Some of my favorite things come from the Brits: The Cure, Curly Wurly bars, Minis and Clive Owen. But not everything English translates well to our shores. Whoever decided that it was a good idea to drink hot tea in the middle of the afternoon surely didn’t grow up in…
At 7 p.m. Sunday at Pizza Hut Park, 6000 Main St. in Frisco, Nickelback performs (with Daughtry and Puddle of Mudd). And I got the interview. Me: So, Nickelback, are there any plans in the works for you to stop singing like a constipated goat? Nickelback: How the hell’d we…
Sometimes in life, we’re forced to make small talk with strangers when we just don’t feel up to it. You’ve had a long day at work, you’re grumpy and the last thing you want is to hear someone else’s discourse. So what do you do? You could run screaming from…
How best to describe the good souls who are willing to even think about organic gardening when the temperature hits 100 degrees? Environmentally aware, perhaps. Devoted. Earth friendly. Or how about ker-ray-zee? It’s hot. Hothothothot. In August, Mother Nature can go hump herself. Give us Dow Chemical, automatic sprinklers and…
Have you always wanted a good excuse to crawl around Uptown? Do it for charity. We’re talking about traveling throughout the neighborhood, of course, sampling the ambiance and offerings of its pubs. The Uptown Crawl, benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, includes local favorites like Christie’s, Central Park, the Idle Rich…
With the Cowboys’ preseason victory over the Colts, it seems the long, lonely post-Baron Davis summer of the Dallas sports fan is finally over, to be replaced henceforth by smiling Romos and the benevolent dynasty of Papa Wade. Honestly we had our doubts about Phillips at first, but after one…
You can always count on suburban community theater for presenting the basics in stage productions. Steel Magnolias? Grease? All coming up around town soon. These aren’t the places you go to find edgy works with full-frontal nudity or abundant profanity. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) For some good,…
It takes a certain genius for a film director to intentionally use surreally garish colors, hyper-stylized sets and goofy/serious plot entanglements to reflect a realistic humanity. This is exactly what the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar has done for almost 35 years. Though he’s made films since 1974, Almodóvar first made…
Just in time for the release of The Ten comes another chance to see director David Wain’s first feature, Wet Hot American Summer, on the big screen. You might know Wain and co-writer Michael Showalter from The State, MTV’s groundbreaking sketch comedy show of the early nineties. In fact, you…
One great thing about the digital age is that even the most obscure failed TV shows are now available on DVD. You can’t call it “obscure,” but one of my favorite cancelled TV shows is now out on DVD. Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist was one of the funniest cartoons on…
Do you think the Frisco RoughRiders realize they share their name (not the Frisco part) with a freaky sex-grade condom? Studded to be exact? Perhaps they have absolutely no idea and this article will induce a slew of locker room jokes the likes of which haven’t been heard since little…
Tex-Mex, we appreciate what you’ve done for us, but sometimes we want to hang with your big brother. No hard feelings, I swear, but Mexican taquerias are where it’s at these days. And they have the goods to make us come running, like Urban Taco’s Mucho Margaritas happy hour. Featuring…
Think universally, laugh locally. Big themes come laced with oodles of hometown references in Heaven Forbid(s)!, the biting new comedy written by and starring Marco Rodriguez, now playing at the itty-bitty Ice House Cultural Center in Oak Cliff. It’s the first new show in two years from Rodriguez’s Martice Enterprises,…
Bubba Ho-tep Limited Edition (MGM) Intentional camp is difficult to do well. It’s a contradiction that usually comes off cutesy and forced. The old Batman series pulled it off, and it’s been B-movie god Bruce Campbell’s livelihood. But in a long career of overacting and mugging, Campbell’s peak may be…
Masterfully edited and cumulatively walloping, Charles Ferguson’s No End in Sight turns the well-known details of our monstrously bungled Iraq War into an enraging, apocalyptic litany of fuck-ups. One may have already heard some or all of the absurd, shameful, appalling details that Ferguson collects—the well-connected American kid plucked straight…
Stardust is less an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 1999 novel than of its dust-jacket synopsis. That will come as disconcerting news to fans of the author, who thus far has avoided the fate of fellow fantasy writers and comics creators who’ve had their works mangled by the studios’ clumsy assembly…
Chris Tucker still believes in Michael Jackson. You can tell, because in the very first scene of Rush Hour 3, the actor-comedian squeals melodically, grabs his crotch and throws his arms up to the heavens. All that’s missing is a giant offstage fan to make Tucker’s shirt billow out behind…
Ingmar Bergman directed more than 50 features, but he was a significant figure in 20th-century culture in part because he was so obviously significant. Last week’s inch-above-the-fold front-page New York Times obituary cites Woody Allen’s pledge of allegiance: The Swedish director was nothing less than “the greatest film artist…since the…
Stupid video-game logic, rule no. 154: When thousands of fugly, bloodthirsty aliens take over a spaceship, it’s best to send in a lone woman with a flamethrower.That’s the entire plot of Alien Syndrome, a pseudo sequel to Sega’s 1987 “run ‘n’ gun” arcade game of the same name. And despite…
Beneath (Paramount)Brigitte Bardot 5-Film Collection (Lionsgate)Luis Bunuel: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition (Lionsgate)Disturbia (DreamWorks)The Dog Problem (THINKfilm)The Dresden Files: The Complete First Season (Lionsgate)8 Simple Rules: The Complete First Season (Buena Vista)The Fly: Collector Set (Fox)Full House: The Complete Seventh Season (Warner Bros.)The Hills: The Complete Second Season (Paramount)I Think I Love…
Yes, it’s time for the annual Kartoffel Festival. If you weren’t aware of it, kartoffel is German for men’s lingerine. No wait, that’s lederhosen. A kartoffel is a potato. And potatoes apparently are a big part of German cuisine. If you’re into good food with weird names you owe it…
The Pillowman is a creepy name for a play. It makes me think of the super-creepy chief antagonist in those Saw movies. Or maybe the Pillowman is like the Spoon Man in that Soundgarden song—some scary street performer who does weird things with pillows. Actually, though, this play is more…
