Articles for June, 2010
LIVE BLOG The D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament Final Four Showdown
SPOILER ALERT: Chris Cree won it all. More tomorrow.
It’s been a short, fun ride from 64 competitors who started in our tournament on June 1 to narrowing the field to only four remaining contestants on June 9. Follow along during our live Final Four Showdown from the D Magazine offices tonight. Watch a video stream here, and read our live blogging below. (Keep the video stream open in one browser tab, and this post in another, to get the complete picture.) Games get under way at about 7 p.m., maybe a little earlier.
Just keep refreshing this page to see our updates.
7:10 p.m. Games are about to start. We have all players in the room.
7:14 p.m. A few technical difficulties because we’re using special iPads for this game.
LIVE Words With Friends Tournament Semifinals From Inside D Magazine Headquarters
UPDATE: Click over here to watch the final match.
Beginning at about 7 p.m. tonight you’ll be able to follow the live video streams of the two semifinal matches of the D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament right here. These games will be played simultaneously, so it promises to be an evening of nonstop action, inasmuch as placing tiles on a game board constitutes action. (And follow along with our live blog commentary here.)
The format for both our semifinals and our finals are speed matches in which the players each get one minute per turn, plus the option to take one three-minute turn at any point in the game that they choose.
Enjoy:
In our first game, musician Rhett Miller of the Old 97s takes on sports agent Trennis Jones.
Streaming .TV shows by Ustream
In our other semifinal, local businessman and nationally ranked Scrabble player Chris Cree faces off against WFAA promotions manager Rich Goff.
Watch the D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament Championship LIVE Tonight
Don’t know if you’ve heard, but we’re hosting a little Words With Friends Tournament. Tonight the semifinals and finals will be played at the D Magazine offices. All of the original 64 combatants from our tournament were invited to attend. The Finally Four — Rhett Miller, Rich Goff, Chris Cree, and Trennis Jones — will be sitting across a table from one another to duke it out. Game play starts at about 7 p.m.
We’ll be throwing up a FrontBurner post shortly before the appointed time that will provide live video streams of what’s happening on the game boards. We’ll also have a frequently updated post with commentary of what’s going on this evening, from inside the room where all the action takes place.
So come back in a little while and watch as we valiantly attempt to turn Words With Friends into a spectator sport. (Alcohol may be applied liberally.)
Jim Schutze Lays Huge Steamer in Center Arch of Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge
With a stormy skyline as a backdrop, Dallas Observer columnist Jim Schutze this morning marked progress on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge construction project. When city officials and workers weren’t paying attention, Schutze surreptitiously lowered his khakis and defecated inside the top piece of steel on the bridge’s center arch, which officials hope to have installed by the end of the month.
“I’ve written for so long that this bridge is a total waste of money, and now I’m actually seeing it come to fruition,” Schutze said. “I wanted to mark the occasion.”
The 1,800-foot span, designed by famed architect Santiago Calatrava, is one of three planned bridges over the Trinity River. The other two still lack funding.
Signs of progress on the Hunt Hill Bridge began May 28 when the first pieces of the arch were raised. City officials hope the center arch, which will tower 400 feet above the bridge deck, will become a Dallas landmark.
City Manager Mary Suhm said no delays are expected in the construction of the arch. The $117 million bridge is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.
“It just pisses me off,” Schutze said. “I mean, I can see this thing being built from the Observer offices. Every day, I can see the construction progressing. It taunts me. So I came down here and crapped in the top piece of steel on the bridge’s center arch. And, yes, I feel better.”
Local Lawyer Danny Tobey Gets Harsh Reviews on His Debut Novel
Danny Tobey is a young, fresh-faced lawyer at the Dallas office of V&E. (He’s smarter than I am and has more money and hair than I do. So I hate him. Full disclosure.) Tobey this months publishes his debut novel, called The Faculty Club. Publishers Weekly, what did you think of it?
Tobey’s unconvincing debut centers on a Skull and Bones-like society at a Yale-like university in New England. … Readers will search in vain for any fresh take on the familiar idea of an all-powerful secret Ivy League cabal controlling world events. The revelation of what’s really going on is more likely to elicit groans than chills.
