Last weekend, Laura Kostelny (the editrix of our sister pub D Home) and I traveled to Chicago to attend the annual City and Regional Magazine Association meeting, whereat CRMA Awards were handed out in several categories. The D family of pubs was a five-time finalist — and a five-time loser. We consoled ourselves with gallons of beer and with the knowledge that TexMo lost out nine times. Okay, they did win a couple times. Go here for the complete list.
Whatever. Here’s the important part of this post: Laura and I invented a new game that I invite you to play at home. It’s called Business Card Roulette™. Before two or more coworkers head off on a business trip, they exchange 20 cards. Each writes something horribly embarrassing on the back of his or her coworker’s cards. Then each person MUST distribute those 20 cards on the trip. Cards must be handed to industry types (not bellhops and so forth), and they must be handed without explanation. Though if a handee asks about the message on the back, the hander can then fess up.
Pretty ingenious, eh? As inspiration, after the jump, I’ve got a few of my favorite cards from the Chicago trip.
It’s Thursday. And oh, yes, fine, it’s Cinco de Mayo. Or as several people on my Facebook newsfeed have been calling it, Cinco de Drinko.
For the Arts District/post-work crowd, the AT&T Performing Arts Center kicks off their free summer outdoor concert series with a performance by Bubba Hernandez y Los Super Vatos. Fun fact: Bubba Hernandez was once part of a polka rock outfit, but he’s ditched the accordion for something a little more Latin-inspired. There’s not a lot of things I like more than low-key outdoor concerts, except maybe one that includes a picnic. Bring over burgers from The Commissary and pick out a good spot on the lawn— it’s shaping up to be a fantastic evening for dining al fresco. And while you might be tempted to buy a bottle of wine while you’re getting your food, you’d have to keep it corked. The only alcohol allowed is what the PAC is selling.
Since the music starts at 5:30 pm and only goes for a couple of hours, there’s still plenty of time to get your margarita on. Check out Raya’s handy nightlife guide for the best food and drink specials. If you’re feeling brave (and hungry), Mattito’s is hosting their Bob Armstrong queso-eating contest. It’s a perfect opportunity to knock another thing off your Must Do Dallas list. Or get sick, one of the two.
For more things to do tonight, go here.
Sure, we did what we could to put those self-satisfied folks in their place, by running them on our cover and thus inflicting the Paul Kix Memorial Curse upon their beloved football team and its fans.
But they’ve managed to one-up us again. They get to be on Oprah, one of her last programs to boot. And they’re being recognized for naming a school for George Dawson, a guy from Dallas.
Well played, Dragons. Well played.
That’s according to a survey of chief executives by Chief Executive magazine:
This is one reason Texas has consistently held the No. 1 position since 2005. It gets strong marks in all areas important for business creation, and has the second-lowest taxes in the nation. The state has created more jobs than any other—about 250,000 last year. Not surprisingly, it also enjoys the highest inward net migration rate of any state. As a result, Texas gained four Congressional seats, Florida picked up two and Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington each gained one. All have low taxes. Brian Domitrovic, assistant professor of history at Sam Houston State University, identifies a key factor that often goes unnoticed. “Texas offers high labor market flexibility, which is a key element in business creation,” he notes
Mavs Win Game Two. It was a classy finish for the Lakers and their fans at the game last night (technically early this morning). But hey, the Mavs won again. For those of you who aren’t following at home, that gives them a 2-0 lead.
Boy’s Death Saves Girl’s Life. This is a great story about a life-long friendship. Janice English’s son died randomly at a slumber party. After an autopsy, English found out her son had a sudden cardiac arrest. She wanted to help other parents from having to go through what she went through. So she talked to her best friend, and together, they organized a heart screening. Her best friend’s daughter got her heart screened, and that’s when they discovered the daughter could have sudden cardiac death. And through that, English’s son lives on.
Lockheed Martin Workers Drink Lunch, Get Caught on Camera. Here’s a six-minute segment about some Lockheed Martin workers (about 80 percent of the company’s payment comes from us taxpayers) being filmed drinking at lunch, throwing cans and bottles out their vehicle windows, and denying that any of that is true. I’m thinking today’s going to be rough for these workers—their lunch is going to be spent finding a new tree on a new lot to drink lunch.
Dear friends in the marketing community,
Have seen a goodly number of Web headlines in the last couple days about how Plano-based Frito-Lay set the “world record” for most Facebook “likes” accumulated in a single day thanks to a Times Square promotion last month. They added 1.5 million in 24 hours.
