UNT to Offer Grad-Level Course Dorkdom, Geekness Come Fall

Action figure … or study aid? Shaun Treat’s a Visiting Professor of Rhetoric at the University of North Texas — and, no, I have no idea what that means, not exactly. But just in time for the onslaught of super-hero movies crashing into multiplexii this summer, UNT today has announced…

Charlie Rose Sure Has Come a Long Way Since Channel 5

For those who weren’t here way back when, Charlie Rose actually started his chat-show career at KXAS-Channel 5, where his first gabfest ran from 1979 till ’81, when it was picked up for syndication after Rose moved to D.C. It’s that long-ago and admittedly tenuous link to Dallas that allows…

Decherd’s Letter to Belo Stockholders Leads to Fewer Belo Stockholders

Robert Decherd This line from A.H. Belo Corp. bossman Big Bob Decherd’s Monday-morning missive to stockholders is attracting quite a bit of attention today: The Dallas Morning News’ recently spun-off mother company’s “1st quarter financial performance will be substantially below our expectations.” Which explains why shares of A.H. Belo stock…

Before and After at 2505 Turtle Creek

John Wheeler The above photo of 2505 Turtle Creek Boulevard was sent to us by architect John Wheeler in February, when word first leaked that Toronto-based developers Great Gulf Group was looking to raze the Harwood K. Smith-designed building, constructed in 1959, and replace it with a luxury hotel-spa with…

Of Course the Texas Rangers are Media-Friendly

Jamey Newberg, the Texas Rangers’ official blogger The New York Times this morning weighs in not only on Mark Cuban’s recent flipping and flopping over allowing bloggers access to the Dallas Mavericks’ locker room, but on the larger issue of how pro sports franchises are limiting media access in order…

Dallas Loses Latino Ad Agency to Austin

Cultura Advertising, a Bryan Street-based agency that markets such clients as Mercedes-Benz, Presbyterian HealthCare System and M&Ms to a Spanish-language audience, is shutting down — and moving about 200 miles down the highway. Today, downtown Austin-based LatinWorks announced that it has bought Cultura, which also handles the likes of Shell…

Duckin’-A!

Thanks to Stephane Robidas’ broken nose, the Dallas Stars finally broke their streak. Robidas, playing with a bulky cage protecting his injured nose, tied last night’s Game 6 and then set up Stu Barnes’ game-winning goal 52 seconds later as the Stars — I hope you’re sitting down — actually…

Decherd Shares With A. H. Belo Corp.’s Shareholders This Morning

Robert Decherd In advance of A. H. Belo Corporation’s first-quarter financials conference call next week, chairman of the board, president and all-’round CEO Robert Decherd has sent a good news-bad news missive to stockholders today. Writes Decherd concerning the state and fate of The Dallas Morning News’ parent company: “Looking…

Finally, a Weekend Travel Tip

Kaitlin Ingram If you have no plans this weekend, let me suggest something we did last weekend. Because a few of us here at Unfair Park headed down to Cedar Hill State Park last Friday for a camp out near Joe Pool Reservoir, hoping to enjoy the final few days…

Under a Paper Moon

The mailman delivered a most unexpected and unusual parcel today: a package from Pennsylvania-based Schiffer Books containing two of its latest releases, Famous Texas Men Paper Dolls and Famous Texas Women Paper Dolls. Both were authored and illustrated by Beaumont’s Tom Tierney — who, says the Famous Texas Men’s back…

“Oh, Thank God! I Thought You Said ‘A Protestant!'”*

Pope Benedict XVI, like you didn’t know that Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States has provoked an examination of the relationship between Roman Catholics and evangelical Christians, who share a similar social agenda. Southern Baptist scholar, author and commentator Al Mohler points respectfully to the continuing, seemingly insoluble…

Was the Call That Sparked the Eldorado Raid a Hoax?

It would be no surprise if you have yet to read this, since for some reason The Dallas Morning News is ignoring it, but it now appears the phone call that sparked the raid on the polygamist compound in Eldorado may have been a hoax. As ABC News reported yesterday…

Strong Arm of the Law

Why is Greg Abbott smiling? Something to do with watching an old lady bathe, mebbe? If you’re old, a minority and a Democrat who loves your country enough to vote regularly, you should draw the blinds when you take a bath, ’cause Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and his boys…

Pizza Hut Cans Deliveryman Who Brought a Gun to a Hold-Up

Few weeks ago we told you about the Pizza Hut deliveryman in Iowa who was suspended for shooting at a man who faked an order, all so he could play stick-’em-up with the poor schmuck who drew the short straw. Well, today comes word that 38-year-old James William Spiers III…

Heritage Auction Gallery Sparks Another Battle at Little Bighorn

Meanwhile, General George Custer couldn’t give a damn about a lawsuit, as he remains deceased. A Friend of Unfair Park sends along word that, yet again, Unfair Park cross-the-street neighbor Heritage Auction Gallery has found itself on the wrong end of whoops. Two months after it was revealed that the…

Dallas Mavericks: Transformers in Disguise!

Because I loves some Free Darko, here’s the mightily monikered Bethlehem Shoals’ sneak peek at the Dallas Maverick-New Orleans Hornet showdown, set to commence tomorrow ’round 6 p.m. on the Worldwide Leader. The whole piece, of course, must be taken in context, but a few teasers till you crash the…

David Finfrock and Mother Nature Ruined My Must-See TV

Fine — sheets of rain, bolts of lightning, hail the size of newborns. Of course the local TV affiliates had to ax their respective networks’ prime-time programming — because there’s nothing more captivating than the site of bat-shit meteorologists tracking the slow crawl of the apocalypse. Only, see, no 30…