Shauna’s OK, Tim. But if we’re talking favorite local “chick” writers, I’m going to up the ante and nominate my fave: Alice Laussade, who writes the funny and informative “Cheap Bastard” column for the Dallas Observer. Check her out. Most weeks, Alice and Schutze are the best reasons to pick that paper up.
You’ll have to ignore the fact that her shift key is apparently broken. Read this blog post about vibrators. This chick from Fort Worth is funny.
1. People Newspapers’ Josh Hixson is on a roll. He wrote the May cover story for our “print product.” And now the digger has dug up an old sales brochure that gives a glimpse inside the Bush house. The story he wrote for Preston Hollow People has been picked up by the DMN.
2. I hate this story about Cristal Taylor. I hate it because it humanizes her. It’s so much more fun when you can point and laugh and say, “Look at that crazy-ass, gold-digging stripper who surely was bent on ruining Dirk.” Then you read that she was a cocktail waitress, not a stripper. And you learn that she found out she was pregnant when they tested her urine in jail. And the story starts to sound a whole lot more sad than it does fun. Stupid truth.
3. In our special issue on DISD last year, we told you about principal Lucy Hakemack (scroll down), who was given the unenviable task of turning around Spruce High School — in one year. The school was in danger of being shuttered by the TEA on account of its consistently low performance. Well, she’s done it. There’s still plenty of room for improvement, but the school’s TAKS scores improved dramatically, and Spruce is no longer in danger of being closed.
Our good friends Merritt Patterson and Charles Geilich, from People Newspapers, do a podcast every week called “Bursting the Bubble.” This week, I was their special guest. You can listen. But you can’t comment. Not here, anyway. (But I’ll open comments on their site for you.)
Mark Cuban’s 2929 Productions is bringing the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road to screens in October. More than enough reason to post this kind of tense trailer.
Nerd fight!
Just got this missive from Margaret at SMU’s public affairs office. Don’t you think for a minute they’re going to let UTD have the last word on just how ridiculous Angels & Demons‘ take is on antimatter.
I enjoyed your post today on Frontburner about the accuracy of the science in the new Ron Howard movie Angels & Demons. We asked one of our physics professors, Fredrick Olness, to comment on the movie’s science, and here’s what he had to say:
* While it’s true that the particle physics laboratory CERN has created antimatter, it would take more than a billion years (with current technology) to make the quantity of antimatter described in the movie. If you collected all the antimatter that CERN has ever created, it would only power an electric light bulb for a few minutes.
* It’s true that when antimatter and matter meet, they annihilate into pure energy; however, antimatter is not a source of energy. The production of antimatter is very inefficient, so it takes much more energy to create the antimatter than you get back.
* It is also true that we are able to store antimatter, but scientists don’t actually keep antimatter on the lab shelf. Even small quantities of antimatter are difficult to store. Charged antimatter can be stored in a “magnetic bottle,” but the repulsive force of the antimatter charges greatly limits the quantity. Uncharged (neutral) antimatter cannot be contained by a “magnetic bottle.”
Sweet. Feel smart. But here’s a question: Can you mix matter and antimatter cold? Cue it at 38:35.
If you read the first entry and have been salivating for the second, well here it is.
Perhaps you’ve read Wick’s editorial in the May issue of the print product. Maybe it got you excited about D Art Slam. I hope so–because it’s almost here. Our first-ever D Art Slam, presented by D Magazine and f.i.g., begins May 29 and runs through May 31 at f.i.g. (1807 Ross Ave.). More than 150 local artists–Rees Bowen, Glenn Comtois, Frankie Garcia III, Michael Ledoux, Michael Longhofer, Shane Pennington, George Tobolowsky, and our award-winning staff photographer Elizabeth Lavin–exhibit and sell their works at this three-day juried show in the Dallas Arts District. At the VIP preview party on Thursday, March 28, from 7 to 9 pm, attendees can mix and mingle with the artists and be the first to purchase their favorite works. Tickets for the preview party are $100. To see a full list of participating artists, or to purchase tickets, visit the web site.
Mosey over to DallasDirt to see some snaps of the Bush home before it was the Bush home. For more inside scoop about 10141 Daria Place, visit People Newspapers. Oh, and speaking of the Bushes, have you seen this?
Well, hello there, boys. Whatcha doing? You know how you made me listen to Ranger talk at the Monk yesterday? I don’t like that show. So now I’ve invaded your man blog to talk about my show, The Bachelorette. Jump if you care to read my take on the first, painful, horrifying episode. Spoiler alert: Jillian apparently has even worse taste in men than I do.
Just got this e-mail from a reader regarding the Craig Watkins cover story I wrote for the March issue.
You know what GET OFF HIS [redacted]!!!!! You crackers have nothing else to do with your time but write this piece of [redacted] article. The man is only doing his job. I guess if he was to continue to incarcerate the wrongly accused then you would be happy. Get a life and get over it. The man is here and cleaning up the klu klux klan politics that have for so long plagued our city.
I’m not sure what to say. Maybe he thought Tim wrote the story?
Congrats are due writer John G. Browning, a contributing editor at D CEO magazine who’s also a practicing attorney. John’s been nominated by the Houston Press Club for two 2009 Lone Star Awards for writing about law he did for our humble publication. His regular Legalities feature is nominated for Best Magazine Column, while his story about “five lawyers you don’t want to meet in court” is a nominee in the Best Magazine Article category. (The Dallas Observer, the Fort Worth Weekly, KERA and Bloomberg Dallas are also represented on this finalist list. ) The Lone Stars will be handed out June 26. And if we don’t win, John, we can always sue ‘em.
A hospital-oriented FBvian comments, and throws in a special message for Wick:
You’d be surprised how many are using it — including ours. Twitter may be a fad, but the idea behind it will likely live on.
I know you can’t do it, but this post really, really, really needs comments to be on.
To date, most Twitter feeds sound something like this: “Eating Cheerios with beer from last night. Tastes awesome.” So, I guess it’s great that Children’s Medical Center Dallas made a PR splash twittering updates to thousands of people about a 3-year-old’s kidney transplant. But hey, whatever happened to the medical community’s vaunted HIPAA (read: privacy) concerns? Ever try to get a hospital to cough up just one detail about a patient you’re not related to? While these parents gave their consent, sure, Children’s Great Leap Forward still seems contradictory, and a little bizarre.
I’m struggling with our new directive to write more straightforward headlines. Is this one clear enough? Is it too simplified? Probably. But that’s okay, because folks like UT Dallas’ Joe Izen (physics prof) are using the movie’s plot (it’s about anti-matter and such) as reason to hold public lectures and counter the bad science in the film. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a story about it featuring Izen (subscription only), who gave a lecture last week attended by about 150 people. These sessions are designed to, among other things, allay fears about black holes swallowing the Earth. Which is absurd. We all know, as proven at 1:43 of this video, that black holes are for time travel. (H/T: Meredith at UTD.)