Critical and necessary art movement, or just the blatant defacing of property? The graffiti debate rages on. One thing not up for debate is the fact that the Dallas Police Department has been cracking down on graffiti in the downtown area. Last December, six graffiti artists were arrested and accused…
There are certain holiday staples in everyone’s life, many of which are developed in childhood. Whether it’s sitting on Santa’s lap for a photo op, viewing The Nutcracker for the millionth time or dreaming of a white Christmas (and usually being disappointed by brown grass instead), every December brings the…
While the bands (The Theater Fire, Pleasant Grove, I Love Math), the art up for auction (created by 150 local artists during a 24-hour period) and the charitable cause (Children’s Health Fund) were mighty impressive, what made last year’s inaugural Art Conspiracy event exponentially interesting was its historic choice of…
We understand there are many reasons why people think that Fort Worth is a better city than Dallas. A much cooler downtown, more affordable homes, better steak houses and, of course, the Trinity actually resembling a river as it winds through Cowtown. But then again, Dallas has the Mavericks, who…
Christmas doesn’t come in a box; it doesn’t come from a store. Christmas isn’t about dressing up your doghouse with lights. Or maybe Yuletide is about getting that Red Ryder BB gun. Whatever. From Thanksgiving to December 25 we’ll be fed several stockings full of “the true meaning of Christmas,”…
Since I lived a big chunk of my life in Mesquite, home of the rodeo, imagine my embarrassment when I thought a Celebrity Cutting Event had something to do with ribbons. Kanye was going to wrap my Christmas presents? Hardly. Turns out cutting is where a rider selects a calf…
Damn you people. You know that you have more than 10 items in your basket, but you pull into the express lane anyway. When everyone else in line is holding their little basket in the crook of their arm, you roll up with your entire cart full of groceries and…
Solemn, flashy and flabbergasting, The Fountain—adapted by Darren Aronofsky from his own graphic novel—should really be called “The Shpritz.” The premise is lachrymose, the sets are clammy and the metaphysics all wet. The screen is awash in spiraling nebulae and misty points of light, with the soundtrack supplying appropriately moist…
The first few minutes of Tenacious D in ¨The Pick of Destiny¨ are something to behold: a four-minute rock opera cranked to 11. A doughy young boy with dirty-mop locks (Nacho Libre’s Troy Gentile, once more playing li’l Jack Black) laments his tragic plight: He’s stuck in Kickapoo with “a…
Ear-bruising vocals and eye-stinging costumes are no strangers to Theatre Three. But with Glorious! this impecunious 45-year-old theater in the Quadrangle near downtown finally grabs hold of a show that demands those things. Talk about a perfect fit. In song and story, Glorious! tells of the silly, sad and very…
An Inconvenient Truth (Paramount) This isn’t exactly the kind of DVD you buy to watch again and again; the ending doesn’t get happier, and there are no twists to decipher with repeated viewings. The producers hope instead that you buy it and share it; it’s less movie, after all, than…
Guitar Hero gave party games a much-needed kick in the ass. No one expected this rhythm game — sold with a miniature plastic guitar — to play to sellout crowds. But it became the most addictive game of the year and one of the most attractive to nongamers. The reason…
American Slapstick (Image) Alias: The Complete Fifth Season (Buena Vista) Boston Legal: Season Two (Fox) The Cry Baby Killer (Buena Vista) Devil Times Five (Code Red) Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist: Season Two (Paramount) Fall Out Boy: Solid Gold Uncertainty (Music Video Dist.) A Fish Called Wanda: Collector’s Edition (MGM) Freedom…
This year I am participating in not one, not two, but three fantasy basketball leagues. It’s been a rocky road thus far—damn you, Boris Diaw—but with Dirk Nowitzki to see me through, I know I’m up for the challenge. Wednesday night presents a game filled with fantasy implications for my…
It’s an easy groupie costume—just a long brown coat—but the pinyin dialect is tough to master. Want an equal opportunity future? Thousands of avid Browncoats point to Joss Whedon’s Firefly series, where East and West have merged in an interplanetary frontier of renegade capitalists, and the new “family” unit consists…
When Guy Reynolds decided to take photos of his routine walks through downtown Dallas, he chose a specific camera. Knowing that Reynolds is the photo editor and an occasional photographer for The Dallas Morning News, you would assume the camera to be something ultra-modern and fancy with all the bells…
It’s been awhile since you’ve found yourself surrounded by tons of “ice” and hundreds of strangers milling around in oversized parkas, hasn’t it? You know you want to relive those days of fun again, and we have just what the doctor ordered. Get your head out of the gutter; we’re…
As a kid, participating in spelling bees was a lose/lose situation. Spell a word wrong onstage in front of all of your friends and you look like an idiot. Win the whole thing and you immediately realize that the title of “Spelling Bee Winner” does not get you the chicks…
Artists have been bending metal into art for thousands of years, and they’re still at it. Through December 23, the University of North Texas School of Visual Arts will hold an exhibit of some of the best metal art that has come through the school in the last 30 years…
If you’re reading this we’ll assume you’re of the demographic that is into the wintry ways of poinsettias, teas, treats and nativity scenes more than toys. For you, the holidays might actually be relaxing as opposed to the torturous anticipation children are contending with. If so, Holiday at the Arboretum…
I’ve always believed my appreciation for subtle and dry humor may have been inherited. Both sides of my family are chock full of commentators and comedians—some self-proclaimed, some, OK, one, actually successful. (That stat does not include my dad’s repeated attempts at his favorite straight-faced and always poorly timed joke—a…
13 (Tzameti) is one of those movies that can’t decide what kind of movie it wants to be. Luckily, every movie it tries to be is a pretty good one. At first it comes off like a creepy mystery. It isn’t long before the story descends into the ol’ film…
