But Nike is encouraging everyone to run a 10K on Sunday and donate to or raise money for one of their three charities, even if you can't get to one of the race locations. Locally, the Coppell Run On! is sponsoring a 10K for anyone who wants to run with a group.
As if Amy Winehouse hasn't made a bad enough mockery of herself, upcoming spoof flick Disaster Movie takes a turn jabbing the British beehived mess with its own hot poker of insult. (At least it's not a syringe filled with heroin, right? Allegedly. Allegedly.)
Winehouse is only one of many others made fun of in the flick, but the filmmakers have singled her out on the movie's Web site with a fun little timewaster called "Escape from Rehab." Emphasis on timewaster.
You get to punch and kick Winehouse through a line of bad guys on her noble mission to rescue hubby Blake from prison. Along the way, she says stuff like "Piss off!" "Bugga off!" and "I haven't taken a crap in a fortnight!" which is pretty funny, considering it's probably true.
Eisner winning artist John Cassaday, a Fort Worth native and graduate of Springtown High School, has been named the guest of honor for the Wizard World Texas comic book convention.
I think I've finally found a reality show that I can get interested in.
DMN golf writer Bill Nichols reports that Hank Haney -- you might know him as the coach of the world's best golfer -- will reportedly teach Charles Barkley (left) how to swing a golf club. There's a good chance nobody in history has a worse swing than Barkley. The Golf Channel show will be shot in the Dallas area, with filming beginning in about one week.
That's a lot of people: NBC's Olympic coverage was viewed by more Americans than any event in U.S. television history, according Nielsen Media Research. It supposedly reached 214 million viewers.
Witten's tough love: Cowboys tight end Jason Witten doesn't believe in doing any favors for rookie Martellus Bennett, from Texas A&M. "He says it all the time, 'Jason doesn't like me,' " Witten said. "He's got to figure it out first, and when he does, obviously that's when I come along."
No Adrian Peterson: If you were hoping to see the former Oklahoma standout when the Vikings play the Cowboys at Texas Stadium on Thursday, you're out of luck. The Vikings aren't planning on playing any starters. For more Cowboy love, go here.
You've only got one more day to bid on a "criminal confession" a Belleville, Ill., man has placed for auction on eBay. He's typed it onto a piece of paper and dated, signed and placed it in an envelope.
Want to know what he's done? Bid and win or we'll never know. Current bid is up to $51.
His auction description begins: 'I've done something illegal and I need to get it off my chest. ... Times are hard, and I'm having a difficult time keeping the roof over my family's head. I'm willing to sell my confession to the highest bidder so that my loved ones are taken care of..."
I attempted to rank the best rappers. Sounds like a lot of people in Dallas didn't agree with my list:
Keith Ford wrote:
Like I said that is my opinion. I pay attention to lyrics not who gets the club jumping . I put Biggie in front of Tupac because I feel he was of a hip hop lyricist than Tupac.
dprice74 wrote:
1. Rakim..... The GOD emmecc. The Usain Bolt of rap.
2. KRS 1.... The modern day Marcus Garvey "Knowledge rules the world, and ignorance carries the burden."
nupe23 wrote:
Ever heard of a guy called Chuck D? I'm sure you're probably chuckling right now but I guess that's my NorthEast arrogance shining on what real hip hop is....who the real emcees are.
So what do you all think? Scarface on Ludacris off. Lil Wayne on Big Daddy Kane or Ice Cube?
* The few times I've seen Jim Lampley in NBC's studio, navigating the daily coverage, he couldn't look more bored. Seriously, Jim, quit being such a stiff and try to enjoy yourself.
* Favorite Olympic moment? Anyone have one? I'd have to go with Jason Lezak's amazing swim in the 4x100 freestyle relay, when he started half a body length behind French world champion Alain Bernard and beat him to the wall.
Coldwell Banker has this cool new "housetrology" quiz for you to find out your "house sign." It's supposed to determine how lifestyle characteristics and emotional instincts factor into the kinds of homes we choose. I think I'm more of a Ranchero, but the first time I took it I got Contemporarian, which is definitely not me. A couple more tries made it seem like every time I said I wanted to see a birdbath in a garden instead of nothing but trees outside my house, it made me contemporary instead of western. Go figure.
It's also available on Facebook. The current breakdown of Facebook users looks like this:
If anyone's planning on hitting up the Visions Women's Expo at Dallas Market Hall this weekend, be sure to stop by the Nutritox booth and visit Jeff McKissack of Club NIN, who'll be demonstrating self-defense moves for women.
The rest of the expo looks pretty cool, too, with music performances, cooking demos, fitness classes and tons of exhibitors showing off clothing, jewelry, beauty products and more.
Has anyone else been hooked on Swingtown on CBS? If nothing else, it's usually a good laugh to see how the show's writers continually put straight-and-narrow Janet (played by Miriam Shor) in awkward situations. Any believers out there?
