Sure, some wines relax you and put you in the mood for solo piano music and candles, but sometimes you sip a fruity Australian Riesling and you just have to rock out. In that case, what you need is a taste of Urbano Restaurant & Paninoteca’s Rock and Roll Wine…
Damn that Shakespeare. After a while, all his plays and plots start running together and sounding alike. I can’t even remember in which one I was the shining star of the ensemble cast. For sure I was in Love’s Labour’s Lost and maybe Much Ado About Nothing, but for the…
The best parts of James Bond movies don’t include the blatant misogyny, the cheesy acting or the over-the-top phallic symbolism. In fact, there’s not much point in watching the films unless you’re into checking out the cars that Bond, James Bond and his various nemeses motor about in. There are…
Visualize the inside of any of the following stores: Abercrombie and Fitch, American Apparel, Forever 21, Madewell, Urban Outfitters. Imagine the merchandise and the salespeople. Realize that you’re probably better at this visualization than if we’d asked you to describe the inside of a soup kitchen you frequent, the church…
For years, Richardson’s Wildflower Arts and Music Festival has been the place to see suburban soccer moms whipped into a frenzy by the performances of has-been rockers. This year looks to be no different. Not that the has-been rockers aren’t still good—the acts are top-notch and there’s good music to…
Like the city itself, Dallas’ gallery scene is diverse and spread out. One of those things is great for an art aficionado. The other…well, let’s just say that it would be pretty ambitious to try and hit 11 of the major players in one day. It could happen, but you…
I don’t care how big your grill is, you’ll never be able to make me a steak as good as one I could get at a four-star steakhouse like Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House, 5330 Belt Line Road. Perhaps they have steak elves helping them in the kitchen, because, more…
Ever since Al Gore’s little PowerPoint presentation turned up in movie theaters last year, being environmentally conscious is what’s hot. And, while I’m usually skeptical of Hollywood hipster trends, this is one bandwagon I’d like to ride. Luckily, the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas feels the same way. For…
One of my favorite parts of the State Fair is the arts building, where one can see a fine selection of jams and jellies, scale models of aircraft carriers and, of course, prize-winning patchwork quilts. The fair is only a few short months away, but you can get a head…
Hurry! The days are running out. Soon the sweltering heat will smother any chance of a relaxing springtime picnic. Instead mosquitoes will pester, pit stains will form and any sort of salad sandwich will be unsafe for human consumption after 4.67 seconds outdoors. Friday through June 2, however, ICT MainStage…
I’m not gonna lie: I get all those Live songs mixed up. There’s that “I can feel it…” one. Is that one “Lightning Crashes”? And then “Selling the Drama”; is that the one that says “We won’t be raped like that, no-oh-oh…”?That’s the thing with Live. Chances are you own…
Here’s an odd little fact: The Bay City Rollers have a best-of CD, released in 1995. And, get this, it has 21 tracks, only one of which is titled “Saturday Night,” their hit single from 1975. (The chorus: “S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!” Repeat ad nauseam.) Who knew they were so, um, prolific?…
Whether reading Wine for Dummies or surfing tasting-wine.com, I still can’t distinguish mahogany from purple or master the swish and smell. Does it have to be this hard? Can’t I just take a swig and either grimace or grin as a result? I’m this close to being done with my…
The problem with making Top Gun into a musical is that Top Gun is already a musical, as is any movie that has Kenny Loggins on the soundtrack. Footloose? Musical. Caddyshack? Musical. Caddyshack 2? Practically an opera. I can’t wait to see how the writers of Top Gun! The Musical…
In May, attention tends to wander south of the border to Mexico. Especially around May 5, or Cinco de Mayo. The Ice House Cultural Center keeps the spotlight on a little longer, illuminating the Mexican Revolution though Viva La Celebración, a collection of large oil paintings on canvas by Fort…
Four years after “Mission Accomplished,” 28 Weeks Later reminds us that the mission, whatever the hell it was to begin with, is now officially, apocalyptically fucked. The story thus far: Seven months have gone by since the Rage virus passed from chimp fang to British bloodstream in an animal-rights intervention…
In the superbly tacit chamber piece Away From Her, intolerable pressure is brought to bear on the 44-year marriage between a college professor and his homemaker spouse after she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Grant Andersson (played by veteran Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent) and wife Fiona (an artfully wrinkled and…
To Catch a Thief: Special Collector’s Edition (Paramount) Starring Cary Grant as a cat burglar and Grace Kelly as a hot-to-trot heiress, this is easily one of Alfred Hitchcock’s slightest films, especially coming on the heels of Rear Window; indeed, its idyllic setting on the French Riviera suggests it was…
There was a time in my life when I might have actually enjoyed Pocket Pool a little bit. Back when I was 12, giving myself migraines from staring at scrambled cable porn, the notion of a game where I could “win” pictures of girls in their underwear would’ve seemed pretty…
Because I Said So! (Universal) Breaking and Entering (Weinstein) The Bridge on the River Kwai: Collector’s Edition (Sony) Cagney & Lacey: The True Beginning (MGM) The Caine Mutiny: Collector’s Edition (Sony) Catch & Release (Sony) Deliver Us From Evil (Lionsgate) Dirty Dancing: Twentieth Anniversary (Lionsgate) Donnie Brasco: Extended Cut (Sony)…
The 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is my favorite movie of all time. So, when somebody told me about the remake, I was like, “Eff that!” And when they told me the Oompa-Loompas were CG, I was like, “Eff that!” And when they told me Johnny Depp was…
Oil paints, charcoal and watercolors were heaven to me in my elementary art class. The fact that the room was away from campus felt more like exile than curriculum, giving it an aura of taboo—as if art wasn’t really education but a secret my school had been hiding from all…
