State Fair on the Cheap

How to get every discount imaginable for State Fair of Texas 2014

The 2014 State Fair of Texas starts its 24-day run at Fair Park on Friday, September 26. Smart fairgoers are on the hunt for any discounts or deals they can find to save a little cash.

Luckily there is no shortage of bargains to be had. Below are the myriad ways in which you can save money on State Fair of Texas tickets, which normally run $17 for general admission and $13 for seniors and kids under 48 inches tall.

Buy your tickets in advance
You can always get discounts at BigTex.com. This year the State Fair has a deal with Sonic Drive-In where if you enter the promo code "Sonic" when you order tickets online, you'll get $3 off any ticket through October 13. But because you can't print tickets at home or have them reserved at will call, the $8.95 you have to pay for shipping throws the discount part of it out the window unless you're buying three or more tickets.

A better suggestion would be the new digital ticket option available through DART's GoPass app. Not only do you save $2 on any ticket, your tickets are also right there on your phone, ready to be activated whenever you want to use them. With more convenience and no shipping fees, you can't beat this deal.

You can also save a little by buying advance tickets at your local Kroger. General admission tickets there cost $15.50, but no senior or children discounts are available. Keep in mind that kids 2 and under do not require a ticket.

Season passes
If you're planning on going to the State Fair three times or more, you owe it to yourself to buy a season pass. For only $39.95, you can romp around Fair Park as much as you like. The pass comes with a one-day-only guest ticket and a free ride on the Texas SkyWay and the Top o’ Texas Tower during special season pass holder events. Buying at Kroger saves you $5, as the pass is only $34.95 there.

North Texas Food Bank deals
Once again, there are multiple opportunities for you to get a discount while doing some good. Anyone who brings in a full 20-ounce Dasani water or Coca-Cola product on opening day gets in for $6. No cheating: Every person in your group must have a bottle to get the discount.

For an even better deal, every person who brings in at least three cans of food on Wednesdays gets in for $3. All food and drinks will be donated to the North Texas Food Bank.

Senior deals
Seniors 60 and over have it made in the shade — or the sun, more likely — as they can get into the fair for $4 off every single day. Even better, every Thursday — October 2, 9 and 16 — is Senior Day, meaning those lucky ducks get in for free.

Group tickets
This isn't an option for everyone, but if you're bringing a big group, you can rack up the savings. Groups of 20 or more get adult tickets for $13.50 each; $11 for seniors and kids. If your group is between 100-249 people, that price drops to $12 and $10. And if you're bringing a whopping 250 or more, it's only $11 and $9, respectively.

McDonald's coupons
The next time you eat at Mickey D's, make sure to check your tray liner or bag for State Fair coupons. You'll find ones for $3 off general admission any day, and ones that offer a $7 discount for kids when an adult pays full price.

Dr Pepper deals
Don't recycle those empty Dr Pepper cans. Save 'em up, as every person with one gets $5 admission on Tuesdays or $8 after 5 pm any day of the week.

Coca-Cola Thursdays
Coca-Cola repeats its opening-day deal every Thursday, except this one gives you a $6 admission price for any empty 20-ounce bottle.

KISS-FM Fridays
You can get $5 off general admission on Fridays simply by going to the KISS-FM website and printing a coupon for every member of your group. Discount does not apply to senior or children's tickets.

Dickies promotion
Many fairgoers have gotten used to wearing a piece of Dickies clothing on a specific day and getting in free, but the State Fair discontinued that promotion this year. Instead, anyone who purchases $75 or more worth of goods at the Dickies retail store in Fort Worth through October 6 will receive two free tickets to the fair.

Discount on Midway rides
Tuesdays seem to be the day to go, as you can get your $5 Dr Pepper ticket and then save more inside, where all rides except for thrill rides and the Texas Star are only six coupons. Because that gives you a savings of anywhere from $1-$3 per ride, that may be the best deal of all.

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Movie Review

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma gives horror a surreal twist

Photo courtesy of MUBI

Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

The horror genre really ramped up in the 1970s and ‘80s, bringing with it a new subgenre - the slasher - that gave audiences new visuals of gore, but also a reliance on sexism and homophobia that would come to define the era. The new film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma wrestles with that legacy in ways that are funny, thought-provoking, and downright strange.

Kris (Hannah Einbinder) is a queer filmmaker who has been hired to reboot the moldy IP that is the Camp Miasma franchise, one that was fresh in the 1970s but which numerous shlocky sequels have rendered irrelevant. In an attempt to get to know the property better, Kris has scored a meeting with the reclusive Billy (Gillian Anderson), the star of the original film who has shunned the public eye for decades.

Turns out that Billy lives deep in the woods at Camp Rivoli, which served as the location for the first film. As Kris tries to get to know Billy and convince her to be a part of the new film, she starts to fall under Billy’s spell and the lore of the franchise as a whole. That includes believing that the movie’s villain, Little Death - a transgender person who has an air conditioning vent as a head/mask - may not just be a character created for the movies.

Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), the film at first feels like it’s going to go the straight-up comedy route, with comic explosions of blood, a strange fascination with candy brands, and a production design that does nothing to hide that the two main actors are on a movie set with painted backdrops. This is backed up by Kris’ phone conversations with her girlfriend, Mari (Jasmine Savoy Brown) and her agent (Sarah Sherman), as well as numerous other details.

But the film starts to go down the surreal route the longer Kris stays at the camp with Billy, especially when they sit down to watch the original Camp Miasma. An extended sequence shows a good amount of that film-within-the-film, demonstrating why Kris and Billy have a love/hate relationship with the property. For Kris, though, the lines between the film and the real world start to blur, and Schoenbrun uses a variety of out-there elements to drive the point home.

The final act of the film can barely be described as Kris goes deeper down the rabbit hole, with Schoenbrun using her film to comment on the horror genre as a whole, its treatment of women and LGBT people, the movie industry, and more. All the while the “camp” of Camp Miasma maintains a presence, with candy wrappers showing up everywhere and the tongue-in-cheek references to Little Death (the French term La petite mort, which means “the little death,” is a euphemism for orgasm).

Einbinder, an Emmy winner for Hacks, is the perfect person to inhabit her role. Her established real-life and fictional personas color everything she does in the film, with her enthusiasm and curiosity shining through. Anderson leans heavily into another reference - Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard - to create a character that is as mysterious as she is alluring. Supporting actors like Brown, Sherman, Patrick Fischler, Dylan Baker, and Eva Victor keep the movie at the right pitch all the way through.

While other films have made fun of horror movie tropes before, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma finds a wholly unique way of doing so. It’s a funny and daring trip into the psyches of two women who may be victims of their own obsessions, and of the movies that made them that way.

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Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is now playing in select theaters

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