Back Talk Lake Highlands

Around the web: Donating blood, the Yugo, Google and the flu, TV heroes

A regular roundup of stuff that wouldn't necessarily make it on the blog, but is worth noting:

• Had to come to this, given the state of the economy. I saw my first donating blood to make ends meet story, in the Chicago Tribune. Said one person at a plasma donation center: "Instead of sitting at home watching TV, I can spend a couple hours and make some extra gas money. Everything is hard, it's all getting more expensive: gas of course, just the cost of living."

• Those of us a certain age remember the Yugo, quite possibly the worst car ever made. It ended production recently, and to much fanfare. Apparently, in its native Serbia, the Yugo is still well-respected: "This is driving in its most natural form," said one enthusiast. "You feel every bump, squeak and jolt, and one can enjoy the sweet smell of gasoline and exhaust fumes. No car can replace it."

• Want to know if we're having a flu epidemic? Check with Google. Google.org, the search company’s philanthropic unit, says it has a tool that may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu 10 days before they're reported by the federal government. The tool tracks hits on flu-related web sites, figuring that someone who is sick will search Google for symptoms, cures, and the like.

• Ed Bark, local TV critic and blogger extraordinaire, rates the toughest TV heroes of all time. Gunsmoke's Matt Dillon is No. 1, which seems a bit high. I'd think NYPD Blue's Andy Sipowicz (No. 7) could take Matt just by sneering at him.

Back Talk’s final day on this site

Starting Monday, the blog’s home will be on our new website. So far, so good -- not too many problems, and we appreciate everyone reporting bugs, oddities, and the like. Please, let us know if something isn't working.

This site will be turned off after today. There will be no new posts, and you won't be able to make comments on previous posts. But you will be able to read old posts. After the jump, everything you need to know as we finalize the transition.

Will Smith and Tony Romo: More on the slideshow

Thanks to Richardon ISD's communications director Liz Morse, I added a few more pics to the slideshow this morning, so you may want to take a look. (Everyone needs a Friday diversion, right?)

Speaking of slideshows, if you ever have photos of a neighborhood event, we'd love to create a slideshow of them on our multimedia page. Just let us know at blog@advocatemag.com. Or if you have general photos of your kids, pets or life in the neighborhood, upload them here, and we'll post them to the website.

Save-a-Lot on Abrams closes

The Save-a-Lot no-frills grocery store, at the corner of Northwest Highway and Abrams, didn't always smell quite right, but the produce was of good quality and cheap -- as much as one-third less as elsewhere. But when I went to buy onions over the weekend, the store was closed and cleaned out. Not even a fixture was left.

Save-a-Lot apparently closed the location quietly. I have a call in to the Missouri corporate headquarters to see if this was a one-store thing, or if the chain is pulling out of the Dallas market. It still has a half dozen stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including one on Ferguson near Buckner.

Back Talk is moving, Thursday edition

Frankly, I'm a little concerned. Not enough of you have changed your RSS and email subscriptions yet. If you don't do it this week, your subscription will end when the old site goes dark on Monday. It's easy, really -- just click a link or two and some basic typing. If you click the RSS link and get some code and not the form, close the page and click the link again. It should work the second time. We know about this, and we're trying to fix it.

After the jump, everything you need to know to re-subscribe and use the new site.

Frankie's is open again

Restaurant closings and openings and closing then re-openings are getting a little tough to keep up with around here. But I sure like the re-openings better than the closings. This afternoon, we told you that La Parrillada was reopen. Now I just got the latest Frankie's Li'l Europe newsletter that reads as follows:
"We Are Back Open and Happy to be Here! Sorry if We Missed You, Let Us Make it Up to You!"

Then it goes on to offer a FREE entree ... but you have to sign up for their newsletter to get in on that offer.

How Will Smith wound up at an LHHS pep rally

So the big question on everyone's minds after hearing that Will Smith and Tony Romo made a surprise visit to Lake Highlands High School's pep rally yesterday was, "Why?" According to Advocate columnist and RISD school board member Luke Davis, "this was, believe it or not, a cold call."

I talked to Davis, LHHS principal Walter Kelly and RISD spokeswoman Liz Morse today about the whirlwind of the celebrity visit. "Will Smith, apparently, when he goes to these towns promoting these movies, he likes to do good," Morse says. "He is philanthropic, and he knows that he can make a positive impact, and he particularly is interested in children."

Kelly says the school received a call Monday afternoon from the advertising agency representing the premiere of his new movie, "Seven Pounds", and was "basically looking for a high school had a high degree of school spirit." They were looking for an opportunity for Smith to speak to a lot of kids at once, Morse says, and with two Lake Highlands teams going to the playoffs, that was appealing to him.

Will Smith and Tony Romo video

YouTube is chock full of video this morning detailing yesterday's visit to Lake Highlands High School by the movie star and the Cowboys star. (Though no Jessica Simpson sightings, apparently). I counted four videos, and no doubt I missed several. This is from mnhaos.

I especially like Smith's sweater and tie look -- almost Richie Cunningham-like. And those cheerleaders in back of Smith? They are quite excited, aren't they?

Still on Cloud Nine from Romo and Smith's visit

     I couldn't sleep last night. Visions of Tony Romo and Will Smith were dancing in my head. I could hear the voices of LHHS students enjoying the day. "Oh my gosh, that was so cool!" said Sarah Thompson of the drill team. "Will Smith hugged me!" raved Caroline Snively of the volleyball team (thank you mom, Sid, for these great photos). "My friends and I watch Will Smith on Fresh Prince of Bel Air on reruns all the time. It was really nice of them to come out and help us get ready for the big game," said Travis Crawford, safety on the football team. "Everyone got loud when Will Smith was getting us pumped up, but we were all completely silent when he had something to say," remembered Austin Jones. "It was very exciting to meet them in person," cheerleader Eden Aune told me. "We got to touch them and ask them questions, and Tony said his pinkie would be 100% in two weeks."

"Tony Romo is my hero," said junior quarterback Ricky Zorn. "He never lets anything stop him - he always believes he can reach his goals." Paige Benton of the volleyball team agreed - "Will Smith was the nicest guy ever. He told us as a team to go after what we want fearlessly, which inspired us as the underdog team." Senior Andrew Atama was impressed - "Will Smith shared advice that Quincy Jones had given him. He said we need to be relentless to get where we want to go." What an amazing experience for these kids.

Back Talk is moving, Wednesday edition

Some shameless self-promotion for the Advocate and the blog as we get ready to switch to the new blog platform. Friday will be our last day at this address.

Karen Blessen, who designed our October 2007 magazine cover, won a Katie award for best magazine cover, beating every other magazine in town (including all the famous ones). That was our Trinity toll road referendum issue. Meanwhile, Outside.in has named Back Talk one of the top blogs in Dallas. That was nothing -- wait until they see what we do next with the new platform.

After the jump, everything you need to know to use the new site.