Articles for July 31st, 2012
Texas Rangers Acquire Ryan Dempster: Let the Dueling Harry Caray Impressions Begin
Today was the trade deadline in Major League Baseball. Your Texas Rangers missed out on their No. 1 starting pitcher target (Zack Greinke, who ended up with the Angels), but they were happy to pick over the remaining carcass of my Chicago Cubs today by landing Ryan Dempster. Â (Not to mention getting catcher Geovany Soto from the Cubs yesterday.)
Dempster, aside from being a consistently good hurler, does a terrific impression of Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Caray. See an example above.
As you may know, the Rangers already have a Harry Caray impersonator on the team: pitcher Derek Holland. Holland’s impersonation got him in some hot water with Tim during the World Series last year. Â You can see an example of Holland’s work after the jump.
So whose impersonation will reign supreme in the Ballpark clubhouse?
One Day Till Commencement of Great Tuxedo Challenge of 2012
Tomorrow is the big day. The challenge begins. And, as it turns out, tomorrow I will attend a funeral. A few of the ladies in the office have suggested that wearing a tux to a funeral is not a good idea — not because the garb itself is inappropriate but because I’ll be doing a bit, and doing a bit at a funeral is poor form. I tried to argue that it would be possible for me to “wear the tux seriously” tomorrow, at least for the duration of the funeral. The ladies didn’t seem to buy it.
My question to you, then: is it poor form to wear a tux to a funeral if said tux is a high-jinksy prop?
Follow-up question: is Patron XO Cafe a good beverage to bring to a funeral?
Former Mayor Tom Leppert’s House For Sale
Tom Leppert doesn't go for understatement, his home theater will attest.
Candy’s Dirt is reporting that the house of former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, at 9525 Alva Court in Preston Hollow, is now on the market for $5,695,000.
No word yet on whether this means Leppert’s fleeing the city after his lackluster performance in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate earlier this year.
I was blown away by the design of his home theater, which at least seems consistent with his personal fashion sense.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: July 31
Please allow me to introduce myself.
Some of you may be aware that I do an occasional beer tasting thing over on SideDish called Beers With Friends. Chief among the complaints, insults and aspersions of character aside, is that we (my three friends, and I) have meanly left out Dallas-brewed beer. We should have, a super helpful and kind commenter noted on July 18, included Deep Ellum Brewing’s new Wealth & Taste Belgian-style blonde ale.
I responded that we would have loved to, except the beer wasn’t even hitting taps until today. Actually, that’s not precisely what I said–I said something about d-bags and time travel, but this is a family blog and I, unlike Aaron Sorkin, am not on a mission to civilize the internet. I’m on a mission to tell you that there’s a party tonight at The Common Table in Uptown to celebrate the release of Wealth & Taste, which I’m actually pretty excited about. The guys from DEBC should be around, and it’ll be tapped at 5 pm sharp, hopefully to the tune of “Sympathy for the Devil,” since members of RTB2 and Descender promise Stones covers along with other musical accompaniment.
Also this evening, new French bistro Boulevardier has its soft open if you feel like trying something new. Bishop Arts, of course, seems the perfect place to put a French restaurant, I like the look of the wine list, and I love a good croque madame. Magically, all the cocktails manage to be less expensive than basically anything at Whitehall Exchange just around the corner. Thumbs up. And while you’re thinking about Oak Cliff, head over to FrontRow and enter today’s Best of Big D giveaway. It’s two pairs of tickets to the Texas Theatre.
For more to do tonight, go here.
Frito-Lay Offers $1 Million Prize For New Lay’s Potato Chip Flavor
Plano-based Frito-Lay is crowd-sourcing its development of new flavors of Lay’s potato chips. There’s an app on the brand’s Facebook page in which actress Eva Longoria invites you to invent your own flavor and to vote on which flavors you’d eat.
The New York Times reports on this and other social media-based marketing/market research efforts by companies like Frito-Lay and Walmart:
Visitors to the new Lay’s Facebook app are asked to suggest new flavors and click an “I’d Eat That” button to register their preferences. So far, the results show that a beer-battered onion-ring flavor is popular in California and Ohio, while a churros flavor is a hit in New York.
“It’s a new way of getting consumer research,” said Ann Mukherjee, chief marketing officer of Frito-Lay North America. “We’re going to get a ton of new ideas.”
Frito-Lay plans to produce three of the flavors generated by its contest, and to award a $1 million prize to the creator of one of those flavors.
Frito-Lay has already run the contest overseas, resulting in chip flavors like hot and spicy crab in Thailand and pickled cucumber in Serbia.
Best of Big D Giveaways: Tickets to Texas Theatre
Today’s prize in the Best of Big D Giveaway series is a couple pairs of tickets to see Dark Knight Rises at the Texas Theatre, the editors’ choice winner for Best Movie Theater.
Leading Off (7/31/12)
West Nile Claims Its Fifth in Dallas County. Dallas has six levels on its West Nile alert scale. We’re at level 5. Level 6 would bring aerial spraying. Reading this profile of victim No. 5, an otherwise healthy and active 86-year-old man named Bernard Theilen, it’s not hard to imagine folks clamoring for the planes. Here’s an interesting look at a twentysomething married couple who live near Lovers and the Toll Road and who both have West Nile. Bug repellant, people. Use it.
Angels Do Evil to Rangers. The score was 15-8. Hamilton finally showed some life, but Roy Oswalt served up eight runs in 5 1/3. Remember back in late May or whenever it was that the Rangers were 10 games up on the Angels, and we were all talking about how dominant they were? Oh, boy.
Time To Vote. In case you forgot, the runoff election is today. Here’s where you vote.
Home |
Masthead |
News from D |
About Us |
Contact Us |
Subscribe |
Advertise |
Privacy Policy |
Customer Service |
Awards | Archives | Reprints | d custom | Jobs | Advertiser's Index
Awards | Archives | Reprints | d custom | Jobs | Advertiser's Index