Subject: Oprah Winfrey

• Miss Pop Rocks: Lucy Noland…meow

  August 13, 2007

• Banned Books in the Texas Prison System

  April 3, 2008

• Joel Osteen Becomes A Better Profile Subject

  July 28, 2008

• Ike Beats Oprah, With HPD's Help

  September 18, 2008

• Book Review: Smart Cookies' Investment Guide

  October 2, 2008

• Press Picks

  February 3, 1994

• Okie Glamour

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

  April 27, 2000

• Houstonians Think They're Great, Unlike All Those Other Houstonians

  October 17, 2008

• Oprah, Shut Up

  Oh, did you hear? Oprah's 200 pounds again. So fucking what? Here is a woman who is easily one of the most powerful people on Earth, and all we (and she) have been talking about for the last week is the fact that she's reached 200 pounds again. I repeat: So fucking what? Sorry for all the swearing, mom, but this story really has me pulling my hair out, plus I'm having a hard time living my best life now and remembering my spirit when all everyone is talking about is how fat Oprah is.

  December 16, 2008

• The Best Pop Culture Gifts of 2008

  There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who wear fake reindeer antlers during the Christmas season and those that don't. I am the former. What. You thought I would be the latter? Just because I love to make fun of crap? Honestly, what kind of pop culture writer would I be if I didn't take the time to celebrate the season of giving? Mostly giving crap, but I digress. This year has given me, Miss Pop Rocks, a lot to be thankful for. Brit Brit's comeback, for one, has freed me t

  December 25, 2008

• Miss Pop Rocks' Worst Life Series

  So I've totally gotten sucked into the new Oprah and her Best Life series which aired last week and is all about, well, living your best life as Oprah thinks you should. Every day last week she focused on a different issue: money, body, sex, etc. with the goal being to help her viewers reach the apex of human perfection. I miss the old Oprah, the one that existed before she went all self-help guru on us. You know, the Oprah who exploited hard-luck cases and made me realize I really didn't hav

  January 13, 2009

• Our Man At Sundance, Part Two: The Screening

  Former Houston Press reporter Steve McVicker is reporting from the Sundance Film Festival:Well, Sunday's screening of "our" film, I Love You Phillip Morris, came and went last night, with still no official word of having been snapped up by any major distribution company for mucho dollars. However, if the  overwhelming positive reaction of the sold-out crowd at the 1,270-seat capacity Eccles Center last night was any indication, an offering will soon be on the table.  In my humb

  January 19, 2009

• Press Picks

  September 12, 1996

• Oprah Does Amarillo

  February 12, 1998

• Moved by the Spirit

  October 15, 1998

• Letters

  April 6, 2000

• Capsule Stage Reviews: Constant Star, Doubt, Les Misérables, Steel Magnolias

  April 2, 2009

• Capsule Stage Reviews: Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Doubt, Five Flights, The Objectification of Things

  March 26, 2009

• Capsule Stage Reviews: Doubt, Five Flights, Masters of Movement, Nursery School Musical, The Pie Dialogues

  March 19, 2009

• The Color Purple

  Thank You, Oprah!

  September 11, 2008

• Men Will Be Boys in Step Brothers

  July 24, 2008

• Steve Almond

  The author of Not That You Asked: Rants, Exploits and Obsessions goes after Oprah – kinda

  February 21, 2008

• Alan Haynes

  Even in Austin, this blues guitarist stands out

  November 22, 2007

• Niche Markets

  Masquerade and Theatre New West prove a musical is not a musical is not a musical

  February 27, 2003

• Georgia Rule

  La Lohan elevates -- but can't save -- Georgia Rule

  May 10, 2007

• India.Arie

  Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship

  July 13, 2006

• Porn to Be Wild

  Just what was on the probation director's computer?

  January 26, 2006

• A Very Long Run

  November 17, 2005

• New releases available this week

  September 22, 2005

• Over Oprah

  Author Jonathan Franzen stops by to share some Corrections

  April 7, 2005

• This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

  January 27, 2005

• Year of the Woman

  The big-screen dames of cinema 2003 will keep you watching

  January 23, 2003

• Christina Aguilera

  Stripped (RCA)

  December 19, 2002

• Beat It

  Only band fans need stand in the Drumline

  December 12, 2002

• Love Under the Umbrella

  John Harvey's Eros: A Circus just needs a ringmaster

  August 15, 2002

• Bet on Black

  If there's a sure crowd-pleaser this summer, it's the fast-paced spectacle that is MIIB

  July 4, 2002

• Nine Inch Nails

  And All That Could Have Been (Nothing)

