The DMA Continues To Awe and Inspire Me

Earlier today, I got to see the Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art, which opens to the public on Sunday (mini scoreboard). Christine Lieb wrote a great little item about it for June’s print product, but I can’t find the link right now, so you’ll have to read about it when you get home (it’s on page 16). [Update: Found it!]

The painting to the left is one of eight by Gerald Murphy himself, though the exhibition is full of works done by others but inspired by the Murphys (Picasso and Fernand Leger, to name two). There are also tons of photographs, letters, and other items from friends of the Murphys such as Cole Porter, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway (Sara and Gerald were the American expats who inspired Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night). I loved seeing notes from Dorothy Parker, one of my favorite writers, and one of the couples’ friends when they moved back to New York City. Go. Be inspired.

Boffo Traffic For DMN’s Site

A curious FrontBurnervian points at this Editor & Publisher report about the increase in site visitors at the country’s largest newspapee sites. True enough, the DMN’s numbers stand out:

The Dallas Morning News’ monthly uniques surged 88% in April, compared to the same month a year ago.

I wonder what their secret is/was. The curious FrontBurnervian has tongue-in-cheek theory:

What in the world are these guys doing to drive this kind of traffic? Or, do they have some cool new tracking device that their former circulation folks invented to inflate their traffic?

Great Headlines (Another in a Series)

“Man’s Body Found in Uptown Cemetary.”

Ex-Dallas Anchor In The Soup In Alabama

Uncle Barky reports that Michael Scott–the ex-NBC5 anchor who was jumped on-air here by a lizard, creating a YouTube sensation–has lost his job as primary news anchor at a TV station in Huntsville, Ala. Seems that Scott, who’s black, referred to his producer, who’s also black, as a “negro” during a commercial break. When the producer objected, Scott called him the “n”-word, and wound up canned.

Leading Off

1. Anjali Datta will always be the valedictorian of Grapevine High School to me, no matter what district officials say. Fantastic work, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD. Punish the kid who finishes four years of course work in three. Who has what most believe is the highest GPA in school history. They should be planning a special ceremony for her at graduation, not saddling her with the cop-out tag of “valedictorian-three years.” Chin up, Anjali. I’m sure some smart university will make up for the one-year scholarship they just took from you.

2. Dallas Fed boss Richard Fisher said something vaguely ominous about inflation last night in a speech in San Francisco. I’m not positive what it means, but I have a feeling I should visit the nearest haberdasher as soon as possible. I might need something to hold onto.

3. Phyllis Dawn Harvey, aka the “Tattoo Bandit,” received 19 concurrent life sentences and will have to serve out the remaining 20 years of the 30-year bid she was on parole for during her 10-day, 19-robbery spree last summer. “I just had a bad two weeks, a bad couple of years, a bad life,” she said. “Ya know what I mean?” Man, do I ever, Phyllis. For the last 10 days, I’ve been suffering from a nasty case of poison ivy. Whew. Driving me crazy. You know, now that I’ve typed that out, it’s not really that similar.