The cops still aren’t counting the cash drawer. Unbelievable. A decade after Dallas Police got caught running a massive scam out of their cash accounts, deliberately framing innocent people on fake drug charges in order to manipulate payments to fake informants, the Dallas city auditor has reported that the narcotics…
Jessica Martinez has been running a Facebook fan page called Dallas Music for close to two years. She’s kept it simple and reliable, posting local music content and gigs, and she’s let her fandom for our artists shine through, something reflected in her some 2,600 followers. They’ve covered hundreds of…
Naughty or nice, it’s time to finalize our Christmas wishes and overnight them to Santa, for those (like me) who have procrastinated. With the recent announcement that Neiman Marcus is allowing adults to crawl through those magical interactive holiday windows on Thursday evenings, for a $20 suggested donation to the…
I’m sure you’ve been there before. You walk into a restaurant, take your seat and unfold your napkin. You place a drink order with your waiter, and while looking at the menu, you casually ask “So, what’s good here?” Sometimes you’ll get a great recommendation or two. Sometimes a waiter…
We offer many different perspectives here at the City of Ate, and on occasion we even dabble in being good Samaritans. This is one of those times. If you order Gatorade by color, you must stop. Immediately. “Hey, I’m at the store need anything?” “Yeah, can you pick me up…
Last Thursday, New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks said Republicans, smarting from Mitt Romney’s defeat, have learned their lesson and are undergoing what Brooks described as a “glasnost,” a term defined by Merriam-Webster as, “a Soviet policy permitting open discussion of political and social issues and freer dissemination of…
This is just between us libtards, OK? The rest of you, if you don’t mind, could we have the room for a minute? You might want to step outside, check on your Tea Party stuff, see if any immigrant babies are making dirty bombs in your vicinity, something like that…
Ah, the holidays, that time when you frantically try to figure out what exactly to give whoever you got stuck with in the secret Santa drawing. Maybe you got lucky and selected a music fan; maybe you think you want to give that music fan something that’s not just the…
If you’re noticing a light number of posts here on City of Ate, or on any other Observer blog, you should know we’ve been a little distracted as of late. It seems Hypnotic Donuts has installed a massive billboard just outside our news room window, and it’s making everyone a…
Sarah Jaffe is making her national television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live, this Tuesday, December 11. And because we’re always looking for a reason to have a party, our nightlife columnist, The Overserved, has put together a watching party in conjunction with the Granada Theater. The details: There will be…
Attention-span test: You do remember … please tell me you remember … that they sprayed pesticide on you from airplanes last August. I am trying to find out if they plan to spray stuff on us again next summer. Apparently that will be up to the U.S. Centers for Disease…
Dear Mexican: Why is it that many Mexican women hate on me for having a Korean novia? We go to the store and I get looks. We go to the movies and people look or say things like “Mira la chinita.” I get looks from Asian people as well, but…
Silly Canucks. The Canadian offshoot of Dallas-based Pizza Hut turned what was originally intended as a marketing joke into reality — they’ve created Pizza Hut pizza-scented perfume. See also: The 10 Worst Fast Food Trends of 2012 Their Facebook page details the fiasco. A post asking what Facebook fans would…
So what was it — really — that got everybody so fired up about Bob Costas’ timid little attempt at a gun control message on Sunday Night Football last Sunday? Was it less about gun violence than the intrusion of real life into the violent dreamscape of professional football? In…
Josh Florence has a DOMA nomination or two under his belt, and was part of the team that made Homegrown Festival such a great success again this year. Further, he’s an owner of prominent music spots Dada (reopened two years this January) and City Tavern. Florence tends to be an…
Today’s story in The New York Times about Hollywood coming to Pontiac, Michigan, is one long sad letter from home for me. I could almost laugh if I could just get over the temptation to cry. I worked at Pontiac Motors as a young man, in the Fisher Body plant…
It’s December, and the world may be ending soon. The sparkly silver lining: we get to see Dallas dressed up in her holiday finest one last time before surrendering to the ever-reliable Mayan calendar. This weekend, the stars aligned to kick off this festive season in style. Friday, the Gallery…
Eric has already noticed The New York Times piece this morning focused on Dallas’ own G. Brint Ryan as a sort of national go-to fixer for companies seeking generous tax breaks from state and local government. The Times piece reports the hard side of those tax breaks — the screws…
Had it again last night. The nightmare. The one where I work for The Dallas Morning News. Woke up with the sweats. It’s always the same. The story meeting. In my dream the editor leading the meeting is this huge dude named Bob-George in a baggy gray suit and wingtips…
The Los Angeles Times published an op-ed today calling for less government meddling in our dietary choices. Julie Gunlock’s piece questions whether recent state controls regarding food labeling, bans on trans fat and taxes on unhealthy foods are really fitting for a country of free citizens with a limited government…
Two experts from the Monterrey Institute of International Studies have an op-ed piece in The New York Times this morning advocating the abandonment of the National Flood Insurance Program, which is about to stick us taxpayers for $57 billion in rebuilding costs from Hurricane Sandy. If the experts want to…
Dear Mexican: In President Bush’s State of the Union address, he reiterated a need for a guest worker program. What is your opinion of such a program? UNA GUERITA POR UN MUNDO SIN MUROS Dear Gabachita for a World Without Border Walls: Sorry I’m answering your question — what, five…
