James Bond

James Bond, Out of Time

Fifty years in, the spy is ever less relevant - and still beloved. Why?

James Bond's License to Feel

Skyfall is basically Downton Abby with cyber crime and shower sex.

Upcoming Events: Dia de los Muertos at Malo

El Gran Malo is hosting a big, bad Dia de los Muertos party on Saturday, November 3 -- all day long. In addition to a giant Dia de los Muertos shrine on the patio, the gastrocantina will have crafts to make your own veladoras (Mexican saint candles), papel picado and more. In the early evening, mar ... More >>

Study: Free Press Summer Fest Brought Houston $14 Million

Is Adele's "Skyfall" the Worst Bond Theme of All Time?

Fifty years after the release of the very first Hollywood adaptation of Ian Fleming's superspy, James Bond returns to make his 23rd appearance on the silver screen this month in Skyfall, Daniel Craig's third crack at the character. The media blitz for the film's premiere is already in full effect, l ... More >>

Kaskade's Moment

On-the-go DJ/producer might be electronica's very own superhero.

Bond and Beyond

Capsule Stage Reviews: Menopause The Musical, Oscar in the Box, See Rock City & Other Destinations, The Tempest

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies

New Horsefly Species Named For Beyonce: 5 Better Names It Should Have Gotten

There's bootlicious gold in them thar hills​The Washington Post reported that an Australian researcher had discovered a new species of horsefly and, because it's backside was gold and therefore "bootylicious," he was naming it after Houston's own Beyonce. The species will henceforth be known ... More >>

Top 5 Champagnes Under $60 for the Holidays

Photos by Jeremy Parzen.Remember: Champagne doesn't have to be white. Rosé Champagne is often considered the more "muscular" expression of the appellation. Look for Bollinger Rosé, Ruinart Rosé, and our favorite, Billecart Salmon Rosé.​Okay, folks. There's good news and there's bad news. ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Who Else Would Make A Good Bond Villain?

Jeez, when are they going to stop casting ugly actors in these Bond movies?​So it turns out Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Vicky Cristy Barcelona) is going up against 007 in Bond 23: After months of speculation about who would play the villain in the next James Bond installment, we fi ... More >>

Top 007 James Bond Musical Title Sequences

59 years ago today, United Artists released Dr. No, the first film adaptation of Ian Feming's James Bond novels. There have since been 21 more movies with another one on the way, and the series is the second-highest grossing film series ever after Harry Potter. One of the things that continue to d ... More >>

Jeffery Deaver

The Ten Worst Movies of 2011...In Advance

Oh, don't act surprised.​2011 is barely out of the oven and I'm already filled with dread. Could it be the fact I've spent the entire year so far coughing up chunks of green lung tissue? That I've finally despaired of ever finding a writing gig that doesn't involve "Lady Gaga sex tape" Google ... More >>

Raymond Benson: Choice of Weapons

Pop Rocks: The Ten Hottest (Non-Celebrity) Commercial Spokespersons

​Nobody watches commercials much these days. Digital TV recorders and the steady decline of network TV mean we no longer have to pay a lot of attention to television advertising. And anyway, companies have figured out other avenues, using the internet and people's foreheads and Jerry Bruckheim ... More >>

Jeffery Deaver: The Burning Wire

Hear about Lincoln Rhyme's latest adventure from the man who created him

Win A Free Public Enemies DVD; Check Out Five Other "Enemy" Movies

Johnny Depp is the "sexiest man alive." I know this because it's what I've been told by People magazine, my wife, all my wife's friends, my sister, and that girl I dated in college who used to make me watch 21 Jump Street before she'd allow me to get her clothes off.He's also the star of Public Ene ... More >>

The Rockets, Joining The Pantheon Of Those Who Gave Up Surprising Momentum

Hey, how'd those Rockets do last night?!Oh.In case you missed it, Our Rockets (and by "Our," we mean "team we started cheering for a week ago"), got shellacked by the Lakers 118-78. Everyone had expected the injury-riddled Houston team to lose like that -- in Sunday's game, which they had won.That ... More >>

For Good Friday: The Five Best Torture Scenes

Today is Good Friday, so named because it's the day they finally offed that pompous windbag from Nazareth who would just not shut up about all his "Love your brother" crap. Have you met any of my brothers?Of course, the powers-that-be decided they wouldn't just kill Jesus, they had to torture him a ... More >>

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Web exclusive!

Raymond Benson and Alan J. Porter

Web exclusive!

The Five Best Bond Themes

Critics may have found the 22nd James Bond caper, Quantum of Solace, "grim and downcast" (The New York Times), but audiences didn't seem to mind, turning out in sufficient numbers for Quantum to set a new 007 opening-weekend record of more than $70.4 million (domestic). But never mind the movie ... More >>

How Quantum of Solace Stacks Up

As you may have noticed, a new James Bond movie opened last weekend. Sony executives are celebrating Quantum of Solace's $70 million opening - the biggest for any Bond movie - by snorting gold-plated cocaine atop a palanquin borne by castrated former Viacom employees, but we at Hair Balls are qu ... More >>

Balls...Hair Balls: The Five Best Bond Movies

Everyone has their own criteria for answering the all-important question: Which of the 22 (official) James Bond movies is your favorite? For example, I was never a huge fan of the gadgetry and thought Lazenby, though underrated, never was a good fit. Your mileage may vary according to your toler ... More >>

Balls...Hair Balls: Five Best Bond Songs

What do Rita Coolidge, Sheena Easton, and Chris Cornell have in common (aside from jockeying for position in a future "Where Are They Now" segment on E!, that is)? That's right, they all sang the title song in a James Bond movie. They also are conspicuously absent from this list of the best Bond ... More >>

Quantum of Solace Is Neither Shaken Nor Stirred

Marc Forster has a license to confuse and bore

Balls...Hair Balls: Bond's Best Five Non-Villain Deaths

Over the Weekend: Special Bikini Edition

The Last Shadow Puppets: The Age of the Understatement

Musical lowlights of 2007

Shaken, Not Stirred

Siouxsie, Mantaray

CD Review

Shoot 'Em Up

Shoot 'Em Up proves that its star could have been a killer Bond

“007: The Music of James Bond”

Houston Symphony taps spy songs for its playlist

Mail Call

Truckin'

DVDs

Royale Flush

The Bond franchise takes a gamble on a new guy, and comes up aces

Our top DVD picks for the week of November 9

Everybody in tha Chamber

Supergrass

Road to Rouen

Thunderbald

Bond is reincarnated -- sort of -- as a shaved-head punk in xXx

FotoFatigue

With 140 venues, FotoFest makes you suffer for your art

Stirred and Shaken

The Czar Bar's Disco Volante

The Mild West

American Outlaws' parallel dimensions diminish Jesse James into a cuddly, goofy bore

Crazy from the Heat

Boorman and Le Carré lose touch with their thrill-seeking personae in Panama

The Final Frontier

Sci-fi conventions are where movie stars go to burn brightly one more time

News of the Weird

007 By the Numbers

Most of Tomorrow Never Dies lacks the wit and inventiveness of the best Bond

Sound Check