Dallas News Blog

Justin Terveen

Zombies, take a seat.

​

Gloria Levario

A relatively tame moment from Oak Lawn Saturday night.

​Halloween's still a few days off, but last weekend there were plenty of chances to take the costume for a spin, especially for zombies in Deep Ellum last night, and for every other thing you can imagine (and a few you might rather not) Saturday night in Oak Lawn.

Get a double dose of Halloween spirit in our pair of slide shows from the weekend's festivities -- the Oak Lawn Halloween Street Party, shot by Gloria Levario, and Justin Terveen's shots from the zombie pub crawl and fundraiser in Deep Ellum.

​As you can see, however, Dawn Rizos isn't mentioned by name in the October 29 ish -- and where's the publicity value in that? You remember what happened, right? Right: Newt Gingrich's Business Defense and Advisory Council solicited the owner of the topless joint for a donation in exchange for an award, she said sure, and the former Speaker of the House balked upon realizing that would make for an awkward photo op. (As opposed to this Chris Farley mash-up?) End result: Rachel Maddow, here they come! So where does The Lodge imbroglio fall on the Threat Assessment meter? Somewhere between "Marijuana arrests decline for first time since 2002" and Going Rogue. Seems about right.

Justin Terveen

Wrap your mind around that.

​If you've already checked out Justin Terveen's fine work from the fair's last day, then you'll be no stranger to this particular animal, this... mullet? Well, maybe, but the front side of this haircut is no place for business.

Call it what you want, it's going to be a long year before you'll find hairstyle, fashion and accessory tips like this together in one place again. Who knows, maybe by then we'll all be sporting the reverse-bowl cut.

While fast forwarding through a TiVo'ed version of Friday night's 6:30 p.m. rerun of The Office on KDFI channel 27 (the one where Ryan burns his cheese pita in the toaster oven), none other than Mayor Tom Leppert appeared in a commercial break for yet another ribbon cutting -- this time for the fake opening of Dunder Mifflin North Texas. I've got a few questions for Leppert's chief of staff, Chris Heinbaugh, on Monday, but until then, enjoy the mayor finally serving as the pitchman for the something that isn't a drain on the taxpayers.

​A colleague in Miami thought we might find this interesting: "The Consummation of Dirk," penned by one Jonathan Callahan. It comes from the latest issue of something called The Collagist, an online literary journal. Right. You know the drill.

At first, I thought maybe it was a chopped-and-screwed variation on Jesse Hyde's cover story from 2007, about the time Dirk Nowitzki hightailed it to Australia to find hisself, dig? ("Then came the summer of Dirk's retreat--into the mountains? The desert? On a single-sailed raft, adrift in uncharted seas?") Then I thought it might be just an artfully crafted scouting report ("Dirk drains the first one, all net, and starts screaming and beating his chest like a fucking insane person, stares down the closest Piston or Sixer, who won't meet his fucking eyes, okay?"). Then I thought it could be some overwrought Esquire celebrity profile ("As my stature in the Association swelled, I grew accustomed to hearing the assembled American thousands thunderously chanting my name, causing it to reverberate from the rafters and shake the foundations of the arenas in which we would compete --"). Then I realized, nope, it's just fan fiction ("Well, for a guy who's seven-foot tall, his cock was actually surprisingly average").

Compelling.

Texas Rangers

Omar Vizquel

​But that's just because the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals doesn't want the Rangers' shortstop to become a bullfighter. Oh, you missed that? Yeah -- a couple of days back, the former Indians great said bullfighting is "one of my things on the to-do list." That's only because he's already mastered the art of anaconda-hunting, unlike, say, Owen Wilson. Anyway, PETA today "sends" Vizquel a press release ... pardon, a moving, thoughtful letter in which the group's Dan Shannon says that's so not cool, Omar, and would you pretty please reconsider. Writes Shannon in this friendly excerpt:

On behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 2 million members and supporters, including many Texas Rangers fans and thousands of residents in the Dallas area, I'm writing to urge you to nix your off-season plans to learn bullfighting. We know that you have hit only one home run this year, but if you're looking for a way to prove that you can perform, believe me, torturing an already weakened animal won't impress anyone.

