Mel Gibson

Fear of a Shane Black Planet: The Iron Man 3 Auteur's Career, Reconsidered

George Stark's Parker

Rough guide to a rough guy

EarthQuest's Don Holbrook Sued by Ohio City for Alleged Fraud

Don Holbrook, one of the masterminds behind the perpetually stalled New Caney clusterfuck known as EarthQuest, has been sued by the city of Huber Heights, Ohio, for allegedly performing a substandard economic analysis for the city. The city, located just northeast of Dayton, entered into a $66,000 ... More >>

Body Horror

Extreme sex addiction in Shame.

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 >>

Pop Rocks: Born This Way, But Not *That* Way

L-R: Not Madonna, Madonna​Sounds like somebody is getting a little tired of all those Material Girl comparisons: When NME asked the 25-year-old star whether she thought "Born This Way" was a knock-off of Madonna's "Express Yourself," the singer (real name: Stefani Germanotta) was outraged. " ... More >>

Me And Charlie Sheen

​Barely a week has passed since Charlie Sheen's Krakatoa style career meltdown and it's already hard to think of anything new to say about it. You've already got warlock pictures, expert rehab advice from Dr. Drew (who's already threatening to topple Dr. Phil as Most Annoyingly Omnipresent Med ... More >>

Legion of Doom

A neophyte Roman general flies like The Eagle.

I Wanna Be Your Dog (Or Cat): Back To School Edition

School's only been in session for two days, yet some teachers are already piling on the homework. This isn't a huge deal for home-schooled kids, who pretty just much have to memorize which animals God created on which day, but it can be a real pain in the neck for those in public school.The dogs in ... More >>

Pop Rocks: You'll Be Sorry When They're Gone

​Harvey Pekar died yesterday. What was lost in the usual exercise of macabre one-upmanship -- as everyone rushed to update Twitter and Facebook in an effort to be the first to break the bad news to all their friends -- was the fact that most of them were only aware of Pekar's existence thanks ... More >>

Pop Rocks: The Celebrity DUI Conundrum

​I've always preferred brunettes. Aside from making me not a gentleman, this simply meant I favored Jaclyn Smith over Farrah Fawcett, Lynda Carter (or JoAnna Cameron) to Deidre Hall, Yasmine Bleeth to Gena Lee Nolin, and Jane Seymour over, well...just about any of the other Bond Girls. Given ... More >>

Game Time: Kentucky Derby -- Ten "Two Minute Events" More Exciting Than Horses Galloping

Between-race entertainment at the Derby​I love horse racing. Actually, to be clear, I love the act of going to the racetrack -- any racetrack -- and sitting in the bleachers (do they call them "bleachers" at a racetrack?) with three or four of my buddies, drinking about twelve beers, eating roughl ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Tiger By The Tail

​With apologies to William Blake:Tiger! Tiger! Feeling lowIn the forests of OrlandoWhat errant hydrant (or 5-wood)Put that dent in your Caddy's hood?That silliness out of the way, here are some thoughts on the whole Eldrick Woods...thing.1. The instantaneous news cycle really is something to behol ... More >>

Westheimer Block Party Listology: Paris Falls' Favorite, and Least Favorite, Musical Moments In the Movies

All this week, Rocks Off is previewing Saturday and Sunday's Westheimer Block Party by asking WBP performers to fill out a list from Lisa Nola's Music Listography book we're so fond of. It's not too late for your band to be up here, either; just email chris.gray@houstonpress.com by noon Thursday if ... More >>

Area Man On TV Tonight

If you got the TV on tonight, click over to TBS and see a local comedian making an impression on television. Mike MacRae, who got his start at Houston’s Laff Stop, is now a cast member on Frank TV. The weekly sketch show – now in its second season – stars Frank Caliendo (you know, that guy ... More >>

The Not-So-New Kids on the Block

Still Hangin' Tough?

No Country for Old Men, South Park: Imaginationland, Sleuth, Five Days

Miss Pop Rocks: More Pop Culture Items To Be Thankful For This Year

You Blog What You Is

Live Free or Die Hard

Even with the Mac kid at his side, John McClane is just...old

Kwoutable Kwoutes

Welcome to Hooters

Jimmy Buffett inexplicably leads a kid movie to the big screen

Kitty Litter

Steve Martin's Pink Panther piddles on its predecessor

Russian Radio

A former KTRU staffer takes her show on the rails

Playbill

From Major to Minor

Why the best films of 2004 look like indies but aren't

Leaning Sideways

In a year when small movies came up big, picking the best was a Payne

Shut Up and Drive

The Drive-By Truckers ain't just whistling Dixie in their van

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

switchfoot

No matter what you call 'em, they're headlining the Music Awards

Missing Links

A well-meaning ode to golf's first legend ends up in the bunker

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

What He Said

Houston's new top cop may bring his own language barrier

A Real Wreck

Highwaymen might drive you into a brick wall

A Fan's Notes

Ideas that were forgotten but not gone in 2003

Silly Humans, The Matrix Is for Kids!

Revolutions runs a playful joyride through a nifty vision of hell

Letters

Hot Stuff

The lighthearted Wasabi offers real kicks

Rock in Role

As The Scorpion King, the People's Champ doth layeth the smacketh down

Chin Up

Bruce Campbell knows why bad movies happen to great actors

The Tired Gun

Or: Why winning an Oscar sometimes means losing sight of a career

Special Delivery

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

Free-Range Chicken

No secret recipe here: The creators of Wallace & Gromit and Wat's Pig cook up a bucketload of inventive fun

Okie Glamour

Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman as poor white folk? It's best not to question the attraction of Where the Heart Is.

Two A.M. Special

Hard as a Rock

Letters

Too Much Magic

Fairytale is charming, inspiring -- and almost entirely fraudulent

A Willy Good Time

New Heights crams the whole of Shakespeare into an evening for laughs, and gets them

Uncharted Waters

Though flawed, Pocahontas is a big step forward for animated films