Ronald Reagan

Happy Inventors Day! 5 Musical Inventors to Celebrate

On this day in 1983, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed February 11 to be National Inventor's Day, and commanded the observation of same by all of us less awesome citizens. The day was chosen because it was the birthday of Thomas Edison, who held more than a thousand different patents, including pre ... More >>

Last Night: The Adolescents & Youth Brigade at Fitzgerald's

The Adolescents, Youth Brigade, The American Heist Fitzgerald's December 30, 2012 To end 2012 on a note of anti-apocalypse, in which the forces of vitality outmaneuver destruction and oblivion, Willow Villarreal of Hatetank Productions -- who has survived through the thick and thin of a fickle Hous ... More >>

10 Best Modern Political Speeches

We'll be hearing a lot of great speeches this election season, but lets take a second to remember the true giants of political rhetoric. 10. Martin Luther King: I've Been to the Mountaintop King delivered this speech in Memphis, Tennessee the day before he was assassinated. After talking for a whi ... More >>

Classic Bogart Movies at Miller: Casablanca

Forget Reagan's Blood: 5 Other Presidential Fluids That Should Be Auctioned

A European auction company says it plans to sell a vial of Ronald Reagan's blood, taken on the day of his attempted assassination. While any number of Republicans might like to own the fetishistic object in order to aid their rituals which banish from memory all the things Reagan did that meant he ... More >>

For President's Day: The Best Movie Portrayals of 15 Presidents

Portraying presidents on screen is always tricky. Crass imitation makes the thing look like a comedy skit, but completely ignoring the mannerisms and voice that people know doesn't work either. There have been some laughingly inept acting jobs when it comes to the 44 people who have been the countr ... More >>

Comment of the Day: The Coked-Up Belushi Movie Ronald Reagan Watched Wasn't That Bad

We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involving wit ... More >>

The 10 Worst Movies Ronald Reagan Watched at Camp David, and the Five Hippest

During a panel discussion on C-SPAN recently, someone mentioned that the Ronald Reagan Library has a list online of every movie he and Nancy watched at Camp David or the White House. So we checked it out. They watched a lot of movies, including Reagan's old films. There are a lot of Hollywood class ... More >>

His Whole Self

Donald Moffett shares it all in a strong survey at CAMH.

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 >>

The Song Stylings Of The Modern Presidents

For reasons better not gone into, Rocks Off has been running around YouTube searching for presidents singing, rapping, and otherwise making music, and YouTube delivered as usual. It's like the Web site is a kind of third-rate God that answers every prayer, but only with penis jokes and Rick Astley, ... More >>

Berlin Wall at 50: Five Iconic Moments

Just another brick in the wall​Fifty years ago today, East German construction crews were in the last stages of preparation for building the Berlin Wall. On August 13, they began, instantly giving an incredible propaganda tool to the free world. The Wall has been down for 22 years and will so ... More >>

Five Disastrous Modern-Day Presidential Decisions Not Involving Iraq or Vietnam

Ronald and Nancy Reagan face the consequences.​Making tough decisions is what being a president is all about. But sometimes those decisions backfire. Sometimes the backfire hurts only the president who made the decision; sometimes it hurts a whole lot of other people. Here are five most disas ... More >>

President's Day List: Five Biographies You Need to Read

Dutch received undeserved scorn​President's Day is a time to reflect on the people who've lived in the White House, and how best to learn more about them. Presidential biographies have always been a huge industry, with a staggering amount of trees felled for books both incredibly dense and an ... More >>

Mexico Military Invasion Bravely Repulsed, We Guess

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Ronald Reagan: Biggest Punk Icon Of The '80s

​Forget names like Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra, Joe Strummer, Sid Vicious or even Joey Ramone. The most iconic figure of the '80s punk and hardcore scenes wasn't a dude with liberty spikes or a three-inch gash in his forehead. It was the retired film actor, father of five, former governor of C ... More >>

Challenger Disaster, 25 Years Later: The Five Most Chilling Moments

Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, a news event that remains so vivid -- especially to Houstonians -- that most everyone can remember where they were when they learned of it or when they first saw a replay of that launch, embedded above. That day and its aftermath trigger ... More >>

The Adolescents: Still Punk Rock Kids From The Black Hole

"We were little pricks, but bored out of our minds..." The Adolescents on the 2007 Warped Tour​For 30 years, seminal Orange County punk band the Adolescents has unleashed anthemic teen angst, since mutated into wise adult aggravation, in intermittent bursts. Sure, members come and go at revol ... More >>

Greed, Interrupted

Part meltdown memoir, part essential finger pointing, Inside Job will make you seethe.

