MISS INDEPENDENT: Kelly Clarkson is receiving a lot of media attention these days with a new album on the way. But its her authenticity and strong connection to fans that landed the pride of Burleson on the cover of the arts section in Sunday’s New York Times. “For a decade, Ms. Clarkson has been belting power-pop hits like “I Do Not Hook Up” and “Since U Been Gone,” and dismissing withering criticism of her weight,” Jan Hoffman writes in the story. “As a result, her fans have built a distinctive relationship with her: less that of conventional adulation than of identification and admiration.” Clarkson’s album, Stronger, is out this week, and over on Front Row, Hunter Hauk breaks it down song-by-song.

IN THE COSTUME SHOP: Sunday is your last opportunity to see the Dallas Opera’s Lucia Di Lammermoor. And if you appreciate the detail put into a production like this, then this sounds like a must-see. That’s because the costumes were designed by one of the opera world’s great costume designers, Peter J. Hall, who died last year. On theaterjones.com, Gregory Sullivan Isaacs visits the opera’s costume shop to learn more about how they are created and cared for.

MOO-VING VIOLATION: Between Most Eligible Dallas, The A-List Dallas and Top Chef Texas, a number of reality shows have called North Texas home of late. That’s great for the locals in the industry who get hired to work on those shows. But these shows’ reliance on shots of random cows to broadcast to the audience “We’re in Texas!” has gotten on Cary Darling’s nerves. “Every episode — and even the commercials — feature random shots of our four-legged friends, as if dusty cattle drives down McKinney Avenue in Dallas or West Seventh Street in Fort Worth are facts of life,” he writes on dfw.com.