Articles for August 17th, 2011

Dallas Fed Chairman Explains Texas’ Job Creation

As Wick pointed out earlier, Paul Krugman’s piece on “The Texas Unmiracle,” has been debated as to whether or not the facts contained in the piece hold water. And Think Progress has Texas ranking dead last in job creation.

Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher explained that job creation has come mostly in three sectors, and while one (education and health services) has lagged behind in wages, the other two — professional and business services; and mining and logging — actually pay more than the state average.

So who is right? Well, Fisher announced Wednesday that the Dallas Fed would begin posting  monthly updates on state employment figures through its website. “We hope it will be a useful tool for everyone ranging from columnists who write for The New York Times to the pundits who provide commentary for Fox News, as well as serious economists,” Fisher added.

Ouch.

posted by Bethany Anderson | August 17th, 2011 9:41pm | filed under Local News | 11 Comments »

The Facebook Ad Showing Underwater Tiger Fighting in Dallas

underwater tiger fighter dallas fb adA hilarious friend captured this ad from Facebook this afternoon. Under the words “Fun in Dallas,” it appears to show a woman wrestling a tiger under water. (Note the goggles…because chlorine can be dangerous.) Now, can someone please point me in the direction of the Dallas underwater tiger fighting?

posted by Michael J. Mooney | August 17th, 2011 4:59pm | filed under Media, Sports | 9 Comments »

Stephen King’s Soon-To-Be-Released JFK Book Optioned By Jonathan Demme

Stephen King has a nearly 1,000-page novel, about a high school English teacher in Maine who discovers a time portal in a friend’s diner and tries to stop the JFK assassination, due to be released in November. Now Jonathan Demme (of “Silence of the Lambs” fame) has signed on to write, produce, and direct the movie version of 11/22/63. According to this, there have been favorable reviews. Also, the cover of the book (generally, the best way to judge a book) appears to be some altered edition of the Dallas Morning News, with the words “Morning” and “News” visible at the bottom masthead.

posted by Michael J. Mooney | August 17th, 2011 4:25pm | filed under Entertainment, Media | 2 Comments »

Tom Leppert Says Washington Could Use a Good Convention Center Hotel

[Disclaimer: Tom Leppert didn't actually say that. Not to me, or anyone else. I haven't talked to Leppert since he pretended to remember me a few months ago when he came to speak at our office, something along the lines of, "Oh, hey, I haven't seen you since the thing at the thing, and man, weren't those crazy times? LOL." Which, I don't know, is I guess better than the time he actually remembered me three years ago, and clapped me on the back with one of his skillet hands so hard that my back looked like I was wearing one of those old Hypercolor sweatshirts. Isn't it weird those never came back? Pretty much everything came back, but those didn't. I mean, we're not talking Hard Rock t-shirts here. Those things were pretty cool, right? Anyway, Leppert isn't actually planning on trying to get those no-good S.O.B.s in Washington to build a convention center hotel, but can't you sort of imagine him saying that? It's not that much crazier than pretty much everything he said about the convention center hotel here. But yeah, no, he didn't say it. He did tweet out a USA Today link earlier today though. Well, I guess I don't have to tell the virtually no one who follows him on Twitter that.]

posted by Zac Crain | August 17th, 2011 3:37pm | filed under Disclaimers, Local News, Politics | 3 Comments »

Free Tickets to Nasher

The Martin Creed “Balloon Room” goes bye-bye August 21. I have six free-admission tickets to the closing celebration on Sunday. Visitors will be able to take one of the gold balloons home with them when they leave. The Nasher is calling this a “de-installation.” Sounds to me more like a brilliant way of getting your guests to clean up your house. First three people to email me directly get two tickets each. You’ll have to pick up the tickets at our office (across from the DMA) before end of business Friday.

Update (1:13): Tickets are gone. Might have some more tomorrow, though.

Update (1:17): One of the winners just checked her calendar and realized she can’t use the tickets. One pair remaining! First emailer!

