Friday Night Lights

Islamic Indoctrination Comes to Texas, and Heads Straight for Ninth-Grade Girls

Despite our best efforts, it seems Islamism has finally managed to worm its way into East Texas. These small towns dotting the eastern forests, lands heretofore known simply for Friday Night Lights and Christian piety -- the kinds of places that comprise Real America, don'tcha know -- have finally t ... More >>

The Rise of Found-Footage Horror

Why the new scary movies don't look like movies at all.

Pflugerville Will Speak Out On Same-Sex Benefits Tonight (Maybe)

In the midst of Middle East unrest, a presidential election, a possible slip-and-fall in the Texans' stroll to Super Bowl glory, the world has bee nasking one question: What does Pflugerville think of same-sex benefits? Tonight the world will find out. The smallish Hill Country school district -- ... More >>

The Rise of Found-Footage Horror

Why the new scary movies don't look like movies at all.

We're Goin' Streakin!! High School Football Streaker Narrowly Escapes Castration (w/ VIDEO)

I've reached the point with television shows where I rarely watch them in first run anymore. I find it much easier to satiate my TV thirst if I sit down and plow through an entire series on Netflix or DVD over the course of a few weeks. It's what I did with The Wire, it's what I intend to do with Br ... More >>

13 Wacky Texas History Facts That Texas School Kids Need To Be Taught

This week Mother Jones uncovered a handful of spurious, less-than-scientific facts that Louisiana grade-schoolers will be learning while attending the state's new voucher schools. Obviously, people aren't happy. A new voucher program under the watch of Governor Bobby Jindal will allot money for st ... More >>

Last Night: Explosions In the Sky at Warehouse Live

Explosions In The Sky, Zammuto Warehouse Live June 17, 2012 Our neighbors from just a few hours away, Explosions In The Sky, dropped in Sunday night to keep the Texas pride going and share more of their elaborate musical talents with not a single lyric spoken. Many may know, Explosions in the Sky ... More >>

Explosions In the Sky: No Vocals Necessary

Known for elaborate guitar work, referred to as "cathartic mini-symphonies," Explosions In the Sky put on emotional shows. Remaining completely devoid of vocals, three guitars and one drummer (a bass guitar is thrown in at times) Explosions combine to create a sound that seems to carry the crowd on ... More >>

Explosions in the Sky

14th Annual Gulf Coast Film & Video Festival

Battleship

Because every generation needs an Armageddon.

Buzz Bissinger: Father’s Day

Richard III

Shanice Lambert: Another Panhandle Teacher Accused of Sexual Misconduct

What in tarnation is going on in the schoolhouses on Texas's High Plains? The latest in the Shame Parade is Shanice Lambert, who looks much more glamorous on her Facebook page than in her Armstrong County mugshot. According to the Amarillo Globe-News, police in Childress accuse the 37-year-old teac ... More >>

Scale the Summit

Timothy Porter: Teacher, Volleyball Coach, Alleged Steroid & Cocaine Dealer

Timothy Porter: Jack of all trades.​High school coaches can be inspiring figures, like Coach Taylor in Friday Night Lights. Except we can't quite picture Taylor dealing coke and steroids, possibly to his own students and players. That's what Friendswood police accuse Timothy Porter of doing, ... More >>

Top 10 Texas Movie Soundtracks

​This weekend, as the rest of the world catches Harry Potter mania for (perhaps) the final time, Houston gets a serious dose of Urban Cowboy nostalgia. Theater Under the Stars' production of the Tony-nominated 2003 musical - which The New York Times called "a conclusive demonstration that it's ... More >>

Last Night: Miranda Lambert At RodeoHouston

Photo courtesy of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo​Miranda Lambert Reliant Stadium March 16, 2011 Shucks, ma. Our lil' ol' East Texas gal done all growed up. Sugar and spice and definitely everything nice, unless you piss her off, Miranda Lambert is a different kind of crossover act. A r ... More >>

Texas & Concealed Handguns: Lone Star State Becoming Wimpy

Texas, we can do better​The New York Times has published an utterly embarrassing look at how Texas has completely allowed other states to take the lead when it comes to concealed-handgun idiocy.Hear this, Texas: Tennessee allows people to take their Glocks into bars. We here in the Lone Star state ... More >>

High School Football: If Hollywood Were In Control, These Five Things Would Happen

Sacred grounds​This evening marks the start of another high school football season. Entire cities and towns will be shuttering their doors and congregating at the central holy ground: the football stadium. Well, that may not be the case in Houston, but certainly in Dillon and West Canaan. (Oh, tho ... 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 >>

The Week in TV: Ellen Degeneres Realizes American Idol Sucks

Rob Lowe will soon join the cast of Parks and Recreation.​The dog days are upon us, the networks are planning for fall, and there's always money in the banana stand. This was the week in TV Land: • The Television Critics Association summer press tour has been going on for the past few days ... More >>

The Week In TV: Who Watched Mad Men?

