Pearl Harbor

The Top Five Ballsiest Actors From Texas

Bora! Bora! Bora!

Pearl Harbor's sound and fury signify nothing

Hell and Back

Scott's Black Hawk Down pays grim, gritty homage to real-life warriors

World of Film

Smaller, and with shorts, WorldFest/Houston cranks up its projectors

Say Hello to EaDo

We once described the area immediately to the east of the George R. Brown Convention Center as a "silent, godforsaken stretch of no-man's-land" that is neither the Warehouse District, nor the Third Ward, nor the East End. We employed that bulky definition because by 2000, its 1980s and '90s name - ... More >>

The Nickel: A Musical History of the Fifth Ward, Part 1

Back in its heyday, the corner of Jensen Drive and Lyons Avenue was known as "Pearl Harbor, the Times Square of the Bloody Fifth." You wouldn't know it today - the entire area is a vast wasteland of tired and abandoned lots and boarded-up shacks, but for much of the 20th Century this area was th ... More >>

Hankies Aweigh

The Land Girls takes off as a decent tearjerker, then runs dry

Letters

The Land Girls takes off as a decent tearjerker, then runs dry

Twinkies, Racial Profiling and EaDo

It was a long time ago

Gate of Heaven is a Gift for All

For Any Season

Send In the Clones

Michael Bay's up to his old tricks -- now older than ever

Bland Ambition

Motion to dismiss: Legally Blonde doesn't even have a case

War Is Hell

But it's funny, too, in Barrymore

Origin of Innocence

The New World boldly reclaims the Pocahontas tale from Disney

Unknown Soldiers

The Great Raid's compelling story never comes to life

Cage Death Match

National Treasure makes one long for good Nic Cage movies -- like Con Air

USA-holes

Team America takes no prisoners and spares no swear words

Cold Play

Catch some future Stars at the Houston Aeros game

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Catch some future Stars at the Houston Aeros game

Brothers in Arms

Two Koreans go to war in the masterful epic Tae Guk Gi

Big Fat Greek Bloodletting

Brad's ripped and The Iliad's shredded in the scintillating spectacle Troy

Crash Course

A stuntman is mightily impressed by Houston's rail crashes

You Better Watch Out

These Saint Nicks can be real pricks

My Life in Oils

David McGee gives good autobiography at DiverseWorks

Best Weekend Getaway

Hangar Hotel

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Hangar Hotel

War on War Songs

Iraq and roll don't go together well when rockers protest

Best Movie Shot on Location

Going Independent

Solid Soldiers

Vietnam's first battle delivers a real dread of war so lacking in Black Hawk Down

Devil's Advocate

Audiences love Jerry Bruckheimer. Critics don't. Like he cares.

Arabian Knight

Jack Shaheen crusades against cinema's depiction of Reel Bad Arabs

Law & Disorder

As one of TV's best and best-loved series launches a new spin-off, its creator grapples with the aftershocks of terror

Way Out There

A new TV news operation is coming to Houston. More or less.

Letters

Art Car Bawl, A Vanishing Past, Oinked Out

In Cold Blood

Novelist James Ellroy reshapes America's ugly history in his own image

For Memorial Day, Part 2: One Vet's Journey Back To Pearl Harbor

The Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor, and Nicolas Maershbecker's ship was stuck. Maershbecker was an engineer on the USS Perry, a high-speed minesweeper, and responsible for starting the boilers in the engine room. He couldn't, though, because the ship's smokestacks were still blocked by ... More >>

Don't Start The Long Weekend Too Early

Yeah, we know tomorrow is the Friday before a three-day weekend. You'll hardly have finished your granola bar and first coffee before you begin making plans on an early cubicle exit. If you make it until noon without coming up with some decent excuse for "needing to work outside the office," yo ... More >>

For the Fourth Of July: Worst Cinematic Attempts At Patriotism

This weekend, as we come together to celebrate Independence Day, let's do our best to remember what this holiday is all about. It's more than merely dodging DWI checkpoints on your way home from backyard barbecues and trying to decide between the Jon & Kate 8 or Deadliest Catch marathons on TV ... More >>

The Week in TV: "I'll Have...A Birthday Cake!"

