While there’s undoubtedly value to downtrodden “sad bastard music,” there will likewise always be a need for bubbly, danceable tunes. And the poster children for bubbly are the four Swedes known as ABBA, a group whose 30-year-old pop songs are still lovable and listenable. The songs’ exuberance is just right…
Performers like Banachek really challenge the notion of “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Because when what you’re seeing is a man bending and breaking forks with his fingertip, you start to doubt that even your eyes can determine what is real and what is simply prestidigitation. If it…
Ceramics can be both an art and a craft. When a potter sits down with a lump of clay, he or she can form it into an abstract, powerful sculpture or a humble, useful bowl. And either way–art or craft–a piece can be beautiful and durable, lasting thousands of years…
By now, you’ve recovered from any New Year’s Eve indiscretions and are ready for another holiday celebration. Unfortunately, the holiday calendar looks pretty bleak this time of year. Sure, there’s MLK Jr. Day, which most people don’t even have off, and expectation- and tension-ridden Valentine’s Day, but we won’t get…
The technical prowess and beauty in a representational work such as, say, the Sistine Chapel is apparent to millions. Even non-artists can recognize the artist’s skill (or lack thereof) in a painting of a landscape, a human or an animal. But can abstract art reach the untutored heart in the…
The key to keeping New Year’s resolutions is to strike while the iron’s hot–start working toward your goal while you’re passionate about it. And if your goal is getting in shape, maybe you should hike while the iron’s hot. Join other resolution-makers at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge,…
Greeting cards try to tell us the “reason for the season,” but we know the truth. The real reason for the season is the moment when the earth is tilted furthest away from the sun, resulting in the longest night of the year–otherwise known as the winter solstice. Even ancient…
Humans worry a lot about the big world around us–birth, death, sex, power, war. And in the much smaller world around us–the world of insects–things aren’t much different. Bugs are constantly struggling to find a mate, fight battles, locate food and avoid being brutally killed by other insects; compared to…
Where will you be at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday? If you want to snag a good seat at this year’s Children’s Medical Center Holiday Parade, you’ll be on Commerce Street in downtown Dallas. With more than 350,000 people expected, early birds start arriving up to 4 hours before the 10…
They say that everything’s bigger in Texas. Unfortunately, however, New York has us beat when it comes to public menorahs–the 9-armed candelabrum erected every year near Central Park at 59th Street and 5th Avenue reaches 32 feet into the sky and weighs 4,000 pounds. Still, with the oversized menorah on…
Some of us age gracefully, mellowing into supple silvers and golds, wearing each year as a pearl of wisdom rather than a battle scar. Unfortunately, many of us, like Beaujolais, are bright and crisp when we’re young, but quickly turn to unenjoyable vinegar. All the more reason to enjoy life–and…
If you give a cat a cupcake, it will probably eat it greedily and then vomit the half-digested remains on your bed about an hour later. That’s our experience, anyhow. The popular kids’ book by Laura Numeroff, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, puts a slightly less realistic spin…
Sweden has two Abbas. One is a 172-year-old producer of canned herring. The other is a 38-year-old pop group. While the latter did have to negotiate in the mid-’70s for use of the name Abba from the former, there’s little doubt which Abba is Sweden’s most famous export. The pop…
Scandal–even just implied scandal–sells. If a book is banned or if the Catholic Church speaks out against a movie, curious people become all the more determined to take part in the forbidden media. But after 90210, The O.C., Gossip Girl, and Skins, one might assume the public had become accustomed…
If we drew a Venn diagram, how much overlap would there be between Renaissance fair-goers and haunted house lovers? Surely, the folks who don velvet berets and corsets in the spring also enjoy applying fake wounds and black garb in the fall, right? At the very least, there’s a common…
It’s hard out here for a…liberal arts grad. Truth is an English (or history or sociology) degree just doesn’t go as far as it used to. Sometimes it seems like you end up paying six figures for a four-year degree that guarantees you a whopping 10 bucks an hour. Some…
The summer of deep V’s is winding down, but Tosh Tour Twenty Ten is just getting warmed up. If you don’t chuckle at misogyny and racism, stop reading here. But if racial humor, gay jokes, nut punches and vomit are your thing, then Daniel Tosh is your man. Well, this…
At some point in adult life, things that are supposed to symbolize innocent fun in childhood become terrifying. Or maybe the fear is always there, but only as adults can we finally admit that the clown at a neighbor’s birthday party haunted our dreams or that we didn’t want to…
Sometimes the things we’ve lost come back to us. A favorite lipstick tucked away in a forgotten coat pocket; a family heirloom rescued from a pawn shop; a pet that, against all odds, traveled hundreds of miles to find its family. But what about something we’ve destroyed? Can those things…
When you hear “active seniors,” you might picture a kindly but wizened bunch who shuffle between brunch, bridge games, grandchildren’s recitals, and the early-bird special at Denny’s, and then retire to bed as soon as 60 Minutes is over. And then there are those active seniors who put 20- and…
You would think that after abandoning the intricate and highly prescribed world of corsets, bustles, waistcoats and top hats, getting dressed would be much easier. Nope. Despite more lax undergarments and less formality in dress, the mall–and the Internet, boutiques and discount stores–still overwhelm us with the tyranny of choice…
South Pacific! Where the wind comes sweeping down the…no, that’s not quite right. By order summer lingers through September in…South Pacific? No, no, no. OK, so even if you’re not 100 percent conversant with the classic songs of South Pacific, the underlying story and themes are familiar. Girls meets boy,…
