Pulp Fiction

R.I.P. Paul Bearer, 1954-2013: The Definitive Video Anthology Of His WWE Career

In news that when transcribed sounds like some sort of weird mix between a scene from Inception and a webcam installed in Vince McMahon's brain, William Moody, an actual trained mortician turned wrestling manager by the name of "Paul Bearer" and longtime WWE manager of the legendary Undertaker, died ... More >>

Defending Tarantino

What critics who attack the director's borrowings miss.

Films of 2012: The Ultimate Review

Quentin Tarantino emerges from a chaotic couple of years with his most ambitious film to date, Django Unchained. Will the academy really, really like it?

Death of Cinema

A short history of an art form's long passing.

The Most Depressingly Brilliant Video You'll Watch In Your Tiny, Useless Life

Not too long ago, a video arrived in my inbox. It's above, for "Time to Be Clear, " from Bonnie "Prince" Billy's 2011 album Wolfroy Goes to Town. You should watch, particularly if you like to have your whole paradigm shifted by unending, overwhelming sadness. See, it's about some bunnies, but really ... More >>

There Be Pirates Here: UH Ranks Third on List of University Students Using BitTorrent

According to a survey of Internet usage by TorrentFreak and ScanEye, the University of Houston ranks third on its list of universities that most utilize BitTorrent technology. For the non-nerd, BitTorrent is a technology that allows incremental downloading of very large files that can include pirate ... More >>

No, This Is How It's Done

Seven Psychopaths is a great, nasty time at the movies.

Pulp Fiction

EDC 2012: The Underground Has Left the Building

See also our EDC slideshows: Day 1, and another Day 2 Day 3 Twenty years after rave culture first entered the American mainstream, the success of a festival like Electric Daisy Carnival begs the question: Can electronic dance music retain its authenticity, warehouse roots and peace, love, unity ... More >>

Chase "Young Nino" Walker, 20: Calmly Dumped Onto The Road After Being Shot In Head, Bayou Body Count No. 61

They didn't do it like this in Pulp Fiction: A man got shot in the head in a car by someone else in that vehicle Tuesday afternoon, but instead of calling in Mr. Wolf for a clean-up, the car stopped, a passenger got out, pulled the body from the car and then left it lying in the street. Police say ... More >>

Friday Night: Dick Dale At The Continental Club

Dick Dale Continental Club April 13, 2012 Dick Dale, the king of surf rock and grandfather of metal, played decades of music Friday night at the Continental with his near-thrash guitar licks. He's the man behind that iconic riff opening the movie Pulp Fiction, which was also borrowed for an annoyin ... More >>

15 Inferior Best Picture Oscar Winners (And the Enduring Classics They Beat)

Last Wednesday, Craiggers hit on some forgotten Best Picture Academy Award winners, films which have slipped through the cracks of society's consciousness for one reason or another; either for being too of-the-moment, not having enough quotable lines, or for simply not having held up very well -- hi ... More >>

UPDATE: Food Maneuvers That Only Work On Television: Drinking Directly From A Straw Stuck In An Orange

When I blogged last week about five food maneuvers that only work on television, Nicholas L. Hall and Dave Lieberman corrected my assertion that drinking out of a straw stuck directly in an orange couldn't be done in real life. Furthermore, they offered some tips as to how to do so: "The trick ... More >>

Houston Texans Grieving Process 2.0: At Least We're Not THIS GUY in Louisiana! (w/ NSFW VIDEO)

SEC football fans, ballin' up.​With each day, the pain of Sunday's loss to the Ravens continues to dissipate. However, it still hasn't subsided to the point where we shouldn't be taking pleasure in the acute pain of others. In fact, in the spirit of yesterday's post, the pain hasn't subsided ... More >>

Saturday Night: Boz Scaggs & Michael McDonald At Verizon

Boz Scaggs & Michael McDonald Verizon Wireless Theater October 1, 2011 Now, Classic Rock Bob doesn't want to come off as some sort of out-of-touch curmudgeon ("What do you mean you don't sell cassettes anymore? Hey! You kids get off my lawn!"), but one of the reasons to love classic rock is very si ... More >>

Toadies: "We Just Picked Up Where We Left Off"

Matt Cooper/Kirtland Records​Saturday's BestFest headliners the Toadies were in town fairly recently, and they should be back soon when they promote their next album. In the mean time, however, we'll have them here this weekend, and we're hoping that a lot of you will join us to bask in their ... More >>

Hey Texans, Has Anybody Checked On Wade Phillips?

Anyone see Wade?​"I have so much more confidence. Generally, when you make any kind of change, you sort of hold your breath. You say, 'Boy, I hope this works out.' I'm not saying that here. It will work out. [Wade's] done it. He's been there. He's come in, he's looked at our film, we've talked ... More >>

The Shuttle's Souvenir Load

20,000 flags and 10,000 patches aboard

Forrest Gump & Other "Generation-Defining" Soundtracks

​The Forrest Gump soundtrack debuted on June 28, 1994, a week ahead of the film itself, which would go on to smash box-office records, win numerous awards and become one of the most beloved movies of the past 20 years. It is still endlessly quotable, emotional, and entertaining, and the soundt ... More >>

Montrose's Creepiest Adult Bookstore Burns Down, Man Killed

Google mapsA Montrose landmark of sorts, gone.​For years, the Talk of the Town adult bookstore on Richmond just west of Montrose has been a creepy oddity -- from the outside, it looked like a shabby, about-to-fall-down barn, its fading red paint, lack of windows and seeming claustrophobic cond ... More >>