​It was a pretty fun week in TV Land: Most of the fall programs are beginning to settle in, the CW continued its inexplicable existence, and David Letterman hit it with some employees. Insert your Worldwide Pants jokes here, and let's get to it! • I won't go into much here about FlashForwa ... More >>

Santa Claus Is Coming to To Sink the USS Arizona...

Last night was a first in the history of what founder/director Bryan Taylor believes is the ten-year history of the Santa Claus Reenactment of the Battle of Pearl Harbor. Thanks to the mucky mire that was Market Square last night, the mock aerial/naval combat took place inside of Warren's. Watch th ... More >>

Connie Willis: Blackout

Going back to the future might not be an option in this sci-fi adventure story

For The Fourth: Five Strange Uncle Sam Appearances On Screen

I want you....to stop abusing me onscreen​For some people, today is the Fourth of July holiday. For others, it's Monday.Whatever one works for you, it's time to get in a patriotic, Uncle Sam mood!! And what better way than to see ol' Sam in five strange screen appearances?Whether it's Sam in a sof ... More >>

King Street "Patriots": Voter Intimidation Continues At Polling Stations Around Houston

Photo by Chasen MarshallIf the signs don't sway you, the poll watchers might.​Polling stations around Houston have turned into bastions of controversy this week: Fourteen reported incidents Monday and another that Hair Balls heard about on Wednesday in south Houston near Gulfgate. There are few d ... More >>

Beyonce In Blackface: Innocent Or Insult?

hearthesiren.wordpress.com​Good intentions are one thing. Perception vs. reality is another. So goes the story with the recent outpouring of outrage and defensive stances over Beyonce's French fashion magazine photo shoot for L'Officiel Paris. The Houston icon used dark brown facepaint to pay ... More >>

Tropical Storm Allison, 10 Years Later: Where Were You?

​Ten years ago today it began. A Friday that didn't seem to hold any particular weather interest, maybe some rain, and then -- if you were in the wrong spot -- a rain to end all rains, it seems. Portions of Houston flooded like never before; other parts of the area didn't get hit much harder ... More >>

The Eight Toughest Soldiers Texas Ever Produced (Featuring Heroism, Betrayal & Many Dead Bodies)

Audie Murphy, starring in the story of his own life​Our war heroes are presented to us in different varieties. There are those we create for ourselves, in the mold of what we think a hero should be: David Crockett (nobody but Walt Disney called him Davey), astride the ramparts at the Alamo goi ... More >>

Health Department Roundup

Photo by Katharine ShilcuttDon't sweat it, girl, Torchy's has been tested and it's totally clean.​This week people across the country will remember just how much cooking can suck. Imagine being a chef or restaurateur, trying to cook for many more diners than the average Thanksgiving party. And ... More >>

Pearl Harbor Day: The Nitpickiest IMDb Nitpicks for Tora! Tora! Tora! and Pearl Harbor

That sub is OBVIOUSLY an October sun.​Today is the 70the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Greatest Generation's 9/11. Since then the Day of Infamy has shown up in many movies, most notably 1970's Tora! Tora! Tora! and 2001's Pearl Harbor. Any such movie subjects itself to the ea ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Bing Crosby's White Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Bing Crobsy was the first crossover pop star. He made movies, music, appeared in both radio and television programs and did all of it successfully and, more important ... More >>

AgesandAges: A Tale of Portland and Pearl Harbor

​As the year comes to its close and we welcome the cool temperatures and the grey skies, definitely our favorite weather, we turn to the Pacific Northwest and the band AgesandAges. Mick Cullen of Subterranean Radio, our dealer in all excellent and underground, passed along the music video for ... More >>