You asked, here it is.

Photo: Heritage Auctions

Every once in a while, I kick around on Dallas’ Heritage Auctions site, secretly pining from items that I have no use for/ my bank account can’t support. This is one of those items.

I spent my childhood like most boys born in the 80s: mimicking the every moves of Calvin Whateverhislastnameis. I bought every book, and literally almost cried when Bill Watterson hung up his pen.

But, if you’re like me, a $14,000 bid  for the original watercolor for the 1989-1990 Calvin and Hobbes calendar is not feasible. In fact, it would be so irresponsible that my soon-to-be wife would quickly become my never-to-be wife. That said, the People offices are at 750 N. St. Paul Street, Dallas, TX, 75201. We’re on the 21st floor, and we always accept gifts.

Humor me for a moment as I put on my gossip columnist hat and entertain a little rumor. It’s not often that I get a phone call where someone dishes out dirt — that’s the kind of stuff I generally have to dig up myself.

Most commonly, phone calls and emails come flooding in about games won, galas well danced, and other joyous occasions. But yesterday, I got a call about the Junior Symphony Ball that included such memorable and visceral descriptions as “walking through vomit in cowboy boots,” “drunk fest,” and “complete orgy.” The caller, whose daughter attended the Jan. 28 ball, said chaperones turn a blind eye to alcohol and drug use, and that the event has been declining in decorum for years.

This all falls in stark contrast to the JSB that Michelle Duncan, co-chair of the event, attended.

“The things she’s attesting to are really not correct,” Duncan said.

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We’ve told you previously about Jesuit booking big acts such as Randy Travis and Clint Black for its homecoming festivities. But St. Mark’s takes the cake by securing an appearance by Ben Stiller at its Celebrate St. Mark’s fundraiser. I wonder if Stiller is aware that Owen Wilson — his co-star in 10 films, including Starsky and Hutch, The Royal Tenenbaums, and the Meet the Parents series — was once expelled from St. Mark’s.

NASA's Orion spacecraft slides under the Tollway Friday. (Photo: Strauss Marketing)

Don’t worry, there were no little green men driving the truck.

The above photo (h/t Strauss Marketing) is of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will stop in Dallas tonight as part of a cross-country tour. The photo was taken at Lovers and the Tollway.

Check out the interstellar ride outside the American Airlines Center this weekend, and for more information about the tour, visit NASA.

The Associated Press reports that Winklevoss portrayer Armie Hammer, formerly of Highland Park, spent a day in jail over 0.02 ounces of marijuana, three medicinal marijuana cookies, and a brownie. Sounds like he’s beating those munchies to the punch.

Every weekend, my fiancee and I go on a bike ride. It’s usually at White Rock Lake, but yesterday (because I’m selfish and wanted to watch football) we opted for the neighborhood alternative, the Katy Trail.

I’ve talked about the Katy Trail before, and I generally love it. It’s clean (most of the time), safe, and well-lit. Yesterday, it was like a Turkish bazaar.

There were kids fighting with bamboo swords outside of Katy Trail Ice House, a middle-schooler scaling the rocks near the AAC, and, over the course of our two hour ride, at least three separate Dallas Fire and Rescue squads aiding sick trail users.

When I go to the Katy Trail, I always expect it to be crowded. I know that going in. But yesterday it was like Dirk Nowitzki was signing autographs at one end, and they were handing out free Porsches at the other. Anyone else out there see the same thing?

(P.S.- At least two of the people aided by Fire and Rescue eventually walked away on their own strength. So I’m not a total monster for mentioning it.)

Junior Symphony Ball chairmen work on invitations.

Attention, high school students: Today is the deadline to buy tickets for the Junior Symphony Ball, featuring the Casey Donahew Band. The event is scheduled from 8 to midnight on Jan. 28 at the (gulp) Palladium Ballroom. Tickets are $75, and the funds raised allow special-needs students to attend Dallas Symphony Orchestra concerts at no charge. Over the last four years, the Junior Symphony Ball has raised close to $200,000. To buy tickets, email Karen Reeder at reeder.karenm@gmail.com.

You know what my Thursday nights could use more of? Tango dancing. The Argentinian art is sorely lacking from my social calendar. Luckily, I found a way to remedy this.

Vapiano, an Italian restaurant in Mockingbird Station, is offering a free tango lesson and dance party tomorrow evening. The  lesson is from 8:30 to 9 p.m., and the party kicks off directly after and runs to 11.

A weekend light painting project found some different uses for a blank CD. Items and tools needed for this project include a digital DSLR camera, a black sheet or table cloth, an eye dropper or a tool capable of creating small droplets of water, various gels for a camera flash unit, a tripod and mag lights, LED lights or flashlights. I used mag lights in the photos taken this weekend. A very dark room, garage etc is also needed. Light painting is essentially a photographic technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source or by moving the camera. In this case I slowly moved a mag light around the CD. Ironically keeping the camera as still as possible was the goal here, hence the tripod. With you DSLR set it to “bulb” and play around with f stops. I found myself using f11 to f18 to get the results below. These were taken with a Nikon D200, ISO 100-200. I used a couple of storage bins to position my camera just above the CD and used a small zoom lens to focus in on the CD. As far as the streaks of blue and white light, I had my son wave the two LED mag lights to get the result. And there you have it some crazy, cool photos produced with some items laying around the house.

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