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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
I follow Tom Leppert on Twitter. He’s running for Senate, in case you hadn’t heard. Maybe you don’t follow him. Maybe you don’t even have a Twitter account. I can help. Here are his last seven tweets:
UPDATE (8/17/11): Leppert’s campaign office called to say that they were worried that people might think these were really Leppert’s tweets. They asked for a disclaimer saying that these really are made-up tweets. So to be clear: I made these up.
Very suspect methodology, but these folks say Plano, per capita, uses the iPad more than any other city in America. Now you know.
Remember how when the Mavs won the NBA championship (wait – let’s pause a minute and giggle again at that, because dude, the Mavs won the NBA championship and we got a parade and EVERYTHING), Mark Cuban and the team partied and Cubes spent a lot of money on champagne?
Well, apparently, the champagne tab was about $150,000, and then Jay-Z went to throw a bash, and realized he’d have to spend at least that much. So there you go: Mark Cuban, man who makes rappers feel angst and inadequacy before parties.
Maybe. I have no idea how reliable the Times of India is.
I previewed every game this season. That’s right. Every game. It’s after the jump.
Two guys had a loud discussion about my car in the parking lot of La Duni last night, and since I’m deaf as well as extremely law-abiding, I obviously couldn’t overhear them. The upshot was that if Guy Number One drove a Mustang, he’d have “tickets, tickets, tickets, tickets, tickets.” I’m not really superstitious, but I did go inside and knock very discreetly on the wooden table.
Up tonight, we have a Dallas Opera mixer at Screen Door, part of their ongoing summer Baritones and Beachballs series. The Opera’s revival of Katya Kabanová, written by Czech composer Leos Janacek and set in rural Russia, was the original inspiration for tonight’s vodka tasting. The production was canceled amidst budget woes, but I telephoned: the happy hour show must go on. They’ll talk the upcoming production of Lucia di Lammermoor instead. You can still grab tickets via the Dallas Opera’s website, or email them for reservations. I’m all for cheap, easy, and tasty ways to support the arts.
Richardson residents: should you feel like pizza this evening, Russo’s Pizzeria has their own pretty sweet deal. You get free wine tastings with your pie (or calzone, whatever) from 6—8 PM. If you’re just an absolute pizza fiend, SideDish is reporting that San Antonio import Dough opened about ten minutes ago. Frenzy, etc.
For more to do this evening, go here.
In his zeal to undermine Rick Perry — which Zac Crain did yesterday with fewer words and more accuracy — Paul Krugman set out Sunday to prove that the Texas economy is an “unmiracle.” Kevin Williamson at National Review takes a look at Krugman’s analysis and finds it not only factually wrong but deliberately misleading.
Kristian Donaldson is a comic book artist who lives in Dallas. His new graphic novel, 99 Days, is about a Rwandan child soldier who grew up to be an L.A. police detective. You can get a signed copy at Zeus Comics between noon and 6 tomorrow.
Low-Speed Police Chase in Fort Worth. A man driving a forklift led cops on a bizarre freeway chase yesterday. The man had a six-pack of beer and his dog with him, and he didn’t want to stop. This Channel 8 account of the incident aims to convince you that it’s nothing to laugh about.
Lawsuit Claims Tom Hicks Stole Millions From Rangers. The team’s post-bankruptcy administrator sued Hicks yesterday, calling his conduct “outrageous, malicious, fraudulent, grossly negligent or otherwise morally culpable.” Is that all?
Erykah Badu Isn’t Marrying The D.O.C. The Observer’s recent story about legendary rapper The D.O.C. is getting some national play. In the story, The D.O.C., who has a child named Puma with Badu, claimed he and Badu were going to get married and that a reality show would follow along. Badu’s camp says: nope, not true.
Three North Texas Teens Rescued From Pimp. A California man was charged with sex trafficking, after he lured two Irving girls and one Grand Prairie girl to California, where he planned to force them into prostitution. So, yeah, Village Voice, it does happen.