Articles for June 3rd, 2010
Luis Ellis Eliminates The Ticket’s Dan McDowell in D Magazine Words With Friends
Luis Ellis certainly seems to have enjoyed his 449 to 339 over Dan McDowell of the Ticket:
It was a historical matchup between current Ticket employee Dan McDowell vs ex-Ticket employee Luis Ellis. In the end, it was proven that Luis indeed likes to party more than Dan. Luis jumped out of the “Box” with a 55 pointer which was a lead that Dan couldn’t overcome. Dan made a bold move by utilizing his Ticket venacular when he played the word “poop” but he still couldn’t overcome Luis’ domination of the TWS.
Dan has ultimate bragging rights, though, since he gets to go back to his gig at America’s favorite radio station while Luis gets to go get slapped around by scrabble champ Chris Cree and return to slavery in corporate America.
We have our Elect Eight.
Frisco’s Dark Magic Does in American Way Editor in D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament
First the Ticket’s Gordon Keith was done in by the Collin County-based witchcraft of Frisco Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Cheney. Now it’s magazine editor Jessica Jones who’s fallen from our Words With Friends tournament. By a score of 364 to 347, Cheney advanced to the Elect Eight to face off tomorrow against Rhett Miller (who, by the way, is playing (music, not WWF) at the Belmont Hotel tonight.)
Here’s what Jessica says about the loss:
What a heartbreaker (well, for me). We were neck and neck pretty much the entire game. It was a *very* tough board, forcing us to take turns playing two letters at a time for the majority of the second half. And technical difficulties — app crashing, slow load times — only made the back and forth that much more tense. But Jeff had an incredible knack for making one letter here and there count big. No triple-digit plays this game, just a steady pace of 20 and 30 pointers. This time, I can’t blame the power letters; I got almost all of them. But I CAN blame the letter gods for being extremely stingy with the vowels. WTF, WWF?
I kid. Great game Jeff.
Tim Rogers Gets Reprieve From the Words With Friends Gods, Still Loses in D Magazine Tournament
And so Zac Crain knows he’ll be facing Rich Goff, a promotions manager for WFAA, in a fight tomorrow for a spot in our Finally Four. That’s because Goff beat Tim Rogers — more than once, apparently. The final score was 403 to 298. Here’s Tim’s account of what happened:
To be honest, Rich beat me twice. A quarter of the way through our game, the Newtoy servers had a hiccup, and we lost our game. Gone. When it vanished, Rich was killing me. So we started another game. You know what happened there. I drew all the big letters yet couldn’t score with them — partly because I’m not that good, but mostly because I think Rich was playing (and bingoing) in a way that was designed to thwart big scores with the Z, Q, and J. The game was never close. Zac is going to have his hands full tomorrow.
Now read what Rich has to say about what transpired. Do you detect the same note of skepticism that I do about that server “hiccup”?
After our first game mysteriously disappeared, (something about a NewToy server update), we re-started at around 1:15 in the afternoon. I was fortunate enough to get some good letters and score a bingo off the top…Tim has warned me that Zac will be a formidable opponent tomorrow, and I believe him. To quote a great movie:
1) We gotta play ‘em one day at a time.
2) I’m just happy to be here. Hope I can help the ballclub.
3) I just want to give it my best shot, and the good Lord willing, things will work out.
As far as I know, Rich: no, Tim didn’t signal his good buddies Paul and David Bettner to turn off the juice when things weren’t going his way. As far as I know.
Rhett Miller of the Old 97s Advances, Believes He Was Playing Mad Men Star at Words With Friends
Musician Rhett Miller has joined the Elect Eight in the D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament. Though a presumed misspelling on Rhett’s official report to the tournament director suggests that he may have played actress Christina Hendricks, we’re prettty sure that he actually took on his assigned opponent for Round 3, Cristen Hixson of UT-Dallas.
In any event, he came out ahead, 426 to 335, after a six-hour match. Here’s what he had to say:
PerkieGirl commanded the game forever. I finally got some luck in the last five or so plays. Back to back 47’s. I was able to seal the victory with a 76 point bingo, feasters.
Jump for the board.
David Dillon, R.I.P.
A note just went around the newsroom at the Dallas Morning News. They’re working on the obit. Meantime, here’s the memo:
We have some sad news. Longtime architecture critic David Dillon has died suddenly of a massive heart attack at his home in Massachusetts. He was 68. Most recently, David did freelance work for us on some of Dallas’ biggest architectures stories, including Cowboys Stadium and the AT&T Performing Arts Center, in addition to writing books, teaching and consulting. He played a key role in the Tipping Points series. Previously, he was our staff critic and had a huge profile here as well as nationally.
Oak Cliff Group Fighting Apartments for Homeless
Live in Dallas long enough, and you get approached by someone for money while you wait for a train, get gas, or idle at a stoplight. Sometimes they even yell at you when you don’t give them money – I had one exclaim, “BUT YOU HAVE IPHONE MONEY!” while I was at a light, and had another individual curse at me when I offered him my all-day DART pass that I was done with, instead of the $5 he wanted to, he claimed, buy a DART pass.
I have my doubts that all those people are homeless, but I also think there’s gotta be an easier way to make money and live.
That being said, we do have a homeless problem in Dallas. We’re not the only city that has one, and we’re not the only one that is trying to tackle it. And it seems like the most logical thing to do would be to get these people housed, employed, and doctored for whatever may ail them. Call me a pinko commie leftist Pollyanna, but that seems like it would work. House the people who don’t actually want to be homeless, help them find jobs and help them overcome addictions or cope with various mental illnesses.
