Oprah Winfrey

The Eating...Our Words 100: Ellen Schwartz, Culinary Instructor & Private Chef

Who she is: Ellen Schwartz, better known as Chef Ellen, has been in the kitchen for as long as she can remember. A native Houstonian, she and her family have a long history in the food industry. Her father and grandfather -- a butcher -- owned the Riverside Market grocery stores since the 40's. She ... More >>

Citizen Hearst

Capsule Stage Reviews: Cuttin' Up, Ragtime: the Musical, See Rock City & Other Destinations

The Columbine Effect

Thirteen years and a hundred school shootings later, why is Hollywood still obsessed with this one?

Don't Eat That: A List of Foods to Avoid

This is my close friend Jamie from Hackney, East London, and he will eat anything you put in front of him. Whole, raw jalapenos and Thai chiles, dubious Asian convenience store sandwiches at 3 am -- whatever it is, it doesn't bother him. He once showed me a video from Thailand of him eating ... More >>

Top 10 Films to Celebrate Black History Month

In 1926 historian Carter G. Wilson began what was known as Negro History Week in an effort to make the African American story more prevalent in our culture's consciousnesses. The week evolved into an entire month-long celebration and promotion of African American history, which we recognize this mon ... More >>

12 Celebrity Chinese Zodiac Signs Explain All

This week the Chinese community parties hard to celebrate its Lunar New Year. The Chinese New Year is spread out over a 15-day period and the Houston version is jam packed with traditional merriment. Two thousand twelve marks the year of the Dragon, which is said to be one of the most fortunate yea ... More >>

Tea Party Princess

Victoria Jackson went from the big leagues of comedy to the rabid right of modern politics.

The Toxic Avenger: Pure Entertainment

The setup: Based on Lloyd Kaufman's 1984 cult-movie classic, the musical version of Toxic Avenger arrives at the Alley, revamped after a long Off-B'way run, and brings broad humor, compelling music and top-drawer acting with it. The execution: The story line in the musical follows the movie pret ... More >>

Thanksgiving Television Episodes That Didn't Knock Us Out From Tryptophan

We can't lie and say that Thanksgiving television specials give us that same warm and fuzzy feeling as their Yuletide counterparts. For starters, there are very few of them and it is difficult to find them anywhere besides the Hallmark Channel. Lucky enough, regularly scheduled television uses the ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 2: Domenica Catelli of Catelli's

Photo by Matthew DresdenDomenica Catelli, outside her family restaurant in Geyserville, CA.​Yesterday on part one of our chat with Domenica Catelli, we discussed how she left Houston to reopen her family restaurant in Geyserville, California. Today, we discuss her work as a Food Network person ... More >>

Sheryl Underwood

The Oprah Finale: Five Ways To Improve It

That's quite the treasury​Believe us when we tell you we are not Guy Who Never Watches TV. But somehow we've never seen an Oprah show. Of course, we've seen YouTube clips of Tom Cruise jumping up and down, and we're sure we saw snatches here and there in a waiting room or something. But that ... More >>

Oprah Vs. Bob Dylan: A Side-By-Side Showdown

Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​In case you've been under a complete self-imposed total media blackout - how do those work, by the way? - you no doubt know this week is a pretty important milestone in the lives of two of America's most important cultural figureheads. Maybe the two most ... More >>

Ice Cube

Five Oprah Secrets That Would Have Been More Interesting

​Last week we started hearing rumors of a bombshell revelation coming on Monday's episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, a discovery Winfrey made late last year which she described as a "miracle" that she said "shook me to my core." Speculation ran rampant, from the predictable "lesbian relationsh ... More >>

Five Reasons Not to Shop on Black Friday

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Shopping Free-For-All!​Every year around this time in the United States, we celebrate a day so important, so American that it brings people together like no other day can. Around 3 a.m. this Friday, bleary-eyed shopaholics will power into retail outlets all over the country in ... More >>

Oprah Gives $1 million To Houston's YES Charter School

Oprah shows some Houston love​That Oprah, she just can't stop with the giving.Today, in connection with a show on public education and the documentary Waiting for Superman, she announced a $1 million gift to the YES Preparatory charter schools here in Houston."We had no clue," Yes Prep CEO Chris B ... More >>

Pop Rocks: A World Without Oprah

So long, suckers.​The 25th and final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show kicked off yesterday with a John Travolta dance number, an appearance by Paul Simon (of "and Garfunkel" fame, not the deceased U.S. Senator), and an announcement that Oprah would take the 300 studio audience members in atten ... More >>

Battle Celebrity Chef: Cat Cora v. Rachael Ray

​One is a bona fide chef, while the other is a self-described cook. One has made headlines because of her unique method of getting pregnant; the other appears on the pages of the supermarket rags because she is apparently about to get a divorce once a week. One is friends with that creepy "cha ... More >>

Soweto Gospel Choir

Let the spirit move you

Teen Iron Chef: The Secret Ingredient Is Shrimp

​The Teen Iron Chef Competition came to Houston this week at Sharpstown High School. Enterprising adolescents who had been training for seven weeks had their final showdown on Wednesday to see which team had made the most advancement in the kitchen. With Chef Monica Pope of T'afia serving as g ... More >>

David Wroblewski

From Oprah to Inprint

This Week In TV: Oprah to Resign in 2011, World to End Shortly Thereafter

Tom Cruise is not taking the news well...​The sun's back out, I'm ready for turkey, and I can't believe I sold my DeLorean to Mr. T. This was the week in TV Land: • So, Oprah resigned, but not really, or something. Just to make sure we all have time to prepare our families for the ritualist ... More >>

Hal Niedzviecki

See and be seen tonight with the writer of The Peep Diaries

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 ... More >>

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 w ... More >>

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 choi ... More >>

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 assistanc ... More >>

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 swe ... More >>

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-s ... More >>

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

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

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 ap ... More >>

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 swe ... More >>

Book Review: Smart Cookies' Investment Guide

The Color Purple

Thank You, Oprah!

Banned Books in the Texas Prison System

Alan Haynes

Even in Austin, this blues guitarist stands out

Miss Pop Rocks: Lucy Noland…meow

India.Arie

Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship

A Very Long Run

New releases available this week

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Beat It

Only band fans need stand in the Drumline

Heir Time

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

The American Scream

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

Letters

Moved by the Spirit

Post-slavery Beloved unleashes emotions

Oprah Does Amarillo

It's the Queen of Talk versus the Meat Men, and outside the courtroom, master media manipulator Winfrey is already the clear winner.