“You could make five different N.W.A movies. We made the one we wanted to make.” That’s director F. Gary Gray during an audience Q&A after a recent screening of Straight Outta Compton, the long-awaited N.W.A movie. In our review, Amy Nicholson writes that there’s much more to the group’s story:…
Few names from pop culture can draw as much joy and pure glee out of people than “Weird Al” Yankovic. He’s like a walking antidepressant. Just bringing up his name in conversation or mentioning one of his songs can perk up even the lowliest soul. Telling friends you’ve personally crossed…
Believe it or not, summer is actually, finally going to grind to an end someday. Sure, we’ve got a few more weeks of oppressive heat to come, but that only means we’re finally making our way into the best time of the year in North Texas — fall. When you’re…
Every tattoo is different. This art form is permanent and personal, especially for the people who create it. On a mission to ink our own skin, we researched and tracked down some of the best tattoo artists in Dallas for an ongoing series. Clint Cummings doesn’t need the title of…
We are so, so close to the time of the year when Dallas is actually a very lovely place to live, but we’re not there yet. Once this damn heat finally subsides, most of us plan to get back out there, and stop sitting on the couch swiping right on…
Benedict Cumberbatch may be getting heavy ink for his Hamlet at London’s Barbican Theatre. But 400 miles north in Edinburgh, Lake Highlands High School grad David Carl, 34, is playing all the roles, plus one, in his hit solo comedy Gary Busey’s One-Man Hamlet as Performed by David Carl at…
When we heard Exxxotica was coming to town, we imagined a cross between Willa Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and the Playboy Mansion. Lights would be low, porn stars would be just as attractive in person, walls would be draped in velvet and around every corner we’d find a Champagne fountain. (Basically,…
In a world gone mad for superhero movies, what chance does the light spy caper have? Audiences will put total faith in a guy wearing a red metal suit, but the soft woolen folds of the bespoke kind barely register. When a whole city can be blasted to smithereens thanks…
Thursday, Aug. 13 God of Carnage After their grade-school sons fight in a public park, two pairs of parents have what is intended to be a quick, friendly meeting to discuss the matter. But the conversation is drawn out and the parents start behaving childishly, fighting among themselves and with…
For the life of me, I can’t remember what the word was that tripped me up. I just remember it was embarrassing because prior to taking my turn in the preliminary run of the trials for something that might have been the National Spelling Bee, I had been talking to…
Less than a generation ago, Yonkers, New York became the face of segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation in my backyard. A federal court order to construct 200 units of low-income residences east of the Saw Mill Parkway, i.e., in the white part of town, led to riots and bombings, death…
Frank Artsmarter isn’t here to judge you. He wants the general public to judge you. Which is why he has partnered with Glasstire to create the ArtSmarterPrize, an open call contest that has been described by some as “an artist invitational in which every artist, no matter his or her…
We are just a few weeks from summer ending, school starting and the return of the arts in Dallas. Enjoy these final quiet days before your calendar again fills up with events you cannot miss and art you want to see. In the meantime, here are three things to fill…
Meryl Streep in a comedic role is one of the few good things in Ricki and the Flash, and the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton sands down many of the rough corners of the ground-breaking rap group’s controversial history. On this week’s Voice Film Club, Alan Scherstuhl and Stephanie Zacharek…
In the holy trinity of N.W.A., each icon had a power: Dr. Dre produced, Ice Cube wrote the words and Eazy-E was the comic relief. N.W.A.’s biopic, Straight Outta Compton, blurs those roles. Both Dre and Cube produced the film and seem to have edited the script with a red…
Even if you’re the sort who believes there can be no such thing as too much political coverage, it can’t hurt to cast a fond glance back to 1968, when only three networks — NBC, CBS, and the perennial laggard ABC — jockeyed for the attention of the American public…
At the start of Woody Allen’s campus comedy Irrational Man, caddish professor Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix) drives up to a new school that’s already steeled itself for his arrival. “Of course, my reputation — a reputation — preceded me,” admits Abe. Such defensiveness also applies to his tabloid-attacked director, who…
It doesn’t matter how old you get or how many women a guy has asked out on a date. Asking a woman to go out with you never gets easier. If it is easy, then that guy is a psychopath who isn’t in touch with their feelings and will definitely…
Upon stepping in the front door of J. Hall Gentleman Tattooers, a friendly “butler” (heavily tattooed receptionist in a T-shirt) welcomes you into the institution (tattoo shop), and offers you a bottle of water (Fiji!). If you have ever been to a tattoo shop before, you know this type of…
For multiple generations, episodes of The Simpsons contain an entire lexicon of examples and comparisons. “That’s just like one time Bart did …” Or “That reminds of the episode when Homer said…” The show has more than 25 seasons under its belt, so avoiding the references to the bright yellow,…
In the summertime slump, you’re probably feeling like you’re not very creative at all. There’s nothing about 104-degree temperatures that make you want to create art, much less go out and find the inspiration to do it. Still, even though it’s a veritable inferno out there, this week offers a…
For all the pearl-clutching and handwringing from conservatives and supposed feminists alike, the eXXXotica Expo came to Dallas this weekend without much incident. As far as we know, there was no flood of trafficked prostitutes in the streets of the suburbs, or children whose eyes were burned out at the…
