Santas on a Train: Scenes from the Santa Rampage 2011

Couple of weeks ago, City of Ate teased the arrival of the rampaging Santas–where hundreds of folks march on Dallas and bar hop along DART, you know, in Santa costumes and stuff. It’s a colorful event that rarely yields unusable photos. This year was no different, as our roving photographer…

A Very Merry Star Wars Holiday Special Gift Guide

This month, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider 500 feet beneath the Franco-Swiss border announced they are one step closer to proving the existence of the Higgs boson, what’s informally called, the “God particle,” the fundamental building block of life theorized to inform all. In other words, The Force, the…

Snooki Smells Like Kiwi, Cupcakes and the Future of All Mankind

Outside, standing toward the back of a line of 500 or so fans of the MTV reality show Jersey Shore, Janessa Salas, 12, and her mother Stacey were super excited about getting VIP tickets to meet Snooki. Janessa, a seventh grader at Allen’s Curtis Middle School, was dressed in Snooki-like…

Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011

Though I am not particularly religious, I can’t say that atheism, as a “movement,” means all that much to me; it is simply not my battle. However, as a lover of words, etymology, elegant syntax, the Oxford comma, philosophy, journalism, trenchant logic, audacity and the “writer mystique,” I cannot help…

Dallas-Fort Worth Critics Pick Top Films of 2011

Over on Unfair Park, Robert Wilonsky posted the full release from the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics picks of the best films of 2011. Descendants, the Alexander Payne drama with George Clooney, is a topper as well as Drive (full Q&A with the director right here), Martin Scorcese’s Hugo, and Steve…

Dallas Observer’s 10 Most Popular Cover Stories of 2011

Over here at Observer HQ, it was a year of street cars, Texas craft liquors, Pomplamoose and NASCAR, eight-tracks and fracking. And, you know, other things. Clearly you’ll find a great horde of final best-of-end-of-totally-ranking-year-end lists all over the dern place, and by golly we’re no different. We just loooove…

Art Con Donates 30 Grand to Musical Angels

You may remember back in November, after Art Conspiracy 7, which temporarily transformed 511 West Commerce into a house-that-art-built, Unfair Park hinted at the possible wad of cash the event generated for a worthy cause. This year’s cause, of course, was Musical Angels, which provides piano lessons to hospitalized children…

Young Adult: The Bitch is Back

Described as a “psychotic prom-queen bitch,” the anti-heroine of Young Adult is a prize part that affords Charlize Theron one of the season’s prize performances — although, to judge from the voting at the New York Film Critics Circle conclave last week, few of my colleagues seem to agree. Perhaps…

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Although supplying boy’s adventure thrills on the side, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories are remarkable for how they make the process of empirical brainwork, and the resulting discoveries, breathlessly exciting. Each Holmes tale simultaneously unlocks a mystery while deepening the enigma of its hero in a miraculously sustained piece…

Pegasus Theatre Returns in Glorious Black and White

There’s something to be said for seeing the world in shades of gray. For 26 years that’s been the philosophy of Dallas’ Pegasus Theatre, which performs its annual murder mystery comedy in trademarked “Living Black and White” style. This year’s show, opening at the Eisemann Center in Richardson on December…

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

For 15 years and now four sequels, Tom Cruise has pilgrimaged regularly to the Mission: Impossible franchise. Like a Hindu’s rejuvenating bath in the Ganges, a dip in the series serves to wash away perceived doubts about the star’s enduring fame and clout. The sustained box office of the M:I…

Toys and a Tease

As if boobs don’t already do enough good, now they’re heading up a toy drive. It’s Iggy’s 2nd Annual Christmas Extravaganza: A Toy Drive Tease-A-Thon. A Burlesque Show. Your toy donations determine what comes off, so let’s be generous, ’K? And no, an actual dump truck of toys isn’t overkill…

Stop. Put Down the Tinsel.

The days of hanging glitter-covered pinecones on your Christmas tree are long gone. If you want to find a new way of bringing the beauty of nature into your holiday decorating, then check out Garden Walk: Living Ornaments this weekend at the Texas Discovery Gardens (3601 Martin Luther King Jr…

Highway to Ireland

Celtic Thunder sounds like the name of a very silly metal band, but the group is in fact a very popular Irish ensemble and not the least bit metal. The five-man act has sold millions of CDs, DVDs and concert tickets and is now touring again with its festive “Celtic…

Short on Daylight, Long on Spiritual Light

If you’re the type who puked a little at the idea of a Rick Perry Prayerapalooza, then Earth Rhythms’ 19th annual interfaith Winter SolstiCelebration may be right up your alley this holiday season. Not a religious ceremony so much as a collaborative spiritual event, the two-day celebration blends creative activity…

Not-So-Silent Tights

The holidays cast a glow of childhood wonder and innocence over everything, and in this glow a giant man-child in tights screaming that he knows Santa became a comical and endearing thing. In the instant holiday classic Elf, Will Ferrell’s Buddy can insult Peter Dinklage’s stature, pour syrup over everything…

Give Them Shelter

Tired of the same ol’ Christmas tunes, the fruitcake and ho-ho-hoing? Explore the holiday from a different cultural perspective with the 8th Annual Posada Dallas! Festivities, presented by the Latino Cultural Center, 2600 Live Oak St. Traditionally a re-enactment of the holy family’s search for shelter, the LCC’s version begins…