Blockbuster Reports Drop in Total Revenue and, Worse, Same-Store Sales

All week, Wall Street has been anxiously anticipating Blockbuster’s first-quarter results, which were released moments ago. Analysts didn’t expect good news from the Dallas-based company, whose efforts to reinvent itself we’ve documented at great length in recent months. And the news is indeed mixed, at best: From Elm Street HQ…

Your Dallas Mavericks: Now What?

The body was still warm. The emotions, still raw. But when it comes to the Dallas Mavericks, Charles Barkley doesn’t give a damn. “They got problems,” the rotund, ridiculous TNT analyst said last night in the minutes after Dallas’ elimination by the Denver Nuggets. “They gotta get younger and more physical…

Variety Brands Irvin’s Series a Fumble

After the jump, Michael Irvin’s appearance on FOX News yesterday, where it took Sean Hannity all of one minute and 48 seconds to bring up “drugs, adultery.” Irvin, of course, was on to talk up — sort of — his new SpikeTV series 4th and Long, wherein a dozen pro-football…

In Advance of SMU’s Saturday Commencement, a Few Honorary Degrees

Big weekend planned on the SMU campus, where Laura Bush will deliver the commencement address Saturday morning at Moody Coliseum to the some 2,000 Mustangs escaping the Hilltop. But in advance of the weekend shindig, there are tomorrow’s honorary degree recipients symposia featuring some fairly bold-faced names: Harold W. Attridge,…

Sooner Than Later, DISD Wants a High School “Geared Toward the Nontraditional Student”DISD Wants a High School “Geared Toward the Nontraditional Student”

Tonight, of course, is the Dallas Independent School District board of trustees’ called board meeting, at which the board will discuss and approve campus staffing formulas for the 2009-’10 school year; Schutze is attending, but of course. But at this very moment is the lengthy warm-up: a regular ol’ board…

One Last Time, With Feeling: A-Fraud

Before we hop onto the bandwagon of your first-place Texas Rangers, let me chunk one more rock at Alex Rodriguez. And myself. Back in 2004 – in the couple months between leaving the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and joining the Dallas Observer – I got word that A-Rod twice frequented the Dallas…

Tom Hicks Will Drink Your Water. Drink It Up!

As mentioned Monday, KERA-FM (90.1) is running throughout this week a series of stories about where Dallas gets its water and how we use it. Which brings us to today’s contribution from B.J. Austin concerning water consumption. Says the story, the average Dallas homeowner is billed for 100,000 gallons used…

Mavericks-Nuggets: A Requiem in 5 Predictable Parts

Hindsight, they say, is 20/20. Sometimes, unfortunately, so is foresight. On Friday, May 1 I picked the Denver Nuggets to eliminate the Dallas Mavericks in five games. Last night it came to pass, in the form of Nuggets 124, Mavs 110. Dirk Nowitzki was as gritty as he was great…

A Daytime Curfew? What’s Next, Making Kids Wear Mao Jackets?

Save Ferris: Elsewhere in this week’s paper, Jim Schutze is mounting a spirited defense of DISD’s magnet schools for talented and gifted students. The district’s magnets and its learning centers for disadvantaged students were threatened with staff cuts thanks to a federal funding formula that requires each DISD campus to…

Opponents Can’t Defend Dirk Nowitzki. So Richie Whitt Will Do It.

If things go badly in Denver, the Dallas Mavericks have lost this series. But Dirk Nowitzki should’ve won your heart. Despite being sucker-shoved by Kenyon Martin, lambasted by TNT’s chorus of critics, privately duped and publicly humiliated by his former fiancée, screwed by the referees and frustrated almost to tears…

“Whine Flu,” | “Dish” | “The Big Buy-In,”

“Whine Flu,” by Richie Whitt, May 7 You and Him Fight You are a jerk. Why don’t you get out there and try playing and see what happens to you in the same circumstance? You gain nothing by retaliation, and statistics show that the one who delivers the retaliation blow…

Erykah Badu Sings (and Teaches) the Blues

We sent Hal Samples to the House of Blues this morning to shoot Erykah Badu and friends offering a lengthy discourse on blues history to students from St. Philip’s School, Prestonwood Elementary and Holy Trinity Catholic School. More photos and some video are to come tomorrow, after we get it…

Super Bowl XLV Comes to Dallas! Sorta!!

We all know the NFL’s ultimate game will be played at Jonestown Coliseum on Feb. 6, 2011 – or 633 days from now. But, after yesterday’s grand gala in Arlington, here’s the roster of Super Bowl XLV’s other coming attractions: NFL Headquarters: Hilton Anatole Hotel NFC Team Hotel: Omni Mandalay, Las Colinas…