Articles for August, 2011
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Aug. 4
This morning on my incredibly sweaty stroll into the office, I happened to meet a nice guy working as a safety inspector on the Museum Tower. He told me that he loves his job because he gets to travel and feel like he’s part of history by constructing these insane skyline-changing buildings, but for the love of Pete (I’m paraphrasing), is it always this crazy hot? He’s only been here two weeks and he would please like to leave. I told him no, that sometimes it resembles the Ice Age, and that I liked the rainbow umbrella.
On to tonight, when maybe it will be about a degree cooler after the sun goes down. There’s a couple things out at the WaterTower Theatre in Addison that I want to see this weekend, but I think I’d start with Satyricon (in the Stone Cottage) because it’s the riskiest. The basic plot concerns an aging gladiator traveling home with his former lover, Ascyltos, and his slave boy, Gilton. Mark-Brian Sonna not only translated and adapted Petronius’ ancient novel for the stage but acts, designs, and directs this particular production. Theater isn’t done without love and work and usually the two are interchangeable. Lance Lusk has the review on FrontRow, but mentions that it’s not for prudes. So if you are such a person and you are reading this, you’ve been warned.
Over on a whole ‘nother geek level, there’s QuakeCon. The big gaming convention kicks off today, and while I have once attended a LAN party, I did not participate. In fact, let’s just say I once crashed a LAN party. That’s more accurate. However, my in-the-know computer programmer buddy says this is a good time, so if you’re really into virtually maiming your enemies, you could sneak out of work a little early to get in there.
For more to do this evening, go here.
Leading Off (8/4/11)
Drought Reveals Cemetery. This great drought we have going on has caused the Richland-Chambers Reservoir to decrease by five feet. This has revealed two graves from the 19th century. I like people who are self-aware. So I appreciate the outlook of Bruce McManus, chairman of the Navarro County Historical Society Commission. “It’s not one of the great finds of history, but it’s important to us on a local level,” he says.
Emotional Sisters Kicked Off Flight. Ricci Wheatley started crying as soon as she and her sister boarded a flight to come home to Dallas to say goodbye to their dying father. She grabbed the arm of a flight attendant and said she was a nervous flier and needed a drink. The flight attendant didn’t oblige. And the sisters later heard the flight attendants talking about the situation. The sisters were then kicked off the flight and rescheduled for the next day. They made it just in time to say goodbye to their father. And I believe the moral of the story here is you can’t judge a book by its cover. Or you shouldn’t judge others. Or when you assume, well, you get it.
Try Out To Be a Clown. You have one day to prepare for possibly the most important auditions of your life. That’s right, you can become part of the Greatest Show on Earth with the Ringling Bros. So. Good luck. And leave the makeup behind.
UNT Journalism Prof Says She’s “Disturbed” by Mayborn Conference, Ctd.
“Just arrived in the mail: A D magazine “special edition” with the headline “Why Black Achievers Choose Dallas.” It’s good that D is making an attempt to cover the black community. But (of course there is a but) why segregate the coverage into a separate magazine? And did they really need to feature a lovely businesswoman who’s showing lots of cleavage on the cover?”
That led to a comment thread wherein Everbach offered more opinions of our cover:
UNT Journalism Prof Says She’s “Disturbed” by Mayborn Conference, Ctd.
Gene Weingarten also took the time to annotate part of this DMN editorial by Tod Robberson. Robberson essentially puts Weingarten in the same league as Rupert Murdoch, blaming him for all the ills of journalism. You can see Weingarten’s annotated version after the jump.
UNT Journalism Prof Says She’s “Disturbed” by Mayborn Conference
There’s going to be a very serious faculty meeting soon at the UNT journalism department, where there is likely to be a very serious discussion of the recent Mayborn conference. (Disclosure: I graduated from the UNT journalism department and was a speaker at this year’s conference. You can read Harvard’s summary of the event here.) This meeting may be related to the comments one journalism professor made on her public Facebook page, suggesting the event “seems to tarnish the reputation of the journalism school.”
