Toyota Motor Corporation

The Six Most Iconic Station Wagons of All Time

The 2010s will forever be known as the decade of the crossover. But what is a crossover, exactly? It's a car that's trying its hardest to look like an SUV. Crossovers are the poseurs of the automotive world. My friend's car got totaled last week, and she called to ask me for used car advice. "What' ... More >>

The Terrifying Scent of Curry: Confessions of a Formerly Picky Eater

I am seven years old, clutching my shoes to my chest and crying hot tears as I try to escape the scent of curry emanating from every carpet fiber and fleck of paint in my friend Bharat's house. In the doorway, my harried mother is apologizing profusely to Bharat's concerned and bewildered parents. ... More >>

The Battle Against the Keystone Pipeline

Environmentalists and landowners battle to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and its load of crude from flowing across Texas rivers and aquifers.

Is Funding Your Album on Kickstarter Insulting and Wrong?

I do a monthly Kickstarter round-up on Art Attack because I really do think that crowdsourcing is a great way to get projects off of the ground that might otherwise never see the light of day. Some wonderful independent video games, for example, exist because of crowd-funding, and it is certainly th ... More >>

Cambodian Weed

The invasive plant water spinach is banned in some states — and essential to Asian cooking. In a small village outside Houston, relocated Cambodians are growing and selling it across state lines, up North, out West, hoping to get rich.

Know Your Local Media: The Houston Chronicle's Dwight Silverman, from Rock Critic to Nerd King

A number of years ago, one of the then music writers at the Houston Chronicle recruited me to write a music blog for Chron.com. I had done some writing for the defunct Houstonist website and personal stuff, but nothing like that. I happily accepted and began writing a music business blog called Brok ... More >>

Steven Cox: This Close To Not Getting Busted With 30 Pounds of Weed

Steven Cox used to be a jailer for Galveston County, but left that job for the greener pastures of working for a Dollar General store. He's back in the jail business now, but on the other side of the bars. He was arrested for possession of 30 pounds of marijuana in a case where it sounds like he al ... More >>

Top Chef: Texas and an Impromptu Tour of the Houston Press Offices

Our TV viewing area!​I arrived home yesterday evening to find that my cable had gone out. To be fair, it could have been out for days. I have no idea. Such are the perils of owning a Roku box and living off Hulu and Netflix instead of basic cable. Either way, I had no means of watching Top Chef th ... More >>

Tim Love and Tequila Take Over Top Chef: Texas

Also known as the episode in which Padma goes full Pocahontas, complete with faux Indian choker I once bought during a family vacation to Tucson in 1993.​Seven episodes in, and I'm sorry to report that none of the challenges thus far have involved the contestants being forced to shoot their ow ... More >>

Dallas Makes a Damn Fool of Itself on Top Chef: Texas

​Thoughts: Is it really a "Healthy Choice" when so many of your frozen dinners are laden with preservatives and other chemicals? With that, we're hitting the road to Dallas, better known these days as a "dining nowhereville." Great choice, Bravo! Enjoy that! "When I think of Dallas, I think of t ... More >>

Chiles and Chili: The Most Obvious Episode of Top Chef: Texas Yet

Above is is how I imagine the initial planning meetings for Top Chef: Texas went. I'm also imagining future episodes where the contestants will be forced to shoot their own horses and grill them over a fire of cactus paddles. Let's go, Top Chef: Texas! DO THIS SHIT RIGHT. Until then, we'll have to ... More >>

East Texas DWI Mayhem Kills One, Injures Three, Damages MedEvac Chopper, Spawns Stupid Quote of Year

Matthew Mitchell has a question. A dumb question​A connected series of two allegedly alcohol-related car crashes killed one, injured three, and sent three others to jail, one in part for asking one of the dumbest questions we've ever read anyone asking at an accident scene. At 1:30 a.m. Sun ... More >>

Unidentified Male Pasenger of DWI Driver, Bayou Body Count No. 173

Photo by HPDSamuel Sanchez was drunk during fatal crash, HPD says​Houston police have charged man with intoxication manslaughter after the death of his passenger in a crash early Saturday morning. Franklin P. Canales, 50, faces the charge. The victim's name was not released pending notificati ... More >>

William Chambliss: Suspected of DWI with Grandkids Perched on Roof of SUV

William Chambliss, grandfather of the year.​Drunk driving is a terrible idea. Drunk driving with kids in the car is even worse. Leave it to an East Texan from the Lufkin-area village of Huntington to invent an even worse variation on this potentially deadly theme. On Monday, concerned citizen ... More >>

The Pomplamoose Revolution

How a band with no CDs or record deal is changing the music industry

Onilton Bolanos Castilon, 38; Nelson Wilfred Tambora-Ramiro, 21; and Unidentified Male, Bayou Body Count Nos. 289-91

