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eepstein, I disagree, Colin County is the Williamson county of the metroplex. The Northern suburbs of Dallas are my definition of how God prepares white people for Hell. It is hot enough and every second restaurant is an Olive Garden, treeless, the stench of cow **** has barely gone and some of the largest stretches of ticky tacky tract housing in the world. You could be anywhere in sunbelt America. If I were to choose to live in such architectural horror, I would choose Katy/Sugarland outside Houston - same class homogeny but much more racial diversity, better food, no tornados and the west side of Houston is less likely to flood than much of that city - a tad more humidity - good for the skin and much better soil for gardening, and no snow. Unfortunately there is nothing in the Austin MSA like Tarrant county. I wish Round Rock or San Marcos or Georgetown were like Fort Worth which has much better cultural institutions than Dallas - the Modern Art Museum in Forth Worth makes the Nasher look like a sculpture theme park, the Kimball is arguably the best small art museum in the world, and the Bass concert hall is the premiere classical music venue in Texas. Having given credit where it is due, DFW remains a good place to buy and display culture but for the 4th largest MSA in the U.S., it is a very weak place to make it. Dallas may have the largest arts district in Texas, but I cannot think of a single major Dallas artist. Eryka Baduh is the most interesting cultural producer in DFW, and she is based in South Dallas. Both Houston and small little Austin have much more vibrant creative scenes. Who is the Richard Linklater, Richard Rodriguez, or Terrence Mallick of Dallas? The film scene in Austin is of international significance. There is nothing like South by Southwest in Dallas or even Austin City Limits. Dallas is a good business town but it rates very low on creative class indices. It is staggering to me that the 4th largest MSA in the USA does not have a single research 1 university or anything that can remotely compare with the the Harry Ransom Center at UT in Austin. SMU has a respectable law and business school, but not a single top 100 liberal arts or natural sciences graduate program. Rice, with a mere 2000 or so students, has several! The theatre district in Houston stages original productions - 90% of theatre in DFW is touring repertory companies. Houston is a far better eating town across the board, and while I would claim that the average Chinese, Indian, French restaurant in Dallas is better than its Austin equivalent, for what Texas does well- BBQ and Tex-Mex, Austin is better. And for Tex-Mex food San Antonio is way better. I have not found a Mexican (not Tex-Mex) restaurant in DFW that can hold a candle to La Condesa in downtown Austin.( I am in Dallas quite often, so I want suggestions) Uchi on South Lamar is arguably the only destination dining in the state of Texas, and the food cart scene in central and East Austin is totally deserving of all the national attention it gets. Expensive food in Dallas tends towards the genre of stuffy nouvelle high class boarding school food - Mansion on Turtle Creek etc. While Italian food in the state of Texas generally makes me weep, Il Sogno in San Antonio is a fantastic restaurant. DFW has no equivalent. While I could very happily live in many places in the city of Dallas - Lakewood, Deep Ellum, Knox-Henderson, Oaklawn, North Oak Cliff etc and in downtown Fort Worth, 80% of the metroplex is beyond dull. Austin has many problems, but for the amenities I care about, food, living rather than ossified artistic production and its intangibles - tone,style,vibe, it impresses me that a much smaller city beats out its big sister a few hundred miles to the north. Texans generally dress atrociously. What makes Dallas worse to me is that there they think they don't. In Austin, San Antonio and Houston, no-one cares, in Dallas they iron their jeans, don fur coats when it hits 50 degrees, and put on make up to drive to the Walgreens and think they are stylish. The Milan of southern Oklahoma indeed! DFW compared to Austin has economies of scale, so there is more interesting stuff to do, but it is kinda of in the mode of throw enough dung against the wall and some of it will stick. While Austin also has its miles of clap-board dormitories for grown-ups, it is less defined by these, and proportionately has quite a bit more going on! Houston remains for me the most interesting, cosmopolitan and maybe sophisticated city in Texas. Austin and Dallas, in very different ways, both try a little too hard. I find Austin's attachment to its faux weirdness more interesting than than metroplex's attachment to its faux sophistication. That is what I think is at stake in this comparison.
Dallas does have famous artists. JD Miller, Phillip Romano, Leroy Roper, and Mary Vernon. Do some research on them. And then you shall find yourself corrected. George Fowler is young but very much respected in Texas.
Actually Dallas does have extremely large music events: The Wildflower Arts and Music 3 day festival is featuring Los Lonely Boys, MuteMath, CandleBox, Toad The Wet Spocket, Cowboy Mouth, and Vince Neil (Motley Crue fame) plus battle of the bands, tribute bands, and other events. It happens annually with different headliners each year.
