Finally, a festival I don’t have to drive to that’s not the Deep Ellum Arts Fest. Don’t get me wrong, Ellum, I love you, but I’ve chosen Uptown. Without having to head to Addison or Fort Worth, I can head to what sounds like it could be the kind of…

I like comics. I like gays. But gay comics? Hell yes! Next to black comics, gay ones are the best, because sadly, jokes about hardships and prejudices are hilarious. Besides, with gay peeps, life is pretty much all punch lines with the travails of finding a date, coming out to…

I must admit, I’m having a hard time deciding how to spend the Labor Day weekend. (I totally won’t admit it’s the same weekend as my birthday because, um, that would just be tacky.) Right now, it’s a toss-up between the Michael Jackson cover band over at House of Blues…

Talk about a wild ride. After 16 years as a theater critic, Tom Sime is now an award-winning playwright about to make the jump from Dallas to New York. Before he heads out, he’ll be giving us the second of a one-two theatrical punch. Earlier this summer, he premiered Bloodletters,…

Clearly I’m an idiot. I just now got the title of Uptown Players’ newest show, Zanna Don’t! A Musical Fairy Tale. The off-Broadway show sounds like Footloose meets High School Musical, introduced to In and Out and then touched by the irony of Planet of the Apes. OK, work with…

I say forget the Daniel Day-Lewis vanity project There Will Be Blood–that’s for Californians. The definitive movie about oil here in Texas will always be Giant. The George Stevens 1956 cinematic masterpiece should be required viewing for anyone living in the Lone Star State and for all who move here…

Even though the gays coined “fierce” back in the mid-90s, Project Runway gay and winner Christian Siriano made it mainstream, so now everybody uses the “f” word. Appropriately, the 14th Street Gallery thinks some local artists are f’d up enough that they went and named their next exhibit accordingly. J.R…

I have issues when it comes to the midnight movie thing. Movies with bugs, muscle cars or big-breasted chicks are worthy of the campy timeslot — not former Hollywood blockbusters. I can see Aliens on DVD anytime and E.T. doesn’t strike the same chord it did when I was a…

Even though Dallas just lost the Bootstraps Comedy Theater Company to Chicago, the void was slapped, spanked and quickly filled by The Angry Dominatrix, “a new production company focusing on theater studying human sexuality.” Ohhh yes. Sure, they’ll study sexuality, but we really hope to see some live hot action…

For those people who look at art and say “I can do that,” this show is for you. Especially those of you who find comfort in not throwing trash away. The Goss-Michael Foundation will be presenting the works of Tim Noble and Sue Webster, who create mind-blowing sculptures from trash…

Robin Armstrong is my new hero. Along with directing and designing Tom Sime’s scary comedy (scare-medy?), Bloodletters, she is also the Violence Choreographer. Seriously, turning savage knife play or drive-by shootings into a poetic ballet is my new dream. I’ll get a glimpse of it in Sime’s play about Grace,…

For those who can’t get enough, another movie festival hits Dallas, but you might need a pooper scooper for this red carpet. The SPCA of Texas Pet Flix 2008 Film Festival gets going with a showcase of films, docs and videos where all the stars need in their trailers are…

I may never understand Leslie Jordan’s career. Somehow, the little Southern gay man has turned those four qualities into a successful lifelong stint that never goes away. Whether he’s popping up on Will & Grace (or more brilliantly in Boston Legal) or running Del Shores’ plays and films like Southern…

Although Pink Martini would be a great drag queen name, the 12-ish-piece orchestra has taken the moniker to worldwide fame. But after poring over their Web site, I can’t quite figure out what exactly Pink Martini is. Is it a jazz orchestra? World music? Big band? Apparently, they are all…

I love my apartment. It’s tiny, it’s old, and it has a hole in the floor, but I love it. I’ll have you over for drinks sometime. But when I see those displays at Ikea showing how one can live in so little space with fabulous design and organization, I…

In one corner, you have an uno-hit Latino singer with a pretty decent song. In the other, a multi-hit wonder with a lot of hair. So which to choose? That depends on your pseudo-nostalgic pop needs…or your desperation. Secada’s “Just Another Day” was a listenable 1992 hit that predated that…

In one corner, you have an uno-hit Latino singer with a pretty decent song. In the other, a multi-hit wonder with a lot of hair. So which to choose? That depends on your pseudo-nostalgic pop needsâ – or your desperation. Secada’s “Just Another Day” was a listenable 1992 hit that…

I think my address is just a skosh off of the Munger Place Home Tour. I’d totally rock out my barely 500-square-foot flat for people to walk through, comment on and walk right back out of. But the landlord might disagree, and the automatic locking door at the entrance could…

If I have to turn in my man card to admit that I really like Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, then so be it. That movie is the shit when it comes to chipper songs, sweet romance and high drama. Plus, along with The Little Mermaid, it marked Disney’s official…

I miss my summer sand volleyball on Saturdays at Buddies but when one of my buds stepped on a big rusty nail that was it—Tetanus is so not a good look for me. Instead I play vicariously through tourneys on television, my old Power Spike: Pro Beach Volleyball video game…

One of the better moments of this year’s Oscars was Marion Cotillard’s win for Best Actress. Her portrayal of chanteuse Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose was flat out first-class and much more deserving than that of favorite Julie Christie. Cotillard’s little girl excitement, somewhat broken English and hug…

My typical Friday night is dinner and a DVD. But sometimes my obsessive-compulsive nature kicks in, and I have to dine appropriately for whatever I’m watching. For instance, there’s just no way I could eat pizza while watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and a nice cold beer is the best…