We didn't watch it. But, hey, at least we're honest.​The best thing I watched last week was an airing of Ratatouille on ABC Family. This was the week in TV Land: • I'll tell you right now: I didn't watch Mad Men. "BUT DAN," I can hear you shouting even though you're reading this at work, " ... More >>

The Week In TV: Emmy Nominations, Good and Bad

​The Cup is over, the king has moved, and I replaced the C in "circle" with the Z from "zucchini." This was the week in TV Land: • Nominations for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards were announced last week, and befitting an industry built on low standards and an organization dedicated to filli ... More >>

The Week In TV: Enjoy Hulu While It Lasts

The good stuff won't be free for much longer.​My backyard flooded, I went half-blind on fireworks, and I am exponentially losing my agility. This was the week in TV Land: • As if to taunt my very desires, Hulu announced last week that it's launching Hulu Plus, a paid version of the site th ... More >>

The Week In TV: Charlie Sheen's Career Not Hurt By Punching Women

Back, for some reason​The dog days are here, people keep dying, and there's plenty of static on the dial. This was the week in TV Land:• When I was very young, my heart and soul were ruled by Thundercats. I even at one point made the regrettable decision to wear a watch featuring Lion-O to schoo ... More >>

The Week In TV: Lost and Found

​I'm tired, hungry, and probably just experiencing all this in a pleasant purgatory of my own making. This was the week in TV Land: • So, Lost ended. I'd be lying if I said I was completely pleased with the way it went down. I wasn't expecting bursts of exposition to answer every little de ... More >>

The Week In TV: Betty White and the Rich Dicks

I've got clear eyes, a full heart, and can't help but notice that you seem pretty practiced at putting on panties with one hand while holding a gun. This was the week in TV Land: • Because Facebook now controls us all, Betty White hosted Saturday Night Live a couple days ago after the booming po ... More >>

A Rock & Roll Time Capsule From Friday Night Lights Country

myspace.com/sweetmikeycThat's right, that's former Elvis Presley guitar-picker Scotty Moore on the far left.​ As Lonesome, Onry and Mean noted yesterday, even in an age when no one supposedly buys, listens to or reviews albums anymore - three words: Record Store Day - too many albums pour into our ... More >>

This Week In TV: Idol's Coming, Whether You're Ready or Not

My car's in the shop, I can't figure what season it is, and I don't know what to do about the Indians in the lobby. This was Thanksgiving week in TV Land: • Glee is going bye-bye for a while. The last episode of the year will air on December 9, completing the original 13-episode order, and the s ... More >>

Mail Call: Heartless Bastards, Riverboat Gamblers, Steve Forbert, Thursday and More

Pick of the Litter Cambria HarkeyHeartless Bastards (Austin/Cincinnati), The Mountain (Fat Possum) PR Says: "The record delivers the swamped-up rock howl that fans have always loved - but also brings in this amazing expansion into their sound with pedal steel, mandolin, banjo and st ... More >>

Darian Ward, Reporter (On "Friday Night Lights")

The Kingdom

Peter Berg sends Jamie Foxx to fight the enemy over there in The Kingdom

Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week

Lights On or Off?

The fight for a TV show about truth, justice and high school football

For the Children

Explosions in the Sky, with the Octopus Project and A Hawk and a Hacksaw

Saturday, January 28, at the Engine Room, 1515 Pease, 713-654-7846.

Funky Bunch

Mark Wahlberg stars in an odd remake that, oddly, isn't so bad

Big Boss Man

Jimmy T99 Nelson predated and outlived Elvis P. and has won the affections of Elvis C.

Broadway Baby

Somehow, Odessa will be Woodstock this summer for Sondheim lovers

Hell of a Catch

Friday Night Lights goes deep -- a rare route for football movies

Port Vale

The Music The Lights The Fire (Ojet)