Shakespeare in the park features progressive and alternative variations of Shakespeare: Home | Shakespeare Dallas
Quote:
Originally Posted by homeinatx
I wish Round Rock or San Marcos or Georgetown were like Fort Worth which has much better cultural institutions than Dallas - the Modern Art Museum in Forth Worth makes the Nasher look like a sculpture theme park, the Kimball is arguably the best small art museum in the world, and the Bass concert hall is the premiere classical music venue in Texas. Having given credit where it is due, DFW remains a good place to buy and display culture but for the 4th largest MSA in the U.S., it is a very weak place to make it. Dallas may have the largest arts district in Texas, but I cannot think of a single major Dallas artist. Eryka Baduh is the most interesting cultural producer in DFW, and she is based in South Dallas. Both Houston and small little Austin have much more vibrant creative scenes. Who is the Richard Linklater, Richard Rodriguez, or Terrence Mallick of Dallas? The film scene in Austin is of international significance. There is nothing like South by Southwest in Dallas or even Austin City Limits. Dallas is a good business town but it rates very low on creative class indices. It is staggering to me that the 4th largest MSA in the USA does not have a single research 1 university or anything that can remotely compare with the the Harry Ransom Center at UT in Austin. SMU has a respectable law and business school, but not a single top 100 liberal arts or natural sciences graduate program. Rice, with a mere 2000 or so students, has several! The theatre district in Houston stages original productions - 90% of theatre in DFW is touring repertory companies. Houston is a far better eating town across the board, and while I would claim that the average Chinese, Indian, French restaurant in Dallas is better than its Austin equivalent, for what Texas does well- BBQ and Tex-Mex, Austin is better. And for Tex-Mex food San Antonio is way better. I have not found a Mexican (not Tex-Mex) restaurant in DFW that can hold a candle to La Condesa in downtown Austin.( I am in Dallas quite often, so I want suggestions) Uchi on South Lamar is arguably the only destination dining in the state of Texas, and the food cart scene in central and East Austin is totally deserving of all the national attention it gets. Expensive food in Dallas tends towards the genre of stuffy nouvelle high class boarding school food - Mansion on Turtle Creek etc. While Italian food in the state of Texas generally makes me weep, Il Sogno in San Antonio is a fantastic restaurant. DFW has no equivalent.
You nailed it homeinatx. However, UNT does have several topnotch grad programs. Not as many as UT, but the Counseling program is number 1 in the state and number 14 nationwide.
MMM Austin Barbeque. Which is your favorite. I really loved Ruby's and The County Line.
And for Tex Mex, you can't beat San Antonio. I love La Margarita in Market Square.
artsyguy, I am interested in the Wildflower Festival. At what time of year does this take place. That sounds like something I might be willing to drive an hour or more for
UNT has top music, art, film, geology, play therapy, and counseling programs.
UT is tier one but tier one has to do with the publish or perish system that helps the department attain grants. Most research that is published is trivial and inane. Peer review is also trivial because it is biased to a particular ideology and or political view. None of that has anything to do with the quality of the instruction or the customer service.
Dr. Gary Landreth of UNT fame is a world-famous psychologist. There isn't anyone like that at the UT-Austin psychology department.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jenamanie
You nailed it homeinatx. However, UNT does have several topnotch grad programs. Not as many as UT, but the Counseling program is number 1 in the state and number 14 nationwide.
MMM Austin Barbeque. Which is your favorite. I really loved Ruby's and The County Line.
And for Tex Mex, you can't beat San Antonio. I love La Margarita in Market Square.
artsyguy, I am interested in the Wildflower Festival. At what time of year does this take place. That sounds like something I might be willing to drive an hour or more for
The county line is much better in San Antonio. But it is excellent BBQ for sure! I found the portions in Austin to be too tiny and customer service was too snooty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jenamanie
You nailed it homeinatx. However, UNT does have several topnotch grad programs. Not as many as UT, but the Counseling program is number 1 in the state and number 14 nationwide.
MMM Austin Barbeque. Which is your favorite. I really loved Ruby's and The County Line.
And for Tex Mex, you can't beat San Antonio. I love La Margarita in Market Square.
