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Diplomas for Everyone! Sen. Patrick Wants New School Curriculum Even if The Classes Don't Exist...Yet

Sen. Dan Patrick continues to emphatically insist his new plan for accountability and high school diplomas will produce rigor; it will just be a different kind of rigor. Patrick, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, has been slammed in the national media for stepping away from the 4x4 curricu ... More >>

Grocery Stores & Supermarkets Increase Sales with Ready-To-Eat Foods

Grocery stores and supermarkets have turned into places where we can not only buy food to cook at home, but also meals that are already cooked for us. In the summer of 2012, Packaged Facts, a research company in Rockville, Maryland, predicted that this category of foods would reach $32.45 billion i ... More >>

Guess Who Is Bringing Ted Nugent to the State of the Union Address?

Texas Rep. Steve Stockman, arguably the Tea Party's No. 1 advocate on Capitol Hill, has already had an eventful first term his second time in Washington. About three weeks ago, Stockman said he was ready to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Barack Obama if Obama's proposed gun-contr ... More >>

This Week In Food Blogs: Camp Brisket and Nutty Frenchmen

Washington Post: The latest out-of-state paper to tackle Houston's bustling food scene is the Washington Post, in which writer Martha Miller visits a handful of our most popular restaurants and describes the city as "Silk Road meets Texas Bravado." Sarah Rufca at CultureMap called Martha's summation ... More >>

Why Psy and the Innocence of the Muslims Guy Are Nothing Alike

This meme has been infecting my Facebook newsfeed lately, and I thought I'd reply. The facts are these... Nakoula Basseley Nakoula spent a lot of his life making drugs, evading taxes, and commiting bank fraud, all acts that landed him in various institutions over the years. Because of the last frau ... More >>

Paul Ryan's Airplane Stuck in Houston -- How'd He Spend the Delay?

On the campaign trail, there's not a moment that goes unused. BlackBerries -- oh, the BlackBerries. While the iPhone triumphs in the general population, it appears the only subspecies of man still trolling with BlackBerries are the political stooges and groupies. Every time there's a lapse in schedu ... More >>

Missing Houston Journalist, Austin Tice: Where Are You?

It's now been 33 days since anyone's heard from missing Houston journalist Austin Tice, lost somewhere in Syria, possibly in captivity, and even Twitter's gone quiet about him. This is how these things work, unfortunately, when it comes to social media -- everyone expresses outrage, panic, disappoin ... More >>

Eating D.C.: Dining Dispatches from the Capital

As of this writing, I am still comfortably ensconced in the Hotel Palomar in our nation's capital. There is a Negroni at my side, compliments of the hotel, which was waiting for me in the room after I returned from walking off a Shake Shack burger at lunch. That's service. Both the Shake Shack and ... More >>

Houston's Austin Tice, Missing: The Most Dangerous Of Assignments -- Freelance Journalism In A War

When Houston journalist Austin Tice left for Syria eight months ago to cover the country's devolution and nascent civil war, he melted into a country that has become, both anecdotally and statistically, the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist. He did it as a freelance reporter, pos ... More >>

Cattle Prices Doubling, While Experts Predict the Beef Industry May Need 5 Years to Recover

The bustling East Texas cattle auction that the Washington Post recently featured in an article about cattle prices couldn't have been more different from the near-empty auction that I attended last fall, during the worst of the 2011 drought. "Since we've gotten rain and everything, the price has r ... More >>

App of the Week: The Annoyance That is the Facebook Reader App

One of my favorite things about Facebook is the ability it provides users to share information. I tend to think of Facebook as a place to share articles, photos, videos and the like whereas I view Twitter as a place to share some of the same things, but more often just random thoughts and musings. F ... More >>

New Horsefly Species Named For Beyonce: 5 Better Names It Should Have Gotten

There's bootlicious gold in them thar hills​The Washington Post reported that an Australian researcher had discovered a new species of horsefly and, because it's backside was gold and therefore "bootylicious," he was naming it after Houston's own Beyonce. The species will henceforth be known ... More >>

Chron's Richard Justice Leaves for New Job

Richard Justice leaves the Chron.​Richard Justice, the Houston Chronicle sports columnist who might have the highest profile at the paper, is leaving after 11 years to write for MLB.com, the online service of Major League Baseball. "MLB.com made me a great offer. It's a place of such energy," ... More >>

Hippie Costumes, The Awful Scourge Of Halloween: Seven Telling Examples

Wear an unimaginably big turtleneck instead​Hippies. Proof that anything can become nostalgic. We're nit sure kids in the `60s dressed up like Roaring Twenties flappers -- although, judging from what we posted recently, it would be an improvement -- but people today apparently try to dress up ... More >>

Football! The Weekend's Best Bets (w/ Token Palin & Brown Hand Guy Videos)

Still dreaming of Glen?​In the quest to have my posts appear in the list of most viewed, certain weekly topics that I do have a ceiling. For example, this Friday post during football season where I give my best bets likely only appeals to a certain degenerate segment of society (despite how am ... More >>

Jay-Z & Kanye's Throne Tour Stop Delayed To December 5

Toyota Center's Web site is now listing the Houston date of rap titans Jay-Z and Kanye West's joint tour to promote their forthcoming album Watch the Throne as Monday, December 5, rather than the previously announced Wednesday, October 26. Promoter Live Nation confirmed the change, but has not se ... More >>

