Gremlins At Work On All D Magazine Sites

Apologies. The sites will be painfully slow to access (as well as to post on) at times all week. They gave me a quite detailed explanation about why but I didn’t understand a word of it.

Leading Off (3/31/09)

1. Lincoln High School principal Earl Jones, who has been at the campus two decades, was recently given a 20-day suspension and is scheduled to be reassigned to another campus next school year because a coach paddled a student two years ago, even though the principal reportedly reprimanded the coach. Prediction: tomorrow, the details will have changed considerably.

2. The Texas Senate passed a bill yesterday that would allow police to set up sobriety checkpoints and would expand their ability to give blood or breath tests to suspected drunk drivers. MADD is happy, but unsure if it will pass the House. I mean, have you seen the collection of drunks in the Texas House?

3. With new-car sales dropping 35 percent in North Texas, VW Lewisville has decided to start selling scooters. I’d love to buy a Vespa, actually, but I’m not sure how I’d get it home. No way I’m taking one of those suckers on I-35.

Reel FX and Massive Black Make AFI Even Cooler

This photo was taken Saturday night at the ReelFX Entertainment and Massive Black party at the Fashion Industry Gallery. Massive Black is a California-based concept art studio that does conceptual design for video games, film, print, toys, comics, and more. Reel FX is a local company that does concept design, animation, and visual effects for films, special attractions, and commercials. They came together to throw a very different type of party for AFI Dallas. I know it’s not an amazing photo, but as you can see, there is a lady modeling in the background, an artist sketching on his computer screen in the foreground, and the projected image on the wall behind him. Now, imagine about 20 other artists doing the same thing at the same time, a (really great) DJ spinning, nude and half-nude models posing, and about a hundred hipster kids sitting around sketching, and you’ve got the idea. Turns out, these kids were part of a Conceptart.org workshop in town that started yesterday. The vibe was energetic and young, a little racy (ahem female anatomy), and very, very cool. That is all.

A Tough Day For DFW GM Dealers, Workers

Good luck to all the North Texas General Motors dealers, and to the workers at the company’s Arlington plant. After today’s moves by the White House–including the unceremonious booting of GM CEO Rick Wagoner–they will need it. The idea that Barack Obama’s “team” knows more about running a major American car company than the company itself is nothing short of ludicrous.