Things To Do In Dallas This Weekend: Jan. 27-29

Don’t laugh, but my actual, real plans this weekend include seeing both Beauty and the Beast in 3D and One For the Money, despite the utter failure of the casting director to get anything right and the fact that Lionsgate didn’t even bother to pre-screen it for press. Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum? Ugh. Debbie Reynolds as the feisty, gun-toting Grandma Mazur? Double ugh. I remember reading the first few of Janet Evanovich’s numbers series during free time in my high school French class, and everyone probably thought I was a lunatic, spluttering and snorting and crying, trying not to laugh too loudly. I hate you, Hollywood, for running these delightfully trashy books through the boring crap blender.

Friday

Other plans include movies with actual artistic merit (not that Beauty and the Beast isn’t awesome, but did we really need to do it in 3D?). The Texas Theatre has an excellent double feature running on 35 mm through Sunday. Thematically, this is awesome, since Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Francois Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black have two of my favorite things in common: grudge-holding and revenge. Peter talks about the films much better than I ever could over on FrontRow, so go read that first. Stick around this evening for a Bride Wore Black dance party featuring DJ Wild in the Streets.

And since it’s been an unacceptable number of weeks since I’ve had goat cheese tater tots and an 87 Ways, Tillman’s is the only place I can even think about eating right now.

Saturday

I have to choke back a fair amount of jealousy as I type this, since the house I own in the imaginary future where I do responsible adult things won’t be a tenth as beautiful as the ones on the Dallas Modern Home Tour. And there are 12. You can snag a ticket at the will call locations day-of, and then drive yourself around to drool over these feats of modern architecture and design.

It’s also opening day for artist Elliott Hundley’s The Bacchae at the Nasher Sculpture Center. Thanks to my theatrical bent, this is an exhibit I will enjoy more than most. Hundley found inspiration for his latest installation of 11 medium-to-large scale mixed-media works in the ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides. It recounts the story of King Pentheus of Thebes, who incurs the wrath of the young god Dionysus by refusing to worship him. Again with the vengeful stuff. I like this weekend so much already.

Sunday

In the Henderson neighborhood (freshly divorced from Knox, if you must know), the Gypsy Wagon is having an open-air “swap and flea” sale. The lovely ladies of D Home have more details on their blog, but if the idea of discounts on everything from winter apparel to home decor doesn’t do it for you, Ruthie’s Rolling Café and Trailercakes cupcakes will be there to sweeten the deal.

I saved the best for last, since the news stories about Newty G. and his moon sex fantasies have provided me with solid entertainment for the past two days. I keep wanting to make jokes about it, but the actual headlines keep doing the dirty work for me. Anyway, NASA’s brought a full-scale test version of the very vehicle that could make all of Newt’s dreams come true to the American Airlines Center. I have approximately zero interest in space travel, but the Orion, built by Lockheed Martin, is super interesting. For one thing, only one part of the multi-purpose vehicle returns to Earth after a mission. Is this green? The solar system is not our collective trash bin. (I kid. I really don’t know anything about how environmentally friendly the Orion is. I just know the prospect of seeing it makes me happy.) The exhibit is free, and representatives and NASA will be around at intermittent intervals to answer whatever burning questions you may have.

For more to do with your weekend, hop along over here.