Design

Robert Ellis' New "Friends Like Those" Clip Uses Friends Like Yours

This week Robert Ellis released an interactive clip for his latest single "Friends Like Those" off of his 2011 Photographs LP. You can check out the clip here at friendslikethose.com preferably with your Google Chrome browser. The video, which uses a plug-in from your personal Facebook account and ... More >>

Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day Concert Film Coming to Houston October 17

Rewind: Squeezing the Lemon: Led Zeppelin & the 10 Most Shocking Rock and Roll Reunions This week we all saw the trailer to Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day, the concert film shot at Led Zeppelin's 2007 reunion show in honor of Atlantic Records impresario Ahmet Ertegun. The film will be playing in t ... More >>

Rockets Make Very Tiny, Almost Inaudible Splash with Asik Signing

My friends over on the ClutchFans.net bulletin board are fond of the phrase "making a splash" when discussing the team's moves in free agency and when they make trades. When a trade or signing is of a more minor variety, that phrase becomes a joke, often posted on the board in an almost unreadably s ... More >>

Alternatives to Five of the Pricier Software Titles

The Business Software Alliance announced last week that it had come to an agreement with local business Affordable Power, LP, to settle legal claims that the company pirated software titles. According to the release: As part of the settlement, Affordable Power agreed to pay $150,000 to settle legal ... More >>

Phillip Lopate

Modern Market Film Festival

''Ai Weiwei: Five Houses''

5 Songs For Frank Lloyd Wright

It's likely the average person can name only one architect, and that it's Frank Lloyd Wright, who died 53 years ago today. Born in a small Wisconsin farming town, Wright would grow up to have an amazing impact on the world of construction and housing. His work aimed to harmonize buildings with thei ... More >>

Check out the Plans for BARC's Bitchen Adoption Center

Mayor Annise Parker joined other officials in unveiling designs for a planned $12 million adoption center for the historically troubled Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care Tuesday. Scheduled to break ground in October, the initial phase of the center will be funded by $4.1 million in capital impro ... More >>

The 2012 Houston Modern Market

Introducing Treaty Oak Collective, Houston's Newest Promoters

​Brandon Lemons is no stranger to the Houston music scene. If you've been around long enough, you've most likely either seen a show he's organized, or, if you're a real club junkie, sat and had a beer (or three) with the guy once or twice at a venue around town. The Silsbee, Tex. native bro ... More >>

Google Shuttering Popular Photo Editing Tool Picnik: Top 8 Alternatives

Google announced that as of April 19, it will shut down Picnik, an online photo editing tool acquired by the company in 2010, and bundle some of the editing tools into their over-arching Google platform. The staff of Picnik remains with Google and apparently is working to add features from the edit ... More >>

Poster Boy

Rock art legend Uncle Charlie will not be denied.

Salon of Beauty

"PrintMatters"

Top 5 Worst Collegiate Conference Logos

Seriously???​Congratulations to the fourth grader who designed the new Mountain West Conference logo! Yesterday, the Mountain West Conference unveiled its new brand identity as they head into a hoped-for (read: Boise State-led) future as a regular contender in BCS football as well as other m ... More >>

One of the Most Expensive Blocks in the U.S is in Houston

One of America's most expensive "blocks"​Business Week has put together a list of the ten most expensive blocks in America, and Houston has an entry on the list. Spoiler alert: You probably don't live on it. Everyone will surely be knocked over to learn that the block, which actually seems to ... More >>

Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh -- What ISN'T Wrong With This Picture?

