April 3 Thursday Just because comedian Carlos Mencia changed his motto from Take a Joke America to America Rules doesn’t mean he’s lost his edge. He’s still spewing his Archie Bunker-like stereotypes designed to make everyone in his audience uncomfortable in their political correctness. But, according to Mencia, he is…
One of the hands-down best privileges of being a kid: temper tantrums. Face first on the bed or floor (or surface of choice), tiny fists clenched, just wailing. To hell with the drool, the tears were flying free and easy. Whatever brought it on was serious, aggravating and quite possibly…
4/4 North Texas’ reputation as a hothouse for budding jazz talent blossoms a little wider this weekend at the Third Annual North Texas Jazz Festival in Addison, a three-day event mixing established national artists with the best of the next generation. Focused around the renowned jazz program at the University…
4/4 Question: What do you get when you mix a serious lack of productivity with a bunch of crazies who make too much money and who take themselves far too seriously? Answer: The Texas Rangers (though the United Nations or any French diplomat would have been acceptable answers). The good…
4/5 Thomas the Tank Engine and his buddy James make stops at the Collin Creek Mall on Saturday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to distract the kiddies with a free 30-minute musical show featuring life-size replicas of the aforementioned trains as well as our favorite “live costumed…
4/5 Heads up! You’re smack-dab in the middle of our brief, semiannual window of opportunity for all things al fresco. You know, right now and for about 72 measly more hours, the days are warm, not sweltering; the nights are cool, not cold; and the West-Nile-virulent skeeters are just beginning…
4/3 We tried to read Great Expectations twice before giving up and buying the Cliffs Notes. Charles Dickens just never really appealed to us. If you’re of the same bent, or even if you like Dickens, you’re bound to enjoy The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a “music whodunit” based on…
Couldn’t believe they were going to release Basic before bombs started falling over Baghdad; if it isn’t the worst movie of 2003 I’ve watched, it’s only because I haven’t seen Boat Trip yet. Now, in the shadow of smoke rising from the rubble in Iraq–where U.S. soldiers are missing and…
When you see a glamorous movie star like Kate Beckinsale tying her hair back and wearing glasses, it’s surefire shorthand that she’s an uptight soul. But just in case you aren’t familiar with all the usual signals, writer-director Lisa Cholodenko gives a couple of even more obvious ones in her…
It was only in 1967 that Great Britain struck from its jurisprudence the “common scold,” essentially a crime of catty insolence for which the convicted party–almost always a woman disturbing the peace by nagging a man–was punished via a public ducking into cold water. Nobody likes a bitch, but arguably…
War, as it turns out, is good for absolutely nothing when it comes to anti-war songs. At the risk of sounding like Bill O’Reilly (who, no doubt, listens only to Wagner), it’s time to protest the protesters, most of whom are blowin’, all right, just not in the wind. The…
Setting a play at a high school reunion is a risky choice. Most people dread reunions. Like weddings and funerals, those two other overused plot gimmicks, the real thing is bad enough. Why sit through one where you don’t even know the participants? In The Pavilion, now onstage in its…
Naked bodies and furniture go together about as well as teen-agers and sex. Which is to say the juxtaposition of subjects in Hidden Secrets is perfectly natural and still a tad disturbing. Joy Christiansen, a Texas Woman’s University grad student and photographer, presents work that is simple, direct and mysterious…
Thursday, March 27 ThursdayWe’d like to see Hugh Grant and John Cusack duke it out over whether Yanks or Brits better portray the 30-something scoundrel with the mind of an adolescent that they both played in the films About A Boy and High Fidelity. But a much better choice might…
Right at this moment comedian Margaret Cho is in a relaxed and reflective mood. But don’t let that fool you. Cho’s mission is to keep everyone on their toes, and off of hers. The 34-year-old comic has evolved into an R-rated prophet, using the pain of a past fraught with…
3/30 Mark Andrew Ritchie’s Spirit of the Rainforest is the freakiest book I’ve read. If you can stomach the horrific violence, it’s practically impossible to put down. So why is it that no national publisher dared touch it? Spirit is an autobiography of sorts, the story of Jungleman, a powerful…
3/29 What could be more fun than reliving your high school football glory days? How about watching a bunch of overgrown former jocks relive theirs in Let It Fly, The World’s Largest 4 on 4 Flag Football Tournament? Don’t worry, the boys aren’t the only ones getting to play. This…
3/29 For all you baseball fans out there–and I’m guessing there has to be at least two or three of you Babe Ruth-era originals who are still alive and bothering to watch the sport–the Texas Rangers are holding a “sandlot celebration” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the…
3/29 God love the fine thespians at Kitchen Dog Theater. When it comes time to throw a party, they don’t mess around with some bizarre theme. Nope, they come right down to the point of partying–drinking. The repertory troupe, named Dallas’ best theater company by the Dallas Observer last year,…
3/30 While most people think of her television series and its groundbreaking “coming out” episode when they hear the name Ellen Degeneres, few realize that the all-ages content of her small-screen show isn’t just a sanitized version of Ellen’s humor. Instead, it’s a taste of what can be expected at…
Once upon a time, a scuffling actor named Sylvester Stallone decided that the key to stardom was to write a screenplay as a perfect vehicle for himself. Since then, untold hundreds or thousands of hopefuls, mistaking Stallone’s good luck (and, yes, talent) for some sort of cosmic justice, have confidently…
You know how boys love to play soldier? How they get stern-faced and march out to destroy an enemy whom they believe needs destroying? Well, actors are into that, too. Sometimes they soldier on even when Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson isn’t around to help them frown determinedly. Such is…
