Arkansas Times

La belle vie

Your headline, "La belle vie" — is that French for "or how to steal from the saps back home"? I don't speak French but that's the attitude people like Ron Mathieu and "Mayor" Stodola must have after reading your article.

Make your mark

2010 saw write-in candidates galore.

• by David Koon

The Week That Was, Nov. 24-30, 2010

Good week: Razorbacks, Brian Muller, Sheffield Nelson, Cliff Lee. Bad week: Sen. Mark Pryor, North Little Rock electric customers, Ernie Passailaigue.

The Observer, Dec. 2

The Observer got a summons last week: Time for jury duty. We duly reported for the orientation and got the skinny on what our citizenship required of us.

Eye on Arkansas, Dec. 2

• by Brian Chilson

A different kind of Christmas

'I promised not to tell. He thought I wouldn't. But I did.'

• by Mara Leveritt

Wills' 'good deed'

House Speaker Robbie Wills mailed letters to all state political candidates following the general election. He congratulated winners and offered praise to losers for trying. When we say "all" candidates we mean "all."

Premium tickets

Ticket scalping is illegal in Arkansas, but it occurs. This weekend, some sold items of nominal value, with tickets thrown in, as a scalping avoidance device. A sign on one truck read: "Two Cokes for sale — $16,000. 16 game tickets included."

Flying good for business

Airport director defends travel.

• by Leslie Newell Peacock

Chemical disclosure

Commission may require frack fluid ID

• by Gerard Matthews.
• Tags: Arkansas Reporter, Hydraulic Fracturing, Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission, Sierra Club, Gas Drilling Regulations

Bare nubs

Here's another column of distilled wisdom for those with attention spans short already and getting shorter all the time. Pithy observations. Nuance-free. Money-back guarantee if you're not completely satisfied.

• by Bob Lancaster

President Huckabee

It is only a little premature to ponder the unthinkable, a Mike Huckabee presidential nomination and, yes, even a Huckabee presidency.

• by Ernest Dumas

They'll always have Paris

It has been revealed that an already warm relationship between the mayor's office and the Chamber of Commerce was heated further by a sumptuous dinner in Paris, paid for by those inveterate romantics, the taxpayers of Little Rock.

Words, Dec. 2

A TV announcer said the other day that the word "lateral" no longer appears in the football rulebook. What used to be called a "lateral" is now referred to as a "backward pass," he said. Disturbing news.

• by Doug Smith

Another good year for Chamber

Between Little Rock taxpayers and Little Rock sewer customers, the chamber receives $225,000 for an "economic development fund." How is it spent, precisely?

• by Max Brantley

Mark Pryor's rightward plunge

Mark Pryor is the luckiest politician in Arkansas and now he apparently also is the most nervous.

• by John Brummett

The return of Ralphie

The Rep brings 'A Christmas Story' to the stage.

• by Werner Trieschmann

The To-Do List, Dec. 2-7

Arkansas Times "Readers Night Out," Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey: "Illuscination," "The Controversy of Valladolid," Old 97s, Slobberbone, Michael Buble, Sweet Eagle, Eyehategod

• by Lindsey Millar and John Tarpley

New on Rock Candy, Dec. 2

Billy Bob Thornton says that he's finished a new script with old writing partner Tom Epperson called "Jayne Mansfield's Car" and plans to direct, probably this spring.

Hell on the border

Brent and Craig Renaud's new short-form documentaries on the drug-fueled violence in Juarez, Mexico debut Dec. 8, 9 and 10 on the New York Times website.

• by David Koon

Sex sells

But obscures the heft of 'Love and Other Drugs.'

• by Natalie Elliott

Book Notes, Dec. 2

Mark Spitzer, Marshall Chapman and other upcoming author events in and around Central Arkansas.

I could f-up a ball bearing

Would I trade the hours spent attempting to learn about Hegel or the Spanish-American War or metonymy for a touch of innate know-how in small engine, motor or electrical repair? God yes.

• by Graham Gordy

The biggest win of a year that isn't over

Arkansas fans should be getting pretty familiar with the odd Rube Goldbergian operations of the BCS this week.

• by Derek Jenkins

In Brief, Dec. 2-4

Blitzkid, Rodney Block and the Real Music Lovers, Sweetwater Abilene, Kingsdown, "High Society," Cody Belew and the Mercers.

Italian icon

Despite occasional misses, Graffiti's still holds up.

Ya Ya's Euro Bistro

If you're looking for a really nice dinner — a great place for a date, anniversaries, birthdays — and don't mind dropping a little change for it, then YaYa's is one of your best bets in Little Rock.

What's Cookin', Dec. 2

Fans of Greek breakfast rejoice. Leo's Greek Castle, home of breakfast gyros and gyro-meat omelets, is now serving breakfast (and lunch) on Sunday, from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Orval, Dec. 2, 2010

• by Tommy Durham

This Modern World, Dec. 2, 2010

• by Tom Tomorrow