But the Dallas Morning News reports that the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group in Oak Cliff is against using a high rise on the street as housing for the would-be formerly homeless. I do understand that the street is undergoing a revitalization, but I also know that housing assistance, coupled with health and other services, can do much to reduce the homeless population in Dallas.
This isn’t the first time a group has fought plans to integrate the formerly homeless into neighborhoods. There were similar stances taken with the plans for the building on Akard as well. Nobody wants the newly-homed in their neighborhoods, resulting in waves of NIMBY. But if they don’t go in my backyard, where do they go? Do we build a giant compound just outside town, and house them there?
UPDATE: People Newspaper’s Josh Hixson has a pretty interesting exchange over here.
Zac ‘Cheap Bingo’ Crain Scoots Past TWU Grad Student in Words With Friends Tournament
D Magazine’s own Zac Crain advanced to Round 4 of our tournament with a hard-fought 385 to 368 win over Sandra Silva, an MBA student at Texas Woman’s University. From Zac:
It was back and forth pretty much all the way. Never could get ahead by much, especially since I got the cheapest bingo in the history of cheap bingos (PRICERS, for something like 45 points). I thought I was sunk when Sandra played TRIVIAL for 42 with only a couple of tiles left. But I was able to overcome that on my last two turns, winning on my very last play. She was tough. I’d say I did it for Evan Grant, but he’s a no-good turncoat.
Board-jump.
Debt-Collection Agency Gets Wake-up Call
Workers at a debt-collection outfit called Advanced Call Center Technologies apparently need some sensitivity training. A Dallas County court told the company to pay a Lewisville man $1.5 million after he was harassed by calls that … well, they have to be read to be believed.
Sports Agent Knocks Out Opera Singer in Round 3 of D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament
Trennis Jones put a stop to the Jolie Stratton Express, beating the opera-singing theology student by a score of 460 to 367. Game notes from Trennis:
Jolie was a phenomenal player/competitor, and I was definitely lucky with some of the letters I got at crucial points in the game
This sets up an Elect Eight matchup tomorrow between Trennis and Lauren Lapeyre with a trip to the Finally Four on the line. See the Jones-Stratton board after the jump.
Ben of Ben and Skin Loses in Third Round of D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament
Lauren Lapeyre of the Ritz-Carlton became the second player in our tournament to punch a ticket to the Elect Eight, with a 374 to 343 win over Ben Rogers of ESPN Radio’s Ben and Skin Show:
When Ben saw Lauren’s double double-word play with ‘marge’, he exclaimed “Brilliant… I did not even consider that… My eye was on the tripple words…” He also called the game an “Old school shoot out!! Big scores every time!!”
If you want the board, follow me.
What To Do In Dallas Tonight: June 3, 2010
What do you get when you combine wigs, classical instruments (flute, violin, piano, and clarinet), and members of the Polyphonic Spree? You get the Chameleon Chamber Group, tonight’s performers at the Silk Road Lounge at the Crow Collection of Asian Art. The group describes themselves as “electro-acoustic symphony,” and they apparently combine traditional classical music with digital and electronic components for a futuristic sound. I’m just digging the Antoinette-style wigs. Remember: it’s free, and beer and wine samples are given out. Starts at 6. More of what to do after the jump.
Scrabble Champ Chris Cree Survives Scare Against David Higbee in D Magazine Words With Friends
Chris Cree was going to be traveling today, so he and David Higbee worked in their Round 3 match last night. It’s clear that Krista’s husband has got game. Cree calls Higbee “quite the boardsman” after claiming a narrow 397 to 380 victory. He considers himself lucky that he didn’t have to encounter the environmental consultant in the semifinals of our contest — which will be played as a one-minute-per-turn speed match.
Here’s Cree’s account of the fun:
David Higbee is another superb player; quite the boardsman. This was an extremely tense and exciting game that came down to the last draws. The Q, which I exchanged early on, was the key factor in late game decisions and, ultimately, the game. I decided that I needed to pass up a cheap bingo (58 points) late, instead, playing ETH for 32, knocking out a QI dump spot and keeping IRS? to have the best chance to win. David made a beautiful blocking setup for the Q, which I suppose he must have drawn on the previous 3 in 9 scenario, by playing CON, taking out two bingo alleys while at the same time setting up QI/ICON. Fortunately, I had the tiles to block that setup. I cannot fathom any way to have intuited any part of this endgame in a one minute time limit game. – whew!!
Krista should be proud. Board after jump.
Leading Off (6/3/10)
1. A ladder bouncing off the highway and ending up in my car was not a fear of mine…until I read this story about that exact thing happening to former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk. But all ends well as Kirk survived the ladder attack with just a few stitches.
2. This is a tough story. An 11-year-old boy has a herd of cattle (about 15 in all). He goes to check on the cattle and finds they’re all dead or dying. Although dismayed, he’s not giving up. The little boy will get another herd. And while foul play is suspected, the boy’s mom isn’t jumping to conclusions. I think I’d like this family.
3. I don’t own a business. But I know there are things you sometimes have to do while owning a business that you don’t like. However. I feel like there were ways for the management at Holly Park apartment complex to work around kicking out a woman with stage-three breast cancer, especially after a group offered to pay her next two months’ rent. But they kicked her out. And won’t return calls. I believe this quote sums it all up: “Is this fair? No,” says Clint Davis, a Dallas real estate attorney. “Is this morally right? Absolutely not! Is this a PR disaster for the management company and the owner? You bet. But is it legal? Yes, it is.”
4. And really the only thing I care about today is that my husband played Chris Cree last night (Cree is traveling today so they played early). I’ll let Jason tell you how it went. Good luck to all those in round three!
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