Passion Tent

If you don’t want to party then you can go home. The ice cold beer is ready, the wings are extra sloppy and the fans are ready to hoot and holler at the TV screen. The Super Bowl is one of America’s most coveted sports spectaculars, and with the city…

Rabbit Hole: The Lifeless Pursuit of “Normal” Life.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire, John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole plops us down in the lives of Becca (Nicole Kidman, who also produced) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart), fortyish bourgie marrieds rattling around an East Coast dream house. In the film’s first scenes, the couple acts out…

True Grit: Coen Brothers Take Their Tongues Out of Their Cheeks.

Boldly reanimating the comic Western that secured John Wayne his Oscar 41 years ago, the Coen brothers’ True Grit is well-wrought, if overly talkative, and seriously ambitious. Opening with a strategically abbreviated Old Testament proverb (“The wicked flee when none pursueth”), the film returns the Coens to the all-American sagebrush…

Little Fockers: The Franchise Has Seen Better Days.

Just in time for the whole family to file into the multiplex on a silent Christmas night when there’s nowhere else to go: a return to the magnified dysfunction of the Focker household and the cozy holiday glow of some paychecking celebrities. This began a decade ago in Meet the…

Stripping for History’s Sake

How much has changed over the last century? Well, just take a look at the technology surrounding us, our extracurricular activities and the way we interact with others. History books can get a little boring, so how about a little striptease to take us through the ’20s, ’30s and today?…

This Pageant Rocks

We tend to like our holiday music the way it is. It’s hard to imagine improving such classics. Many have tried and failed miserably. But when students from For Those About to Rock perform their holiday hits, it may prove that even if their Rudolph isn’t your grandmother’s Rudolph, you…

Have a Ball

The Jewish Community Center is presenting its annual Jewish singles bash on Christmas day, the Original Matzoh Ball. Now there is ample opportunity to start with the jokes, but we here at Night & Day are above such things. Wait–we’re not? All right, then, leave your yarmulkes at home because…

Let Nana Cook for Your Nana

If you’re not one for cooking and the thought of trying to execute the preparation of a ham and all the fixings for holiday guests stresses you out, fear not. Nana at the Hilton Anatole has got you covered. Nana is open between 5:30 and 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve…

Kettle Claus Has Come To Town

You swore it would be different this time. You’ve changed, really you have–or at least that’s what you want your friends and family to think. Yet here you are, stuck empty-handed at the giftiest time of the year. Forget about gift cards and last-minute gift sets that scream, “Yeah, I…

Delicieux Noel

There may be a little bit of ugly American in us, still holding a grudge against the entire French people based on a single high school experience with a Grenoble cafe employee who pretended not to understand the word “croissant” until we finally exhaled it out in a spiteful overly…

Babe Versus the Baron

Do you have kids who just can’t keep themselves from yelling advice, cheering or booing at the characters when you go to the movies, no matter how much the other patrons shush them or give them the stink-eye? Then you probably think there’s no chance they could handle live theater…

Every Time a Bell Rings…

The holidays are as much about tradition as getting soused on brandy-spiked eggnog and passing out on the couch during the final minutes of the Rose Bowl. In our family, that’s actually tradition. You probably have fond childhood memories of decorating gingerbread houses or visiting that sketchy Santa at the…

The Stuff of Legends

In the midst of all the brouhaha surrounding former first round pick Rashad McCants and whether or not he’d report to Frisco–and once he did, whether or not he’d leave for China–the rest of your Texas Legends toiled in obscurity, taking six of their first nine games behind the solid…

Cookies for a Good Claus

Waking up to Santa’s leftover cookie crumbs is one of the best parts of Christmas morning. Just knowing Santa Claus himself has been walking around the living room is a Christmas present in itself. This Christmas, don’t just bake cookies at home–bring the kids to a Christmas cookie celebration. Central…

Ho, Ho Yourself, Tubby

Psst. Hey, kid. Yeah, you, the one sneaking a peek at that naughty Observer. So, the parents want to get a picture of you with the Jolly Ol’ Elf at NorthPark Center, eh? Well, listen, peewee: Skip the wish list. We never got a pony, a shotgun or a lid,…

On-Screen Cuisine

Just imagine yourself standing outside a doorway. You aren’t sure what country you’re in or how you got there but you can smell herbs, peppers and other powerful seasonings in the air. You can hear the chopping of onions, the hustle and bustle of the restaurant staff and the bubbling…

Keen on Texas Music

If Willie Nelson is the king of the Texas-based country genre, then Robert Earl Keen is the prince behind the throne. Keen, who ranks high as a songwriter and performer, has penned boot thumpers like “That Buckin’ Song” and cry-into-your-beer ballads such as “Love’s a Word I Never Throw Around.”…

Beat the Raptors Into Extinction

With a roster nearly identical to last year’s club, suddenly the Mavs look like a legitimate contender instead of the team ousted early the last four seasons in the playoffs, especially after nabbing big wins in November over the Spurs, Celtics and Heat on their way to a double-digit winning…

All Aboard the Holiday Express

When you find out you’re having a kid, people tell you that you need a lot of stuff: bouncers, swings, activity centers, mobiles, soothers and other various and sundry Bright Flashy Things. We got all that stuff, and you know what my kid likes to play with? Dish towels. Obviously,…

O, Chari-tree

If you’re in the mood for something festive to do that isn’t as conventional as looking at Christmas lights or fighting lunatic shoppers for the last Furbee at your local Walmart, you might try checking out Deck the Halls at Old Red, at The Old Red Museum of Dallas County…

Dine in Delight

The end is near. Of course, we mean the close of the holidays and the year 2010, and hopefully you have plans. If that sentence made you suddenly red-faced, flushed with frustration and fear, then The Grape (2808 Greenville Ave.) has a special for you. Chef and owner Brian C…