Umph. Not exactly glowing. But how you, Booklist? Did you like it?
This debut novel reads like an ungainly combination of Grisham’s The Firm, Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, and Turow’s One L, with a bit of Hogwarts from Harry Potter thrown in for good measure. … The first-person narration sounds more like the voice of a teenybopper than that of a law student. There are exciting moments here for fans of high-concept thrillers, but there is little in the way of a cohesive narrative.
Oy. I’ve been told by someone who knows him that Tobey is “a good kid.” And the harsh reviews almost make me feel sorry for him. Almost.
Dallas To Get Local Version of SB Nation Sports Blog Aggregator
Robert Wilonsky at Unfair Park got an e-mail about this, and rather than looking through my “junk” folder — too busy watching this over and over — I’ll just link to his post.
Anyway. I’ve always liked SB Nation, in no small part because they employ one of my favorite sports bloggers, Spencer Hall (aka Orson Swindle) of Every Day Should Be Saturday. (Do yourself a favor and make that site’s Digital Viking required pre-weekend reading.) I’m sure they’ll do good work with the Dallas-centric version. That said, if you’re into local sports, you more than likely already have all the area SB Nation-owned sites in your RSS feed. So this just saves you a step, or maybe some room. Or something. Guys, I’m soaked from the rain and having trouble concentrating.
Mike Snyder Leaves Channel 5
The move has been in the works for a while, but now it’s official: Mike Snyder’s 30-year run at NBC Channel 5 will end on July 1. Uncle Barky has more details and an interview with Synder himself.
Friends Fete New Josh Alan Friedman Book
Josh Alan Friedman, a talented Dallas writer and musician, spent his early years in New York, where he was the only white kid attending the last segregated black school on Long Island. Now he’s written an “autobiographical novel” about the experience called Black Cracker. So last night Dawn Rizos, owner of The Lodge gentlemen’s club, hosted a dinner and book-signing there for Friedman and 75 or so of his friends, plus assorted media types like the Dallas Observer’s Robert Wilonsky (that’s Big Bob just below Friedman’s left arm in this photo by Scott Mankoff) and Alan Peppard of The Dallas Morning News.
Chris Cree vs. Rich Goff: D Magazine Words With Friends Semifinal Preview #2
This is the second of our semifinal previews, ahead of tonight’s D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament championship. We’ve already broken down Rhett Miller vs. Trennis Jones. Now, eliminated opponents look at Chris Cree vs. Rich Goff.
David Higbee, who came closer than any other player in the tournament to beating Scrabble master Cree, identifies the keys to his success and pinpoints how he might be beat. D Magazine senior editor Zac Crain, evaluates the prospects for Goff—who defeated both Zac and D Magazine’s Tim Rogers in the course of the tournament.
Crain on Goff:
Keys to His Success
- Easy draw. I refer specifically to facing off against Tim Rogers, who gets his wheels shot off by any word he thinks 1) is not real and/or 2) that his opponent guessed at. Based on my match against Rich, I’m quite sure this was part of Tim’s undoing.
- Fortitude. He never seemed worried when I was up by more than 100 points early on in our game. He kept consistently scoring, even with bad racks, and the tortoise beat the hare.
- OOZIER. That’s what he beat me with. WATCH OUT FOR THIS WORD.
Rhett Miller vs. Trennis Jones: Words With Friends Tournament Semifinal Preview #1
Today’s the day for our D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament championship. Four players remain out of the original field of 64. The semifinals kick off at 7 p.m. this evening, and you’ll be able to watch live right here through FrontBurner (more on that later). No word yet on the odds out of Vegas.
In anticipation of the first of our semifinals, between Rhett Miller and Trennis Jones, we asked a couple of their vanquished opponents to provide some expert analysis on how they think this match could play out. Cristen Hixson, whom Miller called an “absolute beast” at WWF, shares her insights into the keys to Miller’s success, and how he could be beat. Lauren Lapeyre, who faced Jones in the round of eight, breaks down Jones’ prospects.
Jump for the commentary.
