British Broadcasting Corporation

The Way We Die Now

Movie violence has never been better — or more reckless.

10 Songs That Will Pack Your Wedding Reception's Dance Floor

UK Papers Explain Strange Concept of "Basketball" & "March Madness" to Their Readers

President Obama took UK Prime Minister David Cameron to a play-in game for March Madness last night. As a result, newspapers in the UK had to explain just what the hell was going on. Basketball isn't big there -- it was the first time Cameron had ever seen a game -- so results were, well, scattered ... More >>

Lions Are People, Too

Kings of the jungle get the March of the Penguins treatment in African Cats.

Ask A (Producer For) Rapper(s)

Chris Rockaway​The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place - lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good - so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email introd ... More >>

Five Disturbing Films, Plus Five More For Good Measure

​I'm going to the unrated remake of I Spit On Your Grave next week. The original, I should point out, was rated "R", though I still doubt the new one will pack the same punch the first one did back in 1978 (Roger Ebert described sitting through it as "one of the most depressing experiences of ... More >>

This Week in TV: Football Season is Over

Friday Night Lights: Go Lions​One football season ended, another warmed up, and I am this close to canceling cable and just using the Internet. This was the week in TV Land: • I have never wanted a team to win a game as badly as I wanted the Lions to beat the Panthers in Friday's season fi ... More >>

i-Dosing: Can Downloading Music Get You High?

​What if recreational drugs were legally available and, better yet, digitally downloadable? You'd plug in your headphones, hit play, and melt away in digital ecstasy. Welcome to the world of i-Dosing. It's the new musical drug craze fascinating Web-surfing kids these days. Dosing sites claim ... More >>

Toy Story

How Transformers led to underground MC Mic Skills's rap career.

"Monkey With Arthritis": Top 10 Cattiest Musician Insults

​Think of Tony Bennett and you'll probably picture the kindly older gentleman crooning "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" and any number of other pop standards, or perhaps the guy who upstaged Alec Baldwin as "Anthony Benedetto" (his birth name) on a 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live, turnin ... More >>

Seeking Joy

Jill Scott returns to the studio after various screen projects and a son.

The Week In TV: Oh, How The Mighty [Simpsons] Have Fallen

I wash myself with a rag on a stick.​What the hell, let's jump right in: • Conan O'Brien's exit deal with NBC included a number of stipulations about when he could appear on TV again and when he could resume his late-night hosting duties for another outlet. Well, after a few months away, ... More >>

New On DVD: It's The End Of The World As We Know It, And John Cusack Feels Fine As He Cashes A Paycheck

​The only DVD released today that earned big bucks at the box office was the Sony Pictures apocalyptic thriller 2012. The year 2012 has long been predicted by various ancient cultures as the year the world will end (or at least end as we now know it). That idea's the basis for director Roland Emme ... More >>

Post-Valentine's Day Blues? San Antonio's Hyperbubble Will Cheer You Up

​This is the happiest music in the world. This is the best electronic album to come out of Texas since Asmodeus X's Morningstar. This is a like a synthpop version of The Wall. This is a really fucking awesome CD. Hyperbubble is a married keyboard/vocalist duo from San Antonio. They first came to R ... More >>

If Halloween Is Coming, So Are Offensive Costumes

​The "Illegal Alien" costume causing uproar amongst immigrant rights activists, anti-immigrant supporters and free speech advocates is the first major faux pas of this Halloween season. While anti-immigrant supporters are scrambling to find the costume, immigrant rights activists are calling for ... More >>

The Best ZZ Top Videos (We Could Find Online)

Not one but two gentlemen with long beards may be sneaking down your chimney today. They will leave memorabilia such as guitar picks and signed drumsticks, and if you've been a good boy or girl all year, may even give you a free guitar lesson. Instead of milk and cookies we're told they prefer Lone ... More >>

This Week in SXSW: Katy Perry Kisses the "Lake of Fire"

There's now less than a month to go until we here at Rocks Off throw sobriety and sane living to the wind at this year's SXSW festival. This past week we learned of a boatload of new stuff about the weeklong liver-damaging voyage in March, so here goes... The list of bands keeps growing and gro ... More >>

Tonight: Hayes Carll at Warehouse Live

Woodlands native turned Austin dweller Hayes Carll had an up-and-down year in 2008. His first Lost Highway release, Trouble In Mind, garnered worldwide attention. As he relaxed in the Ozarks with his in-laws before heading to Warehouse Live for tonight's gig with Band of Heathens a ... More >>

The Top 10 Reissues of 2008

[Note: This is the first in a series of articles that constitute Village Voice Media's year-end music package. The others - pop, indie-rock, dance mixes, Latin, country, alt-country/Americana, metal, rap/hip-hop and special graphics breaking down the year in charts and 2008's worst lyrics - will be ... More >>

The Specials and the Heyday of Houston Ska

There was a time, but a decade ago, when there were roving groups of "rude boys" running the Houston streets. They wore things like creepers, wingtips, high-water slacks and pork-pie hats. They "skanked" in moshpits and drank Red Stripes. They co-existed with the punks and the non-racist skins ... More >>

Remembering Elvis

No Country for Old Men, South Park: Imaginationland, Sleuth, Five Days

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Brave One, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Imitation of Life: Special Edition

Eels: Meet the Eels: Essential Eels Vol. 1Useless Trinkets

Al Stewart

The Best DVDs of 2007

They made old movies feel new again

Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week

Seasons in the Sun

Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week

Beat the Crowd

Marilyn Manson and Justin Timberlake

Is Manson a Justin fan?

Mexican-American Culture

Special Houston-Seattle Edition

Our top DVD picks for the week of January 11

Bond in a Bikini

Our top DVD picks for the week of February 28

Love at First Fight

This Pride & Prejudice brings fresh passion to an old love story

Bench Warmers

BBC and company push the hip-hop game at the Rhythm Room

Sole Sister

The Alley Theatre's Bad Dates is a shoe-in

Mute Button

Michael Keaton hears dead people living in White Noise

Dance, Dance Revolution

This was the year electronic dance music got its head --

and its ass -- out of the past

Dance, Dance Revolution

This was the year electronic dance music got its head -- and its ass -- out of the past

Just Cruisin' Along

Rent a Segway and roll down the seawall

Medley Fool

DJ Jester mixes and mashes up Willie Nelson, Ice-T, the Carpenters and LL Cool J

Hail to the Freak

Interesting times call for an interesting man of the year. We nominate Michael Jackson.

Best T-Shirt Designer

B-Boy Craig

Scar Wars

Austin's Vallejo performs at Whiskey Blues

Tipsy Gypsies

Gogol Bordello combines Balkan folk traditions with a theater of anarchy

Toy Story

The creators of Chicken Run find a little soul in a lump of clay

Postmodern Park

Canadian director Patricia Rozema makes a compelling case for her reinterpretation of Jane Austen

A Star in Reborn, Again

Former Houstonian Charles Kathryn McGuire has been a millionaire, a transvestite, a socialite, a political candidate and a woman. Now, with son James's first play on stage in New York City, she's Daddy Kathryn.