Articles for April 12th, 2012
WFAA Channel 8 Gets Punk’d
This screen shot was sent in by an alert FrontBurnervian who noticed that WFAA Channel 8 used a fake tornado picture on its newscast last night. In fact, it’s a pretty famous fake tornado picture that has been making the rounds for years. The story on the station’s website is accompanied by unrelated video. Hard to imagine that when management learned of the mistake they decided to put up video of a news story out of WHAS in Louisville, Kentucky.
In any case, as our alert FBvian says, “I know WFAA is increasingly interested in exclusive, amateur photos and video. This one didn’t pan out, though.”
Department of Motor Vehicles Approves Highland Park License Plates
The DMV Board has approved a new license plate design. Rejoice, all you proud parents of Highland Park Independent School District! Now you’ve got another vehicular tool to foster class envy. You’ve already got the bumper sticker that reads “Scots Tennis: We Know How To Raise a Racquet.” Mount that blue-and-gold right next to that sucker. Just stay out of the shadier parts of Southlake when you’re in that ride, unless you want some trouble.
Full release (followed by shame) after the jump.
In Praise of the Dallas Observer‘s Cheap Bastard
This week’s cover story in the Dallas Observer is “The Cheap Bastard’s Guide To Eating Like a Total Cheap Bastard in Dallas.” It is the first Observer cover story in a long time (or at least that I can recall) that feels to me like it’s actually alternative. Reading it doesn’t feel like homework. Alice Laussade (aka the Cheap Bastard) is a clever, profane writer. The accompanying illustrations and sidebars are quite funny. There’s a Venn diagram explaining kimchee fries. At the intersection of the two circles is, of course, kimchee fries. The left circle is “angels boning,” and the right circle is “a thousand meerkat smiles.” Yes, please. More of this. Maybe not every single week but certainly more often.
Note: you really need to pick up a hard copy of the paper. For one thing, the online version doesn’t even offer the intro to the story. Nor does it feature the Venn diagrams and other silly sidebars.
My Four Favorite Hand Gestures/Expressions From Tom Leppert’s New Campaign Commercial
I was just thinking of making fun of Tom Leppert this morning and, as if on cue, he gifts me with a new campaign commercial. This time it’s set in a warehouse of some sort, full of people working because he is a job creator and, even though he didn’t create those jobs, per se, he has created jobs — so many jobs, you guys, you don’t even understand. Anyway, as usual it is stuffed to the brim with Leppert’s usual arsenal of sweeping hand movements. I’ve picked out my favorite four, which you might have noticed I already mentioned in the headline. If you didn’t, I’m not sure why you read this far.
Dallas Morning News Goes to Facebook Comments Only
In an effort to curb the nastiness that sometimes ensues in comments sections (But never on FrontBurner, right?), the Dallas Morning News today went all Facebook all the time. You can’t post a comment on their site unless you have a Facebook account. Here’s their explanation of the move. All sounds swell to me. I get why they’re doing it. But jerks dedicated to being jerks just have to set up a bogus Facebook account for the purpose of posting jerky comments. Can’t fight the internet, man.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: April 12
Hey, hello. Happy Dallas International Film Festival Day. Very exciting. If you want to go see movies for free, enter to win festival passes and ticket vouchers here.
Tonight is opening night, and Ted Mosby, Architect Josh Radnor’s Liberal Arts will screen at the Majestic Theatre. Ignore the fact that HappyThankYouMorePlease, Radnor’s irritatingly-named debut feature, was more or less unwatchable. This evening is all about the party. You can still snag individual tickets online.
Speaking of parties and, indirectly, Uptown (DIFF is taking over the Magnolia, pretty much), celebrate that fine plot of Dallas with a fun fundraiser for the Katy Trail and the McKinney Avenue Trolley. My golden retriever, Samwise Gamgee, had a lot of fun on the Katy Trail on Sunday. Let’s keep it nice, okay? A DJ kicks off this Cityplace/West Village soirée around 5 pm, and then Club Wood and ’80s cover band The Spazmatics take over. Five bucks gives you access to music, snacks, and drinks. As a bonus, it’s National Grilled Cheese day, and Ruthie’s Rolling Cafe, which will be parked nearby for the party, makes a mean one. (But Big State in Irving makes my favorite, in case anyone was wondering.)
Meanwhile, a few of us are gussied up to attend tonight’s Dining in the Dark fundraiser for the Foundation Fighting Blindness. I told my friend Michael that I was going to this, and then mentioned that technically, I’m legally blind (this is true–I’m one negative power away from having to order custom-made contacts). His response:Â “I don’t know if you’re confused, but you don’t get any of the funds.” Duh. The Foundation helps folks suffering from retinal diseases like macular degeneration, funding research to save and restore sight. This is a good cause, so if you have deep pockets, consider eating in pitch darkness for an evening.
For more to do tonight, go here.
StyleSheet: The Motion Picture
Above you see a video created by Atomic Productions, which followed around StyleSheet bloggers Kristi and Scot Redman at the recent DIFFA shindig. After viewing it, I now believe that Kristi and Scot are the two coolest people on Earth.
The clip plays as a sort of a fashion fever dream, though perhaps I’m just saying that because I’m heavily doped up on allergy medicine.
A Bunch of Pics of Lamar Odom Leaving Dallas
Here you go. Happy now?
(To answer a few questions brought up by my previous post regarding Lamar: no, I wasn’t paid to write that; no, I don’t think that writing it will get me a better rate at the W; and, no, I didn’t type that with a part of my anatomy that, being a human male, I don’t actually possess.)
Leading Off (4/12/12)
Craig James Accuses Ted Cruz of Trying to Rig Debate Question. And I guess Cruz kind of did. Kind of. But I’m not really sure what James’ play here is, other than reminding people that Ted Cruz is also running for senate. (It’s true. He totally is.) I guess the only real beef I have with any of this is these two jokers are giving Tom Leppert a chance to come in second. Kidding. That would never happen.
Arlington Mayor Speaks About Contract Murder Plot. If you were waiting for dynamite quotes from Mayor Robert Cluck on the alleged plan by a strip club owner to have him and a lawyer murdered, GET READY: “Obviously he’s very, very angry. When I heard the facts from the FBI obviously we were very concerned about it. And we still are concerned.” Damn, son. Y’all got Mayor Cluck all riled up. Jeez. But really, while I usually tend to steer people away from overdramatizing things, I was hoping for something a little more Dark Knight from the mayor here. A carefully honed soundbite, a catchphrase, something. His name is Cluck. There is plenty to work with: “Chickens cluck, but this Cluck ain’t chicken!” I don’t know. That was off the top of my head. We can workshop it.
American Airlines Sues Former Flight Attendant. For having a blog they say infringes on their trademarks, publishing private flight information, and also having a plethora of self confidence. “I will not stop,” Gailen David said. “American Airlines knows that I am a force to be reckoned with, and they are trying to shut me down.” Snap, snap.
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