"Hannibal's On The Jazz:" A Stephen J. Cannell Retrospective

​If you were born before, say, 1976 (the year of my little sister's birth and hence my arbitrary demarcation line for coolness), you probably spent a healthy chunk of your prime TV-watching years enjoying the programs of the late Stephen J. Cannell. The longtime writer/producer created some of ... More >>

Ernest Withers: 5 Other FBI Informants Of Note

Also an FBI informant, but not on our list​Pretty shocking news via the Memphis Commercial Appeal this morning that Ernest Withers, the well-known photographer of the Civil Rights movement who was seen as a trusted friend byt its leaders, was an FBI informant.Because, you know, Martin Luther King ... More >>

True Blood: Massive Attack At A Strip Club!

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. Season 3, Episode 4: "9 Crimes" ​When Gothtopia was just a ... More >>

Aftermath: We Are Not Sorry For Liking LIGHTS And Owl City At Verizon

Photos by Kendra Berglund​Friday night at a sold-out Verizon Wireless Theater, LIGHTS and Owl City put on surprisingly solid performances. We use the word 'surprisingly,' because we fall into the category of people who oftentimes dismiss these kinds of artists as sans-substance pawns of the ... More >>

Now-Former Wired Live Announcing New Name This Afternoon

Chris GrayClick on this image to read the amusing message, and Bible verses, someone scrawled on this flyer.​Rocks Off just spoke with Jeff Barry, attorney for SG Properties, the landlords who locked out Wired Live/Chartres Entertainment owner Anosh Ahmed overnight Wednesday for nonpayment of rent ... More >>

(Very Possibly) Excerpts From The State Board Of Education's Curriculum Standards For The 2012-13 School Year

​There's been a whole lot of hooting and scorn from a nation who has watched as far-right-wingers have forced their odd, minority political views into Texas textbooks. There are some carping liberal complainers who think -- difficult as it may be to believe -- that Thomas Jefferson should be menti ... More >>

Midweek Match-Up: Tom DeLay Vs. Sarah Palin In The Battle Of The Quitters

What is up with the Republican Party today? It's become a party of quitters.First, Sarah Palin ups and leaves her job as Alaska governor for reasons only she can discern. Then Tom DeLay throws in the white towel on Dance With The Stars, even as the nation was begging for him to continue making a com ... More >>

For Teddy: Our Favorite Dead Kennedys Songs

​That's right, we went there. Longtime Massachussetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, better known as Teddy, passed away late Tuesday night at age 77. News media sites have already gone to Defcon 2 - "A Famous Person Not Named Michael Jackson Has Died" - so Rocks Off thought we'd take a different appro ... More >>

For Ramadan: Five Movie Muslims

Ramadan is a time of reflection and prayer for the world's Muslim population. It is meant to teach them patience and self-restraint, and to bring them closer to Allah. We at Hair Balls know little of patience, and have never been good at self-restraint, but we're nothing if not equal-opportunity i ... More >>

For May Day: Five Best Dirty, Rotten, Stinking Commies In The Movies

Once a pre-Christian celebration of the beginning of the summer, May 1 became associated with the labor movement and was eventually appropriated by the Soviet Union. The Cold War has been over for almost 20 years, so what better way to commemorate May Day than by poking fun at some famous movie Com ... More >>

Texas Punk Music Is Gay

The smartest people in rock and roll are queer.

The Houston Suburb Known As The Hill Country

The LBJ Ranch, just minutes outside the 610 loopThings we learned today: The Hill Country is a suburb of Houston. At least to Canadians.The National Post, a Canadian newspaper, took note that Barack Obama was the first "urban" president in a long while.They had to stretch things a bit, saying that J ... More >>

Musicians Don't Have W. to Kick Around Anymore... So Now What?

Now that Lil' Bush has shuffled off the Presidential coil - or will in a couple of hours, anyway - and heads off into some Dallas burg to write his memoirs and reflect on his two wild and strange terms as Commander in Chief, it seems that the writers of so many protest songs can call off their guns ... More >>

Cold War Reheated

Big Daddy

BAKER STREET PUB & GRILL'S

MONICA LEWINSKY

Assassination Tango

Controversial docu-drama imagines a post-Bush scenario

Go Ahead, Ask Him

Mel Chin brings his art -- and his convictions -- to The Station

Buggin' for Bling

Michael Stadther's Treasure's Trove is a real gem

Fahrenheit 2004

Remembering the movies that heated up cinemas this year

Boogie for Bush!

Dubya and Franz Ferdinand have made it okay for white guys to dance

Sign Language

Traffic problems? One woman's novel guide to getting city action

Messing with Texas

Rockers bash Bush, with varying results

Killing the Leaders

Face the Facts

Nancy Burson has been morphing and manipulating images since the '70s. Can we now trust her photos?

Junk-Food Journalism

A new book detailing the "dark side of the all-American meal" could use a little more beef itself

Love in the Time of Chundering

Hoping to be a modern-day Pillow Talk, Bossa Nova merely blows its cookies

Trading with the Enemy

Houston oil companies maintain their profitable ties to Libya, in roundabout ways

The Insider

The Wendy Card

Wendy Gramm's all-American success story is a centerpiece of her husband's fledgling presidential bid. But there's more to the story than what's being packaged and sold by the Phil Gramm campaign.

Round One to the Host