12 for 2012: A Dozen DFW Actors Who Deserve More Stage Time

The list of actors we want to see more of on Dallas/Fort Worth theater stages this year includes a few we’ve seen a lot of in recent productions — a lot, as in their frontal and backal parts sans costume. Nudity has become so common among local theater companies, it’s…

Does Clown College Offer Contortion 101 … Online?

Those smug clowns have it all figured out: If someone looks pouty, they slap them in the face with a pie. If the rest of the world operated like that, it would be a better one. Less wallowing. More pie. BAM! Universal joy. While Lone Star Circus School doesn’t offer…

Youth Poetry, En Masse

A special connection with a soccer ball. How it felt when he left you alone, in front of your locker, with only your Mead 5 Star to catch your tears. Justin Bieber’s eyes. Nothing is off limits when it comes to youth poetry. Now in its 16th year, “Express Yourself”…

Link Offered Reprieve, Emits Energy Blast From Sword

Oh Link, we understand that your wifi reception is positively shit in those dungeons, but while you were putzing around with flutes and bows EVERYONE IN DALLAS beat you to Zelda tickets. Oh, the irony. Yep, the Dallas Symphony performs “The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddess” to a…

Go Ahead, Live a Little

Experiencing the world around you shouldn’t be the stuff of resolutions, and yet we stay so content within the inertia of routine. Wake up. Make coffee. Car. Job. Sit. Flavorless lunch. Swallow it. Job. Car. More food. More sit. It’s human nature to lust after order, but when we fall…

How To Not Pick Up Women at Half Price Books

On a rare day off recently, I was approached while in the philosophy section at Half Price Books by a gentleman who, very obviously, intended to garner my attention by any means necessary. I’d scoured the tiny u-shaped pen for what seemed like a half hour, trying desperately to locate…

New Year, New Psychic Prowess

A new year is often seen as a chance for reinvention. Maybe this will be the year you move out of the friend-zone with your “pal” across the hall. Maybe this will be the year that you don’t overdraft while buying a two dollar Miller High Life. Maybe this will…

The Many Stories of the Titanic Exhibit in Fort Worth

Never has there been an event as catastrophic or storied in maritime lore quite like that of the Titanic. It is the story of an impermeable ship with giant expectations. It sought to revolutionize the way goods were shipped; improve and increase the transportation of immigrants; and change the game…

FLP: Door Boards of Papua New Guinea

Today’s FLP (or FLPs) come from the Joel Cooner Gallery. They’re called door boards, and they are exactly what they sound like: boards that are hung over and around doors. Or the openings to homes, anyway. These are from the Star Mountains in central Papua New Guinea from the Ok…

Les Miz, Loud and Long, Remains Master of the Opera House

Next year we’ll have the big-budget movie starring Hugh Jackman (as Jean Valjean) and Russell Crowe (as Javert) to compare it to, but right now you can see what critics and audiences are loving in the 25th anniversary touring production of Les Misérables, playing through Sunday at the Winspear. About…

Go Legit: Gallery Bomb Calls for Street Artists

Are you an artist searching for that perfect, unbuffable wall (aka: The Holy Grail of graff writers)?  How about putting your name on something permanent by taking your skill set indoors? Your mom would be so proud…Local graffiti art collective, Gallery Bomb, is experimenting with new Dallas talent. The crew…

Cheapskates’ Guide to the Symphony

Has proper wooing taken a backseat to filling your gas tank? Has dinner out devolved into off-brand mac ‘n’ cheese night? Has your undershirt become your “sexy shirt?” Darling, that’s no way to live.The Dallas Symphony wants to readjust your idea of what is accessible for a proper date night…

From a Firestation in Fairview, TX: A Mural in Timelapse

Well, here’s your cool timelapse video of the day… Over on Dallas’ Reddit page this morning, caught an exciting piece from local artist Andy Buchanan. The two-minute plus video chronicles the construction of Buchanan’s action-y, three-dimension-y mural “Rescuing Freedom.” According the YouTube vid, the piece took three weeks to complete…

New Culture Editor Seeking Dallas for Serious Relationship

Dearest Dallas, I’ve been watching you for quite some time. And if you don’t mind me sayin’, you look good. Real good. I like a city with an air of mystery; where every neighborhood mashes up its own definition of “culture.” You’ve got it in spades. It’s reflected in your…

Les Miz, Oui; La Bete, Non

It’s called Les Misérables, so don’t expect comedy. You don’t look to Victor Hugo’s depiction of the 1832 Paris uprisings for belly laughs. What there is in Les Miz, now at the Winspear Opera House on a 25th anniversary tour, is singing. Great, powerful, perfectly on-pitch caterwauling. The kind of…

Kwanzaa, Minus the Feds

This Kwaanza-fest event is decidedly more low-key than the annual John Wiley Price event at Fair Park, but that’s probably a good thing. It’s much better to celebrate family, community and culture without bumping into FBI agents at every turn. And so this quaint, but meaningful, little event in the…

Sunny Side Up

We’re spoiled and we know it. One of our most recent generations is dubbed the Entitled Generation. We note when our grievances are so-called First World problems. Maybe, then, we can learn a lesson from Pollyanna. The Garland Civic Theatre’s Children On Stage production of Pollyanna tells the story of…

Improvise for 2012

This year, instead of trying to recreate your own version of the movie New Year’s Eve — though you could probably do a better job than Hollywood — and suffer the torment of critics laughing at you, why not partake in something that will have everyone laughing with you? Ad-Libs…

Ring in the New Year with Murder

Want to do something totally different this New Year’s Eve? For starters, don’t drink too much, cry and then throw up on your own shoes. Mix it up this year. Puke on someone else’s shoes. Or skip the heaves altogether and head to Keith & Margo’s 21st Annual Murder Mystery…

A 420 for 2012

Maybe you’ve given toys to Toys for Tots. Perhaps you spent some time camped out near City Hall on behalf of the downtrodden 99 percent. You’re a good, socially conscientious soul — so don’t stop now. Get behind a cause that’s dear to us and greet 2012 at DFW NORML’s…