They’re Back!

When I was a kid, I was a typical girly-girl. We’re talking pink hair ribbons, Barbie dolls and an abhorrence of dirt, but even I loved dinosaurs. There was an exhibit featuring giant animatronic dinosaurs, including the carnivorous T-Rex. I spent hours staring up at the creature, convinced he was…

I Saw It! Along Them There Shores!

The History Channel’s Monster Quest proves that believing in sasquatch, moth-men, chupacabras and other legendary creatures requires some suspension of skepticism. The story is set with witnesses describing an encounter and perhaps showing a blurry photo or scratch left behind on a tree. The team of cryptozoologists take print casts,…

Ever Gazed At Malldernist Art?

Ask anyone in town and they’re sure to tell you that NorthPark is more than just a mall. Yes, there are the obligatory high-end stores and the much needed food court, but NorthPark is a scene unto its own, and it is home to some of the best artwork in…

You Make the Call

Miss the 2008 election? Ready catch a good play? Not sure what those two things have in common? Adventures in Mating, may quite possibly be the most democratic play for our democratic society. The audience controls the characters’ decisions thus taking the direction of this romantic comedy any which way…

Oh. My. Tosh.

The summer of deep V’s is winding down, but Tosh Tour Twenty Ten is just getting warmed up. If you don’t chuckle at misogyny and racism, stop reading here. But if racial humor, gay jokes, nut punches and vomit are your thing, then Daniel Tosh is your man. Well, this…

James Dean’s Ghost

Before Marfa, Texas became famous as a mecca for modern art buffs and high-desert hipsters, it was best known as the location for the shoot of the classic ’56 film Giant, starring Rock Hudson, James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor. Strangely, despite the fact that we’ve been to Marfa–and even stayed…

You May Find It Trans…cendental

Midnight this Friday (or Saturday) see Israel Luna’s Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives at the Inwood Theatre, 5458 West Lovers Lane. Shot in Dallas, the “transploitation” film is about a group of transgender entertainers who are brutally attacked and decide to get revenge. It’s Kill Bill with bigger tits and better…

Sit and Fight, Soldier

Need a cure for claustrophobia? Spend 93 minutes trapped inside a tank with four soldiers during the First Lebanon War. Now, imagine spending 30 days trapped inside that same tank and your only glimpse of the outside world is through the crosshairs of a gun. Samuel Maoz’s film (and winner…

Let Me In: Puppy Love With Sharp Teeth.

An orphan for all practical purposes, 12-year-old Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) has been left to sprout like a weed. At home, he gets sparse recognition from his divorcée mother; at school, he absorbs castrating taunts from a pack of bullies who’ve gleaned “eternal victim” from his spacey stare. Owen fills the…

Laugh Line

Comedian Adam Carolla is known for many things, mostly for Loveline, Crank Yankers, The Man Show and his current podcast, The Adam Carolla Show. He is a loudmouth and kind of a pig, and a lot of his humor appeals to teenagers and mental midgets, but one very important detail…

An Apple a Day? Maybe Not.

Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest musical character of all? Doc, Dopey, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, Sneezy and Bashful still agree: Snow White is indeed the fairest one of all. Join her in Casa Manana’s musical production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as she embarks on…

Where They Naturally Occur…

Fans of Stephen Lapthisophon shouldn’t expect a sculptural installation from the winner of 2008’s Wynn Newhouse Award for artists with disabilities at his Gallery 219 exhibition, Specificity. What they can expect, however, is one fully cohesive exhibition and more incorporation of food into his exhibited photographs, as the show description…

Twisted Sister

Unlike those of the little pigs and three bears, the story of the The Little Foxes is deceptively titled. Or is it? These little foxes aren’t actual foxes at all, but they are cunning. They’re brothers and sisters, husbands and wives caught up in a twisty thriller even more sinister…

Living for the Dead

Dia de los Muertos (or Day of the Dead) may sound dreary, but it’s actually a celebration. The Mexican holiday inspires festive remembrance of the dead by way of folk art, food and storytelling. The Modern Shop at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is getting into the spirit,…

It Was Curtains for the Starlet

If you, like many die-hard musical fans in the area, walked around singing “All that Jazz,” for days after Chicago came through town–you’re in luck. From the creators of Chicago and Cabaret comes Curtains, a Tony Award-winning musical sure to inspire you to buy the soundtrack. (Much to the chagrin…

Into The Madness

Moises Kaufman, who wrote The Laramie Project, is the author of this drama (a vehicle earlier this year for Jane Fonda on Broadway) about a 60-ish musicologist (Sharon Garrison) obsessed with finding reasons for Beethoven’s years-long work on 33 short variations of a simple waltz. She has a reason to…

He’s the PPPOTUS

If you Google image search the name “George W. Bush,” most of the results are either photos of Bush standing in front of an American flag, looking patriotic, or shots of him making those goofy faces he was always making back when he was President of this fair nation. But,…

The Cowgirl Honors Lone Star Royalty

A cowgirl is more than a woman who ropes and rides and dons a ten gallon hat. Cowgirl poetess Helen Odom had a thing or two to say about these headstrong “Texas Wimmen:” “Thay allus does ac-com-plish/Whatever thay tries ter do. Ain’t nuthin’ never hard.” Shaky grammar aside, old Helen…

The Modern World

Saturday brings the opening of the Amon Carter Museum’s new exhibition, American Modern: Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White, a display of photographs by–who else?–photographers Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans and Margaret Bourke-White. Presented as case studies of documentary photography during the Great Depression, their photographs spur discussion of three important factors of the…

Seven Days At The Crow

I had to Google the words “Brad Pitt” and “Tibet” recently because my husband swore that Mr. Pitt was in a movie about the Dalai Lama and I asserted that he probably meant that Keanu Reeves was in a movie about Buddha. Turns out that–unfortunately for filmgoers everywhere–we were both…

Puzzle + Games = Fun

Calling all math nerds, mathletes, or geogeeks! Or whatever you folks preferred to be called. Now that you officially miss spinning upside down on flashy carnival rides and chowing the fried goodness at Fair Park, you should travel up to Sci-Tech Discovery Center, 8004 N. Dallas Parkway in Frisco, and…

Right About Now

Typically, we’ll hear about a woman on an inner voyage to discover her identity in a new land and file it somewhere on the scale between tired feminism and an indulgent cliche. But the Valley House Gallery insists that it’s art–and inspiring, opportunistic art at that. Israeli-born artist Hadar Sobol’s…