Storeowner kills three robbers​A wild shootout as an East End jewelry store owner defended his property ended with three robbers dead Thursday aftertoon. HPD identified two of the dead robbers as Onilton Bolanos Castilon, 38 and Nelson Wilfred Tambora-Ramiro, 21. The identity of the third is ... More >>

Houston Texans -- Do Something, Bob McNair

Headlines don't lie​Every home game Sunday, the Houston Texans put out a free publication called the Tailgate Times that gets handed to ticket holders and media members as they pull into their respective Reliant Stadium parking lots. It's essentially a four-page piece of upbeat Texans propaga ... More >>

Kenneth Wayne Henderson: Passengers Shouldn't Shoot Drivers While They're On The Highway

At least they knew not to shoot the driver​The life of a backseat passenger can be frustrating -- the driver is going too slow, he's going too fast, he's tailgating, he's not doing anything right.Still, you probably shouldn't shoot him. Especially when you are barreling down an interstate.Remember ... More >>

Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga (Again!) Headed Our Way

Hot off the wire this morning is that pop's two preeminent bionic women have penciled in Houston for dates on their upcoming tours. First up is Christina Aguilera, who will bring her tiny frame and prodigious voice to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion August 12. British diva Leona Lewis, a former ... More >>

The Crucifixion of Juarez

On the front line of the U.S. war on drugs, a Mexican city bleeds to death.

Least Necessary Advertisements Ever, By The State Comptroller's Office

​The state comptroller's office found itself in an unaccustomed spotlight last week with its fiasco of a rebate program.Consumers could trade in their clunker appliances for energy-efficient replacements and sign up for rebates, was the plan. The reality was that the private firm handling the proc ... More >>

Riddle Me This

​This is a tough one ya'll...What has: Ego overload; Awkward, obvious dubbed-over video (at times); Shameless product placements of Toyotas, Whole Foods and now bands like The Bravery; Ridiculous food challenges: using gas station ingredients to cook a gourmet meal; An annoying yet addic ... More >>

You Heard It Here First

The Press reported on the Prius long ago.

Aftermath: Maxwell Loves All the Single Ladies, Who Definitely Love Him Back, at Toyota Center

Photos by Groovehouse​ Maxwell sure knows his audience. And not just all the single ladies - many of whom were up and dancing to Beyonce's ubiquitous hit the prince of neo-soul used as his intro music Tuesday at Toyota Center - but the men who love them, or at least want to get with them. "Fellas, ... More >>

Dry-Aged Black Angus

Photo by Robb WalshWhile we were debating the word salumeria, a commenter by the name of SpandTexPants complained that Houston didn't have a butcher shop that sold dry-aged beef. Well, now we do. Hubbell & Hudson Market in the Woodlands has a dry-aging case in its meat department. When I stopped by ... More >>

Kill Bill

Readers respond to ill-defined proposed legislation.

Got Live If You Want It

Our Spring/Summer concert preview, part deux

Tapes 'N' Tapes: A Cassette-Only Label?

Yesterday, Bright Men of Learning (right) guitarist and solo performer Ben Murphy (far left), known to everyone on the Hands Up Houston message board as "bdm," announced his intention to start a cassette-only label whose first release would be a tribute tape to pacesetting '90s indie-rockers ... More >>

Embrace The Inflatable Ads, Houston

Hurricane Rachael Ray

Here she comes to save the day

My First Guitar Hero Lesson

Q&A: Little Steven Van Zandt

Last Week: Jason Webley at Notsuoh

Aeros Shut Out by Iowa Stars. Twice.

Last Night: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at Super Bowl XLII

Kyoto Protocol: The View from Kyoto

Without U.S. participation, the first-ever global-warming treaty was doomed to only partial success. Will Bali be better?

St. Patrick's Day Guide

Your Lucky Night

Where to celebrate New Year's Eve 2006

Your Lucky Night

Where to celebrate New Year's Eve 2006

Lost in Translation

Would-be Hispanic homeowners find out they don't own as much as they thought they did

Overstimulated

How taking a Parkinson's disease wonder drug apparently makes some people want to gamble and have sex all the time

Lyin' Scion

How deep is this Toyota subsidiary's love of hip-hop?

Getting Sideways

It came from Japan and may turn out to be bigger than Godzilla. It,s drifting - a high-speed, fishtailing race toward a wall without a crash. They hope.

Going Batty

Efforts mount to make downtown home to a new kind of nightlife

Blunt About High Fashion

Roll up more than your sleeves with this clothing line

Crazy from the Heat

Boorman and Le Carré lose touch with their thrill-seeking personae in Panama

Zydeco's Birthplace

Hint: It's where you're standing

Art Car Macho

Mike Scranton's creations are the evilest looking things in the parade. And he'll wrassle anyone who says otherwise.

Letters

Goin' South

I learned many things when I accompanied a trio of bounty hunters to Mexico to fetch a fugitive drug suspect. Foremost among them: never leave your map at home...