In bullfighting, the bull doesn't stand a chance. Even before the matador enters the ring, the animal is beaten in the kidneys and stabbed in the neck to wear him down. Bulls are also often fed laxatives to debilitate them further, and petroleum jelly is smeared into their eyes to affect their vision. By the time the matador steps into the ring, the bulls are weaker than -- oh, forgive me -- a shortstop with a career OPS below .700.

Hey, Dan, one homer's more than Omar hit last season. So there.

PGA Tour

David Feherty

​The Match.com profile to which Golf.com links this morning has been removed -- so much for the "goodguy_in_Texas" looking for women 32-42 living within 50 miles of Lewisville, always a plus. Besides, says David Feherty, that's not him, swear -- no matter what the picture with the profile says with a come-hither look. Apparently, his ex-missus asked his current wife what the what, which led to a discussion not discussed in this particular piece. Still, it does lead to this revelation from the Preston Hollow resident:

[Anita, his wife] knew it wasn't me because it says "slender." Actually, I sound like a pretty good catch. I think I'll answer the ad, show up, and date myself. I wonder what it will be like to be with me. What if it really is me? What a Freudian nightmare. But it would never work out. This guy's looking for a woman into barbecues and boating, two things I hate.

A Friend of Unfair Park just shot me a link to the Dallas Stars' latest "Ice Girls" promo. Seriously, he couldn't have done that before Yom Kippur? En. Joy.

Justin Terveen

​... and saw this sign at the intersection of N. Lamar Street and Ross Avenue, as our pal Justin Terveen did yesterday. Jeez, was that a whole year ago? Hmmm. Says there's a fine for taking the sign before the public hearing, but not after. Scavenger hunt, maybe?

Update: Though, as Rudy Bush reports today, it appears there may be a need for street-change-of-name signs bearing Chavez's name after all ...

After the FBI busted Hosam Maher Husein Smadi last week for trying to blow up Fountain Place, Dallas County Republican Party chair (and the Observer's 2009 Best Politico) Jonathan Neerman found himself the victim of a pretty sick joke. Seems as though his GOP and CIA ties made it too easy to paint him as Smadi's target, but Neerman, being a laidback guy, took it well. (Neerman is a lawyer at Hunton & Williams, which offices at Fountain Place.)

But the latest association between Neerman and Smadi goes way beyond a simple piece of paper taped to an office door. Conspiracy theorist Alex Constantine uses our photos and excerpts from our December 2008 cover story to link Neerman to Smadi's plot to blow up the skyscraper.

The CIA's Jonathan Neerman (left) works for Dallas' Hunton & Williams, a criminal enclave of a law firm embroiled in a number of Republican scandals including Enron's collapse and the CIA torture debacle. As it happens, Neerman is on the outs among local GOP leaders for trying to revive the Party by recruiting (duping, IMhO, "reaching out to") minorities, like himself (he's a Hispanic Jew) - even homosexuals - and easing up on traditional hard-nosed Republican social positions. Old Guard Republicans vow to fight Neerman to the bitter end ... then an accused Middle Eastern terrorist pulls up to the building where Neerman practices law, loaded, unbeknownst to him, with dummy explosives, gratis the FBI. I've provided a number of leads to track. Anyone making headway on this case is urged to send me research for posting (mainly because I'm anxious to know more about this case).

He also finds a way to toss in the owners of Fountain Place and cocaine into the conspiracy. Geez, and we thought Schutze was paranoid.

​Back in December, we flashed back to ye olden days when The Dallas Times Herald and Marvel Comics would team up to take Spider-Man to the Dallas Ballet or the Hulk to Sanger-Harris (for new pants, natch). One title I completely forgot about: The Uncanny X-Men at the State Fair of Texas from 1983, now available for between $6.50 and $11 and totally worth it if only for, as Topless Robot sneered last year, "what we're sure is Professor X's lone utterance of 'Emergency! All X-Men to the Cotton Bowl!' in all of Marvel lore." The Fair opens tomorrow. A re-enactment of this cover is in order.

