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Just Be 'Cos': Eight Music Artists Perfectly Suited for Cosplay

Cosplay, short for "costume play," is the art of normal, everyday people going balls-out to depict themselves as their favorite fictional characters from comics, movies, video games and television. It's hugely popular, thanks to ComicCon and our obsession with all things pop-culture. Cosplayers gat ... More >>

EPIC: The 20 Most Overused Terms In SXSW Band Bios

Before I take any trip to Austin and SXSW, I always take more than a few days to peruse the schedule and check out a few of the hundreds of names on the roster and read their bios. Some years there are more bands with "wolf" and "space" in their monikers than usual, and some years there are random ... More >>

Last Night: Alan Jackson at Reliant Stadium

Alan Jackson Reliant Stadium February 27, 2013 As part of RodeoHouston's Armed Forces Appreciation Day Wednesday night, the U.S. Air Force rappel team glided down from the roof of Reliant Stadium carrying a giant American flag. This was before the short, standard fireworks show that still makes ... More >>

Improve the Olympics: Combine Sports. Weightlifitng/Trampoline, Anyone?

Olympic Fever!! Possibly uncaught, still. It's only every four years when the powers that be foist these odd events on us, but somehow that doesn't seem long enough. Things used to be different when it was relatively rare to see sports on TV, but now that we're awash in it the allure of Victorian c ... More >>

Presidents of the United States of America Singer to Score Portal-Style Puzzler

Chris Ballew, the basitarist and singer of Seattle band Presidents of the United States of America, will be the man behind the music for an upcoming first-person puzzle game from Square Enix called Quantum Conundrum. It is impossible to overstate the importance of music in a video game. Would BioSh ... More >>

4/20 Day: 14 Bongs Based on Movies That Should Not Have Bongs Based on Them

Hey, it's 4/20 day! Be glad you don't live in Boulder, where the University of Colorado is trying to end the annual massive on-campus celebration of the day by barring any visitors and spraying the quad where it's held with "a foul-smelling fish-based fertilizer on the grass." Bummer. Here in Hou ... More >>

Pop Rocks: A Few (Updated) Non-Pokemon Speeches for Herman Cain

"Over?"​It was fun (to watch) while it lasted, but Herman Cain officially "suspended" his Presidential campaign last weekend. The former Godfather's CEO had long been dogged by accusations of sexual harassment (to say nothing of his unfamiliarity with the Libyan crisis or how to pronounce "Uzb ... More >>

Last Night: Heart At House Of Blues

Mark Britain​Heart House of Blues November 4, 2010 In trying to come up with a witty juxtaposition to open our review of Thursday night's Heart show, Aftermath was initially going to throw out a comparison to Jefferson Airplane/Starship, another band that peaked decades ago, enjoyed a brief r ... More >>

Trade Martin: Stopping The "Mosque At Ground Zero" In Song

Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos to share. If you have something that you think deserves to be video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner at yahoo dot com. ​Now, your daily VJ has been told by the nice people whose checks pay for his daughter's daycare that he ... More >>

Fails Of The Week: Justin Bieber, Tom Petty, Jenna Jameson, The Killers, Voxtrot

If you're reading this, you're either on the Internet, or else you've mastered multi-dimensional thought-projection processes that would make Michio Kaku cry like a little girl. We'll assume the former, and just in case you don't already know, the Internet has decided that the word "failure" is too ... More >>

Aftermath: The 71's and Evangeline at Warehouse Live

Photos by Jef With One F It's accurate to say that I went to see The 71's on Monday night with some hesitancy; my knowledge of contemporary Christian music is limited to Jars of Clay's "Flood" and the Prom scene from the movie Saved!. Despite my affection for the band's LP, We Are Locomotive, I ju ... More >>

You Down With OCD? Yeah, You Know Me

Video games linked to obsessive, Tony Shalhoub-type behavior

The combat's cuddly in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Fuzzy Fights

Not so Bad: "Horton Hears a Who!

After the unspeakable Grinch, Horton is a surprisingly strong Seuss adaptation

Tired of the Hype, But That's All There Is

Next month, Houston gets to be a cool kid. But only for a week.

Googlism with Houston Musicians, or Why Beyonce Is Stealing My Mojo

All Wet

M. Night Shyamalan steps up the lunacy with Lady in the Water

Turning Japanese

Like the anime, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja is goofy fun

This Game Bites

The new Castlevania is the last nail in the franchise's coffin

Trent Reznor, Supersize

Nine Inch Nails, live in San Francisco: Hilarity. Guilt. Nostalgia. BALCO.

Get Envolved

Songs of praise and hip-hop commingle at Expressions of Faith

William Hung

Inspiration (Koch)

Sit, Stay, Run!

A race goes to the dogs

School Spirit(s)

Just ask the gnome: It's hard to get a good read on the Waldorf teachings

Best Comic Book Store

Bedrock City

Think Different

Could it be that this year's crop of summer movies requires a brain cell or two?

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Gays and God

Plus: Balancing Act, In Jay's Day, Making Book

High-Tech Spectacle

Jennifer Steinkamp and Sharon Engelstein bring back the big and bold.

Letters

Filling the Gulf, Anime Alert, Harsh on Harsh

Tooned In To Anime

Fans say there's nothing Mickey Mouse about these Japanese cartoons with their stories of love, sex, death and saving the world

What, Them Worry?

As Mad celebrates its 400th issue, its editors wonder how to stay funny in a world gone mad

Best Asian Grocery

Hong Kong Market No. 4

Click Art

Three photographers transcend the cult of personality with their revealing celebrity portraits

Weary of the Wows

A Houston junket and the jaded of Hollywood

Will the Real Texas Musician Please Stand Up

The land of gee-tars and fiddles

Letters to the Editor

Rewriting

School's Out Forever

"Unschoolers" like Holly Furgason don't believe in public education. They don't even believe in teachers. They believe in the ability of their children to teach themselves. Will the law catch up with them?

Tongue-tied

HISD's bilingual policy can leave Spanish-speaking kids in a language lurch

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Globetrotters

The Santa Express

He was the perfect St. Nicholas. If he could just move faster.

Dinner and a Movie

Local Restaurant News

Hark Felt

Chinese Ghost Story gives animation a new realm

Sex, Drugs and Kitschy Art

"Psychedelic Relics" at No Tsu Oh