Andrew Luck pursues his architecture degree​As quarterback/head coach combinations go at the collegiate level, few have ever been as logical a fit and maximized that synergy like Houston's own Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh at Stanford in 2011. The head coach who on pure guts nearly willed th ... More >>

Continental & United: We Lost The Headquarters, But Won The Logo Battle

Losing everything but the logo battle​Houston's Continental Airlines didn't make out too well in its merger with United, at least from the viewpoint of Houston -- the headquarters is gone, jobs are gone, flights will no doubt be more of a hassle.But at least Continental won the fight over what the ... More >>

ACORN And Tea Partiers: The Hilarious Voter-Fraud Fight Goes On

Comic sans to the rescue!​We have stayed away from the ongoing battle over voting-fraud allegations in Harris County because it reminds us of that quote about college-faculty infighting: "Academic infighting is so vicious because the stakes are so low." But bring comic sans into the conversation, ... More >>

“Form Follows Function”

The MFAH shows off a different kind of kitchenware

When Feng Shui Gets Even More Sillier Than Usual

Photo via Swamplot Where's the pooper-scooper when you need it?The folks at Swamplot have uncovered the story behind the turd-looking rock standing in front of the BNIM Architects office on Main Street south of the Southwest Freeway.It's all about the feng shui, that mystical combination of e ... More >>

"Wind-Up: Walking the Warp"

At last, sewing and dance are one

"Katsura: Picturing Modernism in Japanese Architecture"

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston celebrates the 50th anniversary of Ishimoto Yasuhrio's landmark book

R.I.P. Bill Narum, KLOL Co-Founder, Leading Texas Counterculture Artist and ZZ Top Stage Designer

​Bill Narum, a key figure in Houston's counterculture in the late 1960s and early '70s, passed away Wednesday night at his home in Austin. The cause of death was an "apparent heart attack or something that took him quickly while sitting in his studio at the art table in his chair," said Narum's cl ... More >>

Vision Quest

Uncle Charlie is the best concert-poster artist in Houston — and he's legally blind.

Michael Andrews: Historic Texas Courthouses

The author discusses the state's architectural history

The Aggies Know Great Architecture When They See It, Especially If It's Done By An Aggie

​Texas A&M University created an architectural award this year, the Spirit of Place medal, "envisioned as becoming one of the world's premier built-environment awards," according to a press release from the school.The university wants its new award to be "viewed in the same light" as the Stirl ... More >>

"Miles and Miles of Texas: The Lone Star State Through the Eyes of Buck Schiwetz"

Web exclusive!

"Blast from the Past": The Science of Classic Toys

Web exclusive!

The Institute For Justice Triumphs Over the Feared, But Well-Appointed, Interior-Designer Cabal

The epic, no-holds-barred, deathmatch among the people who decide if that throw rug in your living room is declasse or not has ended.Two groups went in; one group came out. And it was The People!! The amateurs-with-attitude who dared to take on the ogreish cabal of professional interior designers.As ... More >>

Woodlands Heights Home Tour

Web exclusive!

The Interior Designers Are Fighting! In Texas!

Austin will be the scene for what no doubt will be a very tasteful demonstration and briefing tomorrow, as a little-known civil war between interior designers bursts into the open.The Institute of Justice, an ACLU-like legal organization, is working with interior designers in Texas to stop what the ... More >>

Transparency @ Rice Design Alliance

Web exclusive!

First Tuesdays at the Houston Center for Photography

What if Annie Leibovitz had stayed home?

Artful Thursday: Deborah Nadoolman Landis

Find out how clothes make the film

The Station Showcases Work "Defending Democracy"

Making Change

Gary Panter

The master comic book artist signs his two-volume retrospective

Zine Fest Houston

Underground, independent and DIY writers and artists — the mother ship is calling you

“Production, Not Reproduction: Offset Printed Artist Books”

Lithography never looked so good

Bring the Cheetos

Lord of the Bling

The MFAH unveils more than 200 priceless Cartier trinkets

The Family Guy

A son goes looking for his late father and finds some buildings

Best Collector

Carolyn Farb

Best Preservation Group

Houston Mod

The Feng Shui of Dim Sum

Stay close to the kitchen if you want the best food at Kim Son.

Best Retro Furniture

Metro Modern

Back to the Futurist

The guy who designed Cadillac Ranch wants to build a dolphin space station. Is it any wonder UH is divided over the return of Doug Michels?

Design for Nonliving

Building Interest

"Art and Architecture" was held in the desert, but the subject was hardly dry