​So, let's see ... we've got those Victory Park shirts. That Leppert poster. Maybe a Schutze tee or two. Guess it's time to open up an Unfair Park store, now that our very own Alexander Flores has taken our Friend Heywood U. Buzzoff's suggestion and turned Angela Hunt's "hell of a syllogism" into a T-shirt. Either that, or we use the proceeds to pay down the city's budget deficit.

​Spent the better part of an hour Sunday having a patient Mac salesman walk me through the pros and pros of ditching my PC; spent the better part of an hour Monday having Mac-using friends congratulate me on my flirtation (finally!) while also pointing me toward less expensive online options should I make the leap. Then, last night, Friend of Unfair Park "The Big Guy" sent this (now-much-disputed) item from The Unofficial Apple Weblog, wherein a particularly giddy Mac user captured a Windows hiccup broadcast throughout Jerry Jones's EnormoDome during the Oklahoma-Brigham Young game over the weekend. Cake, meet icing?

Patrick Michels

​Deadspin most thoughtfully directs our attention to the Andy Lee Drinking Game -- Andy Lee being the San Francisco 49ers punter who gets his turn to take aim at the Cowboys Stadium video board tomorrow evening. If nothing else, it provides one very good reason to watch a meaningless pre-season game, and the NFL's new do-over policy for Jerry's big ol' teevee has added some last-minute addenda to the pop-a-shot rulebook. So, in advance of an all-right Saturday night, a few of the suggestions:

• One shot if the broadcast plays a clip of Andy Lee hitting the scoreboard with a punt during pre-game warm ups.
• One shot for every time the broadcast cuts to a shot of Jerry Jones just before an Andy Lee punt.
• One shot if Andy Lee is interviewed on the sideline during the broadcast and asked about punting the ball into the scoreboard.

Megan Wants A Millionaire's David Cohen

​In gearing up for Project Runway, we've been checking out Louise Black's fashions. We've also been gut-checking to see if we can handle watching Dallas' David Cohen on, um, Megan Wants a Millionaire (because Beauty & the Geek, Rock of Love and I Love Money weren't enough for that girl).

See, we've been fairly quiet about our homegrown reality show talent of late, but we might have to blog about Black and Cohen for their promise and absurdity, respectively. Well, wait.  Project Runway, we will have to blog about. As for Cohen, if your new show turns out too nauseating to mention, know you've at least got our best wishes.

Before we move on to the newest faces in the crowd, let's take a look back at a few of the summer's local "celebri-testants" and where they are now, just in case you missed 'em:

She's Got the Look:
​Laurie, 42: From the minute she walked into the casting call, there was something very strange about this thin blond. She compared herself to Joan of Arc and Oprah, for one. Her behavior was frenetic and included a Flashdance-like workout session on a bus ride through NYC. She then took her top off (her idea, mind you) during a judging panel and asked to be sent home if she wouldn't be allowed to "take care" of the other ladies in the contest. We'd guess the producers would have loved to have kept her one for at least two more episodes, but Laurie was far from cooperative. Limber? Yes. Sane? Not so sure. But entertaining? Absolutely. You didn't have to watch the whole season to witness the train wreck. (If this clip's NSFW, then so's TV Land, and do you even want to be working somewhere that can't handle TV Land?)

​Can't understand a word of the intro to Forbes's latest listicle -- "Best Cities For Singles 2009," apparently compiled using Match.com data and other info -- so let's skip it and head straight to the entry for Dallas, which comes in at No. 17:

Dallas is high on the list for projected job growth and perceived coolness. However, there are fewer singles in the area than one would hope. Popular spots for those who do reside in the area include Vino 100 Wine Bar in Uptown and gay dance bar Round-Up Saloon.

A good Friend of Unfair Park passes along the video below -- a newish TV (wha?) spot created by the folks at the Texas Nationalist Movement (who, I see, have an eat-and-greet scheduled in Mansfield this weekend). Notes our Friend, "I love the Sam Houston quote, because he never favored Texas independence after it became a state." (You can look it up.) Secession: Do it for the childrens!