Can we take this as a sign, and now all agree that Facebook “likes” have been rendered as meaningless as Facebook “friends?” I’d say that they’ve both “jumped the shark,” but since that phraseology has itself jumped the shark, I’m left to sit silently and shake my head.
Yours,
There’s something very inappropriate about this Will Ferrell video. And about seven things that are extremely funny.
A FrontBurnervian pointed me to this Bud Kennedy column from the weekend, which I don’t know how I missed because I don’t miss many Bud Kennedy columns (note to columnists working for the paper of record in Dallas: This is how you write a metro column).
It seems that there is this giant push in Arlington to ban – ban – bicycles. The voters of Arlington have already opted to turn down mass transit, but now bicycles? Perhaps next, we can ban walking outdoors, and force people to purchase Jazzy scooters, eventually rendering the whole of Arlington something like this.
So someone who is in Arlington, tell me: What is up with all this?
The internet is talking about the Romo-Crawford nuptials, the date and location of which are now known. TMZ told us that the happy event will take place at Arlington Hall on May 28. Richie Whitt has a picture of the wedding announcement itself.
No word yet whether Brendan Higgins got an invite and will be in attendance to turn up the volume on life.
Apparently, Dallas drivers are bringing back hand gestures in lieu of turn signals. I’ve been cut off twice in the past two days by people who think waving their arm in front of their rearview mirror (and/or honking, if said cutting-off is going to be done at a stoplight) is appropriate warning.
Moving on to more serious matters. In the wake of Bin Laden’s death and the distasteful reaction of some of our fellow Americans, I think tonight’s offering might afford us all some much needed perspective. The Dallas Holocaust Museum is co-sponsoring a free screening of Ingelore tonight at the Angelika, a new HBO 2 documentary set for television premiere on May 8. I say HBO, but all they did was find this little gem in the festival circuit and snap it up. First time director Frank Stiefel did all the work — the subject is, after all, his mother.
Ingelore Herz Honigstein was born deaf and Jewish in Germany in 1924, an inconvenience and embarrassment to her parents from the start, and at thirteen, a clear threat to Hitler’s agenda. Using a mix of interview (Honigstein’s dialogue alternates between speech and American Sign Language), period recreation, and archival footage, Stiefel tells the rather incredible story of her survival. But the best part is that both he and Honigstein will be in attendance tonight. A cocktail reception kicks off at 6pm, and talk back will follow the screening. Why go? “I’ve seen the film,” Nanette at the Holocaust Museum told me. “It’s so moving. She [Honigstein] is just a wonderful spirit, as many Holocaust survivors are. It’s a life changing experience to have a conversation with someone who survived what she survived.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself. And yes, people, if all goes swimmingly, you can still probably make it home in time to tune in to the Mavs game. Priorities. For more things to do tonight, go here.
If you follow DMN baseball writer Evan Grant (Evan_P_Grant) on Twitter, you already know about his hashtag-gate. After the Rangers’ bullpen blew last night’’s game in Seattle, Grant innocently wrote:
Now Rangers’ going to 40-year-old interim closer in tie game with 0 outs in eighth and go-ahead runner on third. #bullpenisamess
He told me he didn’t do it on purpose. He didn’t realize the “brilliance” of the tweet until the tweet was posted. Needless to say, it’s rocketing through the Internet.
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According to TMZ, that’s when and where the Dallas Cowboys quarterback and one of the 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas will get hitched.
Check out the “exclusive” photo gallery of the venue on TMZ’s site, featuring pictures that they exclusively pulled right off of the Arlington Hall website.
Can that really be the venue? What with those massive open lawns around the place, and adjacent to a heavily trafficked street and a public park, seems like a security challenge, no?
I’ve been away for a few days so I’m coming late to this story that several alert FrontBurnervians sent me. The Dallas Observer’s parent company, Phoenix-based Village Voice Media, has copped to spamming Reddit in an effort to drive traffic to its websites. VVM apologized profusely, but the Reddit community doesn’t seem to be accepting those apologies. Sample:
In your initial post there was no apology. Just links to your website pretty much. Then, people criticized you for not actually apologizing, so you edited and added an apology. Sounds pretty sincere to me.
It’s important for Dallas readers to know that Robert Wilonsky is almost solely to blame.
Update (9:54): Kidding about Robert. Hi, buddy!
The Dougie, as you probably know, originates from here, and came to the world via Lil Wil’s “My Dougie.”