Observing Black History Month is great and all, but what about really celebrating it? The Dallas Black Dance Theatre has done just that for the past month through its Cultural Awareness Series, culminating this weekend with two strong, energetic shows that span the contemporary and the classic. Soloist John Archie…

You don’t have to watch American Splendor or even Chasing Amy to realize the art that goes into producing a comic. Single-cell, strip or book, the amount of creativity that goes into developing characters, drawing expressions and writing dialogue is sometimes gut-wrenching. And sometimes, the scene is just inspired by…

Last year, my book club broke one of our rules: No books associated with Oprah. Not that Lady Harpo is evil or anything, but we like word-of-mouth, personal recommendations and–maybe it’s superficial of us, but I don’t care–books that aren’t publicly sanctioned by a multibillion-dollar empire. But we read Eat,…

Keepsakes, inherited objects, ephemera: These pieces of the past take on a certain value whether adopted or truly sentimental. Over the course of time, items that are precious become a sort of art to us–perhaps kick-starting a mental masterpiece in memories or just serving as a beautiful thing from another…

Remember when certain fruits and veggies weren’t available year round? When Mom handed you–sitting top dog in the grocery cart–produce she was so excited to see, and later, the fam would be so excited it was (insert random squash or seafood, perhaps) time? That was back when we honored seasonal…

Every time a fallen soldier is transported home, another soldier makes the journey as well. A soldier who has volunteered for escort duty meets faces of fellow passengers, renders honors to the deceased whenever they change planes, cars, trains or what have you, and delivers a son or daughter to…

Imagine you get a kick-ass gig in this great play. You’re not really clear on the plot, but it’s by this up-and-coming playwright and he’s so cool. Knowing him, it’s probably a drama. Plus, the other cast members seem to be great to work with. Might even be a little…

After living, for many years, in an apartment seemingly made from Kleenex, eavesdropping is sort of like eating trans-fat: You try so hard not to do it, but occasionally it’s unavoidable–you do it against your will, accidentally or say “Screw it. This sounds too good.” Either way it goes, there’s…

Some jobs are perfectly suited for narration. Or rather, they’re the kinds of jobs where it would totally rock to have some guy with a cool voice come in and read aloud while everyone works. Envelope stuffing, Twinkie stuffing, all manner of assembly line stuffing jobs, really. Others, like air-traffic…

I have never seen a person actually fly of their own volition, but the closest I’ve come to it is Pilobolus: skating barefoot, creating momentum seemingly from nowhere, gliding through solid bodies to form magical human shadow puppets (remember the 2007 Oscars?). It appears that Pilobolus can do all of…

Oh, sure, Gaetano Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux is part of the bel canto era and contains some of the most gorgeous of his, and the era’s, vocal works, but let’s focus, people. The plot is pure romantic trauma, and it isn’t even a love triangle as one might expect. It’s a…

Enough with the stacks of Disney DVDs and the XBox’ed Netflix. Go out to a movie. Go out to some kids movies. You know, with the kids. Where they can see awesome family flicks with other kids and their families. Where they might discover that one movie moment that lives…