Flickr user: Gadget Virtuoso

Don't tell the 5-year-old living in the house, but we kinda forgot that over the weekend, they were building an 8-foot-tall Yoda at NorthPark Center in conjunction with the opening of the mall's LEGO store. Thankfully, "Gadget Virtuoso" was there to document the finish-up; I reluctantly showed the boy the photos, and he sends a hearty "awesome" your way, sir.

The thunderstorm that just passed over Unfair Park HQ left behind what'll be known as the most-photographed rainbow in office history. No doubt a co-worker with a camera better than mine (first-gen iPhone, so sad) captured a more spectacular photo than this stitched-together panoramic taken from the publisher's office. Till then, well, this'll have to do.

Speaking of the Bush library at SMU and all the stuff they gotta stick in it some day, a Friend of Unfair Park sends along this link to the George W. Bush Presidential Librarium, created by the guys responsible for Goodnight Bush for whom "themed attractions provide more entertainment than a library." A little bashy, sure, but with that cutesy aftertaste. SMU would be wise to consider the proposal, if only for the Supreme Food Court revenue.

Lookie who I ran into last night at the Angelika

Danny Hurley

Nothing says "happy birthday" quite like seeing your jersey number right here.

After surviving last weekend's Terror on the Tarmac, we figured photographer Danny Hurley had earned a sweetheart assignment for Unfair Park this week -- so when we heard the Dallas Cowboys and Playboy bunnies were making red carpet arrivals outside AMPM Saturday night, we knew just who to call.

The stars of the night were, predictably, fashionably late for the shindig, a birthday party for wide receiver Miles Austin (No. 19, ya think?), and weren't much interested in wasting time on the carpet once they arrived. So instead, we've got party pics from inside the new downtown club.

For shots of the players working their game, some crazy-eyed camera poses, a Michael Jackson cameo and more go-go dancers airbrushed for the occasion, check out our slideshow. And, lookie there, it was a full moon Saturday night. Who knew?

A Friend of Unfair Park sends us this link to Tony Romo's Facebook page. Had no idea he was such a Glitter fan. Ahem. Redskins fans.

DART opted not to run this ad, which you can click to enlarge. The ad, I mean. Wha?

Saw a "story" in the no-relation New York Observer this morning concerning the "yanking" of a "racy" movie ad from the side of Dallas Area Rapid Transit buses, and I thought it might be a good idea to ask DART spokesman Morgan Lyons the ol' what-the-what. Dutifully, he researched the back story and returned with the full story: No, sorry, the ads for the movie The Last International Playboy weren't pulled, he says, because they never ran.

Turns out, back in March, the contractor (Titan) that handles bus-side advertising for DART and most of your larger transit authorities U.S.-wide, approached DART about running the panty-ful ad featuring the plentiful Lydia Hearst in repose. "And we rejected it," Lyons says, simple as that. Why come?

"Bus-side advertising is different than advertising in the Observer," he says. "Folks might be surprised to see that ad on a bus, but they might be disappointed if they didn't" see it in the paper version of Unfair Park. "You know what you're getting when you pick up the Observer or even Quick. But bus ads are a little more pervasive, which is why they can be so effective. They can be hard to avoid." So DART avoided any complaints by avoiding the ad. And, yes, we all remember the Family Place bus ad controversy.

The city wisely didn't bother to make a new Web page for term-limited Mitchell Rasansky, but it did find the time to cook up one for Carolyn Davis, who faces Ron Price in the June 13 runoff election.

Whilst digging around for info on the city's Web site yesterday, I clicked on one of the council members' pages, which, to my surprise, looked nothing like the previous page design that was apparently implemented shortly after Al Gore invented the Internet.

Of course, while the new design is long overdue, it seems like the wrong time to be spending dough on new Web pages -- you know, with a $190 million budget deficit and all. But, no worries, we're assured by Danielle McClelland with the city's Public Information Office -- the work was done in-house.

"If our staff can get to them in the midst of their other stuff, then some other pages will be updated and refreshed," she tells Unfair Park.

Yup, the entire site is set for an overhaul, beginning with 12 of the 15 council members (pages for Mitchell Rasansky and Dr. Elba Garcia weren't changed as they're leaving because of term limits, and Mayor Tom Leppert's hasn't been updated). McClelland says the first wave of new pages appeared online in mid-April, and there's no timetable for when the site will be completed.

