Kathleen Cahill’s dreamy comedy, Charm, gets a sweet production at Kitchen Dog Theater. Tina Parker stars as Margaret Fuller, a real-life early feminist writer whose pals included Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. The boys won’t let her swim in Walden Pond (back in that century, ladies…
Texas artists Brent Kollock and Michael Roque Collins both find inspiration in the harrowing, it seems. Whether that’s considering the meaning(lessness) of life or conflicts of past with present, respectively, the two incorporate bits of their “other selves” into their artwork featured in The Language of Myth: New Work by…
Bet if you knew that when you had kids you’d be sentenced to years of shelling out wads of cash to see dim-witted 3-D films created for the sole purpose of parental wallet-shredding (we are looking at you, Mastermind), you’d have gotten that puppy, right? And maybe built that wet…
Bet if you knew that when you had kids you’d be sentenced to years of shelling out wads of cash to see dim-witted 3-D films created for the sole purpose of parental wallet-shredding (we are looking at you, Mastermind), you’d have gotten that puppy, right? And maybe built that wet…
Does it matter that a young Israeli filmmaker’s imaginative reconstruction of an abandoned Nazi propaganda film about the Warsaw Ghetto is not, strictly speaking, a documentary? Not if it sets a crucial historical record straight. Discovered by East German archivists after World War II and accepted for decades as one…
In Due Date, a skinny, scowly and dryly self-referential Robert Downey Jr. meets a chubby, beardy, quasi-autistic Zach Galifianakis boarding a flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Downey plays Peter, a Bluetoothed architect with a very pregnant wife (Michelle Monaghan) waiting at home for him; Galifianakis’ Ethan is a would-be…
Inside Job, Charles Ferguson’s follow-up to his Iraq War gut-twister No End in Sight, is a documentary that inspires less shock and awe than sickening ire. The movie opens with the cautionary tale of little Iceland, an idyllic nation so stable that, as put by one local, it enjoyed “almost…
Comely, independent, willful young lass returns to collect family inheritance in rural England, drives the local men wild, makes several misalliances, and inadvertently precipitates a catastrophe before nature finally takes its course. Adapted from Posy Simmonds’ excellent graphic novel, Tamara Drewe knowingly updates Thomas Hardy’s gloomy pastoral Far From the…
Scandal–even just implied scandal–sells. If a book is banned or if the Catholic Church speaks out against a movie, curious people become all the more determined to take part in the forbidden media. But after 90210, The O.C., Gossip Girl, and Skins, one might assume the public had become accustomed…
Fresh off its 2010 Reader’s Pick award for Best Sunday Brunch in our Best of Dallas issue, Blue Mesa Grill is hosting a Hill Country & Produce Festival, intended to showcase the tasty fresh produce from local Texas farms on the food and drink menu. The festival will be a…
The Golden Dragon Acrobats spin from ropes, flip through hoops, balance umbrellas on their toes, and leap like cats. The traveling troupe of Chinese acrobats, seemingly made of rubber, twist and turn and contort in ways you never will, or would want to. The acrobats learn the tricks of the…
Imagine indulging yourself in the richest of chocolate, the sweetest of candy and the warmest of caramel. Sure, today’s diets probably don’t include even the smallest pinch of sugar in their recipes, but that shouldn’t stop dieters from enjoying a delicious treat from time to time. Barbara Fairchild, Editor-in-Chief of…
This Sunday, Chef Tre Wilcox (who you might remember as that buff badass from season three of Top Chef) will face off in an Iron Chef-style competition against Chef Ed Mendoza (an instructor at Le Cordon Bleu). A secret ingredient will be unveiled and both chefs will have one hour…
If weird is your thing, and you prefer films that don’t conform to the well established formula, then you might appreciate a movie like Werner Herzog’s Stroszek. The film follows the journey of an alcoholic named Bruno after his release from prison. He becomes friends with a prostitute and a…
Screw Bella and the Pacific Northwest; Twilight’s gone dark. But apparently, lovers of young adult vampire fiction (read: students, Goths, moms, retirees, backyard wrestlers, hipsters, aliens, ranch hands, etc.) needn’t resort to bloodletting, thanks to the Morganville Vampire series by Fort Worth author Rachel Caine. Set in the fictional town…
Sonic the Hedgehog doesn’t look or act like an actual hedgehog at all. Have you ever seen a hedgehog in real life? First of all, they’re not blue. Also, they don’t wear tennis shoes or walk around on their hind legs, and most importantly, the last thing a hedgehog would…
People seem to go nuts over silent auctions. Or maybe not. They go anti-auction. People are quiet. They’re serene. They stroll. After all, a silent auction is just eBay you have to put on pants for. If you’re into that (and you might be), or want to support the awareness…
Looking for just the right bone for Fido? The Texas Pet Expo in Plano is the largest indoor pet show in North Texas and will be a great source of education and entertainment for pet owners of all kinds. The two-day event takes place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m…
Finally–a chance to go laugh at the efforts of art students. We’re not talking about mocking some UTD sophomore’s rickety wire sculpture or indulgent self-portrait, as satisfying as it might be to that horrible part of you that secretly wants to tell them to give up on their dreams. These…
It’s a long, long way from the women’s bar outside Berkeley, California, where Ntozake Shange first presented her combustible choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf in December 1974, to Atlanta’s Tyler Perry Studios, where the impresario filmed much of this calamitous adaptation. Though striving…
Every night of live theater is an adventure. When things go right, it’s a thrill ride. When things go wrong, as they did at the final preview of Lyric Stage’s premiere of the musical adaptation of The Night of the Hunter, it’s like stumbling through a carnival fun house. The…
Times are tough all around, and especially for artists. Grant money is scarce and patron support isn’t what it was during boom times. Why not offer Dallas artists and creative entrepreneurs a shot at some money and a bit of buzz-generating publicity? Dallas Observer’s first MasterMinds competition, launched in September,…
