Masters of Cyberspace

Jay Rascoe
@gunsandtacos

"Houston is the greatest city on Earth, if you know what you're doing."

Photo by Jeff Myers

From a downtown bank robbery to a beer fest bust, Kyle Nielsen is Houston's one-man muckraking machine.

Photo by Jeff Myers

Andrew Karnavas, a.k.a. AndyRoo, is using his social media contacts to launch a children's music career.

Details

READ MORE
BLOG POST: Cover Story: And The Houston Web Award Winners Are...
BLOG POST: Houston Web Awards: The Best Tweets From Last Night's Ceremony (Updated with Video!)
SLIDESHOW: The 2011 Houston Web Awards

Related Content

• It Came from the Bayou
  June 14, 2012
• Clown Shoes Clementine: Luxe and Reduxe
  July 26, 2012
• Restaurant Ejects Diner for Tweeting While Eating
  August 16, 2011
• KPRC's Toilet Hell: Now We Know Who Owen Conflenti Flipped the Bird to
  July 7, 2011
• Forget Kraftwerk, 5 Acts We'd Like To See In Houston Museums
  April 3, 2012

More About

• Kyle Nielsen
• AIGA Houston
• Juan Alanis
• Social Software and Tagging
• Internet

There are tweets about cats, babies, food and sports clogging up your Twitter timeline right now, no doubt. But then there are tweets like Jay Rascoe's back in March that remind you of why you love Houston. The taco enthusiast and budding beer connoisseur hit to the heart of why we love Houston. It's true, Houston really is the greatest city on Earth, if you play your cards right. We have art, food, music, beautiful people, mega amounts of international culture — now if we can just find a way to air-condition the damned thing.

Phosphorescence by OneEighteen on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/oneeighteen/5577592353

OneEighteen, also known as Louis Vest, is a pilot at the Houston Ship Channel. He uses his camera to document the industrial landscape of Houston's shipping inlet, and in this photo, captures bioluminescent microorganisms responding to the friction of a ship's bow. The photo is a perfect summation of his entire Flickr stream and of Houston as a whole, where beauty can be found in the most concrete of jungles.

Owen Conflenti
KPRC Houston

On the morning of January 31 around 9:20, when everyone was at work or sleeping off the weekend, local KPRC anchor Owen Conflenti was settling back in for a scheduled news update when, possibly forgetting about the evolving aspect ratio of modern high-definition, he gave a good-natured one-finger salute to someone off camera in the studio. By that afternoon, it was common knowledge around town as TiVo's were scanned for the offending gesture, and by that Thursday the Huffington Post and even the Daily Mail in the U.K were reporting on the incident. For once it was a relief to see Houston in the national spotlight for something harmless. No one was as offended as you would have imagined for a city with a church on most every block, and Conflenti still very much has a job at KPRC, and even went on to cover the Super Bowl in Dallas that next weekend. We give all of our good friends the finger. It's the new hug for the '10s. I'm giving you the finger right now.

The Bloggess Accidentally Spreads Christmas Cheer thebloggess.com/2010/12/thank-you-from-me-victor-hailey-anderson-cooper-and-james-garfield/

Last Christmas, Jenny "The Bloggess" Lawson offered a limited number of gift cards to people struggling during the holidays. The comment section rapidly became a free-for-all of heartbreaking stories of desperate financial need and acts of profound generosity.

craig.hlavaty@houstonpress.com