"With so many pages, it's obviously going to take a while," she says.

So as the city attempts to slice and dice services on its way to a balanced budget, everyone can look forward to watching the Web site improve literally one page at a time.

When we brought to your attention an item on eBay selling ceramic tiles of Mayor Tom Leppert, who's described in the ad as "perhaps one of our greatest United States leaders," our hope was to hear back from the seller so we could find out how Leppert caught the eye of someone living in Fort Myers, Florida. And, of course, we wanted to know how many of these have been sold since, as I said Saturday, I'm planning to tile Schutze's bathroom with these suckers, and there are (or were) only 1,000 available.

So I e-mailed the seller, who turned out to be Kosmas Ballis, and asked him simply why he chose Leppert.

I come from a small town in Florida; Ft. Myers. I've lived in larger cities before and miss the hustle and bustle and their progressive nature. In Ft. Myers our local community leaders have failed us the last few years (with bad decisions relating to poor city planning, corruption, etc.) and the foreclosure crisis down here in Southwest Florida makes us ground zero.

I suppose I chose Mayor Leppert because he is a proven leader; someone who can get things done. Someone who is genuine and has good ethics. Therefore, he was a perfect person to "commemorate" in the form of a tile. I'm an artist by nature and this is part of my "Pop Tile" series. I've made hundreds of different tiles, and after making the Mayor Leppert tile, decided to create the US Mayoral series. I've since done the Jacksonville, New York, Fort Myers, and Seattle mayors. There will be many more to come.

Right now I am using a special (secretive) decoration process to make the tiles, unique to what has been done before in the ceramics medium. I am also an accomplished sculptor with works in several museums throughout the world; and I try to make each tile a unique work of art. Not everyone can afford my large sculpture. Everyone can afford a commemorative tile.

I'm taking all of the tiles I make and making a gigantic mural for the end of the year. I expect it'll be pretty big.

eBay member: chicbiz

Only $19.99 plus shipping, and, as the ad says, "They will not last long."

Since becoming mayor less than two years ago, few have enjoyed the success of Tom Leppert. First a key victory in the Trinity River toll road campaign, then two more big wins last week after defeating two charter amendments, and now his very own commemorative ceramic tile.

Even though we're always on the lookout for a way to pay homage to Mayor Tom, imagine our surprise when we stumbled on this item posted to eBay by Edison Clay Company of Fort Myers, Florida.

We've sent an e-mail to the seller to find out how Leppert's fame made its way to Fort Myers. In the meantime, pick up as many as you can because there are only 1,000 available and I plan to buy enough to tile Schutze's bathroom.

Patrick Michels

After speeding across the desert, dodging wildlife and the highway patrol, drivers in the cross-country Gumball 3000 Rally showed off their sick parking skills for a crowd of racing fans gathered outside the W Hotel last night.

Dozens of folks, mostly kids with cameras, milled around outside the roped-off parking lot, waiting for Tony Hawk, Dennis Rodman, or other notable drivers to show at this midway stop in the coast-to-coast rally.

By around 7:30 p.m., only a few cars had arrived, including Team Wu's California Highway Patrol cruiser, which had been redecorated as a "Swine Flu Response" car. Its drivers hung around nearby in the parking lot, wearing light blue scrubs.

This year's 11th annual Gumball run is a rarity in that it's being run only within the U.S. -- from Los Angeles to Miami -- not to mention it's by far the most-Twittered run yet.  

We've got more photos from the parking-lot scene in our slide show.

Now that the Germans have claimed Victory -- Victory Park, that is -- we've got a swell idea to help Ross Perot Jr. raise some quick cash: some kick-ass tees and stickers. Here, courtesy the Hardest Working Art Director in Alt-Weeklies, Alexander Flores, is our first offering -- and it's all yours, Junior! Others to come during the day. Now available at LFTNein Steakhouse. Oh, wait.

A Dallas-born Friend of Unfair Park figures that after all the fussin' and fightin' over this morning's Texas secession (Texcession?) post we really oughta go ahead and show this David Letterman bit from last night. Sounds good to us. Bonus: features a cameo from a certain Dallas resident of some note.