ALLYN ES MUY MAL?

A media-savvy FrontBurnervian alerts us to this profile of Rob Allyn in yesterday’s New York Times. The article zeroes in on why some Hispanic groups are angry over Allyn’s hiring: the man is a gringo.

MEXICO ES MUY BUENO! MEXICO ES MUY BUENO!

While you were running holiday errands, Dallas PR honcho Rob Allyn (yep, that’s his ad over there on the right side of this page) was getting the Christmas present of a lifetime. His newest client? Mexico, as in the country. The one year contract pays Allyn’s firm $720,000 (that’s 7,718,040 pesos), but as this story in DMN points out, Allyn is already earning his money dealing with prickly immigration issues.

MY CHRISTMAS VACATION

I love my family. Especially my 2-month-old daughter. And the boy. He’s older, but he’s still cute. The wife is wonderful. Spending an extended period of time with them, uninterrupted by work, has been a real treat. They complete me, make me a better person, fill my heart with warmth.

But, sweet Christ in heaven, when can we come back to the office? Do we really have to wait till January 2?

THE FORT, THE HOLDING THEREOF

Santa is safely back home, probably chillin’ in a Sharper Image massage chair, recouperating from another great Christmas. All the little elves from D and People Newspapers are also home, taking a well-deserved week off. Meanwhile, notes from the dark office:
— It is 4:25 p.m. on Christmas Eve. I am standing near the exit door of Best Buy on Central Expressway while my wife buys a last-minute Christmas present for me. The absurdity of this situation is delicious, and it puts me in a very happy/silly holiday mood. Thinking that things can’t get much better, I turn to see a giant man in chinos and D-logo baseball cap loping toward me, his giggling daughter in tow. It is the Emperor himself, Sir Lodowick of Allison, racing down the DVD aisle. Yes, the man who is always in control is very much out of control, trying to buy presents for the five very sophisticated women in his household in one afternoon. “Uh, hi, got what we need…been to Neiman’s…two more stops…where’s the…” His voice trails off as he marches out the door. Allisonette #4 gives a wink of her impossibly big brown eyes.
— Against all odds, our Cowboys pull out a miracle win in Carolina, restoring hopes for a playoff berth. Even the most wizened sports hacks scratch their heads over the multiple personalities exhibited by their beloved ‘Boys. We never know who will show up, but they are at 9-6 (a reversal of last year’s 6-9 at this point).
— Christmas morning in Dallas: 68 degrees, bright sunshine. Paradise!
— Dallas ends the year dry as a bone, more than 15 inches less than our average annual rainfall, the fifth driest year on record.
— The Mavs and Stars are ON FIRE, both leading their divisions
— D’s “Best & Worst” issue is out on newsstands. A real snarkfest you are sure to enjoy.

HO! HO! HOME!

We are out of here for the holidays. I’m sure some of us won’t be able to stay away from FrontBurner but technically we’re closed until the 2nd. Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night.

“DALLAS” WEIGHS IN ON WASHINGTON POST REPORTING

The Dallas interlocutor is unidentified, but he or she is a tough interviewer. Here’s the transcript of an on-line session this morning held by WP White House reporter Michael Fletcher:
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LAWRYGATE

Holy Cow! Who’d a thunk that the mere mention of Lawry’s Prime Rib would cause a flood in my inbox. Two of the best:

I can’t speak for the rest of the carolers, but my sister is the soprano at Lawry’s and is 9 months pregnant waiting for her baby to come any day now. You’d have to coax me over with a chair and a foot massage to get ME to stand up for 3 hours whilst so pregnant just to sing Jingle Bells. My sister loves it and her doctor made last night her last singing night when he discovered her blood pressure was at the danger point for pregnant women from standing up so much. (Oh, and Chuck Norris doesn’t tip when he requests songs.)

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GET OUT OF JAIL FREE

Comes news today that the Gov has pardoned two Dallas County men who were wrongly convicted of crimes (one serving 20 years on rape, the other serving life for murder). The full release is below. A certain New York transplant suggests that if we want to read more on suchlike innocents behind bars, we might want to turn here.
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WAY OFF TOPIC: FURNITURE HAVING SEX

Don’t ask questions. Just watch the video. One of the most brilliant, funny things I’ve seen in six months. (Special thanks to Gordon Keith, whose site brought this to my attention.)

I MISS STEVE NASH

Great Steve Nash” href=”http://www.nba.com/features/gq_nash_051202.html”>story in GQ. Seriously. Name a cooler pro athlete.