What To Do in Dallas Today and Tonight: June 9, 2010
The Luc Tuymans exhibit opened at the Dallas Museum of Art last week, and a few of us media types got to go check it out with the artist himself. The takeaway is that it’s a really big deal that we have this collection in Dallas. It is Tuyman’s first U.S. retrospective, and he has been called “one of the art world’s brightest stars,” by the Wall Street Journal. If I were you, and I had a free lunch hour today, I would stop by the museum for the 12:15 gallery talk, which will focus on the new exhibit. This way you’ll get all the inside info, like the story about Tuyman’s work Secretary of State, a painting of Condoleezza Rice. The artist told us that Condy wasn’t exactly a fan of the work, because she appears to have kind of a buck tooth in the front. But go and see for yourself.
While you’re down there, walk across the street to the Crow Collection and take a quick spin through New Vision: Ballpoint Drawings by Il Lee. The Crow is such a nice place to spend a few minutes, and it’s free to get in. This new exhibit features large works of art created by ballpoint pen, which should make doodling aimlessly suddenly much more important.
If heavy metal rock is more your speed, Iron Maiden is in town tonight. If electro-pop has your name written all over it, Imogen Heap is performing at Verizon (formerly Nokia) tonight as well.
Leading Off (6/9/10)
1. This fall, the producer of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre will film a post-feminist horror movie in Dallas called Stripper, starring the well-known porn actress Michelle Sinclair. I am absolutely certain, as I type this, that Robert Wilonsky has not only already put up a post about this but has called the production company to request a Q&A with Sinclair.
2. Yesterday afternoon, about 1,000 people surprised Ross Perot for his 80th birthday. Even Jay Leno sent along a video greeting. Coolest thing about the story, though, is that Cheryl Hall reports that Ebby Halliday helped plan the surprise, in part to get even with Perot for pranking her first. Seems awhile back Perot had a 9-foot nude topiary planted in Halliday’s backyard.
3. I’ll just give you the quote from the police documents, as reported by the DMN: “a struggle ensued, during which [Roberts] grabbed [the security guard's] genitals and twisted, causing pain.” Check out the mugshot. Classic.
Sole Sisters — A Film for Heels and Those Who Love Them
Learned this morning at the ExxonMobil Community Summer Job Program about Cynthia Salzman-Mondell’s next project for Media Projects, Inc. — Sole Sisters, a film on why women love shoes. As Cynthia put it, “if you are compelled by some inexplicable force to add to your stiletto collection, despite your inability to walk in them,” share your story with her (pictured left with ExxonMobil Corporate Citizenship and Community Investments Manager Robert Lanyon and Media Projects, Inc. intern Andrea Schpock Schpok).
Tribune’s Monied Backers Watching, Waiting
Remember that new DFW newspaper that Tim wrote about last month? Seems the guy behind the fledgling Dallas-Fort Worth Tribune, New York state-based Scott Reddick, held a three-hour info session for about 20 prospective employees at a Hyatt in Grapevine yesterday.
A prototype of the online paper (using AP stories) is now up, one of the people who attended reports, and Reddick said he hopes to open offices in Dallas and Fort Worth by July 4. He also has “offers in” to three to five editors, and is prepared to pay his reporters about $50,000 annually.
What about the rumors that he’s a Tea Party-type pushing a propaganda product? “I’m a conservative,” Reddick said, “but I don’t see things in black and white.” So where’s the start-up dough coming from? Said Reddick: “I have people who have money watching to see what happens.”
WFAA’s Rich Goff, a Misguided St. Louis Cardinals Fan, Ready for D Magazine Words With Friends
(This is the last of four mini-profiles of the semifinalists of the D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament. Chris Cree will face Rich Goff in one of our two semifinals on June 9. Read to the jump to see this member of our Finally Four answer the same questions as our 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas nominees.)
Rich Goff
42, Promotions Manager
Lives in: Lake Highlands area of Dallas
Originally from Joplin, Missouri, Rich Goff has been marketing news, weather, sports and online products for television station WFAA since 1999. He’s passionate about three things: the music of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, University of Missouri athletics, and the St. Louis Cardinals.
He got hooked on Scrabble because of semiannual games against his wife’s grandmother. They play for hours every Christmas and Thanksgiving. Usually Goff wins, but not always. He’s been playing WWF since he first discovered it, in March. He calls it “a gift from the iPhone gods.”
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