Articles for January 11th, 2010
Who Drinks at the Ocean Prime Bar?
Uncle Nancy dispatched me to the bar at the new Ocean Prime, saying: “That place is crazy busy. And I can’t figure out the crowd. Go!” So I’m here with The Salesman and Spider Monkey. Turns out, Monday isn’t the best day for research here. But I’m told by one patron who would know that Wed through Saturday, the place is hopping. Jerry Jones was holding court in here last week. Remember when Rattlesnake Bar opened? It’s that same crowd.
Also of note: bar snack is popcorn with truffle oil. Insanely good. And former city councilwoman Mary Poss is in the house.
UPDATE: You know what’s expensive?Drinking drinks at Ocean Prime. Maker’s Mark on the rocks: $10.50. Cucumber gimlet: $13. (!)
Turnover at AFI
AFI Fest is the Los Angeles version of what used to be AFI Dallas. When AFI Dallas went bye-bye after last year’s festival, it felt at first like we were being dogged. Something seemed awry. No, no, we were told. A contract had just expired. Everything was fine. (And now we’ve got the Dallas International Film Festival in its stead.)
Well, it looks like something was awry. AFI Fest’s artistic director, its producer, and its head of PR have all stepped down. The official release leaves a lot of room between the lines into which one can read.
American Looks to Lose JAL Bid, Delta May Benefit
News comes that American Airlines’ bid to inject $1.4 billion into struggling Japan Airlines is likely to fail. It appears that as part of a bankruptcy plan, JAL may also switch from American’s Oneworld Alliance to Delta’s SkyTeam.
UPDATE: American may not be out of it yet, they tell Bloomberg.
OMG! Matt Nordgren Is Totally Dating Audrina Patridge!, Ctd.
Kyle Kearbey contacted Matt Nordgren, who is playing things close to the vest right now. But by way of confirmation, Kyle spotted this pic on Nordgren’s Facebook page, available for viewing only to his friends (and FrontBurnervians). So to Mr. Nordgren we say: congratulations, sir. Well done. 
From the Galleries: 2010’s First Openings
The first round of 2010 gallery exhibitions opened this weekend – mostly the Design District scene with the McKinney Avenue Contemporary thrown in for good measure. I was excited about the other contemporary’s opening, especially after I got into the Dallas Contemporary’s new space on Glass St. last week to check out James Gilbert’s pink and orange airplane wreckage site, complete with videos of the artist bouncing around on inflated pool rafts. Keep your eyes and ears tuned for updates on the Contemporary – Gilbert’s show is worth checking out. But of the shows that opened this weekend, the latest offerings at Conduit lifted my spirits. Some thoughts from someone who is not a visual art critic after the jump. (more…)
Fart Smell Inundates Dallas
My wife mentioned this several times over the weekend at our house. “Okay, which one of you farted?” she’d snap. Whereupon my son, daughter, and I would all plead innocence. Me, I figured it was the boy all along. Well, turns out we weren’t the only ones having gas trouble. Seems people all over town have been smelling sulfur. Let’s hope all those meeting planners leave before it gets worse.
Bella Boyz Makes Me Not Want to Eat at Bella
Uncle Nancy reviews the new restaurant Bella in our February “print product,” but I’m just now coming across the reality show (or a trailer for it) that will launch this spring in connection with the restaurant. It’s called Bella Boyz and will “air” on something called SFR Television, which bills itself as “the world’s first online television station.” I’ll take a pass.
Tom Hicks Jr. Resigns From Liverpool
As Peter mentioned in Leading Off this morning, Tom Hicks Jr. raised some hackles across the Pond for sending an obscenity-laced e-mail to a Liverpool fan. (Sample: “Blow me, f**kface. Go to hell. I’m sick of you.”) An alert FBian points us to news that Hicks has now resigned.
More North Texas Film Critics Pick Up in the Air
Last month the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association named Up in the Air the best film of 2009. This weekend the North Texas Film Critics Association followed suit. Having now seen the movie myself, my response is “eh.” It’s pleasant enough to watch, but it ends up telling a story of rather conventional ideas. Why can’t George Clooney just happily go on and on with his empty backpack?
As others have noted, American Airlines is like another character in the movie. I figured they paid a pretty penny for that privilege, but apparently the Fort Worth-based carrier provided access rather than money.
OMG! Matt Nordgren Is Totally Dating Audrina Patridge!
Me, I don’t have cable. So you can imagine the internetting I had to do to figure out why I should care that Matt Nordgren was snapped on the site In Case You Didn’t Know walking out of the Griddle Cafe in West Hollywood with his girlfriend Audrina Patridge. The greatness of Kyle Kearbey sent me the link, which produced about 15 minutes of confusion on my end. So here’s what I can tell you.
Audrina Patridge is a girl from The Hills, which is on cable. To familiarize myself with her work, I watched this video of her lying around in a bikini, eating a Carl’s Jr. burger. Let’s just say I’m a fan. Matt Nordgren is a Dallas fellow. According to The Hills‘ site, he’s played some football. Kyle herself knows the guy and thinks that he may have met Patridge at the Ghostbar in December. We have pictorial proof. Kyle is currently attempting to Facebook him in an effort to determine whether he is, indeed, dating Ms. Patridge.
Further updates as events warrant.
Time Waste of the Day: Netflix Rentals by ZIP Code
Over the weekend, several alert FBvians sent me a link to this NYT database showing which Netflix rentals were popular in which Dallas ZIPs in 2009. Try not scrolling through all 100 movies to see where they were the most popular. My research has revealed the following about South Dallas: folks in that part of town did rent Tyler Perry’s The Family That Prays — while they did not rent W.
A.H. Belo Donates Corporate Money to GOP
The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise seems to think that the big news here is that the local GOP re-hired a sleazy operator to collect party registrations. The bigger news to me is that the P-E’s owner, A.H. Belo, was one of the donors that financed the GOP’s hiring of the sleazy operator. Four hundred dollars is peanuts to a company the size of Belo, so maybe it was given without much thought to please an advertiser or a golfing buddy. A second’s hesitation might have reminded whichever executive made the bone-headed move that a newspaper’s non-partisan standing is one of its most valuable assets. Or is that too old school in the new media world?
UPDATE: The PE is now reporting that the $400 was an advertising rebate, not a contribution. It was misidentified on the GOP’s books. Never mind.
Leading Off (1/11/10)
1. Sometimes losing your pants is harmless fun, like on a cold Sunday afternoon on a DART train because, well, there wasn’t “anything better to do.”
2. It get’s trickier when you allegedly lose your pants. That’s the situation Van Morrison is in, and because he may have lost his pants in Dallas, the local gossip-teers are bristling with excitement as the legend makes his way to North Texas later this month.
3. But whatever you do, don’t talk about pants-less things. That’s what Tom Hicks Jr. did in an email to a Liverpool supporter. Hicks Sr. and Jr. were probably already the most hated people in Liverpool. Now, after Hicks Jr.’s rant, Liverpool supporters are all calling for resignations. (Good thing that boy from Nacogdoches is over there making Americans look good despite the ongoing Hicks soap opera.)
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