Unlike my friend Dave Tarrant, the painful end to this year’s baseball season has not deterred Mark Cuban. In an email to ESPN, Cuban says he’s interested in the Dodgers. Yes, he’s tried to buy the Cubs and Rangers in the past, but this time it really might happen. If the price is right. Which it probably won’t be.
Why? The Rangers. Check out his reasoning here.
This is Aransas County Judge William Adams beating his then-16-year-old daughter with a belt for downloading computer games. (Warning: The video is very disturbing.) Adams said last night that the video is old (from 2004), that he apologized, and that the beating was “not as bad as it seems.” I’m guessing, since it was his daughter who posted this video to the internet, that the apology has not been accepted.
This week our man Bill explores the Great Trinity Forest, where drought and racism — and a number of hawks — were on his mind.
That’s for the third quarter. For the year, it is down 9 percent. The decline is not abating, but seemingly picking up steam on the way down. Meanwhile, newsprint prices are up 8 percent. On a positive note, the company is still producing cash flow, and it still has a enviable balance sheet.
What business is this company in? What is its strategy? Those two fundamental questions, as far as I can see, have not been answered by A.H. Belo.
And then there’s journalism:
Given my absolute abhorrence of anything resembling a camera, I find it fairly nerve wracking that someone who generally stays behind the scenes would consent to be the subject of a photography exhibit. An excessive number of pictures of me on display in one convenient location is a terrifying nightmare that I’m already sort of living on Facebook. I manage my fear by threatening camera-happy friends with bodily harm. But anyway, to each his or her own.
Burt Finger, after 16 years as Photographs Do Not Bend’s curator, will discuss his gallery’s latest exhibit, Pictures of Me, featuring, well, pictures of him. Drivers’ licenses, childhood snapshots, and professional portraits are all fair game. Zip out of work a little early to catch Finger’s talk while sipping some complimentary wine. The whole event is free.
What is not free, but similarly narcissistic-sounding and possibly more entertaining for mega fans, is Joan Rivers at the Bass Hall. If you’ve seen Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, you know that this lady is bananas. You’re looking at a flat-out refusal to go gentle into that good night. I can never decide if I find it disheartening that her success has never been enough to satisfy her (I mean, what does that say about the rest of us?) or if her struggle is something admirable. I usually decide on admirable because she’s so clearly still having a great time. Her performance tonight is called “An Evening with Joan Rivers,” a stand-up routine where she’ll riff on “Lindsay Lohan, obviously.” For more preview, check out Mark Lowry’s Q&A with Rivers on TheaterJones.
For more to do tonight, go here.
Hey, it’s your old pal, Zac Crain. How’s it going? Yeah, I know. I’ve been there.
Dog Stolen From Vet Prompts Investigation. Linda Erwin dropped her 9-month-old Chihuahua off at her vet to get her spayed. Then the dog went missing. Erwin has no idea where she is. Turns out, the vet she used (which Erwin admits she did not research, because never in her life has she had to research a vet) has a felony charge of drug possession and has had problems with the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. But he couldn’t talk to WFAA about it. He was busy delivering a calf. Not sure if you’ve delivered a calf before, but, trust me, it’s not something you want a video camera around.
Top Chef Takes On Lone Star State. This article in the News promises that the new season of Top Chef, which airs tonight and is based in San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas, won’t promote the Texas stereotypes. I’m thinking that’s a bunch of crap. Have you seen the promos? It’s all “Everything’s bigger in Texas” with Padma in a denim dress and Colicchio wearing a pearl snap. Oh, maybe they’ll show a vet delivering a calf and then the chefs have 20 minutes to take that calf and make, oh, never mind.
TCU Student’s Racial Slur Gets Covered Up. Graham “Like the Cracker” McMillan apparently introduces himself like that all the time. And none of his friends seem annoyed by it. Or by his hair. However, an adviser did have problems with Graham’s slogan on his campaign posters for Student Government’s vice president position, and told him to cover up the cracker part. So he did. I wonder if that adviser attended ESD.