Laurence Fishburne has been chosen to replace William Petersen on CBS' redundantly named CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the network announced today. I'm not a CSI fan, so the most notable tidbit from this story for me was that Fishburne is taking on his first role as a network TV regular since he played Cowboy Curtis on Pee-wee's Playhouse back in the '80s.
Did anyone see Jamaica's Usain Bolt absolutely destroy the field in the Olympic 100-meter sprint finals this weekend? And not only is he the fastest man in the world (while easing up and celebrating the final fifth of the race), he's also 6-foot-5. The Cowboys need to sign this guy as a wide receiver -- before Al Davis and the Raiders do.
John McEnroe crossed the line today in a Newport, R.I., tournament, but isn't that one of the reasons we watch? From the Associated Press:
McEnroe, 49, got tossed from his opening-round match at the Hall of Fame Champions Cup on Thursday for a new kind of triple fault: cursing, arguing with the chair umpire and making an obscene gesture at fans. While arguing a line call, McEnroe was given a code violation warning for uttering an obscenity. When he kept up his tirade against chair umpire Ray Brodeur, he drew two abuse of official penalties. As the argument progressed, fans at the International Hall of Fame court started yelling at McEnroe, telling him to resume play. McEnroe responded with his obscene gesture and was thrown out.
Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report has apologized to the residents of Canton, S.D., for calling the town "North Dakota's dirty ashtray." But then he let loose on a Texas town. "Come on, guys, Canton, South Dakota, is great," Colbert said on a show this week. As part of his ongoing gag, Colbert then targeted another town named Canton. "At least you're not an incorporated outhouse like Canton, Texas."
What would you think an Olympic swimmer eats? Lots of vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein, like chicken? Wrong, if you're Michael Phelps. The guy is an animal in the pool and at the table, which you might have known if you've seen the commercial above. The Guardian has a rundown of his daily "diet" plan, which starts with three fried egg sandwiches...and doesn't stop there.
It's hard to imagine Julia Child conducting cloak-and-dagger spy missions. But then again, who better than a celebrity chef to throw a dash of cyanide into a Nazi collaborator's meal?
Files being declassified Thursday reveal that Child was one of nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the U.S. under the direction of the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created during World War II.
Other notable secret-agent names include Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg and historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
On Saturday, United Cerebral Palsy of North Texas will host its 13th annual Life Without Limits Run (formerly the Elvis Run) at Reverchon Park.
Music is played along the 5K course, and you can bring your dogs. The Elvis Foundation had been involved with the event for the previous 12 years, so if you see folks running by you in white suits, with gold sunglasses and sideburns, don't be confused. Race organizers say the tradition might continue.
It's official: The cast of Dallas is headed back to Southfork in honor of the show's 30th anniversary. J.R. Ewing's alter ego, Larry Hagman, spoke with The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday about the upcoming Dallas reunion and the show's legacy. Head to the jump for the Q&A:
Are Quick's own Ben and Skin set to replace the departed Pugs and Kelly as the midday hosts on 105.3 FM? I have no idea. But the Dallas Observer's Sportatorium blog says so.
I saw Pineapple Express over the weekend, and there's something I've gotta ask: Were all the critics who gave the movie good reviews stoned when they watched it? It made Cheech and Chong look smart, and the funny moments were few and far between. Guess that's what I get for trying to go against the Dark Knight flow ...
Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who co-starred in the casino heist movie Ocean's Eleven and won a Peabody Award for his sitcom The Bernie Mac Show, died today at age 50 from complications of pneumonia. Mac suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but he had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.
Dallas-Fort Worth Chipotle restaurants are offering a deal for the tax-free weekend coming up. If you buy anything there this Tuesday or Wednesday and save your receipt, you can bring it in from the 15th through the 17th for a free burrito, salad, order of tacos or bowl. It's something to think about if you're out shopping this weekend and you want a free meal to go along with your tax-free savings!
Austin may not be celebrating a college football national title for years to come (sorry, we Sooners can't resist), but the Texas capital was recently named the drunkest city in America. Whether that's an honor or an indictment, well, I'll leave that up to you.
Sometimes I wonder if anyone other than me watches My Boys on TBS. I got sucked in because the main character is (was?) a Cubs beat writer in Chicago, although this season she never seems to work. In real life, she would never have all this time to hang out with her friends and bitch about relationships, unless it were the dead of winter. And then soon she'd be in Florida for spring training.
But I digress. The point of this blog was to say that the season finale is tonight, and even though its plot line has been wildly predictable all season, I'm still going to watch. While it's not uproariously funny, I get sort of involved with the characters' story lines, and I can't seem to stop watching. Anyone else ever catch an episode?
If you haven't had a chance, check out my interview with Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green (above), who grew up in Richardson. I'd seen a few of the moody, dramatic films (George Washington, Undertow, Snow Angels) that gave him a name, so I was surprised at his eagerness to take on the broad comedy and violent action sequences in Pineapple. But I understood better when he made one of his more interesting comments (which, incidentally, was cut from the print version of the story):
I'm at the point where I'd rather lose myself and my identity, and ... work on as many different kinds of projects as possible. It's funny. Every time someone tells me that something might be a bad idea, I immediately want to try it.