Top 10 Songs Famous Because Of A Movie

​Wednesday night, surf-guitar hero Dick Dale played to a packed Continental Club, in what Rocks Off's buddy Lonesome Onry and Mean and several others have since said was one of the best shows they've ever seen. The song that sent everyone home with their ears ringing and their fingers on fire ... More >>

Dick Dale Destroys Continental Club

Photos by Jason Wolter​In spite of a lifetime of healthy living that includes vegetarianism, martial arts, and an aversion to drugs and alcohol, Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar, realizes that he has a date with Grim Reaper. In our interview this week, Dale described the litany of medical pr ... More >>

Chingo Bling: The Tamale King's Whirlwind L.A. Media Blitz

Photos by Marco TorresChingo Bling outside Hollywood's Key Club​Fresh off the heels of his sold out show at Houston's House of Blues, Chingo Bling was booked to perform at Hollywood's world-famous Key Club. The Tamale Kingpin invited Rocks Off to tag along and document the concert and his sur ... More >>

Laura Anna Guillen, 31, Bayou Body Count No. 54

Checking if a gun is loaded at 2 a.m.​In something out of Pulp Fiction, a woman was killed when a passenger in the backseat of her car accidentally shot her, police say. Laura Anna Guillen, 31, was sitting in the driver's seat of a car in the 4600 block of Collingsworth near the Fifth Ward ... More >>

Saturday Night: Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne & Friends At Toyota Center

Photos by Marco Torres​Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Rick Ross, Bun B, Trae, Yelawolf, Travis Barker & Mix Master Mike, Twist, Shanell, Birdman Toyota Center April 16, 2011 7:22 p.m.: We had not planned on getting here until way later tonight, but Bun B mentioned on his Twitter that the show ... More >>

Top 10 Musical Scenes In Quentin Tarantino Films

​Sunday, Quentin Tarantino, one of the best modern film directors not named Uwe Boll, turns 48 years old. It's hard to believe the beloved hipster director has now been on the public radar for almost 20 years, with his feature-length debut and breakout movie Reservoir Dogs turning the big 2-0 ... More >>

Neil Diamond's Top Six Pop-Culture Moments

​Happy Birthday to the undisputed "Jewish Elvis," Mr. Neil Diamond, who can make a grown man weep with a few bars of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," swiveling his hips and swaying his hair while wielding a deadly acoustic guitar. Diamond turns 70 years young today, and he seems to only be get ... More >>

Some Can Whistle: A Playlist To Don't Worry, Be Happy

​It's often the little things that make our favorite songs our favorites - the curious, unforeseen additions of small touches like an understated bit of whistling. For those who like to categorize their playlists into themes, we present you with the Rocks Off approved Whistle Playlist. The S ... More >>

Jessica Simpson Feels The Pain Of Bullying Victims

Sorry sweetheart, but even Tim Gunn would've made fun of those pants.​There's been a lot of talk about bullies lately. The suicides of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi and Hamilton Middle School's Asher Brown have prompted renewed calls for bullying prevention, leading to things like the It Gets ... More >>

The Olsen Twins: Now Chopped And Screwed!

​Now that screwing and chopping can be done without even using turntables, the technique has become all the rage on the Internet. And it's made a great leap forward into video. Now not only are the jams slowed and throwed, but so are the pictures. Nowhere has this been pulled off more hilari ... More >>

Game Time: 10 Commercials Almost As Creepy As The Brown Hand Center Ads

You think THIS is creepy?​So Michael Brown and his self-named hand center (which, given his propensity to slap women around, may or may not be the front for some kind of sick wife-beater's dojo) are back in the news.The disturbing back story for this guy has been well chronicled over the last few ... More >>

Shove This J-O-B: A Mixtape For The Unintentionally Unemployed

​In the wake of last week's announcement that the number of unemployed Americans filing for unemployment insurance has hit its highest level in nine months, Rocks Off figured it was time for a "fuck insolvency" mixtape. This isn't hyperbole on our part; as we type this, we're well into our sec ... More >>

Clams and Ham at Dolce Vita

Tam VoClam pizza.​My sister-in-law visited recently and requested that we get some pizza at Dolce Vita. My response was to quote of Jules in Pulp Fiction, "Shit, Negro! That's all you had to say!" Unfortunately, the reference was lost on her and we enjoyed a moment of awkward silence followed ... More >>

Nick Gaitan, Houston Music's Wolf-Like Problem Solver

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Kurt Bertilson​Remember ... More >>

Game Time: The Tweet Sixteen....Readers Lament Their Brackets On Twitter

The title of my post last Friday, "My Bracket Looks Like Edward James Olmos' Face", actually came from one of my Twitter followers (@jamesmthomson). Like any blogger of integrity, I gave James full credit while inside hoping that you would ignore said credit and think that I was actually the one w ... More >>

Aftermath: Dick Dale, Merry Prankster And Heavy-Metal Grandpa, At HOB

Photos by Brittanie Shey​ Dick Dale is the grandfather of surf-rock, if your grandfather dressed like a 70-year-old Steven Segal, practically invented heavy metal (his 100-watt amp goes all the way to eleventy) and turned a traditional Greek song into a 1960s anthem. Like most grandfathers, he's m ... More >>

Dick Dale

Mussel Mania

Ride your bike to the Broken Spoke for some awesome moules frites and a Stella.

Moulin Rouge

Actors Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor camp it up in this musical fantasy

Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Tarantino was already at the top of his game with his debut film

Malibu Punch

The Gallant Knight