An Eye for LIFE

Bob Gomel took a gig snapping photos for LIFE in 1959, and he continued with the photojournalism-heavy magazine until it ceased weekly publication in the early ’70s. But, when LIFE was still in its heyday, the magazine’s prominence and popularity offered Gomel a front row perspective not given to just…

Sketching for Science

You probably thought the coolest parts of your high school Botany textbook were the pictures, and aloud, Earth, Petal, Wing may sound like the sequence to summon Captain Planet, but it’s not. It’s an art exhibit at Texas Discovery Gardens that will feature naturalistic paintings based on the real-life observations…

Fun, Animated

After bringing cartoon families out of the “modern stone-age” and into the modern digital-age, Cartoon Network is still revolutionizing the way children, and let’s face it, adults, view cartoons. The network partnered with The Oregon Museum of Science Industry to bring Animation to Frisco’s Sci-Tech Discovery Center. This interactive exhibit,…

The Rite: Exorcising Demons No Scarier Than Nasty Older Sisters.

The Rite is the latest of at least a dozen widely released American movies in half as many years with demonic possession a major plot point. This doesn’t mean the subject is wrung out—its continuing resonance with audiences hasn’t been effaced by secular pop psychology or modernization within the church…

Another Year: Smug Couple or Their Loser Friends? Your Choice.

Another Year, the 10th feature-length British soap written and directed by Mike Leigh, concerns a year in the life of Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), the happiest post-middle-aged married couple in the whole of the London suburbs. Heading into their fifth decade together, Tom and Gerri are healthy…

Takes You to Tango

The tango–perhaps the sexiest dance known to man–was birthed in the brothels and rundown neighborhoods of old Argentina. The word means “a place for slaves to meet.” There’s no doubt many, many lovers–enslaved or not–have met through the embrace of the tango. We Americans are familiar with the (still sexy)…

Lap It Up

There’s a greyt wine event happening on Sunday, and that’s not a typo. Drink for charity at the Greyt Wine Tasting, featuring wine, small bites and adorable Greyhounds. Proceeds from the event benefit the Greyhound Adoption League of Texas, but should you feel especially generous you can adopt one of…

Dirt Don’t Hurt

Oh, the disaster that is our “gardening!” We really want to succeed, but we just seem to kill all plant life in our wake. Our thumb is the opposite of green, whatever that is. No matter what color your opposable digit, we can all use some more help in the…

Trick Shot

Apart from their being really good at spinning and dunking and doing a lot of other crazy things with a basketball, there is probably a great deal you don’t know about the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance: Henry Kissinger, Whoopi Goldberg and Pope John Paul II are all honorary Harlem Globetrotters…

Hart-y Laughs

There’s nothing funny about pain. Even if it’s pain from your funny bone–that hurts. But sometimes it’s funny if it’s someone else’s pain, right? Only, it’s not OK to laugh at them in that case. But what the hell? Nelson Muntz from The Simpsons got away with it all the…

Climbing for Cancer

Generally speaking, 5K runs are the athletic event du jour for organizations trying to raise money for very worthwhile causes. However, after one or two kilometers, one might find oneself bored and ready to give in and walk the rest of the race–or maybe that’s just me. But come on,…

Proulx’s Rules

Annie Proulx has been on a roll since the 1993 release of her first novel, Postcards, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her second novel, The Shipping News, earned Proulx the Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and her work–mostly short stories and novels–has continued to earn the…

Mind Games

Performers like Banachek really challenge the notion of “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Because when what you’re seeing is a man bending and breaking forks with his fingertip, you start to doubt that even your eyes can determine what is real and what is simply prestidigitation. If it…

Enter Sandman

They say adults on average need anywhere from seven to nine hours of blissful, uninterrupted slumber a night to function correctly. Imagine those peaceful moments: Your pillow is soft and fluffy. Your bed feels just about right, lumpy in all the right places. Your eyelids are heavy and you’re just…

N’awlins Nibbles

While it’s just a short drive east, Louisiana is really worlds away, especially in the kitchen. For those of you who can make country gravy better than your grandma but have never been about to perfect the Cajun roux, Dallas Central Market’s Cooking School (5750 E. Lovers Lane) is ready…

Laughs for Satan

Like the heavy metal for which he has an unabashed dorky fondness, Brian Posehn’s act is rabidly loved by a marginal niche fan base, even if the squarest, most boring, Dane Cook-loving mainstreamers are now throwing the devil horns. His latest record, 2010’s Fart And Wiener Jokes, was even released…

Maze of Bowie

Yeah, it’s a new year, and everyone is making resolutions. People are, in fact, asking me, “What is YOUR resolution? What do YOU vow to do differently?” And, since it’s now nearing the end of January, perhaps it’s about time I made one. I’m thinking about doing something along the…

Murder=Not So Good

Not many people admit to a brutal murder and avoid a lengthy prison sentence, but not many people are cross-dressing billionaire Robert Durst. In 2001, Durst admitted to killing a neighbor in self defense and was later acquitted, but this wasn’t his first brush with the law. In 1982, Durst…

Weak Wizardry

A close game is generally more exciting than a blowout for most sports fans. But if you’re the kind of Mavericks fan who gets more entertainment out of watching your team deliver a thorough ass-kicking–or if your ticker or stomach can’t handle the stress of a tense, down-to-the-wire contest–Dallas vs…

Criminal

From Scarlett O’Hara on down, everybody knows that when the chips are down, home is the place to go. That’s where Babe Magrath goes to reunite with her two eccentric sisters after shooting her abusive husband in the 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning play Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley…

Sunday Sunday Sunday

The film version of Sunday in New York, a vintage 1960s comedy about a 22-year old virgin who’s itching to find a mate without sacrificing her sterling reputation, is credited with launching Jane Fonda’s career. Rover Dramawerks’ Kelsey Kruse is no doubt hoping her company’s production in Plano will do…

Matching Easels

Love knows no season, but a new show at Cohn Drennan Contemporary is a pretty good warm-up for the most romantic of all months. The Dallas Design District gallery is showcasing three sets of couples who work in the arts, including Cohn and Cathy Drennan, who’ve befriended many other artists…