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A Daily Conversation About Dallas
Television

Shawn Marion Turns Down Dancing with the Stars

Bethany Anderson
By Bethany Anderson |

Shawn Marion, according to TMZ, has turned down an offer to be on “Dancing with the Stars” because he’s worried that if the lockout ends, he’ll either have to leave the competition to go play basketball, or he’ll be stuck trying to do both. Or something.

But this sounds like he’s pretty confident in his dancing skills. I mean, he could have the skills of Kenny Mayne, IJS.

The Chicago Bears have now signed two pretty popular former Cowboys, and also Roy Williams. Marion Barber and Sam Hurd will join Williams in the windy city, playing for a Bears team that went to the conference championship game last season. Bears fans are probably feeling a little uneasy hearing this news. Cowboys fans? Eh.

Local News

So How Hot Is It?

Bethany Anderson
By Bethany Anderson |

We had this brief, shimmering hope out in the Gulf of Mexico, called Tropical Storm Don. It was supposed to possibly bring rain depending on a cone of uncertainty, according to the meteorologists. Rain. Maybe. This weekend.

Only, there’s been no rain, and Don just kind of sputtered out. As a friend pointed out, incredulously, this Texas heat wave is so big that it ATE A TROPICAL STORM. And now on Sunday, we will tie for the second longest run of days over 100 degrees in Texas. And by Tuesday, it’s projected to be 108 degrees.

What are you doing to beat the heat? Have you become a hermit, like me? Are you still annoyingly running around telling people to suck it up because it’s always hot in the summer in Texas?

Local News

Philanthropist Nancy Hamon, R.I.P.

Jeanne Prejean
By Jeanne Prejean |
Stubbs Davis and Nancy Hamon
Stubbs Davis and Nancy Hamon

According to Pegasus News, Angus Wynne has reported the death of 92-year-old philanthropist Nancy Hamon, whose life was filled with much happiness and heartache. Her generosity was overwhelming (SMU, the Dallas Zoo, Presbyterian Hospital, UT Southwestern Medical Center, the Winspear Opera House, etc.); her parties, whether on board a yacht in the Mediterranean or at her Turtle Creek penthouse, were legendary; and her personal tragedies (the premature deaths of her son and her husband) were heartbreaking.

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I’ve recently come to the conclusion that everyone who attends advance movie screenings for fun-fun rather than work-fun have either A) never seen a movie before or B) somehow managed to hold on to an innocent, childlike view of the world that was forever lost to me after sitting through Glitter.

Two examples: the gaggle of ladies at Friends With Benefits who had loud, gut reactions of disbelief (”WHAT?” “Uh uh. Uh UH!”) to everything, and the two female friends next to me at Crazy, Stupid, Love. In 118 minutes, they experienced some sort of record-breaking catharsis: braying laughter, outright hysterical sobbing, and sounds of audible arousal every time Ryan Gosling stepped on camera. I didn’t know whether to be dismayed or jealous of their ability to feel so deeply. Happy weekend!

Friday

Oleanna, which opened yesterday at Project X’s Green Zone, is my pick tonight. I’m excited about it for a couple of reasons. One, it’s a David Mamet-penned two-person drama about a smug professor on tenure track and a female student, Carol, who accuses him of sexual harassment. Mamet’s work usually speaks for itself, and I’ve only read this play, never seen it performed. Two, this is the inaugural production of the Dallas Actor’s Lab. FrontRow has the details about the new theater troupe, formed by Kyle Lemieux, director of drama over at the University of Dallas. Natalie Young, fresh off her strong performance in Second Thought Theatre’s production of Red Light Winter, is playing the role of Carol.

Media

Gary Reaves Decamps WFAA Channel 8

Tim Rogers
By Tim Rogers |

Gary Reaves started at Channel 8 in 1982. His colleague Rebecca Lopez put up a pic on her Twitter feed of him cleaning out his desk as he heads off into retirement.

Update (11:12): Uncle Barky has more on Reaves’ retirement.

Uncategorized

Dhiru Thadani Lecture and Q&A

Patrick Kennedy
By Patrick Kennedy |

Yesterday the CNU hosted a dual lecture by Dhiru Thadani and Anne Ricker and afterwards I moderated the Q&A. In case you missed it, here are a sampling of the questions I posed to the panel (some of these were follow-ups):

In your presentation, you made the statement that each car has effectively 7 “homes” or parking spaces in the country and that you would love to have such a luxurious lifestyle as to have 7 homes with a graphic with seven places on the country. Why no Dallas? /tongue in cheek. But seriously, what would it take for Dallas to make that list?

Anne, you live in Denver but do the majority of your work consulting in Dallas. You get the opposite question. What keeps you in Denver?

One of my favorite lines is from Lewis Mumford’s massive tome The City in History where he writes about Necropolis (or the collapsed city), stating “the multiplication and massive collective concentration on glib ephemeralities of all kinds, performed with supreme technical audacity…are symptoms of the end…when these signs multiply, Necropolis is near, though not a stone has yet crumbled.” Interpret for me what might be present day “glib ephemeralities” or glaring warning signs of impending collapse or long-term inevitable decline…

Do we fetishize “design?” and place it in such an abstract sense that design has lost any meaning relating to qualitative improvement and instead is simply what might be novel or different? And do we lack the metrics to properly assess whether certain efforts have been (past tense) or will be (predictavely – in future tense) successful?

