Forrest Gump

Burgers Off the Beaten Path: Watson's House of Ales

"I am not a smart man." Forrest Gump's words echoed in my head as I stared at the Saint Patrick's Day decorations hanging on the temporary plastic tents erected outside Watson's House of Ales this past Sunday afternoon. In my haste to come and try what I've been told is one of the better pub-style ... More >>

Know What You're Getting in This Box of Chocolates: A 12-Ounce Whitman's Sampler, Analyzed

Forrest Gump wasn't quite right. Life isn't like a box of chocolates when that box is a twelve-ounce Whitman's Sampler because you pretty much always know what you're gonna get. Although the sampler is billed as a group of "assortment," this confection collection inevitably includes, for better ... More >>

Dear Grammys, I'm Breaking Up With You

Dear Stupid Grammys, I have a bone to pick with you. I sat through Taylor Swift's uninspired opening act while she half-sung/half-yodeled at a guy on a spinning bullseye. It was complete with an insulting and transparent Alice in Wonderland costume ripoff (which I'm not getting, by the way... is s ... More >>

Beyond Chili-Cheeseburgers at The Chili Shak

If Pvt. Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue had been into chili instead of shrimp, I imagine that The Chili Shak is just the sort of place he and Forrest Gump would have opened. The list of menu items that come topped with owner Bernard Montgomery's chili -- based on a secret family recipe passed down fro ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets -- "College Football Playoff, Get Here Soon" Edition

It's the first weekend of December, and you know what that means -- a slew of college football conference championship games that, to the average college football fan, mean virtually nothing. Sure, will some teams win their way into automatic bids to BCS bowls? Yes. In the spirit of...well, spirit, ... More >>

VIDEO: At Creeperfest, Free Beer Wins Every Time

Video by Norma Vazquez Some time ago, I started noticing shows at something called "House of Creeps" way down off Old Spanish Trail, which couldn't help but pique my curiosity. It eventually moved to a location across the street from Last Concert Cafe, and Saturday House of Creeps hosted its first- ... More >>

RIP Scott McKenzie: A Flower-Pop Playlist For the "San Francisco" Folkie

This past Saturday, the world lost Scott McKenzie, the folk songwriter known best for his 1967 hit "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)," which would end up becoming one of the bedrock anthems of the flower-power generation. The song was written by John Phillips of the Mamas & the P ... More >>

Wild Game Burger Friday at Rainbow Lodge

What goes into an eight-ounce burger? At the Rainbow Lodge, every Friday yields a new mix. One week it may be antelope, venison, wild boar and pork belly. Another week, it may be nilgai, lamb, venison and lamb belly. Forrest Gump's mama would say that it's like a box of chocolates: "You never know ... More >>

Happy Memorial Day: 10 Songs To Honor Our Veterans

Memorial Day, the last Monday of May is a federal holiday originated to commemorate our country's fallen soldiers. Yes, some view it as a work holiday and a good time to barbecue, but our veterans would have to disagree. To honor our vets, we put together a playlist this day in remembrance of those ... More >>

15 Inferior Best Picture Oscar Winners (And the Enduring Classics They Beat)

Last Wednesday, Craiggers hit on some forgotten Best Picture Academy Award winners, films which have slipped through the cracks of society's consciousness for one reason or another; either for being too of-the-moment, not having enough quotable lines, or for simply not having held up very well -- hi ... More >>

Pop Rocks: And I Beheld a Pale Horse, and His Name That Sat Upon Him Was Gump

Behold the doom of mankind.​Yesterday the Library of Congress announced the 25 films selected by the U.S. National Film Preservation Board for inclusion in the National Film Registry. One of which, judging by online reaction, was a bit of a surprise: The Oscar-winning "Forrest Gump," Walt Dis ... More >>

Forrest Gump & Other "Generation-Defining" Soundtracks

​The Forrest Gump soundtrack debuted on June 28, 1994, a week ahead of the film itself, which would go on to smash box-office records, win numerous awards and become one of the most beloved movies of the past 20 years. It is still endlessly quotable, emotional, and entertaining, and the soundt ... More >>

Featherface: Dreams Of Peacocks And The Great Gatsby

It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we're trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. ​Houston's own Featherface is a very interesting little group of indie-rockers. The music is ethereal, atmospheric, but somehow sinister un ... More >>

Idol Beat: Democracy Doesn't Work

So, professor: would you say it's time for everyone to panic?​Well, I feel like an idiot. Flush with victory over my (sole) successful pick of the season in (finally) getting Jacob's booting correct, I was confident that James Durbin had the right combination of talent and appeal to the ladie ... More >>

Idol Beat: Durbin Warfare

It's James' world; we just live in it.​That wonderful sound you heard last night - that distinct lack of atonal screeching that used to climb up your spine like a mongoose wearing stiletto heels - was the sound of a Jacob-free American Idol. What a beautiful thing. I'm not sure which was more ... More >>

