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Dallas Comic Con, In A New Location, Takes Over Downtown This Weekend

Heath/Flickr
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flickr.com/photos/heathbar/
William Shatner is among the stars who will be at the Dallas Comic Con this weekend.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Get ready for Comic Con; meet a traffic buddy named Conezilla; St. Vincent to appear on “Saturday Night Live;” and more.

Dallas Comic Con has exploded in popularity in recent years – it’s gotten so big that it needed more space and it’s moved from Irving to downtown Dallas. William Shatner and LeVar Burton are among the stars who will be greeting the crowds at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. The comic book convention runs Friday through Sunday.The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports: “This year’s guest list includes Nightmare’s Robert Englund (aka Freddy Krueger) and Heather Langenkamp; more than a half-dozen TNG stars including Burton and Texas’ Brent Spiner (but no Patrick Stewart); a similar number of Firefly stars, including Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau; The Walking Dead’s David Morrissey, Michael Rooker and Emily Kinney; Back to the Future’s Christopher Lloyd; Fast Times at Ridgemont High’s Judge Reinhold; and Marvel comic-book legend Stan Lee. Oh, and Alice Cooper.” Read previews from The Dallas Morning News and The Dallas Observer.

  • Meet Conezilla – a unique creature that's been greeting motorists on Interstate 35E in Denton. “Construction workers quietly have built and placed ‘barrel monsters’ along the roadway south of the Lewisville Lake bridge to bring some smiles to motorists and attention to safety in work zones for Safety Week,” the Denton Record-Chronicle reports. Workers used orange traffic barrels and safety cones to make their creations. While Safety Week ended earlier this week, the barrel monsters are up through Friday. You can vote for your favorite no the 35Express Facebook page.

  • The 2014 Spring Modern Home Tour takes place Saturday and features four modern homes. The Saturday self-guided driving tour runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. A preview party will happen at 6 p.m. Friday. This year’s tour showcases homes in the Park Cities, North Dallas and the Design District. One house is the 1938 “Rose House” designed by Dallas architect Howard Meyer, who’s best-known for his work on Temple Emanu-El. The house is one of the oldest surviving examples of his modernist designs, organizers say. Click here for more details, including how to buy tickets to the reception and tour.

  • Lake Highlands native St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, will be the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. She’ll appear on Saturday’s show, the season finale, hosted by Andy Samberg. Catch up on her latest music here and here and here.Here’s a promo:

(Photo Credit: Heath/Flickr)

Eric Aasen is KERA’s managing editor. He helps lead the station's news department, including radio and digital reporters, producers and newscasters. He also oversees keranews.org, the station’s news website, and manages the station's digital news projects. He reports and writes stories for the website and contributes pieces to KERA radio. He's discussed breaking news live on various public radio programs, including The Takeaway, Here & Now and Texas Standard, as well as radio and TV programs in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.