We’ve recently concluded a downtown plan for Dallas and one of the critical issues downtown currently faces, is that land is “upside-down” in that the cost of land overwhelms demand for development. What strategies would you recommend (proven or theoretical) for catalyzing development when the public sector can no longer meet the gap between cost and profitable returns?

So what you’re describing is Stakeholder vs shareholder economies AND planning/development processes and the importance of locally driven stewardship in a world of globally driven finance? And can that engine be harnassed?

I was recently reading about the use of “community shares” as a development tool in the UK where x amount of capital is raised with a cap on how many shares any one person can purchase. Can a version of crowdsourcing like that work in the states and what new economic tools might be out there merging the power of social media with urban development that could be profoundly transformative in how we finance urbanism?


If you want the answers, too bad, you should have attended.

During his long, distinguished writing career, Archer City’s Larry McMurtry has been known to cast a skeptical eye on the American cowboy and the myth of the Old West. So it will be interesting to hear what the author’s got to say (sub. required) introducing the classic John Wayne western, The Searchers, at Snyder’s John Wayne Film Fest on Labor Day.

Coincidentally, McMurtry’s attitudes toward cowboys, masculinity and the West are taken to the woodshed in an article titled “Cowgirl Up” (sub. required) in the August Texas Monthly by journalist Barney (that’s right) Nelson. Barney’s an honest-to-god cowgirl/rancher (and English professor at Alpine’s Sul Ross State University) who seems to know what she’s talking about.

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President Bush gave an interview to the National Geographic Channel, which will air a week of special programs under the rubric “Remembering 9/11” to mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks. In the interview, he explains what was running through his mind after his chief of staff, Andy Card, informed him that the country was under attack. Bush, you’ll recall, was in a Florida classroom at the time. After hearing the news, he famously remained seated at the front of that classroom, apparently — apparently — unsure of how to react. Well, Reuters has some advance material from the interview Bush gave to National Geo.

“My first reaction was anger. Who the hell would do that to America? Then I immediately focused on the children, and the contrast between the attack and the innocence of children,” Bush says in an excerpt of the interview shown to television writers on Thursday.

Bush said he could see the news media at the back of the classroom getting the news on their own cellphones “and it was like watching a silent movie.”

Bush said he quickly realized that a lot of people beyond the classroom would be watching for his reaction.

“So I made the decision not to jump up immediately and leave the classroom. I didn’t want to rattle the kids. I wanted to project a sense of calm,” he said of his decision to remain seated and silent. “I had been in enough crises to know that the first thing a leader has to do is to project calm,”

Local News

Leading Off (7/29/11)

Bethany Anderson
By Bethany Anderson |

Toll’d You So. Remember earlier, when I relayed an out-of-state reader’s frustration when he tried to pay for the tolls he racked up while visiting Dallas? This probably explains everything. Unless, of course, you can’t get over the pay wall. But then again, the headline pretty much summarizes the story.

Chief Brown Unhappy With Reversal. Chief David Brown is, he says, quite unhappy that a judge ruled to allow an officer he fired for allegedly kicking a handcuffed man back on the force after Brown fired him.

Former Rangers Pitcher Hideki Irabu Found Dead. The former pitcher had a career trajectory that took him from the high of back-to-back World Series rings with the Yankees in 1998 and 1999 before the late George Steinbrenner fired him and called him a “fat toad,” and then finishing up his career in 2002 with a year in the Rangers’ bullpen. He was found dead of an apparent suicide in his home near Los Angeles Thursday afternoon.

If You Like Poking Yourself In the Eye, You’ll Like This. Texas’ sales tax holiday weekend has been scheduled for August 19-21. If you like crowds, remembering lists of stuff you can’t buy and lists of stuff you can buy, and math, you will have a lot of fun.

Play Along, Again. You know the rules by now. Here’s the specially picked because of last night’s screening of “Bottle Rocket” movie. Use the quotes in blog posts. And yes, you can feel free to randomly sprinkle the mayhem all over the D Empire blogs.

It’s not every day that a man in a bathrobe, holding a shotgun, tells you that you write well. But as luck would have it, that’s happened to me twice today. True, both times it was the same guy, but I can’t help the excitement when I get compliments from the legendary Jim Schutze, author of Bully — a man I’m told is secretly a sweetheart. In an essay he posted to Unfair Park this afternoon, he calls the column I did for this month’s print product: “nicely written by a new guy over there named Michael J. Mooney.” Jim Schutze knows my name! He goes on to reiterate that “Mooney’s piece was well written.” (He says some other stuff, too, I’m told. I just skimmed for my name.) And this comes just one day after Observer managing editor Patrick Williams, in his weekly Buzz, said, “Mooney’s a talented, award-winning reporter.” (He says some other stuff, too, I’ve been informed, including that mine would make a good name for a fishing rod.) Gosh, guys, way to make my day. That’s easily the nicest thing any employee of that company has said about me in months.

Local News

Plano Family Faces More Difficulties

Krista Nightengale
By Krista Nightengale |

I told you yesterday about Micaela White, an Ursuline graduate who’s looking forward to going to college at OU. She survived thyroid cancer two years ago. She’s now fighting for her life as she battles leukemia. While Micaela was in the hospital, a fire damaged her family’s home. Her parents have been splitting their time between the hospital and taking care of her brother, who has Down Syndrome. And now, as a commenter pointed out, there’s this: Micaela’s father has been arrested for accidentally shooting and killing an employee. He has been charged with manslaughter.

I can’t imagine how difficult life is for this family right now. Micaela needs A-negative platelets (which are rare). Please go to the Facebook group “Micaela’s Army” to see how you can help.

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