A few years ago if you asked most people whether they’d pay money to be locked in a room by strangers, they would have said no. But suddenly “room escape” challenges are all the rage, and that’s exactly what they entail. Most places offer several challenges, many up to six,…
The original artwork or designs of at least two Dallas designers have been copied by big-box clothing giants as recently as early this year. Charles Smith II’s “Do Not Touch” line is the latest to be imitated by mega-retailer Forever 21, which along with Zara and H&M, is one of…
Consider, before you consider anything else about the sequel to Trainspotting, that the director of both films is an artist whose signal trait had been a seeming repulsion at the thought of ever going back to the well. Between the original and the new T2 (cheeky title, innit), Danny Boyle…
The antagonistic atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair relished it when Life magazine called her “The Most Hated Woman in America” in the 1964 profile that only heightened her notoriety. That designation followed the 1963 Supreme Court ruling on Murray v. Curlett (and another lawsuit) that ended Bible-reading in public schools. Director…
Tue 3/21 Paul Watson has an epic story to tell. If you haven’t pre-ordered the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s novel Ice Ghosts, here’s your chance to take the bait: Watson will be discussing his book about the lost Franklin Expedition of 1845 at 7:30 p.m. on its release date, Tuesday, March…
In 1912 Didaco Bianchi, a general contractor for prominent Dallas architects Otto Lang and Frank Witchell, chiseled in the final touches on what would be called the “House of the Future” in 1936. The piers of its foundation were set 17-feet deep by Bianchi, fitting for a man looking to…
Somehow, MTV2, the channel that was launched 21 years ago to show all the music videos MTV wasn’t, has essentially turned into BET — or TV One or Centric or whatever black programming-filled channel you know about. The evidence is all there — before it jumped back to its original…
Ask Linda Gray what makes the the show Dallas so iconic, and the actress — who played J.R. Ewing’s long-suffering, alcoholic wife Sue Ellen on the long-running CBS primetime soap opera as well as its TNT revival — can’t fully explain it. “Sometimes the answer is I have no idea what makes…
If you haven’t heard about White Rabbit Red Rabbit, you’re doing it right. You aren’t supposed to know what it is. Though this play has been performed in theaters all over the world nearly 1,000 times, no one is allowed to talk about it. Not even the actors. Only those…
Photographer duo Sarah Reyes and Daniel Driensky, known as Exploredinary, were commissioned to shoot the photos for this week’s cover story by me, an autobiographical account of my adventures with my boyfriend at Dallas’ crappiest motels. It was decided said boyfriend, Stephen, and I would be on the cover. The…
Louie Anderson performs at the Granada Theater on March 23. Except for the Osmonds and the Jacksons, few entertainers have gotten as much mileage out of their family as comedian Louie Anderson. Anderson’s large Minnesota family — he has 10 siblings — has not only provided him almost 40 years…
On TV, Kitty Carter is harsh and abrasive and honest to Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders hopefuls. In real life, she’s the same. But the TV only shows the cruel words, not the hugs she gives after. Kitty Carter is a former DCC, a dance studio owner, wife and mother of three…
An electrical fire that started Tuesday afternoon destroyed a two-story building on the site of the Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie and left the costume company Pendragon Costumes without a space to sell their wares. The festival’s loyal community rallied troops to make sure that Pendragon will have whatever they…
All-Con Crowne Plaza 14214 Midway Road, Addison 10 a.m.-2 a.m. Thursday Free Everyone’s a fan of something. Don’t hide your fandom for Firefly, Back to the Future or the Power Rangers. Embrace it. Let it out. Share it with the world on Thursday at All-Con 2017, a fan convention that…
Pop quiz. What comic-book adaptation centers on a white man orphaned by tragedy but blessed with great wealth who travels to an Asian country, only to return to America as a fearsome hero of amazing skill? That’s a trick question, of course: There are too many to count. In Batman…
The Dallas International Film Festival has released its full 2017 schedule, and it’s loaded up with festival hits, rising stars and repertory classics, so you might want to schedule that out-of-office notification now. Here are a few highlights. Scroll down for the full list. David Gordon Green will make the…
Jeff Robinson — Symmetry in Wood: Towering Visualizations Wall Gallery 1529 Dragon St. Artist reception 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday Jeff Robinson’s artistic tools of choice are thousands of pieces of hardwoods from North and South America. He takes pieces of varying shapes and sizes and commingles them, resulting in…
It’s the take as old as time. Yes, Beauty and the Beast’s love story can be read as a tale of abuse and brainwashing, of a woman imprisoned by a tyrant until she starts chatting with the table settings — and then, as seasons pass, chastising herself in song for…
Country Living, a magazine that sits in a pine needle basket in your mother’s sewing room, is giving away a trip to Waco as part of its sweepstakes prize. Yes, Waco, the town you pass through to get to other cities. The one that has recently been rocked by sexual…
It was during an uneventful drive, a few months back, when my boyfriend and I first fixated on the obscenely tacky sign belonging to the Anchor Motel. Its neon lights flash from blue to green to red, as the innocent maritime image etches into our eyes. Across from the Anchor…
Daiso Japan, the obscenely well-organized Japanese $1.50 store, was enough of a magnet to draw lines of obsessive shoppers to Carrollton, but now the same strip mall on Old Denton Road has added Kinokuniya, upping the ante and making the shopping center the ultimate destination for those of us who live…
Gia Woodrum, a third-grader who lives in Arlington and goes to school at the Garner Fine Arts Academy in Grand Prairie, has two passions in life: art and helping people. She’s combined the two things she loves doing most in life. She sells her portraits at auctions and through her…