Tracy Everbach, a recently tenured professor who teaches “Race, Gender, and Media” and undergraduate reporting classes, told me she didn’t want to comment to FrontBurner before the faculty meeting. But she’s made plenty of comments about the conference on her Facebook page. Last week, she posted a link to this DMN blog by Pultizer Prize-winning editorial writer Tod Robberson about two-time Pultizer Prize-winning feature writer and columnist Gene Weingarten’s discussion of the ethical dilemma he faced when a source offered him a loaded hash pipe. Everbach typed:
“I was not there, either, so I am not an authority, but the simple fact that people thought it was OK to do illegal drugs with a source disturbs me greatly, and also seems to tarnish the reputation of the journalism school. This, combined with the recent Dallas Observer blog post that made the conference sound like a drunk fest, bothers me as a professor at the school because I do not embrace these types of ethics and try hard to communicate that to my students.”
More outrage and Gene Weingarten’s response, after the jump.
Glenn Hudson Shuts Down His “Outreach Programs”
Prediction: this is not the last you hear of this fella.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Aug. 3
I am from Irving. And if you have ever spent upwards of 15 minutes in Irving, you know that there is not much to do besides loiter for embarrassing lengths of time at the Starbucks on 114. Which I did, quite a bit, throughout high school. But my favorite thing, because I didn’t drink and I didn’t party, was driving into Dallas on non-football Friday and Saturday nights, sitting in the passenger seat of my friend Michael’s Honda Civic listening to Ratatat or the Postal Service or Dizzee Rascal, invariably headed for Mockingbird Station and a movie at the Angelika. I witnessed the construction of the Hunt Oil Tower this way, and the bow of the building made everything seem precariously close to tumbling out onto the freeway.
I digress, but this trip down memory lane is completely relevant, I promise. The Angelika Film Center opened on a Wednesday exactly ten years ago today, and they’re celebrating with a free retrospective of twelve films that significantly impacted their programming over the last decade. I saw plenty of these at the theater when they were first released: Children of Men, Pride & Prejudice, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, (500) Days of Summer.
Other films screening today include Mulholland Drive, Tell No One (which is directed by Guillaume Canet, who I love as both an actor and a director mostly because he is talented but also because he is adorable and French), and The Station Agent. The movies start at 1:30 pm with Pride & Prejudice, and the last is Children of Men at 10 pm. You can grab free tickets to the anniversary films an hour before each one starts, and popcorn and fountain drinks are ten cents. Also, air conditioning. Lots of it. There’s a full schedule with times in the event listing, too, in case you’re looking.
Just to make this a complete throwback experience, I’ll probably go to Cafe Brazil afterwards even though I like BuzzBrews‘ omelets better. Do you guys have a nostalgia eatery? This is probably a good night for it.
For more things to do with your superhot Wednesday evening, go here.
Neiman Marcus Revamps The Book
I’d heard a rumor that Neiman Marcus was working on a new editorial print product. Turns out to be sorta true (but not really). Neiman’s spokesperson Ginger Reeder says they have decided to cease publication of Entree, the magazine that went to InCircle members. Reeder says the same sort of editorial that ran in that magazine will be rolled into The Book, along with outside advertising. New editorial product? Let’s call it revamped. (Bonus: here’s some cool behind-the-scenes footage of a photo shoot in Bandon, Oregon, for the fall 2011 Book.)
Leading Off (8/3/11)
Man Says Alleged Swingers Club Is a “Spiritual Outreach Program.” Glenn Hudson also says that he should be allowed to continue operating the Playground and his other club, the Fenix Project, in the name of God. OK, look, the city and Channel 8 and everyone on the other side of this appear to pretty much have Hudson dead to rights. And while I’m not saying I condone what Hudson does, you have to like the cut of this guy’s jib. At least a little. I mean, he just keeps doubling down on all this, throwing out one force field after another (God, saving marriages, and so on) when anyone else would have disappeared a week ago. That’s solid hustle.
Dallas Will Probably Set Another Heat Record Today. The previous high for August 3 occurred in 1951; it was 103 degrees. Since the forecast currently calls for 90 precent chance of Mordor, I believe that will fall. It’s been so hot I’m making Lord of the Rings references, and I don’t even much care for those movies.