Not afraid to take a risk. Hmm. I like that. And so do the Duplass brothers, Mark and Jay (below), two dudes who got their careers going as students in Austin and are tomorrow releasing their first studio feature, Baghead.
Like Green, these guys delight in playing around with genres: Baghead is a mix of horror flick, relationship drama, and comedic film-industry satire. And it works on all those levels. Check out my story on the guys here, or just read the unabridged Q&A portion of it after the jump. I guarantee you'll chuckle a little.
This just in: Brett Favre has been traded to the New York Jets. The record-setting quarterback and There's Something About Mary star had been offered millions of dollars to stay away from the Green Bay Packers, but in recent days he increased pressure on the team to trade him.
I'm super excited about seeing Joel McHale, the host of The Soup on E!, Saturday night at the Majestic Theater.
The hilarity of that show pretty much makes my week. There are so many clips, I feel like I barely have to watch any reality TV (although I do anyway). Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster, and check out this D Magazineinterview with him.
Army@Love: The Art of War #1 (of 6): Rick Veitch is back for more satire of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This time, each cover parodies a famous work of art.
Manhunter #33: This is part 3 of "Forgotten," a take on the mysterious killings of more than 450 women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Read more here.
The Amory Wars II
#3 (of 5): A Lone Star Comics employee told me that Coheed and Cambria fans were shaking and crying when Claudio Sanchez, the band's lead singer and this comic's writer, signed autographs there Friday.
Oh no he didn't - Anderson Cooper had some not-so-nice things to say about Ali Lohan, the one who hasn't been to rehab (yet), while guest-hosting on Live with Regis and Kelly today. Dina Lohan, mother of the year, had to respond, saying his comments were "bad karma." Ooh, ouch.
Acclaimed comic book painter Alex Ross debuted this image of Barack Obama during Comic-Con International, and you can already buy it on a T-shirt. If you need further evidence that Ross leans to the left, check out his older T-shirts available through Graphitti Designs.
Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Friday aired its Comic-Con report featuring Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. At about the 6:10 mark, Dallas-area cartoonist Scott Kurtz ends up in Triumph's crosshairs.
I'm one of only a half-dozen people in America who haven't been to the new Batman movie, but I do know this: Some are wondering what's up with the Dark Knight's voice.
Critics have compared Christian Bale's superhero voice to "the offspring of Clint Eastwood and a grizzly bear."
"His Batman rasps his lines in a voice that's deeper and hammier than ever," said NPR's David Edelstein.
And MSNBC reviewer Alonso Duralde, in a goofy metaphor that was surely lost on 90 percent of the population, wrote that "Bale affects an eerie rasp, somewhat akin to Brenda Vaccaro doing a Miles Davis impression."
What do you think: Is Batman's voice too deep and raspy? It seems to me that from a pure crime-fighting perspective, an overly deep voice would certainly beat a helium-fueled shriek when it comes to intimidating evildoers.
The New York Times had a great story Sunday on former Richardson resident David Gordon Green. The acclaimed film director, who used to sell popcorn and clean theaters with me at the AMC Glen Lakes, is about to hit the big time with his first commercial picture, the stoner action/comedy Pineapple Express. The Times sums it up like this:
Mr. Green, who lives in New Orleans, found himself, on a recent visit to New York, staring up at a Midtown billboard of his movie. The billboard alone has probably been seen by more people than his body of work to date.
Actor Morgan Freeman is hospitalized in Memphis in serious condition after being injured in a car accident in Mississippi. The 71-year-old was airlifted to the hospital after his car swerved from the road and flipped several times late Sunday. Rescue crews reportedly had to use the jaws of life to extract Freeman from the vehicle.
Jersey Boys isn't your typical musical. It's more of a "a play with a rock concert added in," says Joseph Leo Bwarie (above), the 30-year-old actor who plays Frankie Valli in the national touring production of the Tony Winning show.
It covers the sensational career of Valli and the Four Seasons, and it's equal parts biopic-style drama and eye-opening musical performances. Even though most of the songs in the show came out during our parents' childhoods, you'll be surprised at how many of them you know by heart. The musical is at Fair Park Music Hall until Aug. 16 -- get tickets if you can.
You might have seen my Q&A with Bwarie in today's Quick, but after the jump is the unabridged version. Enjoy!
The latest issue of People magazine, on newsstands Monday, features photos of the twins of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. And they look like ... regular human babies. Seriously, why does anyone get worked up over celebrity baby pictures?
Some sad news out of Hollywood today: Christina Applegate has been diagnosed with breast cancer. But her publicist says the disease was caught early, and the 36-year-old Samantha Who? actress is expected to make a full recovery.
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