Ingredient of the Week: Duck Breast

Photo by John SuhHe ate it with some veggies. I ate mine straight up.​Last week, I discussed my latest addiction to Revival Market's duck. This week, I bring you the duck dish itself. What is it? Part of the poultry family, duck is fattier and and thus more succulent than its cousin, the ch ... More >>

EPA Hits Texas, Other States With Tougher Air Pollution Regulations: Cue Outrage From Rick Perry, Greg Abbott

Feds up the ante in battle against TCEQ, Perry​The Environmental Protection Agency announced stricter rules on air pollution, rules that will especially affect Texas, whose politicians have been fighting tenaciously to avoid federal regulation of the state's many pollution producers. The EPA ... More >>

John Hunsucker: Stilll Making Waves With Controversial Lifeguard Classes

Daniel KramerUsing the Heimlich on drowning victims not a good idea, experts say.​Four years ago we wrote about John Hunsucker, a retired UH professor who owned a company that taught lifeguards to use the Heimlich maneuver on drowning victims, something that has been widely discredited in the ... More >>

Idol Beat: The Dirty Two Dozen

​The fallout from Jennifer Lopez's Wednesday night freakout only ate up about ten minutes of last night's show. At least, that's how much it looked like as I was fast-forwarding my DVR. You've got to hand that much the producers of American Idol, they can milk even the most trivial of incident ... More >>

T. Jefferson Parker: Border Lords

Bad Teachers Consigned to the Flames in Fiery Manifesto Signed by Terry Grier

Terry Grier goes national ​In a story already online and due to come out in the Sunday print edition of the Washington Post, our own Terry Grier joins other superintendents in blaming teachers (well, the bad ones) for the poor state of our schools and children.He also pushes charters and endorses ... More >>

Al-Jazeera Headed For The Houston Airwaves?

Al-Jazeera: But first, a look at traffic on the Katy Freeway​The Washington Post broke a story this morning on previously undisclosed negotiations between Pacifica and Al-Jazeera that would see Pacifica's five self-owned stations broadcasting content from the controversial Arabic network.One of th ... More >>

Courtney Love Helps Christmas Come Early

Photos by Groovehouse/ Click here for a slideshow​Not that it ever happened to Rocks Off growing up, but can you imagine turning in your wish list to Santa Claus a few weeks before Christmas and getting everything you asked for? The new Playstation, Star Wars toys, the go-kart, new little brot ... More >>

Is The Westheimer Block Party Done For?

Bun B For Lafayette - ATLiens Freestyle from Decatur Dan on Vimeo. • Dave Bry at the witty pop-culture blog The Awl writes about rap music's eternal embrace of consumerism, using Bun B's most recent release, a rap written in honor of Japanese clothing company Lafayette, as an example. It's a great ... More >>

Free Passes To The MacGruber Preview, And How Will It Stack Up Against All The SNL Movie Bombs?

We know we're not supposed to admit this -- "Saturday Night Live sucks!!!" and all that -- but we kinda like the MacGruber sketches. They're short, unlike too many SNL skits dragged out beyond all point, and -- what can we say? -- they're usually funny.Now, however, we are dealing with MacGruber th ... More >>

They're Modifying The "Bible Of Psychiatry": Five Houston-Specific Disorders They Should Consider

​The DSM, the so-called "Bible of Psychiatry," is getting a re-do. More mental disorders will be included, as the Washington Post says: Children who throw too many tantrums could be diagnosed with "temper dysregulation with dysphoria." Teenagers who are particularly eccentric might be candidates f ... More >>

Poison Pen Reading Series with Paul Otremba and Andrew Porter

This recently published poet is toning up

Comparing Imperial Stouts

​On this day in 1916, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, a Russian mystic who entranced the czar's wife, was assassinated by aristocrats wary of his growing influence. It's an intriguing tale and a fitting historical excuse to sample Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, an offering from North Coast ... More >>

More ParkerMania Continues: An Obama Phone Call, Roller-Skating Drag Queens

Photo by Daniel Kramer​The media fallout from Annise Parker's mayoral victory continues to roll in.President Barack Obama called to congratulate her (he didn't mention the gay angle), but he called while she was giving an interview to Fox 26. And really, what's more important, Obama or Fox 26? So ... More >>

Trey McIntyre Project

The former Houston Ballet choreographic associate shifts shape

Tom DeLay Goes Dancing With The Stars

​It's nice to know that the dignified, studious, classy Tom DeLay we all knew and loved in the Congress is alive and well...and appearing on Dancing with the Stars.Because that's what serious people do.ABC announced today that the former King of Sugar Land will be a contestant along with such nota ... More >>

The Big Lebowski

The hero of this Coen Brothers cult classic is an icon to burnt-out Gen Y-ers

Broadway, Baby

The Subject Was Roses

Country Playhouse presents an award-winning war drama

Setting the Stage

2007–2008 promises a year of provocative productions

Hey, what do you know, Joe?

Sunny Side Up

An egg-seller's defense gets strange

What Have You Got Against "Hispanic"?

The Mexican replies

Oscar Pimpin'

Dirty South rappers make the Academy Awards their bitch

War Is Not Hell

The Chron's embedded reporter is far from the action

Summer Games

Everyone's a front-runner in the race to land the Olympics

Jailhouse Crock

Spanish-language media cries foul over Railcar Killer interviews

Subpoena Envy

A legislative panel summons local GOP leaders to a show-and-tell

News of the Weird

School Outings

Forcing all the retarded from institutions may not be in anyone's best interests

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

Changing Channels

For decades, 13 ruled the Houston airwaves. Now 11 is coming on strong. Is KTRK's broadcast dynasty losing its hold?