This Guy May Be New Coach of Texas Legends. Yep. This guy. I don’t think he will like Texas.
John Wiley Price Should Be Getting a W-2 From Channel 8 This Year. He’s done so much work for them already. And here’s more! Secretive gear. Willis Johnson. Search warrants. FBI. BRETT SHIPP.
Rolling Brown Outs? Not Cool. At All.
As the temperature on the thermometer began climbing higher today, word started circulating that rolling brown outs were possible because the area was already maxing out on its system load whatsits, according to ERCOT. While I have already discussed my love of things like this, this, and this, I found something new to click and refresh on today: ERCOT’s fancy load graph, and Oncor’s maps that show current outages.
So listen, seriously. It’s hot. Really hot. Hot enough that having no electricity for an hour or so could make even the coolest house pretty gosh-darned toasty. So unless you want to just sit naked in a room, arms and legs akimbo, drinking lemonade and dousing yourself with what was ice water two minutes ago, ERCOT recommends the following*: (more…)
Another Super Bowl-Related Plan Bites the Dust
One by one, the grand plans once touted by Super Bowl XLV backers seem to have popped like balloons. First there was the week-long, “mega-bucks” run-up to the February game; it got curtailed by the ice storm. Then there was the seating fiasco. Then the apparent failure of other Super Bowl cities to rush to embrace the SLANT 45 initiative, which was supposed to have been DFW’s Super Bowl legacy for all times. Now, even the host committee’s regional sports commission idea has been tossed on the scrap heap. Best-laid plans, indeed.
It’s So Hot That …
You know how hot it is? It’s so hot that when you’re welding the Museum Tower together, you’ll take shade from a big ol’ gay pride umbrella. (photo by Elizabeth Lavin)
The Mansion’s New Owner Inspects Her Acquisition
The Mansion restaurant was the scene of the hotel’s past and future first ladies last night. In the private dining room on the Veranda, former Mansion hotelier Caroline Rose Hunt was with chums T. Boone Pickens and Billie Lee Rippey. When asked about his being in town during the summer’s record-breaking 100-degree heat wave, T. Boone said, “How can you be out of town when you set a record?”
Across the way in the library, the luxury hotel’s new top lady, 29-year-old Sonia Cheng, was having dinner with her key executives. She is a Harvard grad and the granddaughter of New World Hospitality founder Cheng Yu-tung. She’s also in charge of the New World Hotels that just added the Mansion to its stable.
When it comes to her likes and dislikes in the luxury hotel business, the Wall Street Journal had an interesting interview with Sonia. One of her chief dislikes is bed covers. According to Sonia, “Who knows how often they wash it? What’s wrong with a simple clean, white bed sheet? Do we need a heavy useless bed cover to represent luxury?”
Instead of Paris Hilton, think Lucy Liu.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Aug. 2
The Man is afoot. Brad Pearson (of People Newspapers and karaoke fame, as soon as I get that video up on YouTube) sends word that the Google Street View car is out and about today. He says it’s an adorable, camera-laden sedan much like this one. You can’t miss it, on the off chance you actually spot it. Meanwhile, I’d like to extend a warm (bam!) welcome to the Street View team. I hope they enjoy rolling around in hell.
So, you’re going to want to stay indoors today. I can assist. I could also technically walk to tonight’s event, but uh. See above. Anyway, there’s a fun little thing called TAP Uptown kicking off at St. John’s Wood. It’s a free, weekly happy hour with live music from local bands and a charitable impulse. I have a very soft spot in my heart for public education, and TAP’s culminating service project on Aug. 28 will benefit nearby North Dallas High School. At the bar tonight, though, just listen to Smile Smile and maybe check out the opportunities to mentor incoming freshman through the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.
And since Tuesday nights are for drinking, feel free to help Times Ten Cellars over in Lakewood celebrate their six-year anniversary. They’re offering wine specials from open to close, but they’ll break out the barbecue and live music around 6 pm.
For more to do, go here.
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