Um no. Collin county shares very little if anything with Williamson County. Collin County is the richest county in the entire state and among the 50 richest counties in the country! The median household income and overall education levels are also VERY high in Collin County. Williamson County is FAR poorer, and less educated. It has no large industries, or any high tech to speak of (ok I guess other than Dell). In Dallas, when you goto the northern suburbs, they are a joy to be in. In Austin, you are best staying as close to downtown as you can.
However, both counties are HORRENDOUSLY conservative. I think the only county I ever lived in more conservative and republican than Williamson County was El Paso County, Colorado.
Quote:
Originally Posted by homeinatx
eepstein, I disagree, Colin County is the Williamson county of the metroplex. The Northern suburbs of Dallas are my definition of how God prepares white people for Hell. It is hot enough and every second restaurant is an Olive Garden, treeless, the stench of cow **** has barely gone and some of the largest stretches of ticky tacky tract housing in the world. You could be anywhere in sunbelt America. If I were to choose to live in such architectural horror, I would choose Katy/Sugarland outside Houston - same class homogeny but much more racial diversity, better food, no tornados and the west side of Houston is less likely to flood than much of that city - a tad more humidity - good for the skin and much better soil for gardening, and no snow. Unfortunately there is nothing in the Austin MSA like Tarrant county. I wish Round Rock or San Marcos or Georgetown were like Fort Worth which has much better cultural institutions than Dallas - the Modern Art Museum in Forth Worth makes the Nasher look like a sculpture theme park, the Kimball is arguably the best small art museum in the world, and the Bass concert hall is the premiere classical music venue in Texas. Having given credit where it is due, DFW remains a good place to buy and display culture but for the 4th largest MSA in the U.S., it is a very weak place to make it. Dallas may have the largest arts district in Texas, but I cannot think of a single major Dallas artist. Eryka Baduh is the most interesting cultural producer in DFW, and she is based in South Dallas. Both Houston and small little Austin have much more vibrant creative scenes. Who is the Richard Linklater, Richard Rodriguez, or Terrence Mallick of Dallas? The film scene in Austin is of international significance. There is nothing like South by Southwest in Dallas or even Austin City Limits. Dallas is a good business town but it rates very low on creative class indices. It is staggering to me that the 4th largest MSA in the USA does not have a single research 1 university or anything that can remotely compare with the the Harry Ransom Center at UT in Austin. SMU has a respectable law and business school, but not a single top 100 liberal arts or natural sciences graduate program. Rice, with a mere 2000 or so students, has several! The theatre district in Houston stages original productions - 90% of theatre in DFW is touring repertory companies. Houston is a far better eating town across the board, and while I would claim that the average Chinese, Indian, French restaurant in Dallas is better than its Austin equivalent, for what Texas does well- BBQ and Tex-Mex, Austin is better. And for Tex-Mex food San Antonio is way better. I have not found a Mexican (not Tex-Mex) restaurant in DFW that can hold a candle to La Condesa in downtown Austin.( I am in Dallas quite often, so I want suggestions) Uchi on South Lamar is arguably the only destination dining in the state of Texas, and the food cart scene in central and East Austin is totally deserving of all the national attention it gets. Expensive food in Dallas tends towards the genre of stuffy nouvelle high class boarding school food - Mansion on Turtle Creek etc. While Italian food in the state of Texas generally makes me weep, Il Sogno in San Antonio is a fantastic restaurant. DFW has no equivalent. While I could very happily live in many places in the city of Dallas - Lakewood, Deep Ellum, Knox-Henderson, Oaklawn, North Oak Cliff etc and in downtown Fort Worth, 80% of the metroplex is beyond dull. Austin has many problems, but for the amenities I care about, food, living rather than ossified artistic production and its intangibles - tone,style,vibe, it impresses me that a much smaller city beats out its big sister a few hundred miles to the north. Texans generally dress atrociously. What makes Dallas worse to me is that there they think they don't. In Austin, San Antonio and Houston, no-one cares, in Dallas they iron their jeans, don fur coats when it hits 50 degrees, and put on make up to drive to the Walgreens and think they are stylish. The Milan of southern Oklahoma indeed! DFW compared to Austin has economies of scale, so there is more interesting stuff to do, but it is kinda of in the mode of throw enough dung against the wall and some of it will stick. While Austin also has its miles of clap-board dormitories for grown-ups, it is less defined by these, and proportionately has quite a bit more going on! Houston remains for me the most interesting, cosmopolitan and maybe sophisticated city in Texas. Austin and Dallas, in very different ways, both try a little too hard. I find Austin's attachment to its faux weirdness more interesting than than metroplex's attachment to its faux sophistication. That is what I think is at stake in this comparison.
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