Articles for August 28th, 2008

North Dallas Does Denver: Live Blog From a Couch

Since Eric won’t cover the convention, I will. Here’s a summary of Obama’s speech: “Change, change, changey, changerson-change, ch-ch-change. PF Change! And Eight Is Enough.”

Seriously. He made a reference to the sitcom.

Oy.

Briefing: They Killed Quick for THIS?

The DMN’s Briefing launched this week. I’ve avoided it till now. Zac just sat down on my couch and read aloud to me the work of one of the circular’s columnists, Tyra Damm. Here’s what she fired up today. This is a parody, right? It has to be. Because there’s no way the DMN brass thinks that throwing this stuff in the yards of non-subscribers is going to do anything other than turn people off of reading the paper.

Unless, again, it’s a parody. In which case, it’s pretty brilliant. Sign me up.

PacmanAdam Jones Officially an NFL Player Again

The cornerback and minor Hard Knocks storyline received the official word today. Where? At Hooters, of course.

Who Does Writer John McAlley Think He Is?

I’d like to know, because I’d like to get to know writer John McAlley. Catching up with this month’s GQ at lunchtime, I happened to enjoy a story about said writer’s dalliance with Peter Frampton’s ex-girlfriend 30 years ago this Labor Day. The story — not online, near as I can tell — involved a good bit of rock history; some enjoyable McAlley personal history; and a great NSFW quote about why the 10-years-older, drug-n-booze party girl ex-girlfriend would go for a teetotal, self-identified record-store-clerk nerd like McAlley. It was a great read. Then I get to the bio:

John McAlley has written for Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Spin. He lives in Dallas and is currently a contributing editor at NPR.org.

Hunh. I ask Tim and Zac if they’ve heard of John McAlley. No and no. Then, just Internet browsing, minding my own, I see McAlley has the current cover story on Spin. It’s a profile of Beck that gets some Idolator analysis. McAlley’s suddenly everywhere, and he came from seemingly nowhere. (”Seemingly” to me, at least.) Please, sir, come forward so I may buy you a beer or two and hear the even juicier bits that didn’t make it to print.

Dallas Does Denver: Singing a Protest Song

It was a simple question. “What are the protests like?” The caller from Dallas, a freelance photographer who sometimes shoots for D Magazine, had herself been working on obtaining an off-the-books press pass for the convention. Surprisingly, yesterday she was told that her contact had scammed one photography pass for Obama’s Invesco Field speech tonight. She wasn’t interested in shooting that, though, for the same reason we weren’t interested in attending: like with a rock concert, stadium shows are decidedly less interesting than those held at more intimate venues. (And the pass, sadly, was not transferable to me or Lavin.) So, she said, she was only interested in paying for a last-minute flight and coming here if the reports of dozens of violent protests were true and, as important, would produce dramatic images. I was sipping a triple-shot iced vanilla latte in the 16th Street Market area on a patio on a picturesque day. I looked around. There was one anti-abortion protestor, sitting on the curb, taking a break from yelling at disinterested passersby. I took another sip. “I dunno,” I said. “Maybe it’ll get crazy later. But I wouldn’t count on it.”

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Mark Cuban Is a Blogosphere Commenter

Not on this blog. Heavens no. But over on TechCrunch50, where it was announced bloggepreneur (Not a word? It is now.) Jason Calacanis would interview Cuban one-on-one at the upcoming TechCrunch50 conference. Comments to said announcement require registering for an RSS feed. Fortunately, Michael Arrington found the good stuff. A commenter/videoblogger named Loren Feldman said Cuban was not tech smart but Internet lucky. Cuban, at about 2:30 AM local time, sarcastically agreed. Well played, sir.

Good Samaritan Brothers Save Woman In Lake

I just have to mention this since I know the brothers that saved the woman from drowning in White Rock Lake yesterday. We have been to their house many times this summer to hang at their pool, but that usually involves floating around on rafts while we sip cocktails. I never knew they were such a good swimmers. Way to go Nick and Tad Weatherford!

Hollywood Goes to Perry’s

Lights, camera, and action.

Never Let Reality (Television) Get in the Way of Football…

OK, so, a while ago, I reported that some folks were trying to get Jason Witten (left) and some of the other Dallas Cowboys to tape a reality cooking show to raise money for charity. Turns out that organizers had trouble coralling Witten, Tony Romo, etc., to make it happen (some lame excuse about football practice or something). The fruits of what came to be will be televised at noon this Saturday (hint: a different Tony will be on the show). I’m not sure if it will be as exciting as watching Romo trying to mince garlic.

“Bring Me The Head of Chris Matthews”: A Dallas Democrat in Denver

Chris Matthews, head attached.Not to rain on Eric’s parade, but here’s an on-the-street interview with Dallas gal Janelle Ellis at the convention in Denver. Ellis is known for working on the women’s peace movement, her love of Hillary Clinton and Ann Richards, and now for her cry to “bring me the head of Chris Matthews … that hissing viper.” (It all starts unraveling around the 4:12 mark.) Oh, and she’s making a documentary.

(Matthews photo via MediaBistro)

Restaurant 101: Drinking Age Debate

How old were you when you took your first drink? Was it a few swings of Boone’s Farm in the back seat of a car with some other underage friends or a half a glass of wine at a fine restaurant with your parents? Me? Guilty to the former. You?

This morning Miss Amy takes a scholarly approach and discusses the pros and cons of the drinking age debate. I’m sober and ready. Let’s go.

Leading Off (8/28/08): Shiny, Happy Edition

1. According to Jane McGarry’s anecdotal evidence, people are meeting each other online and some even end up getting married! (If you haven’t kept up with Jane’s reportage from the tech beat, here are her thoughts on MySpace, crazy eBay auctions, cellphones, and, um, makeup tips.)

2. Oncor is giving power customers a one-time credit of $12.58. The refund will show up on September electric bills. Woo-hoo! I’m totally going to turn on a lamp for a minute! Maybe two minutes! I don’t know, feeling sort of crazy. Party at the Crain house, aka Fort Awesome.

3. The seniors committee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is giving the late, great Cowboys receiver “Bullet” Bob Hayes a rare second chance to be enshrined in the Hall. In his honor, I’m totally going to turn on another lamp! That’s right. You can’t stop me. The party rages on.