  March 21, 2002

• Heir Time

  Debra Duncan pays her dues, hits her cues and hopes to be the next Oprah

  February 15, 2001

• The American Scream

  A hysterical Tamarie Cooper rescues herself from suburbia in the free-association comedy Tamalalia 2000

  July 27, 2000

• Night & Day

  April 16 - 22, 1998

  April 16, 1998

• The Color Purple Comes Back To Finish Its Ike-Shortened Run

  Photo by Paul KolnikHSPVA's Kristopher Thompson-Bolden, on the far left with the white neckerchief. Last year, one of the casualties of Hurricane Ike was The Color Purple's national-tour stopover in Houston. It was supposed to be here for a two-week run, but that was halved thanks to the post-storm conditions (no electricity). On August 18-23 the show will be back for a return engagement at the Hobby Center, bringing with it Kristopher Thompson-Bolden, a member of the ensemble who graduated

  July 24, 2009

• Theatre Under the Stars: The Color Purple

  August 13, 2009

• Ripping Off FEMA And Oprah: Not A Good Idea

  ​It's one thing to defraud FEMA in the wake of a hurricane. It's another to mess with Oprah.That's the sad, heavy lesson learned by four people named in indictments unsealed this morning by the U.S. Attorney's office. They're charged with, as the feds put it, "wrongfully obtaining rental assistance from FEMA after having purchased new, fully-furnished homes that were financed by Oprah Winfrey's 'Oprah's Angel Network.'" (Hey, nice plug and product-placement for the Big O.)Darlene McGruder Pool

  August 19, 2009

• We Lost 500 Cows During Hurricane Rita!! Just Don't Look Too Closely

  ​Earlier today we had hurricane victims ripping off the feds and the sacred cow of Oprah Winfrey; now we have hurricane victims allegedly ripping off the feds with virtual cows.Six people were indicted today on charges that they told the federal government they had more than 500 cows that were swept off High Island during Hurricane Rita, an imaginary disaster for which they received $390,000 from the Livestock Indemnity Program.The Livestock Indemnity Program's pamphlets damn well better state

  August 19, 2009

• Last Call For Art: You're Getting Off Easy This Week

  Photo courtesy TUTS​Each week Last Call for Art presents shows and exhibits that are closing, meaning you only have the weekend to get off yer butt and go see them. When there are a half-dozen or more things shutting their doors at once, deciding which to see can be difficult.This week, not so much.Only one big piece of Art is in the "See it NOW or miss it forever" stage: TUTS's production of The Color Purple.Nurtured to life by Oprah Winfrey, the show -- which earlier had to cancel performanc

  August 21, 2009

• Houston Leads The Nation In Young-Teen Moms: A Good Thing?

  ​People are up in arms (Are people ever "down on arms"?) about a new report that shows Houston leads the nation in teen births, at least among women aged 15 or less.Abstinence-only ain't working, we need more abstinence-only, yadda yadda yadda.Sure, having a baby when you're 15 isn't the best choice out there. In fact it's right up there with, oh, building your NFL franchise around David Carr.But there are some examples of very young moms who we should be grateful for. Where would we be withou

  September 1, 2009

• When Publicists Attack: Enter Jimmy's F***in World of Product Euphoria at Your Own Risk

  ​Rocks Off doesn't mind a good charitable cause, but idiotic over-hype - even for a good cause - is a no-no. We received an email today from one Jimmy Cunningham, whose company has the intriguing name Product Euphoria. According to Cunningham's press release, "Product Euphoria is putting another great production together and would like to invite you out to enjoy the festivities." Now Rocks Off and other writers at the Press receive these by the jillions. By our own completely unscientific esti

  September 16, 2009

• Houstonians Helping AIDS Victims In Big Media Push That Will Include Oprah

  ​What do Oprah, the TV show 20/20, Houston crime victim advocate Andy Kahan and Houston lawyer Kim Ogg have in common? They're all involved in the sordid tale of Philippe Padieu, a Dallas-area man who is in prison for knowingly having unprotected sex with dozens of women without telling them he was HIV positive.In May, a Collin County jury found Padieu, 53, of Frisco guilty of six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Padieu was sentenced to 45 years in prison. The case is being

  September 16, 2009

• Guilty Pleas From The Sisters Who Dared To Defraud FEMA And Oprah

  This summer we told you about two locals who had not only been accused of defrauding the federal government, but something far, far more powerful: Oprah Winfrey.​Sisters Darlene McGruder Poole and Lashone McGruder Victor were charged in August with filing false information to FEMA in order to get rent money after already receiving houses from Oprah's Angel Network.Today they pled guilty in a Houston federal court "to conspiring to defraud FEMA of more than $14,000 in connection with Hurricane

  October 2, 2009

• Hal Niedzviecki

  October 29, 2009