Dallas Art

No one can say the f-word quite like a Bostonian. Forget New York, Chicago, or even the cockney bullies of Guy Richie’s London. In Boston, the f-word pops from the lips, lilts and rises like perfect pizza dough. It mocks, spars, and attacks, always with the hint of wit and a wry sense of irony. Friends and enemies alike are subject to the same barrage of verbal abuse. Repeat it over and over, as it is in Ben Affleck’s bank heist thriller, The Town, and the f-word has its own beautiful resonance. Pair it with the colorful, albeit limited, vocabulary of New England insults, provocations, and other swears, and you have a vocal bouquet with a colloquial charm that wins your affection. The language and banter of the Irish, working class gangsters in The Town is what draws us into this well-crafted and exciting chase and shoot thriller, a movie built on the foundation of its appealing characters. Sure, The Town’s setup is conventional, and its central drama, a love story between the bank robbing mastermind and a hostage, is as familiar as primetime crime drama. But give second-time director Ben Affleck credit. He understands that the only trick a good movie needs to play is to create a character on screen you care about and action thrilling enough to keep you interested.

The Dallas Opera has announced that it will re-commission Moby-Dick composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer for a new song cycle that will have its world premiere at the Dallas Opera’s 2011 Gala. The subject of the new songs is still confidential, the opera says, but Heggie has mentioned numerous times over the past two years while working on Moby-Dick that he wants to continue to explore the music and thematic material of the opera by creating a series of songs based around the Ahab’s many soliloquies in Herman Melville’s classic novel. The new music will be performed in 2011 by baritone Nathan Gun, who appeared last year in the Dallas Opera’s Don Pasquale. A full release is after the jump.

A few weeks ago, as I was cruising the "upcoming releases" sections of the major publishers' websites, I came across an intriguing bit of promo copy. Image Comics was touting Morning Glories as the one of the year's most anticipated new series. Really? The basic concept didn't knock my socks off: "Morning Glory Academy is one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country. But behind its hallowed doors, something sinister and deadly lurks." And the creators involved — writer Nick Spencer and Wylie-based artist Joe Eisma — were two guys I'd never heard of. I shrugged, chalked up the "most anticipated" claim to an overzealous marketing department, and moved on to the next website. Fast forward to this week: I find that Image's slate of releases today includes Morning Glories #2 and a third printing of Morning Glories #1. A third printing? What makes this book so hot that it had to be sent back to the press twice? What am I missing?