There are two stories my dad always tells when the subject of boats comes up. One involves the time he ate beer and eggs for breakfast, got on a boat and promptly barfed, while the second recalls the incident in which he launched himself, my mother and my toddler self…
Catch up on your summer reading by visiting the Friends of the Plano Public Library Book Sale, where over 100,000 gently used hardbacks, paperbacks, DVDs and CDs will be on sale for $2 or less at the Plano Centre, 2000 E. Spring Creek Parkway. Admission is $5 to $10 for…
In 1973 a young musician came to Texas with the purpose of meeting his idol, the singer/songwriter Bob Wills. But before Ray Benson could meet the King of Western Swing, Wills had a stroke, and later died. Benson never got to speak to Bob Wills, so he wrote a musical…
After they leave Saturday Night Live, most comedians can only trot out the same old comic persona for so long before the time comes to find a new gag. Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, Al Franken–all eventually reinvented themselves years after they left. Don’t hold your breath for Jon Lovitz to…
Fellow Aggies and art enthusiasts unite! Dallas artist and Texas A&M at Commerce alum Patrick Crouch will be showing his work at the Eisemann Center, 2351 Performance Drive in Richardson. Crouch focuses his painting, sculpture and more on the representation of the African-American culture. His pieces are created using vibrant…
Who doesn’t like art with a code? The thrilling idea of staring at an old master and discovering the cryptic message, “So dark the con of man…” Well, no guarantees that Messages With a Code: Photography/Mixed Media Installations by Kathy Lovas will set you on any kind of DaVinci Code…
You can find so many amazing things at the local public library, and not just in the pages of their books. Sure, they’ve got reading material on everything from aardvarks to zebras, but the really special library moments involve a little something extra. Take, for example, the Petzapalooza event going…
The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but author Sue Ellen Hanning covered the road to the real Italy while carrying a bulging backpack and no credit cards. Hanning was a 54-year-old teacher and mom when she and her daughter Jenny went on a three-month search for…
Tap dancing is probably one of the most underrated art forms of all time. Even though Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Gregory Hines made it look easy and badass, nowadays everyone thinks ballroom dancing is the superior dancing style. Show me Tap Dancing With The Stars and then I’ll be…
Scholars maintain that great minds think alike and opposites attract. Well, which is it, dammit? In Circle Theatre’s new production, it’s both. Picture Hollywood in the 1940s, an exciting decade in the city’s illustrious history. Humphrey Bogart is burning up the silver screen and pinup starlet Betty Grable is introducing…
Polar bears are driving cars on skis. Sharks are soaring in the air. An astronaut, a deer and a man with antlers are all loitering in what looks like a gas station called “hell.” Is it real, imaginary — or both? That’s what Dallas artist T.J. Griffin explores in his…
The booze is a flowin’, the guns are going off and the cowboys–or cowgirls, in this case–are ready to ride off into the sunset. Sounds like a good ol’ rootin’, tootin’ time, doesn’t it? Can you hear the “yeehaws” and the “ride ’em cowboys”? Welcome to Jane Martin’s Wild, Wild…
If you would be deliriously happy to eat sushi every day, yet you aren’t a bajillionaire, then Central Market in Plano has just the class for you. Learn to roll your own this Thursday in the hands-on Sushi 101 class. Any sushi enthusiast knows the secret is in getting the…
There are few love stories in modern cinema that bore me more than this whole Bella-Edward affair everyone is obsessed with right now. The concept of eternal love is a really grandiose one, something we all aspire to–but in this particular case, the characters are so very bland that it’s…
It started way back in 1979 with an accordion and a dream. “Weird Al” was a lowly college disc jockey with a strange sense of humor and questionable fashion sense. During a break from his radio show, Al went across the hall, accordion in tow, to the natural echo chamber…
In the summer of 2007, two Western journalists dug in with a platoon of American soldiers on a 15-month deployment in the Korengal Valley, a strategic outpost near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. The mountainous region was infested with Taliban fighters and possibly was also used by Al-Qaeda leaders as a…
Serious comedy, powered by an enthusiastic cast and full of good-natured innuendo, Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right gives adolescent coming-of-age and the battle of the sexes a unique twist, in part by creating a romantic triangle between a longstanding, devoutly bourgeois lesbian couple Nic and Jules (Annette Bening…
The Father of My Children, a drama about love, sorrow and the heartbreak of independent film financing, is sliced neatly in half by the sudden death of its protagonist, Grégoire Canvel. I’m not spoiling: Writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve has admitted that Grégoire is based on the French producer Humbert Balsan, who…
As the lights were dimming before a preview screening of Despicable Me, the 6-year-old who lives in my house leaned over and said, “I hope this is funny–not like Toy Story 3.” Now don’t misunderstand: He adored that movie. It’s just that whenever the subject comes up, the first word…
Exploding with forced fabulosity, the national tour of Dreamgirls currently at the Music Hall at Fair Park lifts the 1981 musical into the realm of high-tech spectacle. Visually, it’s a stunner. Spanning the stage are revolving walls of LED lights on designer Robin Wagner’s enormous, industrial-grid set. These become giant…
We can’t even begin to tell you how many days we wasted (well, maybe not wasted) when we were kids playing Clue at our grandma’s house during the summer. See, she didn’t have a pool or a lot of neighborhood kids, so it was either board games or the sprinkler…
With temperatures soaring into the triple digits, taking a dip in the nearest body of cool water should be on the top of your summer to-do list. Who cares if your hair reeks of chlorine? Way back when bathing suits were rented (um, ew!) and at the dawn of the…
