Did SMU Engineer Dean’s Ouster?

We got a missive yesterday from an SMU computer engineering student–one of many on the Hilltop upset with the resignation of “ousted advisor Leo Pucacco,” as he was referred to in yesterday’s Daily Campus. Seems there’s quite a dispute going on over the departure of Pucacco, who’s the assistant dean…

It’s No Joke

Have you read Steve Blow this morning? No? Really, you should. It’s top-notch stuff, no joke–The Man, more or less, taking seriously The Kid running for mayor. Love the headline: “Another Observer mayor? Web-savvy candidate is no joke.” Love the description of our pal Zac Crain: “He’s 32 and straddles…

What Tomorrow Holds

Before the day ends, I did want to give you faithful Friends of Unfair Park a heads-up: In tomorrow’s Dallas Morning News, Steve Blow (all right, quiet down) will at long last run his column about our old pal Zac Crain and whether he ought to be considered a serious…

Sample Some of Hal Samples’ Homeless Documentary

Brian Harkin Hal Samples is trying to finish his documentary Dreamtown, about Dallas’ homeless, and he could sure use your help. Whilst trolling through the usual YouTube trash heap this afternoon, I came across a gem you really should see; the video is after the jump. It was identified only…

Where’s My Buy-In, Officer?

More than a few Friends of Unfair Park have asked: Where does the money seized from poker-room raids, like the ones that took place over the weekend, wind up? Hey, it’s a good question; even some officers in vice I talked to yesterday and today couldn’t answer it. And some…

Robert Altman: “Hollywood Will Want Me When I Die.”

Sad news today: Robert Altman, director of some of the greatest American movies of the past 40 years (among them M*A*S*H, Nashville, The Player, The Long Goodbye and even this year’s joyful A Prairie Home Companion), died last night at a Hollywood hospital. He was 81. The cause of death…

“Eat ’em up, fuckers!”

Yesterday, fresh off a completely unsatisfying late lunch of Lean Cuisine (I believe the flavor was “Catshit in Plastic, with Rosemary Garnish”), I did a little afternoon blogrolling and came across the following Onion item from the Observer’s very own Rich Lopez and his personal blog: “Frito Lay Angrily Introduces…

Romomentun

One of these people is Anna Kournikova. The other’s a guy who claims this is “work.” Sorry I’m late getting to Tony Romo’s weekly coronation. Yesterday I was still basking in a hangover from my date with Anna Kournikova. More on that next week. For now, back to our crush…

Share With Little T and T.O. Tonight

It’s not even Thanksgiving, so why does it feel like tonight’s gonna be a little Christmasy up in this piece? Maybe because Terrell Owens is gonna be in (well, near) my neighborhood tonight reading from and signing copies of the book we first told you about in October, Little T…

Cowboys Win Again

This morning, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones told KTCK-AM (1310) morning-show hosts Craig Miller and George Dunham that there are only so many things he can do with failed place kicker Mike Vanderjagt. “I don’t think it impacts him to stare at him real hard, do you?…

Belo in Bed with Yahoo!

Yeah, well–The Dallas Morning News and, like, 149 other daily newspapers. It’s part of “a strategic partnership with more than 150 daily U.S. newspapers to deliver search, graphical and classified advertising to consumers in the communities where they live and work,” says the press release Belo issued today. Sounds like…

DMN Sends City Hall Reporter to, uh, Austin

Emily Ramshaw’s leaving Dallas, but not The Dallas Morning News. She’s merely moving to the Austin bureau. Emily Ramshaw, who, for the last two years, has done a superior job covering city of Dallas business for The Dallas Morning News (even if Jim has the occasional issue with her work),…

Race on Over

While browsing at the Love Field Antique Mall yesterday, I found the perfect Christmas gift for the Farmers Branch city council or Preston Hollow Elementary School. What is it? Hey, baby, that’s after the jump. But keep in mind, the thing ain’t cheap: $3,500. And there’s no truth to the…

Hey, At Least We’re Not as Bad as Guatemala

Sergio Morales, Guatemala’s human rights ombudsman, has a few thoughts about how this country treats immigrants, legal and otherwise. Guatemala’s top human-rights official is in town this week to meet with immigrants from the Central American country and push for an auxiliary consulate in the Dallas-Fort Wortharea, since the nearest…

Bilingual in the Branch? Say It Ain’t So.

Illustration by Craig LaRotonda Days after Farmers Branch passed a series of measures targeting illegal immigrants, including one declaring English the town’s official language, the Farmers Branch Church of Christ offered its first bilingual service. That’s more than a little ironic, since three city council members–including Tim O’Hare, who proposed…

Preston Hollow: Do the White Thing

After ignoring the trial in which a mother of three Preston Hollow Elementary School alleged the principal there was segregating Hispanic and African-American students from the white neighborhood kids, The Dallas Morning News this weekend ran two stories about its outcome. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay ruled that…

Gay for Dallas

You know who’s not trying to pray the gay away? The city of Dallas. For weeks there have been little pieces popping up about how “Dallas tourism officials [are] attempting to lure gay and lesbian visitors” (so said The Advocate on November 4) and “dozens of cities that didn’t cater…

Bob’s is Medium Done, To Say the Least

This is the scene outside Bob’s Steak & Chop House, where the insides are on the outside after a fire yesterday. Just drove by Bob’s Steak & Chop House on the way to work, and, yeah, the venerable joint looks a little charred–at least on the inside. There are two…

How Do You Like Your Steakhouse?

You know what’s not up and running this morning? The Web site for Bob’s Steak and Chop House on Lemmon Avenue. Dunno if that’s odd, necessarily. Still, the timing is a little odd: First thing this morning came this e-mail from a Friend of Unfair Park: “The Bob’s at Lemmon…

Yeah, People Still Play Poker–When SWAT Isn’t Arresting Them

Friday night was not a good time to get dealt in at an underground poker game. According to Friend of Unfair Park Dan Michalski–and a bunch of eyewitnesses posting their accounts to Dan’s Web site, Pokerati.com–Dallas SWAT busted three cardrooms on Friday: Jackie’s, JB’s and Ace-High (the latter of which,…

The Other Wright Man (Doug, In This Case)

One of the pleasures in writing this week about Doug Wright’s new Broadway production was seeing for the first time the documentary that inspired it: Grey Gardens by Albert and David Maysles, the brothers who started making docs in 1955. With Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker and Robert Drew, they…

The Wright Man

Lawrence Wright returned last night to his hometown, which he wrote about in 1988’s In the New World. Last night at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, writer Lawrence Wright made a return to his hometown to take part in the Friends of the Library’s “Evening at the Library” fundraiser,…