EVERYBODY’S A FOOD CRITIC

A foxy traffic-lovin’ FrontBurnervian Foodie reports:

I had dinner last night at Lawry’s as well. Was your service as bad as ours? Reservations at 7pm and the prime rib didn’t make an appearance on my plate until 8:42pm? I know the precise minute because I kept checking my watch. Carolers sang maybe 5 songs in a 3-hour period and had to be coaxed to our table by a begging 9 year old. Creamed spinach tasted flat and my California cut had more fat than Kirstie Alley of 2004.

FYI, my California cut was as wimpy as Barney Fife and Gomer Pyle.

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

Jim Johnson, a Dallas developer, is very grateful for the men and women in the armed forces. So grateful that he spent three hours outside a Wal-Mart in Killeen handing out $20 bills to active servicemen, women, and their families. In all, he gave $5,000. The AP wire picked up the story, but the original Killeen Daily Herald article can be found here (Choose headline: “Texan displays giving spirit to troops”). It’s a touching story, especially the part about Johnson’s son.

KNOCK KNOCK

A Hard Rock Casino-lovin’ FrontBurnervian fires this:

After the feel-good warmth of Ladies Day, Vegas oddsmakers set the over/under for when various “serious” topics would return to throngs of FrontBurner readers who were left high and dry by yesterday’s discussion.
Those over/unders:
–First gratuituous rip of DMN: By 9:30 am (Shockingly, we were way off. It happened at 8:59 a.m.)
–First reference to Jessica Simpson: 11 am
–First reference to Owen Wilson: 10:02 am
–Second, unconnected rip of DMN: 11:15 am
–First use of a personal pronoun in Tim Rogers post: OFF THE BOARD
–First reference to where boys are going to lunch (like we care): 9:45 am
(guess we blew this one, too)
PARLAY TICKET
First off color remark (pundit and time): Tim and 10:45 am.

Can’t touch this.

SPEAKING OF JOURNALISM ETHICS

Dateline NBC ran a story about two murders in Fort Worth. A producer of that story wrote letters to Gov. Perry and Florida Gov. Bush recommending leniency on the suspected killer. The producer’s involvement has rubbed some the wrong way. More journalism ethics discussion can be found in this Star-Telegram article.

RE: KURT’S SO GOOD

You may remember a recent shout-out to NYT reporter Kurt Eichenwald for his piece on webcam child pornography. His story has sparked an interesting back-and-forth over on Slate. Not so much the story, but the story around the story–the part where Eichenwald and the NYT secured a lawyer for the kid/source. Eichenwald and Slate editor at large Jack Shafer have an interesting–albeit lengthy–discussion about journalism and ethics and journalism ethics. Check it out.

THE BOYS ARE BACK

Sorry, by the way, for all this county health-care stuff and media analysis. Wick and Adam and Paul and I will get to anguishing about our love lives later in the day. Check back soon.

RE: FORGET THE FACTS

Hang on. Parkland shouldn’t be Jacobson’s beat. That’s what has me scratching my head about this story. Remember, Jacobson was recently “promoted” to Metro columnist (in which capacity she has written forcefully about the time her car stalled; the need to protect everyone’s job at City Hall; and her beard-wearing, banana-eating scofflaw son). So why was she tapped to type the Parkland piece? Writing the story required no specialized knowledge nor deep, super-secret sources. All that was needed was the press release, a telephone, and access to the DMN’s archives for a little background info. Tilt your head, squint your eyes, and say it with me: curious.

Update: A news-gathering FBvian who knows says that Jacobson is only a part-time columnist, writing for Metro but just once a week. So, yes, her beat is still Parkland. Perhaps less curious, then.

FORGET THE FACTS–IT’S THE MORALITY TALE THAT COUNTS

The News’ Sherry Jacobson delivers her usual warm, sloppy kiss this morning to Ron Anderson, head of Parkland Hospital, for achieving a $40 million surplus, mostly due to increased federal funding. But who really deserves the credit?

On August 24, 2004, Ms. Jacobson wrote a story in which Parkland administrators, including Ron Anderson, poo-pooed the idea of getting more federal money. They were campaigning then for higher local taxes. It was the County Commissioners who insisted that the federal funding should be sought:

“We’ve got a duty here to …to protect the local taxpayers,” said County Judge Margaret Keliher, who leads the court. “But I want to be sure we’re getting the federal dollars we’ve already paid…”

In fact, before County Commissioners appointed a new board of (mainly) businessmen to strengthen Parkland’s mangement systems, the hospital under Ron Anderson was habitually shortchanged by the federal government–and Anderson did little or nothing about it.

