The White Amendment

Mark Babineck’s piece in the Houston Chronicle, in which he writes about the U.S. Census Bureau’s report released yesterday detailing how “non-Hispanic whites appear to be pouring” out of Dallas County, has been popular amongst the local blogs today; already it’s been on FrontBurner and DallasBlog, and, well, since Dallas’…

Putting the FU…Pardon, FUN in FUNimation

Fort Worth-based FUNimation is handling Afro Samurai, which, oddly, was my nickname in Hebrew school. The 2006 Asian Film Festival of Dallas kicks off at noon today with screenings at the Magnolia Theater in the West Village; the fest runs through next Thursday and, like I said in the paper…

Now They Are One of Us

Fans of Dallas’ the pAper chAse (or anyone who’s read our coverage of the band’s latest album) might not find too much new info in this interview in yesterday’s edition of national indie music Web site PopMatters, but the extra info about the album’s creepy cover art, discovered by lead…

Clean Up, Aisle Two!

New SMU basketball coach Matt Doherty may be better than Jimmy Tubbs. But so much for the part about him being cleaner. Just four months into his new gig on the Hilltop, Doherty’s program has been slapped on the wrist for an NCAA rules violation. Seems one of Doherty’s assistant…

Life on Marrs

Six years ago I wrote a piece about Jim Marrs, the good ol’ boy who sees conspiracies in a box of Froot Loops. You know the name: Marrs is a former Fort Worth Star-Telegram writer who wrote the 1989 best-seller Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy, a collection of theories…

Adios, Entravision

Five local radio stations–four on the FM side of the dial, one from the AM–are being sold after their parent company went and lost $168 million in a single quarter. Yesterday, Santa Monica, California-based Spanish-language broadcasting giant (though now, not so much) Entravision Communications Corporation announced that it was gonna…

How About a Unicorn While You’re at It?

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez is asking the Dallas County Commissioners Court to pay for 784 new positions at a cost of $34 million. This comes one year after receiving close to 70 new jailers from the notoriously stingy county commissioners. While it’s not uncommon for county department heads to…

Unfair Park Giveaway! (Our First One)

So, ain’t I the slow one? It was brought to my attention just moments ago–pretty much right after I posted that item below about the Sugar Water Festival and the My Morning Jacket cover of Erykah Badu’s “Tyrone”–that I am sitting on two tickets and a parking pass to tonight’s…

“Tyrone” One On

If you want to hear how Erykah Badu sounds when interpreted by five white guys from Louisville, Kentucky, by all means go get My Morning Jacket’s version of “Tyrone.” Tonight at the Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie, South Dallas’ prodigal daughter Erykah Badu will perform as part of the Sugar…

Wait, People Still Play Quake?

If you can’t make it to QuakeCon 2006, which is taking place from right now till Sunday at the Hilton Anatole Hotel–and if you can’t, maybe it’s because you lost your bong or have a job or something totally dumb-ass like that–then you can always watch it here. Because nothing…

Juan Gone…to Long Island

Juan Gonzalez ain’t no Roy Tarpley, but it’s gotta be a very close second. Looks like today is a sportsy day in Unfair Park. So, on that note… On Saturday, the New York Daily News ran a story about a mysterious bag found at Pearson International Airport in Toronto three…

A Kick in the Head

Kenny Cooper scored three goals in FC Dallas’ U.S. Open Cup win against the Charleston Battery. Amazing, innit, when major-leaguers barely beat up on minor-leaguers? The paper version of Unfair Park has always been good friends with FC Dallas. So big ups to the Hoops for advancing to the quarterfinals…

Gets Your Circulation Going

By now you know things are not all rainbows and unicorns and cotton candy at The Dallas Morning News. They’re “reshaping the newsroom,” ya know, getting ready to fire somewhere between 50-100 (or more) newsroom employees in the coming days…sorry, they’re getting ready to offer them buyouts, my bad. That…

Local ‘Boys Do Good

The jersey Irving High School’s own Tyson Thompson is wearing in this photo can be yours. Deal or no deal? Gone are the days when we felt like we “raised” the likes of Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith as our own. You know Bill Parcells isn’t really ours,…

The Man and the Myth

Ole Anthony has built a mythology of his life dating back to childhood. Here’s what is true: Anthony was born in Minnesota on October 3, 1938, and moved with his family to Wickenburg, Arizona, at age 10. The desert town called itself the “dude ranch capital of the world.” His…

Other Sides of the Story

When CNN news chief Eason Jordan made the off-handed remark last year that U.S. soldiers were deliberately targeting journalists in Iraq, killing 12 of them, pro-military bloggers went on the attack, calling the allegations ridiculous and untrue. Two weeks later, engulfed in controversy over the credibility of his network, Jordan…

Dim bulbs

Dim bulbs: Buzz doesn’t cry, but even we can be moved by the news once in a while. The stories in April about Mercy, the dog that rescuers tried and failed to save after she was intentionally set afire, were pretty sad, for instance, but years in the news biz…

A House Divided

A House Divided Outta there: Thank you, Jesse Hyde, for this informative and well-written story (“Thou Shalt Not,” July 27). I admire Father Roseberry. I resigned as rector of my Lexington parish over this final straw, effective immediately on the Sunday that Gene Robinson was consecrated bishop of New Hampshire…

Body Shots

Signs that your life may be wobbling off its axis: You’ve been shot more times than Fitty Cent. You lied to police, prompting your boss to lie about your lying. You generate superstar skeptics, even from those highly skilled in the art of handcuff etiquette and fudging about felonies. “C’mon…

The Cult of Ole

The amateur detectives plopped onto couches, waiting to see their handiwork on national television. Nervous? A bit. Excited? Oh, yeah. For months they’d been sleuthing. Diving in dumpsters, following trails of documents, going undercover, telling lies if necessary, all in the service of God. And of their leader, a tall…

The Thorn in Their Side

I spoke with Ole Anthony, founder of Trinity Foundation, during eight interviews–more than 25 hours of conversation, covering everything from theology to televangelists to drugs. Though often in pain, Anthony proved to be an intelligent, always fascinating conversationalist. A very brief excerpt follows. What has been happening at the Trinity…

Cell Hell

Just one day after Cingular Wireless announced it was going to charge customers $5 extra a month if they used older phones–which is to say, those without Global System for Mobile (GSM) technology–you can’t use any of their phones. That is, you can’t use ’em if you live in Texas…