Gossip Girl

So, Like, What’s Up With "Gossip Girl"?

“Perspectives: 160: Dawoud Bey”

Dawoud Bey captures the real face of American high-schoolers

Sk8er Boi: Paranoid Park

Gus Van Sant returns to disaffected youth and shoestring budgets

Houston's Top Ten Female TV Reporters, Based On A Highly Scientific And Professional System

Our own Miss Pop Rocks wrote an entry some time ago about the Secret Lives of Houston's Hottest Male Newscasters, which seemed...incomplete to me somehow.I wasn't sure of the exact problem until she followed it up with the admission of her crush on KPRC's Jennifer Reyna, then I realized that by not ... More >>

Deadgirl

Somewhere between the living and the dead, this is one chick who really raises hell

Aftermath: Katy Perry at Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Kim Douglass​ Katy Perry kissed a girl. She liked it, and now she's a huge pop star. If things broke the same way for boys, Aftermath would have been a huge pop star for the past 19, 20 years. But we're not bitter.​After bailing on two previously scheduled Houston shows - once due to i ... More >>

Summer Stock

Photos by Kim Douglass​ Katy Perry kissed a girl. She liked it, and now she's a huge pop star. If things broke the same way for boys, Aftermath would have been a huge pop star for the past 19, 20 years. But we're not bitter.​After bailing on two previously scheduled Houston shows - once due to i ... More >>

Experts Ask The Pressing Question Tonight: Are You Ready For Some Football?

​The NFL season opens tonight. We've already given you our astute and accurate take on the Houston Texans. (9-7, if you must know.) But what about the rest of the league? Do you actually want to sit through all the games, or learn what will happen in the next few grafs?We thought so.So here is how ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs We Are Least Thankful For, Part 2

​This was the first year that He Said made a conscious effort to listen to what was going on outside his self-imposed protective bubble of metal and proto-punk. We sort of took it as one of the facets of our job to actually pay attention to the stuff that was going on in the greater sphere in the ... More >>

Butterfly Explosion at SXSW: Irish Shoegaze in a Basement Rec Room

Shoegazer shoes Butterfly Explosion March 17 Habana, Austin, Texas When you go see a band because they're labeled "shoegaze," you get a smile on your face when you see them set up 19 different foot pedals on the stage. You don't need to double-check your SXSW schedule. You know you're in the right ... More >>

Pop Rocks: You Really Should Be Watching Supernatural

​The CW is, by all generally accepted standards of measure, a horrible network. Just about every show is aimed at that unfortunate segment of the pre-adolescent population whose parents can't afford basic cable, so instead of several hundred channels of garbage programming, these poor kids are fo ... More >>

Which Actors Can Hack It As Musicians?

​Hollywood Shuffle got word Thursday that Blues Brother and Saturday Night Live alumnus Dan Aykroyd will be at the downtown Spec's this afternoon from 3-7 p.m. to sign bottles of his new vodka, Conehead Crystal Head. Aykroyd is in town to act as Grand Marshal for Saturday's Art Car Parade. Sat ... More >>

SUMMER GUIDE: (100) Days of Summer Movies

Enjoy the great indoors!

The Parents Television Council Disapproves Of Your Pedophiliac Glee Shenanigans

​I'll give the Parents Television Council this, they did Fox a huge favor by keeping Glee in the headlines even in a week when the show was pre-empted by the network's NLCS coverage: GQ's sexy Glee cover has gone too far, The Parents Television Council says. In a statement released Wednesday ... More >>

Top 10 Recent TV-Show Soundtracks

​A few choice adjectives come to mind when musing on bawdy Eastbound & Down character Kenny Powers. "Inspiring" is not one of them. However, as Rocks Off watched this week's season finale of the side-splitting HBO series, we were pleasantly surprised as we heard indie troubadour Kurt Vile's a ... More >>

Lindsay Lohan & Demi Lovato: Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Pop Stars

You said it, Demi.​If you're a parent, one day you'll inevitably come to the sobering realization that your child's ultimate happiness is out of your hands. Naturally you're going to avoid feeding them Red Bull and Cheetos for lunch (that's a man's meal) or letting them juggle steak knives, bu ... More >>

NFL Conference Title Games: Douche-apalooza 2011!

This is not Roger Staubach​Ben Roethlisberger, Mark Sanchez, Jay Cutler, Aaron Rodgers. In an era where success in the NFL has never been more tied to quarterback play, those are your last four quarterbacks standing in the 2011 Playoffs. Most NFL fans see the elimination and subsequent absen ... More >>

Maybe This Will Distract Everyone From the City's Horrible Super Bowl Fiasco

J.R.: Great Texan? Or *greatest* Texan?​Twenty years (!) after the original series ended, J.R. Ewing and company are set to return to the small screen...temporarily, at least. Larry Hagman (J.R.), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen) and Patrick Duffy (Bobby) are reportedly going to appear in the pilot for ... More >>

15 Gets You 20: Rock & Roll Jailbait Through The Years

theprettyreckless.com​Friday night, The Pretty Reckless (above) pulls into town for a gig at House of Blues. The band, led by Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen, is known largely for the 17-year-old singer's penchant for wearing something resembling lingerie, chain-smoking and basically being a te ... More >>

The Pretty Reckless

theprettyreckless.com​Friday night, The Pretty Reckless (above) pulls into town for a gig at House of Blues. The band, led by Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen, is known largely for the 17-year-old singer's penchant for wearing something resembling lingerie, chain-smoking and basically being a te ... More >>

MCM: More Local Music News Than Downtown Street Repairs

Rocks Off mines away all week at this mysterious mountain of Internet just to find all the precious local music news we can. ​This week's honorary soundtrack comes courtesy of HasHBrown, who dropped his Relationsh*t EP on Valentine's Day. MCM is sad to say goodbye to Weird Party and, belated ... More >>

Friday Night: The Pretty Reckless At House Of Blues

Photos by Marc Brubaker​The Pretty Reckless House of Blues Bronze Peacock Room February 18, 2011 The strangest thing about seeing The Pretty Reckless Friday night wasn't the fact that the show ended by 10 p.m., contained just 11 songs, or even that it was filled with boys and girls barely old ... More >>

This Year's Banned Books of Texas

Don't read that, kids.​The ACLU of Texas has released their annual report on books banned by the state's school districts. Among the usual suspects this time around: R.L. Stine, a Gossip Girl novel and the ever-popular gay penguins tale And Tango Makes Three. Another highlight: An elementary ... More >>

The Film Issue: 10 for 2012

Don't read that, kids.​The ACLU of Texas has released their annual report on books banned by the state's school districts. Among the usual suspects this time around: R.L. Stine, a Gossip Girl novel and the ever-popular gay penguins tale And Tango Makes Three. Another highlight: An elementary ... More >>

The Film Issue

Looking back on the year in movies, and what's coming in 2012.