But the facts don’t matter. As long as Parkland is Sherry Jacobson’s beat, every good thing that happens is because of Ron Anderson and every bad thing that happens is because of a stingy Commissioners Court that is unwilling to raise taxes to care for the poor. That’s the storyline, and the News is sticking with it.

LADIES DAY LEFTOVERS

I’m sure there are plenty of FrontBurnervians—not the least of which is the so-called Frustrated FrontBurnervian who will most likely make a miraculous recovery from his self-inflicted gunshot and stabbing wounds—who are happy that the boys will be back on the blog today. But I think I speak for all of the girls when I say we had a blast. So thank you, Dallas!

Now, back to the leftovers. I got many e-mails last night from men commenting about the gift-giving discussion, including this one:
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DALLAS IS THE CAPITAL

I lived in LA for 11 years and returned to Dallas every year for Christmas. Each time I got off the plane I felt like I’d walked into a bad Robert Altman film with every woman in the cast dressed head-to-toe in Christmas apparel: obnoxious Santa sweaters and caps, ornaments dangling from earlobes, necklaces blinking Ho Ho Ho. It was always quite a shock to the eye. Last night I dined at Lawry’s (saw former D marketing maven Carren Ballenger and family and they all send Christmas cheer). Anyway, the place was like going to a Christmas sweaters and prime rib a go-go. I expected Jimmy Stewart to roll the trolley to our table. What is it about Dallas and all this Christmas garb?

MORE FEEDBACK

Woke up to find tons of e-mails reacting to yesterday’s Ladies Day on FrontBurner. Here’s a comment from a surly guy:

That girl complaining about boys looking for shinier toys should stop shouting things at places where boys looking for shinier toys hang out. Don’t’ girls know that all tom thumbs don’t carry the same brands of cheese. On another note - you sure contribute to this blog a lot. Maybe D “Magazine” could find some additional assignments for you.

How did Tom Thumb’s cheese department get into this? Anyway, it made me laugh and someday I’m gonna take the time to prove his assumption is wrong. (Simon David stores don’t count!) As to his last comment? Joe Tillotson obviously doesn’t read our magazine. I’ve got plenty of assignments. Next?

GIRLS GIVE BETTER

Note: yes, I am just now catching up on the e-mails I’ve gotten throughout the afternoon. Anyway, a fervent reader and generous gifter in East Dallas shares her thoughts about the ol’ gift exchange:

I’m a boomer, and since my salad days in the dating world, I’ve espoused a theory that women give their men gifts worth roughly 10 times what the man spends on the woman’s gift. Like, my friend who got her boyfriend of two years a $450 watch. He got her a $45 wallet. Or the time I got my boyfriend of one year a $100 gift certificate and he gave me a snowglobe from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (approx. cost = $10).

Ask around. I think my theory still holds.

Would anyone else care to share?

THESE BOYS ENTERTAIN ME

Also re: Christmas gifts, here’s what what male FrontBurnervian has to say:

In general, boys like two things: girls and toys. The perfect gifts combine the two, but those are probably not appropriate for a father-in-law. And neither are girls, really, unless that family has weird comfort levels for gifts.

So that leaves toys. The problem comes in deciding what kind of toy. It really depends on the guy. The modern chic guy might like a toy that would help him look better, whereas an old-fashioned guy might prefer a toy that has more utilitarian purposes.

I think I have learned a lot today.

RE: WHAT BOYS WANT FOR XMAS

So I got some good suggestions, so I thought I’d share:

For right-brain types (because, according to a male FrontBurnervian, “not all of us want cordless drills”):

New books:
1. River of Doubt, about Teddy Roosevelt’s trip on Amazon
2. Unreleased third volume of Canaan’s Edge, Taylor Branch’s book on Civil Rights movement

Music:
1. Round out the Johnny Cash CDs, such as Essential Johnny Cash
2. ipod, of course, and all the fixins

Something different:
1. Donation to his favorite charity
2. Nice travel journal

RESTAURANT POOP

A FBFemale sends a scoop:

Campbell Restaurant Group will open Planet Burrito early in 2006. Former VP of HR at CRO, Inc. left a few years back to go to CPK but is now the COO of the Campbell Restaurant Group. His name is Garry J. Gay. Planet Burrito will have gourmet burritos, salads, rice bowls, quesadillas and a fish taco featuring tortilla crusted tilapia with chipotle and lime. They will also have signature burritos that will highlight flavors from around the planet (hence the name of the restaurant) including: California, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Italy, the Mediterranean, Texas, the Southwest, and Thailand. All burritos offered in 4 different sizes.

There you have it.