Enrollment is now open for the Dallas Observer's Fifth Annual MasterMind Awards.

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Dallas Arboretum

This year, the oppressive Texas summer decided to stick around well into November. The temperatures have been high, but this week, we've skipped right from summer to winter. During the six preceding months, it hasn't exactly been easy for Dallasites to do outdoorsy things without worrying about losing half of their enitre body weight in sweat.

But now, finally (and mercifully) fall...errr, freezing temps... have arrived. Turn off the Netflix reruns of Gilmore Girls that you've been immersed in and get out and explore these eight non-summer activities.

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Undermain Theatre

See a bunch of bad bitches take on Russian folklore.

At Undermain Theatre, a new play puts a kickass spin on folklore. In Los Angeles-based playwright Meg Miroshnik's The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls an American woman returns to her home country, Russia, to study abroad. Upon arrival, the story takes an absurdist twist and the young girl quickly realizes that she'll have to be the heroine in this story. See the play at 7:30 p.m. Thursday or 8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets start at $10. More information at undermaintheatre.org.

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Courtesy Erica Felicella

Mixmaster presents "100 Creatives," in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order.
Erica Felicella is endlessly likable. That she would be a driving force behind one of the city's coolest art events comes as little surprise after spending an afternoon with her. This executive director of Art Conspiracy is intelligent, grounded, and friendly. And she really cares about the community.

In all aspects of her life, she's invested in engaging both local artists and the general public. But nothing seems forced. Her work as a performance artist is brave and thoughtful, and she is one of the biggest cheerleaders of Dallas and its arts scene. She chatted with Mixmaster in anticipation of this weekend's Art Con X, and this interview is excerpted from that larger conversation.

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Ed Blackburn's Ancient History
I find myself pointing to shows at Mountain View College's Cliff Gallery quite a bit recently. I'm not sure if it's just a string of good shows, recently acquired awareness of the space, or if the programming has seen an uptick. Regardless, this weekend the space opens another interesting show. Fort Worth-based artist Ed Blackburn demonstrates interest in using his painting to tell stories. His pieces in Ancient History tell the stories of a man man unwilling to accept a repressive program who gets thrown into a lion's den and a woman who uncovers a genocide plot. See it in the opening reception from 6-8 p.m. Friday. Artist remarks at 6:30 p.m. More information.

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It's a special The Daily Show edition of the Voice Film Club podcast, as we talk about Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher (starring Steve Carell) and move onto Rosewater, the movie Jon Stewart left The Daily Show for three months in 2013 to direct. Both are in theaters starting November 14.

Here's a full rundown of this week's podcast. Click on the links to read more about each topic.

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Francisco Moreno

WCD (Washington Crossing the Delaware)

It's not every day you get a press release in your inbox that makes you believe in this "world class city" business people in Dallas are always talking about. But today, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra announced its plans for the inaugural Soluna Festival, a 3-week performing and visual arts feast of local and international artists. And from the sound of it, this festival has the potential to make Dallas a destination during the month of May.

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Can Turkyilmaz

Put your bidding hat on.

Art Conspiracy, the coolest art party in Dallas, started a decade ago as a way to raise money for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The brainchild of two Dallas culture-philes, Jason Roberts and Sarah Jane Semrad, that first year a small team cleaned up the then-vacant Texas Theatre, hung the paintings of a handful of local artists, and the community poured in to bid on the work and enjoy the music and company. Named after the conspiracies in Dallas history, Art Con organizers set out to prove that artists could make significant contributions.

Gritty and unpolished, the unpretentious party was an immediate success and continues to grow. Now, with year-round events, the nonprofit organization has raised more $250,000 for a variety of local charities. And if Art Con's executive director, Erica Felicella, were to pinpoint how they've found success, it would be the dedication and the enthusiasm of the artists and the volunteers involved in the event.

"We're the people's arts organization," Felicella says. "From the very first year, I can't think of any way to fully describe the excitement of Art Con and this is a big year for us. It's for the city, it's for the community, it's for the beneficiary, and this year, it's also our birthday."

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Rockitallway.tumblr.com

By Amy McCarthy & Jaime-Paul Falcon
It's hard out there for the single people in Dallas to find a worthy date. After you've exhausted the pool at OkCupid, done a few speed dating events, and struck out at every bar in Dallas, the handheld meat-market that is Tinder is a particularly attractive option. More of you than ever are swiping left and right until Cupid's arrow strikes after having a few too many drinks, which means that there is a ripe pool of also-drunk people who are single and ready to e-mingle whenever you're down.

Of course, that also means that there are certain types of people that you meet on an app that chooses a match based on what a person's face looks like. This list of the 15 types of weirdos, freaks, and semi-normal people that you're most likely to find on Dallas-Fort Worth Tinder is highly scientific. We rigorously tested our theories by adding the app to our phones, drinking a lot, and swiping like we were trying to decide between having Uber hit Taco Cabana, or just take us straight home. Take a look, see if you recognize yourself, and if you do, well at least you know that you are not alone.

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Contempo Designs

The Dallas World Trade Center, unfortunately.

We're on an architectural hunt to find the fugliest building in Dallas. The first contender was the AT&T building in East Dallas.

I get stuck in Dallas traffic a lot. It could be typical 8 a.m. rush hour, the noon feeding frenzy or a random 2 p.m. hate spiral of "Hey, let's all look at a dead skunk on the side of the road like it's the damn Mona Lisa." It always sucks, and it always ends in an existential crisis. But there's one place I hate being stuck more than any other. On I-35E North, right around the Oak Lawn Ave. exit. Why? Because right there off the highway is the squat, sad, god-awful, fugly Dallas World Trade Center building.

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