Articles for March 14th, 2012
Why is This Dancing Apes Video From Arby’s Considered Racist by DeSoto ISD?
Unfair Park‘s Patrick Williams is criticizing DeSoto school officials for reprimanding a principal for circulating a video (embedded above) of an old commercial depicting chimps dancing in the Irish Riverdance style to his staff. I agree that it’s hard to see what the clip has to do with race, but Williams is seemingly ignoring what was noted near the bottom of today’s Dallas Morning News article about the incident:
[West Middle School principal Kevin] Dixon said he first discovered the video in an online school leadership newsletter he received that featured the short clip. His email to his staff said that assistant principal Audrey Barnes, who is black, would lead the school in an Irish dance to celebrate the beginning of spring break.
Are some people being overly sensitive? Perhaps. But I’m not sure they deserve to be dismissed as “humorless dicks.”
Half Price Books Hosts Tournament of Villains
Darth Vader, Professor Moriarty, Lord Voldemort, and the Joker
Here’s your time-waster for the morning. Dallas’ own Half Price Books is looking to garner some attention from the currently bracket-mad public by hosting a Tournament of Villains. Now through the end of the month they’re inviting you to vote on their website to determine the top bad guy of all time.
Hard to quibble with the No. 1 seeds: Darth Vader, Professor Moriarty, Lord Voldemort, and the Joker. And it’s a pretty good set of match-ups throughout the bracket.
But no Harry Lime (from The Third Man)? Â No Borg Collective (from Star Trek: The Next Generation)?
My favorite first-round matchup is Keyser Soze  vs. Mr. Potter (of It’s a Wonderful Life). Be warned that the description of Keyser Soze on the Half Price bracket contains a MAJOR SPOILER for The Usual Suspects. Of course, if you haven’t seen that movie by now, I’m not sure what to do with you.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Mar. 14
Imagine the monster stuffing his face with pie and then doing yoga.
My grandparents have a really cool old house in Thornport, Ohio, which is an unincorporated township sort of in the middle of nowhere. The town just across the highway, Jacksontown, used to have a restaurant called Clark’s. They served delicious fried chicken, and really good pie, for years and years and years. I mention all this because it’s 22/7 Day. Or Pi Day. And I want pie from Clark’s. I’d make my brother overnight me a slice the way my mom used to send me birthday cakes in college (thanks, Mom!) but alas– impossible.
This is all probably for the best, since one of today’s events is aimed at being healthy. Pie hardly qualifies. Exhale Spa is celebrating National Nutrition Month with a free afternoon detox yoga class perfect for those on Spring Break or feel like getting a light workout in on their lunch break. The class will be led by Jenny Parum and includes tips for healthy eating, snacks from Hail Mary raw foods, and goodie bags. I’ve enjoyed every class I’ve taken at Exhale, so, not a bad deal.
Tonight, Young Frankenstein opens at the Bass Hall. It’s the first of only two shows, so if you want to see this (and you should) you’ll have to act fast. I have a soft spot for this musical because it cemented my hopefully lifelong friendship with my freshman year roommate’s girlfriend, who lived down the hall from us and who turned out to be exponentially more awesome than my ex-roommate, now her ex-ladyfriend. It was maybe the second thing I saw on Broadway, ever, and it does not shame me to tell you that I own the soundtrack. When “Puttin’ On the Ritz” comes up on random shuffle, I never, ever skip it. Oh, and obviously, it’s based on Mel Brooks’ movie of the same name. Brooks penned the book and the lyrics. And look, it might not be the most critically adored show of all time, but it’s a lot of fun.
For more to do this evening, go here.
Today’s Your Last Chance to Welcome Home the Troops at DFW Airport
Last April we compiled a list of the Things Every Dallasite Must Do. Â Among those was greeting our military troops at DFW Airport.
Channel 8 reports that this morning may be your last chance to check this item off your personal must-do list. The Army’s program to welcome home those returning for R&R is being moved to Atlanta. Â In fact, the last flight scheduled at DFW that’s part of this program will land by 10:30 a.m. today.
So if you race over there right now, you might be able to wave hello to a soldier. Otherwise, to complete our list you may just have to wander DFW terminals all by yourself, hoping to happen upon someone getting off a flight while wearing fatigues.
The Wilson Building, As Seen Through Justin Terveen’s Lens
The Wilson Building. Photo by Justin Terveen
Ever since I friended photographer Justin Terveen on Facebook, my newsfeed has been filled with the amazing images he’s able to capture. Last night, he posted this gorgeous photo of the Wilson building. He took this shot early Sunday morning during a break in the rain. I love how he’s isolated the Wilson making it look like the tallest building around. Friend him. You won’t be disappointed.
Instructions in Case I Die Unexpectedly and Under Strange Circumstances
Zac mentioned earlier that programming would be light on FrontBurner in the coming days. Not so fast. I’ve been giving some serious thought to the scandal at the Oregonian. The paper’s 63-year-old editor of the editorial page, a 29-year employee, died while having sex with a 23-year-old who was not his wife. The paper outed him. Some think that wasn’t cricket.
Which brings me to my point. If I should happen to pass on to the next plane under less than noble circumstances (heart attack while boinking my neighbor’s llama, over-aggressive auto-erotic asphyxiation while hang gliding, etc.), here is what I want the D Magazine staff to do:
Leading Off (3/14/12)
If Timothy Marquis McBrown Did What He’s Accused Of, I’ll Start Believing In God Again So I Can Believe In Hell. Also, in that case, I hope he gets a pretty terrible stretch in the joint. I really wish I didn’t have to read the news.
Ugh. OK. Moving on.
Yu Darvish Struggles In Second Start. He had trouble finding the strike zone and — eh, whatever. I only read those stories now for the wonderfully stilted quotes from Yu via his interpreter. In other sports news, this is what it has come to for the Mavs, after being thoroughly kicked in the jeans since the all-star break: celebrating a win over the truly awful Washington Wizards. How awful? I played 14 minutes at shooting guard.
Here’s a Story From Channel 8 About College Students Going To Cancun For Spring Break. Really. I mean, I guess it’s something, because tourism numbers had declined because of the cartel violence and so on. But still. Also, don’t worry about college student Doug Butler. He can, apparently, take care of himself. So he’s clearly the first one to go, if this was a movie, and it might be if I can figure out my third-act problem.
Raid of the Rainbow Lounge Premieres Thursday. The documentary about the infamous raid of the Fort Worth gay bar should make for an interesting film. But I’m no film critic. I loved The Lorax, for instance. And for some reason, I watched Boomerang the other night. It’s … pretty terrible. I mean, Robin Givens is, you know, attractive, but jeez, the ending? So bad. And also, it was like Eddie Murphy was essentially just playing Eddie Murphy from the “Party All The Time” video which, yes, sounds great in theory, but not so awesome in actual practice. (I think it’s because he says “fly” so much.) But the soundtrack has a great A Tribe Called Quest song, so it’s not a total loss.
It’s My Dad’s Birthday Today. His name is Jack and he’s 70. He only looks 65, tops, and he can’t grow a beard, so he might not be my real father. He also thinks I’m a doctor, so nobody blow it for me. All of this is his fault.
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