongue, like Abacus and Sullivan’s Steakhouse, have signed up for KRLD Restaurant Week. For the next…
The woman stood in the back of the theater, watching a porno flicker across the screen. Disgusted, she walked backed to her dressing room to pack her costumes. She confronted the manager in his office. “I’m not following that,” she spat, referring to the porno. “I want my money.” She…
Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection, a traveling exhibit from the Fenimore Art Museum of Cooperstown, New York, at the Dallas Museum of Art, gives a glimpse of the cultural, social and military traditions practiced by native tribes that roamed a borderless North America. The 111-piece collection includes…
Once in blue moon, a much-hyped film about dance reinvigorates interest in the art. A recent example, Black Swan, explores the dark underbelly of professional dancing, and it’s probably (hopefully?)more fiction than fact. Let’s Dance!, a film festival at The Modern, is a collection of short films, documentaries and feature…
It’s Christmas in July for science-fiction and fantasy fans. In the coming weeks, both “American Tolkien” George R. R. Martin and urban fantasy master Jim Butcher will flood the market with new books for their respective series. Blogs are a-flutter with the news that a couple hundred copies of Martin’s…
Über-aficionados of the vine bandy about terms like ‘horizontal wine tasting’ and ‘Methuselah,’ respectively meaning a tasting of a group of wines from the same vintage or region and a really, really, big bottle of wine. Show off your newfound knowledge at The Mansion’s weekly Wine Chat. The informal get…
Imagine you are a 14-year-old girl on a school trip to Washington, D.C. You hail from a very conservative Baptist section of Texas. As a part of the “educational” trip, your teacher has scheduled a dinner theater performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The churchgoing chaperones approve. But…
Most writers – even the successful ones – only fantasize about publishing a best-selling book, much less see their work translated onto the big screen by a team of Hollywood A-listers. Both happened to S.C. Gwynne, author of the wildly popular Empire of the Summer Moon. Gwynne spoke to an…
Contemporary art is a mystery. Its definition is nebulous, beyond the qualification that it be created by someone, you know, contemporary. Sigh. Six Arms to Hold You, a female-centered exhibition by three contemporary Dallas artists, seems simple enough to “get” at first glance. But then the gallery throws in descriptive…
Nattily dressed in a dark suit and red and blue striped tie, serious historian David McCullough let his droll humor shine through last night during his Arts & Letters Live appearance at the Fairmont Hotel. His new book, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, maps the octopus-like reach of French…
The Sound of Music is the pinnacle of musicals filmed during the golden age of Hollywood musicals in the ’60s. The sizzling combination of Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer is impossible to duplicate, but a live performance can be as satisfying as the classic movie. The Artisan Center Theater is…
Before he became the best-selling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, Rick Riordan was a middle school teacher. You can’t get better market research than that. The formula that has earned Riordan legions of devoted young fans is simple: Combine adventurous mythology with snarky dialogue. Or as…
A short film by two Texans that’s played on the festival circuit from San Francisco to Sarasota, including South by Southwest and Dallas International Film Festival, is a finalist for Oscar’s little brother, the Student Academy Awards. Fatakra (Firecracker in Gujarati), the brainchild of writer/director Soham Mehta and producer Ninaad…
Sex, spies and Sookie Stackhouse: that’s what makes our first summer reading list go ’round. Brace yourself; there’s not a Stieg Larsson novel in sight. This month, in honor of summer vacation, we attempt the daunting task of narrowing down books for the beach. Beach reading is the most democratic…
One topic public education in Texas doesn’t cover is conjecture that Abraham Lincoln might have batted for the other team. While we’ll never know one way or another (and really, who cares?), the rumors make for good drama. Abraham Lincoln’s Big, Gay Dance Party, a darling way, way off Broadway,…
Calling all aspiring green thumbs: Do your plants a favor and swing over to North Haven Gardens for Plant the Town Pink, a fundraiser for the Dallas County affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Garden coaches will advise how to manage and improve your garden during a free…
For awkward teens, the thought of playing volleyball triggers horrifying flashbacks of a ball sailing toward one’s face during middle school gym class. For armchair athletes, it evokes pristine beach courts populated by fluid, golden-bodied Olympians like Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. They make the whole kill and dig thing…
The loudspeaker cut through the low roar of chatter on the convention center floor. “Attention: Carrie Fisher is in the building.” The former Star Wars babe slipped in and out of the building like Elvis; we never saw her. Fisher’s heralded arrival began day two of Dallas Comic Con at…
