MERRY CHRISTMAS

FRONTBURNER CLOSED FOR HOLIDAY BREAK

We’ll return January 2. Everyone be safe and enjoy time with your families and the bottle.

FRIDAY FUN, BONUS ROUND

Remember when I said I couldn’t find an appropriate, holiday-themed Friday Fun? Well, I didn’t exactly lie. I was just too lazy to find one. Here now, a game for those of you/us still stuck at the office while others frolic. It’s called Winterbells, and it’s one of those games that’s brilliant in its simplicity. Make the bunny bounce on bells. That’s it. Hop to it.

RE: BUSH LIBRARY

The best part was, Wick started his history lesson by asking Paul, “How old are you?” Then he wrapped it up by saying, in reference to the unemployment rate then and, presumably, also in reference to Paul’s current personal situation, “How would you like to be unemployed?” Then Wick started laughing, and his flaming bow tie spun around.

RE: BUSH LIBRARY

Wick is telling me to inform the masses that, under Jimmy Carter, our nation had a 22 percent interest rate. He says he’s the worst president. I bring up what’s happened under Bush and Wick says something to the effect of, “You try running a company with 22 percent interest rate. Or having a job.”

I don’t know if that’s a threat. I’m assuming it is. So, again, Wick says Jimmy Carter was the worst president.

FUN WAY TO WASTE TIME

If you, like me, are sitting at your desk, waiting for the Christmas holiday break to begin, getting hassled by Paul Kix, who is sitting on your couch, talking loudly on his cell phone to Jim Schutze, then here’s a way for you to kill time. Look at these strange search terms that brought people to FrontBurner this month:
(more…)

RE: ARRESTED

Herrera … was observed pacing in his back yard and holding a handgun and a beer bottle…

Or, as we say in my family, “Saturday night.”

ONE OF THE 114 MAYORAL CANDIDATES ARRESTED

Back in 2002, that is. (Thank you, vigilant FBvian, for the link.)

GOD BLESS US, EVERYONE

A former top narcotics officer from Tyler is marketing a video on how to beat the po po, because he’s sick of how the war on drugs is eroding civil liberties. Mer-Irie Christmas, mon.

RE: BUSH LIBRARY

Lots of people have emailed me since my post last night. A sampling of opinion after the jump.
(more…)

COUNTY JUDGE TRANSITIONS

New County Judge Jim Foster, the Democrat who stunned incumbent Republican Margaret Keliher (and thousands of others) in the November elections, is looking to shore up his cred with a strong transition team. Check out who’s on it in the release in the jump:
(more…)

AND THE NEW DMN FOOD CRITIC IS …

… Nancy Nichols, according to our poll. Here are the final results, with 209 total votes and a margin of error of +-50%:

Evan Grant 12%
Teresa Gubbins 23%
Kim Harwell 20%
Nancy Nichols 31%
Kevin Sherrington 8%
Robb Walsh 7%

HO HO HO?

I was at the Toys ‘R’ Us on Central last night and there was a display with personalized rainbow pencils. I started looking for one labeled Tim because if there’s anything he likes more than robots, it’s rainbows. Alas, no Tim. There was Amber, Brittany, Brianna, Jade, Jenna, Jordan, Kylie, Taylor and on and on. Basically a stocking stuffer for every stripper in your life.

FRIDAY FUN

Library shmibrary. Let’s have some fun. You might expect today’s Friday Fun to have a Christmas theme, but the best Santa-y game I found was violent and possibly offensive. (I’ve hidden a link to it somewhere in this post.) Instead, play Dodgeball. It’s harder than it seems. More fun, too. Enjoy.

RE: BUSH LIBRARY

Like I said yesterday, nice knowing you, Tall Paul. Timmy, perhaps you should add his name to the DMN critic poll. I hope the Bush library becomes a reality because I want to run the restaurant concessions. Think of the possibilities for the menu writing. Developing.

RE: BUSH LIBRARY

I reckon history may or may not be as unkind to Bush as Tall Paul is, but a line in Gromer Jeffers’ column today sure stood out.

Some worry that the library could turn into a conservative institution that alienates moderates and those opposed to Mr. Bush’s controversial administration.

Let’s see. Spending that would make FDR blush. Check. Anti-free trade. Check. Neo-Wilsonian foreign adventurism. Check. Even his pandering to the religious right expanded the leviathan’s reach. Not seeing much “conservative” there.

RE: BUSH LIBRARY

To the FBvian: if you think our country’s most incurious leader will provide SMU academic prestige, well, great. I don’t.

We’re gonna have to jump the rest. So please bear in mind that the views expressed come from a person who will probably vote for John McCain in 2008.
(more…)

RE: BUSH LIBRARY

Thanks for enlightening me. I, unlike Paul, am not against it, I just saw those numbers and couldn’t imagine how that could be a reality. Boy, I can’t wait for those think tanks. Obviously, I need one. Santa, are you listening?

RE: BUSH LIBRARY

Paul, I’ll let my fellow FBvian do my rebutting for me:

Please tell Nancy and Paul that the implications of having the library here are much larger than more Outback Bloomin’ Onion purchases by visiting scholars. In addition to the visitor aspect, the supposedly most sophisticated presidential library ever (and planned accompanying think tank) brings immediate recognition and prestige to the university (of which I am a proud graduate), which in turn attracts better professors, which makes university ratings go up, which attracts better students, who will make more money and ultimately give more money to the school (not to mention most likely live in Dallas and spend said higher salaries in Dallas). And who can argue about the economic influx wealthy SMU students have on the Dallas economy in general, which will only grow as the student population grows?

And since Nancy talks about quick Internet searches, a real easy one will take you to the following site, which shows the five-year outlook for the Clinton Library is a not-too-shabby $57 million just in visitor revenue. And that’s in Arkansas.

RE: TWO WORDS

I love their music. Listen to track 10.

HERE’S TO YOUR HEALTH

Nancy, two words: monkey paw.

RE: VOTE, SNATCH, AND BEYOND

Are you guys drinking? I am. I quit the over-the-counter cough medicine and went straight to Gran Marnier. Works every time. Hell, yes, I’d work at Belo–most of my family does. All I hear at every family gathering is Belo this and Belo that. I have to sit there and listen to cheap shots aimed at Tim and Rod. They fail to see the warm fuzzy side of D. Like the time Timmy and I short-sheeted Wick’s bed at the Christmas party and didn’t get fired. Awe. Some.

RE: BUSH LIBRARY

Tall Paul, it’s been nice working with you. I hear there could be an opening at the Houston Press. BTW, a quick search revealed that the average salary of a scholar ain’t much. So we fill up all the Red Roof Inns and Outback Steakhouses and we somehow add billions of dollars to our community? Unless…oh, never mind. I love my cube. It’s sooo Greta Garbo.

WHY LOCAL CRITICS RULE

The DFW Film Critics Association — remember the announcement on Monday? — got a little respect yesterday out in movieland. Our president Todd Jorgensen, who does the dirty work of counting votes and keeping us up to date on screenings, sent the story after the jump.

Two questions, though: Is predicting the Academy Award winners really the function of other awards ceremonies? To me that supposes that the Oscars establish what’s real while the rest of us just try to guess at what the Great and Powerful Wizards will ultimately tell us. [Grumble.]

And, bless our hearts, is it the really best recommendation for DFWFCA to say that we merely vote in the same way the Academy does? We’re talking about stalwarts like Fyngers of Furi here.

But to the article:
(more…)

RE: VOTE

Rod, Nancy’s always looking to get snatched.