I’ve never been a big fan of the tuna sandwich–fish on bread has always struck me as, well, gross–but I love Tuna, Texas, the fictional third-smallest town in the Lone Star State “where the Lion’s Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies,” and Tuna’s Christmas show is a…
SMU’s Meadows Museum presents–as a companion to the loan of El Greco’s Pentecost from the Prado Museum–Sultans and Saints: Spain’s Confluence of Cultures, an exhibition that brings together works created in Counter-Reformation Spain and the period of La Convivencia. La Convivencia, the coexistence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Spain…
Some people confuse modern style with boring style, or, even worse, no style. The lines and shapes, unadorned, don’t draw them in as much as more decorative styles do. To those folks, we say, give modern another chance, and start with the works of Linnea Glatt. Subtle, yes; boring, no…
Typically, seeing the word “BUGS” in all capital letters would be a warning to us vertebrates that it is time to turn around, speed up and take cover. That’s what all-caps is for: to warn you that something’s about to go down, and it is your responsibility as a human…
An odd duck of a romantic comedy from James L. Brooks, How Do You Know strays as far from a barrel of laughs as a writer-director formed by network television can get without losing his grip altogether. The movie’s rhythms are loose, disjointed and peppered with strategic silences or half-finished…
Jeff Bridges is God and, as image-captured from the original 1982 Tron, he’s also the devil in Disney’s mega-million dollar reboot, Tron: Legacy. The notion of a tragically split persona might have been scripted to give the new movie a measure of emotional gravitas, but why bother with writing when…
The Fighter is based on the true story of Lowell, Massachusetts, light welterweight champ “Irish” Micky Ward, but, starring Boston working-class hero Mark Wahlberg, it plays as a Rocky-fied fairy tale for our time: Consigned to Palookaville, a sweet, unassuming boxer with more heart than brains steps up—all the way…
A picnic for Anglophiles, not to mention a prospective Oscar bonanza for the brothers Weinstein, The King’s Speech is a well-wrought, enjoyably amusing inspirational drama that successfully humanizes, even as it pokes fun at, the House of Windsor. The story—shy young prince helped by irascible wizard to break an evil…
Rock-bottom expectations are rewarded, sort of, in this update of Hanna-Barbera’s necktied ursus, which hopes to outdo the live action/computer animation success of the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise by adding one more dimension. Yogi (who debuted in 1958 and was loosely based on The Honeymooners’ Ed Norton) is voiced…
“I hate theater,” a whiny voice in the dark says at the tippy-top of The Drowsy Chaperone. “Well, it’s so disappointing, isn’t it?” The Man in Chair, as he’s called in this creampuff of a musical, continues for a few more lines before the lights come up. He expresses his…
Santa and his crew aren’t the only ones running around this Christmas. That’s right; it’s time to throw on those hoodies, earmuffs and just about any other winter gear you own for this year’s annual Dallas Jingle Bell 5K Run. Sure, Christmas is all about family and food, but why…
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and taste and feel and smell like it too. The lights are twinkling, the hot cocoa is extra chocolaty, and the cookies are gooey and fresh. There’s just one problem–silence fills the air. The sound of Christmas is missing. There are no…
Between all the working, shopping and family drama, the holiday season can be a beating sometimes, giving even the best of us a case of the bah humbugs. Luckily for you, Dallas Theatre Center has just the thing. They’re putting on a production of A Christmas Carol through December 24…
There’s nothing like living in a tiny-ass apartment and overhearing your neighbors going at it when their “love boat” docks on your shared wall. Last weekend, we schemed to kill the mood for our own next-door nymphos, pitting the not-so-sexy Pandora Christmas channel against their industrial techno mood music. Between…
Tired of seeing the same old sugar plum fairies and getting an eyefulla jangling Nutcracker moose knuckles? At 2 p.m. Saturday, see Barefoot Brigade (a group of area modern dancers working to make North Texas nationally-recognized for its “innovative dance works”) perform The NOTcracker: A Barefoot Brigade Holiday Dance Festival…
Texas high school football is more than an institution–it’s a religion. The football-flavored drama served up by the eerily on point TV show Friday Night Lights is repeated weekly around Texas in the fall. In December there can be only one winner, but that’s the beauty of competition. Texans worship…
Your kid is getting too old to keep giving you Popsicle stick snowflakes stuck together with Elmer’s glitter glue for Christmas. This year, stop hanging them on the back of the tree and check out Vetro’s Create Your Ornament glassblowing class. For $25 you pick color mixes, help apply them…
Since they married in 1996, Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison have been the sweethearts of the Texas country music scene, with a string of critically acclaimed records, four kids and one adorable Claritin commercial to their credit. Kelly is definitely the better singer of two, but if you’ve listened to…
The world famous Shen Yun Dance Company aims to revive the spirit of Chinese culture and tradition by performing dances that showcase classic Chinese myths and legends, studying values and virtues found in said myths and legends, and utilizing an all-original score by an orchestra made up of Chinese and…
Greeting cards try to tell us the “reason for the season,” but we know the truth. The real reason for the season is the moment when the earth is tilted furthest away from the sun, resulting in the longest night of the year–otherwise known as the winter solstice. Even ancient…
Gigantic holiday light displays have become a popular novelty of the Christmas season in recent years, but back when we were young, we slummed it old-school and just weaved in and out of neighborhoods trying to find at least three houses in a row that had decided to decorate. For…
On a visit to Scardello’s website, you’ll be welcomed with a cheesy quote like, “Cheese is the biscuit of drunkards” (Grimod de La Reyniere), so it’s only fitting that they should be the fromagephiles you turn to when you need cheese advice for the biggest party of the year. In…
