The 2012 Houston Web Awards

Best Food Truck Tweeter

The Modular

Sherman Hatton

Houston Texans linebacker Connor Barwin relaxes in his downtown apartment with his father's old acoustic guitar. Don't worry; he's not quitting sacking QBs for the coffeehouse circuit.

Lisa Ramirez

Christian Palmer strikes a serious pose in a Montrose thrift store.

Details

READ MORE: SIDEBAR: 2012 Houston Web Awards winners
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More About

• Houston Texans
• Connor Barwin
• AFC South
• Social Software and Tagging
• Internet

@themodular

"Friday we celebrate one year of ugly," says Joshua Martinez, owner of The Modular, on the food truck's recent one-year anniversary. Typically funny and self-deprecating but always helpful, The Modular directs food-truck fans to other mobile eateries besides their own when they're not out, lists its daily specials and schedule on the regular, and has even offered fans freebies for braving inclement weather.

Best Funniest Twitter Account

Christian Palmer

@pogsandjello

"I just saw a blood stain that looked like a tiny handlebar mustache. I also saw a hipster recently. Hipsters bleed mustaches. #conclusions." Christian Palmer's stream-of-consciousness ramblings can include anything from sexy photos of hamburgers, severed fingers, cheese puns or gumbo — but whatever her random topic of the hour, her sublimely bizarre updates (many in all caps) never fail to elicit at least a chuckle, if not an all-out guffaw.

Best Restaurant Facebook

Plonk

www.facebook.com/pages/Plonk-Beer-Wine-Bistro/163480087188

Plonk doesn't advertise; it doesn't have to. There isn't even a sign outside the Garden Oaks restaurant. All the info you'll ever need about Plonk and its generous wine-tasting events or weekend cookouts is posted on its constantly updated Facebook page. It's like your friend with all the insider info that you don't have to buy drinks for.

Best Restaurant Web Site

Feast

feasthouston.com

There is no more simple or streamlined restaurant Web site in town. There's no flash here, no music, no needless animations or endless pages of photos. Just the menu, updated daily, and the basic information you'll need (hours, maps, etc.) about one of Houston's most intriguing and exciting restaurants.

Best Wi-Fi Spot

Georgia's Market Downtown

georgiasdowntown.com

At this grocery store/eatery right off the light-rail line downtown, you can grab a seat in one of four areas and surf while you eat, sip coffee or drink a beer: in the sunny downstairs dining room, the aerie above it, the underground cellar/craft beer bar or the window-lined book nook above the dried goods in the grocery store, which is full of overstuffed chairs and great views of the downtown streets below.

Best Viral Video

Houston Police Officer Cocks and Chambers His Shotgun at Angry Crowd

youtu.be/UWL24c6-QKw

Back in January, the civil liberties advocacy group Houston Free Thinkers threw a fund-raiser concert in Third Ward for local charities and businesses, as they have been doing for a while now. There was a noise complaint from neighbors, and soon the Houston Police Department was on the scene in full force to investigate. What began as a routine visit from cops was being recorded by partygoers, and a cell-phone camera captured a member of the HPD menacingly cocking his shotgun at the angry crowd. The incident quickly went viral and became an outrage on YouTube and among local activists. As if tensions weren't already at a breaking point between the law and us regular folk.

Best Local Sports Star Twitter

Connor Barwin

@connorbarwin98

By now you all know the story of Houston Texans linebacker Connor Barwin and how he embraced the city of Houston with all his might. The towering ballplayer has quickly become a must-follow for locals and a certified member of the Bayou City Twitterati, and you don't even have to be a fan of his sport to find him endearing. Whether he's at a concert or a restaurant or gandering some street art, he offers an outsider's inside glimpse into the best and brightest spots in Houston. To follow him is to watch someone fall in love with our city one tweet at a time.

Best Fake Twitter Account

Fake John McClain

@FakeJohnMcClain

The scary thing about this fake Twitter account devoted to Houston Chronicle sports writer and sports-talk-radio mainstay John McClain is that the fake one doesn't deviate horribly from the real one. He looks like your uncle who's always the first to fall asleep in front of the television after Thanksgiving dinner, and this fake feed drives that image home. All the confusing claims and outrageous predictions you can handle.

Best Music Blog

CoogRadio

coogradio.com

The music blog of the University of Houston's student-run online radio station comes with oodles of playlists, videos, news and other things to keep you busy. Though it just launched in March — the blog, not the station — we can already tell it could shape up to be one of your first Internet destinations when you wake up and crawl to your laptop. There's a mixture of indie, hip-hop and local to keep you enthralled. Chances are they're at every cool show in town, too.

Best Twitterer

Bun B

@BunBTrillOG

Rap hero, man about town, food-truck connoisseur and Houstonian, Bun B is the best embodiment of what people love about our city and what keeps people coming back. Bun is constantly talking to fans, offering scene commentary, championing up-and-coming artists and tweeting pictures from his travels around the country. He's got a great Instagram feed, too, but hell, he can't win everything this year.

Tweet of the Year

Most people don't know this, but you can quietly be a Republican or a Democrat.