Update (1:29): All gone.

posted by Tim Rogers | August 17th, 2011 1:03pm | filed under Local News | 3 Comments »

Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Aug. 17

Elvis is risen. Sort of. El Ranchito in Oak Cliff is breaks out the metaphorical pomade to host the first evening of their annual impersonator contest. If you look remotely like the King, or you can carry a tune, go ahead and enter. You could win $500. Or just go, drink, and heckle sing along. In other related news, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was extremely confused about whether yesterday was Elvis’ birthday or the anniversary of his death. Can someone please go update his Wikipedia page to reflect what really happened on August 16, 1977? Thanks.

Meanwhile, the WaterTower Theatre production of Alen Menken’s Little Shop of Horrors is still going strong before their closing performance on Sunday. If the name sounds familiar, Menken is the composer of delightful Disney gems The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. But before he wrote the music for “One Jump Ahead,” he (and Howard Ashman) adapted Roger Corman’s ’60s cult classic about a carnivorous plant with a taste for human flesh for the stage. Which, honestly, is as good a premise for a musical as any. It’s a 7:30 curtain tonight, so if you’re kind of a baby like me who likes to sleep early, Wednesdays are ideal for the theater. Lance Lusk has the review on FrontRow.

For more to do tonight, go here.

posted by Liz Johnstone | August 17th, 2011 10:46am | filed under Things to Do in Dallas | 1 Comment »

Stay On Top Of Most Eligible Dallas With Our Recaps

By now I hope you have found Laura Kostelny’s hilarious recap of the first episode of Most Eligible Dallas. If you haven’t, go now. Here’s a taste:

Her “best friend” Matt is a very tan former college football player who loves the ladies! He has black lacquer furniture in his bedroom! He loves hanging out at Teddy’s Room! He never plans on hooking up—he just goes with it! He invites 20 girls at a time to meet him! “Honestly, no one else can really do it,” he says. “Why do one on one when you can do one on three?” Playas gotta play!

Matt obviously has nothing to prove.

And it is a pretty people-heavy week on FrontRow, as Merritt Patterson continues to relieve the curious from the pain of actually having to watch Big Rich Texas with her weekly recaps.

Oh, and while you’re over on FrontRow, be sure to check out the latest in our series on the characters behind local theater. In this installment, the magnetic Raphael Parry admits his secret ambition. And heck, since we’re plugging stuff, check out this Q&A with Denton’s Eli Young Band and couple of new downloadable tracks from the Parquet Courts. And we have reviews of the latest from Jubilee Theatre and Pocket Sandwich. Eat up!

posted by Peter Simek | August 17th, 2011 10:20am | filed under Arts, Entertainment, Music, Television, Theater | (0) Comments »

Salacious Details About Tony Romo’s Bachelor Party

I’m not sure what I think about this. You know what Tony Romo did on his bachelor party? No drinking. No gambling. No lap dances. Just some ultra-competitive hide and seek in the woods. After careful consideration, I’m going with solid. I think that’s a pretty cool bachelor party. I’m assuming, of course, that everyone had eaten a bunch of psychotropic mushrooms.

posted by Tim Rogers | August 17th, 2011 8:54am | filed under Celebrity | 3 Comments »

Leading Off (8/17/11)

Wai-Wize Also Took Money From the North Texas Tollway Authority. This story puts me in a weird spot, because it involves Wai-Wize, the NTTA, and Brett Shipp, and I think they are all jerks. But, OK, prioritizing — Wai-Wize is clearly going down. This time, they took more than $47K from the NTTA for a report that appears to have been cobbled together from a Google search and a few long-winded guesses. Anyway, Shipp is not giving up on this story anytime soon, nor should he. It’s like walking away from a broken ATM that keeps shooting out $20s.

Texas Rangers Strengthen Hold on AL West. They’ve kicked the Angels in the jeans two games in a row. The only real question now: will Derek Holland’s mustache come in before the playoffs?

Everything About This is Dumb. Everything. Sorry, Beth Fouhy. Not your fault.

Arlington Bans Texting While Driving. It’ll be a Class C misdemeanor to text, tweet, update your Facebook status, and so on while behind the wheel. I don’t know how Tim is going to get to Fort Worth now. Maybe it’s the kick in the pants he needs to get out in the garage and finally finish that cloaking device.

posted by Zac Crain | August 17th, 2011 7:58am | filed under Local News | 6 Comments »