The Bridge to Fabulous

Talk about an art exhibition that really nails the interest of Dallas citizens: Try an installation that uses pre-made pieces and images of bridges (ahem) and maps of our city, along with art information carts and kiosks, to convey just how industrial and city structures affect people’s everyday lives. Maybe…

The Next Three Days: Paul Haggis Shows No Improvement.

What if we choose to exist solely in a reality of our own making?” asks Pittsburgh community-college lit professor John Brennan (Russell Crowe) rhetorically during a discussion of Don Quixote in The Next Three Days, Paul Haggis’ fourth effort as director. Like his lumpy protagonist, Haggis, who also scripted this…

Boxing Gym: Frederick Wiseman’s Doc Scores a Knockout.

“I was recently sitting with a group of French directors, and at a certain point the conversation turned to Fred Wiseman,” critic Kent Jones wrote eight years ago in Film Comment. “Without hesitation, everyone agreed that he was probably America’s greatest living filmmaker”—not to mention the world-champion practitioner of the…

Go Paint, Junior

Just because the kids get a Thanksgiving vacation doesn’t always mean moms and dads aren’t still stuck in the office. Sure, you can send the kids to granny’s house or off to daycare, but that probably wouldn’t be as exciting as a holiday camp at Oil and Canvas. With art…

Sad Sack

What makes Louis CK a truly great stand-up comic is how completely fearless and honest he is about his least admirable qualities. Which, of course, are the undesirable qualities we all have in common but try to hide. What father hasn’t thought that his 4-year-old daughter is a complete asshole?…

The Nerdist Approaches

You may remember Chris Hardwick as the co-host of ’90s MTV show Singled Out, but he has been doing plenty since with his popular podcast, The Nerdist, hosting two shows on the G4 network and taking his turn in a couple of movies. The whole time, he has been doing…

Shop and Bathe

The Bath House Cultural Center is ready to kick its 2010 Winter Art Mart into gear. The event will feature more than 35 vendors hawking a variety of artsy stuff, including the painted kinds, the sculpted kinds, the fragile, polished, shiny kinds and much more. The money you spend will…

Hey, Hey, Beaujolais

Some of us age gracefully, mellowing into supple silvers and golds, wearing each year as a pearl of wisdom rather than a battle scar. Unfortunately, many of us, like Beaujolais, are bright and crisp when we’re young, but quickly turn to unenjoyable vinegar. All the more reason to enjoy life–and…

Watch Your Nuts, Dallas

You know the holiday season is just around the corner when tree ornaments and lights go up at Walgreen’s, Christmas gift ideas start showing up in magazines and newspapers, and The Nutcracker (in some form or fashion) starts popping up on theater marquees. And this season for DFW, the nutcracking…

Crafts That Jingle

Etsy is seriously one of the best things to ever come out of the Internet. I mean, I don’t want to start a big argument about whether a Husky’s auto-tuned singing voice is better than a cat jumping on a surprised baby, but buying other people’s handmade items on a…

Working For a Livin’

Studs Terkel, the bow-tie wearing, oral historian from Chicago, was known for his books collecting the human experience. One of Terkel’s most famous books, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do (published in 1974), recounted the memories of people from…

Wreath It Up

My mom was a bookkeeper for MJ Designs, and she didn’t get out of there without becoming crafty with glitter-glazed pine cones, wire ribbon and Styrofoam berries. Mom’s busy this year, but you can check out wreaths made by some of the (second) best designers in Dallas at the DIFFA…

Sports Shorts

After screaming our throats raw as the Rangers won their way into their first World Series, and screaming now as FC Dallas kicks out the jams, as the Mavericks continue to pound the hardwood, and before Big D hosts the Super Bowl, there’s little denying that we have sports on…

Wine Me, Dine Me, 69 Me

Stephin Merritt’s Magnetic Fields released one of the most enduring documents of the indie rock era with 1999’s 69 Love Songs, an ambitious triple album that sounded a little like something Cole Porter might have written had he been a particularly big New Order fan. Since then, Merritt’s released three…

Straight for the Sides

This Wednesday, Central Market Cooking School (5750 E. Lovers Lane) offers a hands-on Take Home Holiday Side Dishes class that will send each participant home with four to six servings of each of these basic, but badass-sounding items: cornbread dressing, cranberry chutney, gouda mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and sweet potato…

Whole Lotta Drums

Few face the problem of living up to a famous father’s legacy like Jason Bonham, son of John, revered Led Zeppelin drummer. The younger Bonham, only 14 when his father died, neatly sidestepped the issue by embracing his drummer dad’s fame rather than shunning it. Bonham learned to play the…

By The Horns

At this point in the young NBA season, the Chicago Bulls and your Dallas Mavericks are both promising teams with giant question marks hanging over their heads. The Mavericks have shown moments of brilliance thus far, with impressive defense and actual production in the middle thanks to Tyson Chandler, something…

Make A Wish

Once upon a time there was a magical kingdom. Although it was a place full of glitter, gowns and glory, let it be known that this was no ordinary kingdom, but one dominated by cold weather, icy ponds and newly sharpened skates. This kingdom was also, strangely, whole new world…

Let It All Glow

Art isn’t just two-dimensional anymore, people. There’s more than just paintings and photographs to look at these days. You can also find fine art in places other than galleries and museums. And there’s a big group of artists who want to share this concept with the city. Friday night marks…

Five Years, Frankly

Every community movement needs a champion. While a number of bar owners, venue operators, and land owners have worked hard to overcome the challenges facing Deep Ellum over the past several years, few have had the impact that the Kettle Art Gallery has. The collaborative effort between property owner Don…