Why the Golden Globes Are Relevant...No, Really

Just as relevant as the Academy Awards. Sorry.​The 2011 awards season kicked off Sunday night with the 68th installment of the Golden Globes, a.k.a. That Awards Show No One in Hollywood Takes Seriously But They All Attend Anyway Because They're Too Chickenshit to Blow It Off. Though now that ... More >>

The Top 10 Female-Friendly Rap Songs

streethop.comLadies Love Cool James: LL Cool J on The View​Chris Rock once said that women don't pay attention to rap lyrics. Truth be told, most casual hip-hop fans - male and female - rarely pay attention to lyrics. As long as the beat is catchy, they'll drop down and get their eagle on all ... More >>

Upcoming Events

​Taking place on Monday will be the long-awaited Chefs Under Fire competition, in which five area chefs compete for a spot in the state-wide Chefs Under Fire Finals to be held in Austin on October 25. So far, the chefs from Dallas-Ft. Worth and the Austin-San Antonio region have already been c ... More >>

11 Songs Sean Hannity Won't Be Listening To Today

​Today Americans celebrate Memorial Day, honoring the military servicemen and women that have passed while serving our country. The holiday is definitely not as flashy or as popular as Independence Day in July, seeing that there are no Memorial Day fireworks or picnics. It's not stuck in November ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Is Iron Man 2 ScarJo's Finest Performance?

​Unsurprisingly, Iron Man 2 was tops at the box office last weekend. The $128.1 million haul was considered a mild disappointment by some, proving once again that even the fifth biggest opening weekend in movie history can be spun as a negative in Hollywood, where it was also argued semi-convi ... More >>

Game Time: The 24 Trim Report Card And "I Know That Dude!" Scoreboard

​I was actually going to do my Rockets midseason report card today. I really was. But I got home last night, and despite telling myself that I would hold off on watching the next two hours of the new season of 24 until after I got my "sports related" work done, I just couldn't do it.As outlandish, ... More >>

A Very CGI Christmas

This can't be what Charles Dickens had in mind.

The Top 6 Costumes at the Montrose Crawl

The third annual Montrose Crawl took over Westheimer on Saturday night as crowds of Halloween revelers lurched from bar to restaurant to bar. With the attendees encouraged to come in costume, it was as if Arne's and Party City had simultaneously exploded onto the streets of Montrose. Needless to say ... More >>

For Woodstock: The Five Lamest Hippies In The Movies

Forty years ago this weekend, hundreds of thousands of unkempt youngsters descended on the town of Bethel, NY for an advertised "three days of peace and music." Woodstock has since become etched into our country's history, not just for symbolizing the 1960s, but also for unleashing the continuing th ... More >>

Friday Night Noise: Caldera Lakes, Wolf Eyes, Cop Warmth

Wolf EyesWelcome to the inaugural edition of Friday Night Noise, a weekly Rocks Off column in which I'll take you by the hand and lead you through the often unpredictable, harsh, and (perhaps surprisingly) varied netherworlds of noise music. Noise-rock. Noise-pop. Noise-core. Droning noise. System-s ... More >>

Found Magazine’s Denim and Diamonds Tour

Davy and Peter Rothbart share their latest trashy finds

Why Robert Downey, Jr. Will Not Win for Best Supporting Actor

I finally saw Tropic Thunder this past weekend on DVD, and my God, it was hilarious. Fantastic, funny, full of Hollywood-stabbing humor, and Tom Cruise completely won back all of my respect with his part as Les Grossman. SO, that said. Robert Downey, Jr. needs to win for Best Supporting Actor thi ... More >>

The Curious Case of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Old Man Pitt

Apocalypse Whatever: Tropic Thunder

Ben Stiller's Hollywood send-up lacks firepower

What Makes “Free Bird” So Damn Good?

Super Cardio Bros. with Wii Fit

Helping the world forget we once loved Thigh Masters, too

Last Concert Café

Hippie wolves haunt and howl at the former whorehouse

Unreal Estate

Cartoon kids poke around Spielberg's Monster House

Pong 360

Like the real thing, Table Tennis shouldn't be played alone

Jesus Wept

Anybody got a good anagram for "crap"?

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

With a Paddle

Local table-tennis players whack away

Playing On Fear

Spielberg and Hanks spawn a daring new genre: the post-9/11 comedy

Best Place to Play Ping-Pong

The Tavern

Idiot Savant

Brad Tucker retains a quirky, casual approach as he tinkers with his art

Ouch!

E.T. returns to heal our cynical hearts

Special Delivery

With Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis unearths the part of Tom Hanks we've been hoping to find: His brittle humanity

Arresting Development

When Mommy goes away, Buck just wants to play. And Chuck rues the day he ever met the fay.

Giving Up the Ghost

The only thing deader than the haunted spirit in What Lies Beneath is the movie itself

E.T. on Death Row

Director Frank Darabont gets metaphysical in The Green Mile

Island Comfort

Reggae Hut starts good and gets butter. (Er, better.)

To Coldly Go

Contact is more like a close encounter of the turgid kind

Air Disaster

Bruckheimer's production shows all his Con-temptible traits

Got On the Bus

Zocalo Theater takes its act on the long and winding road

The Age of Innocents

With Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks shows, again, that it's a gift to be simple