Cover Story: The Best Movies of 2013 and Joaquin Phoenix
This year, in addition to a feature on the star of Her — one Joaquin Phoenix — we offer you not one but three Best Movies lists from an assortment of film critics. This is your chance to see if your tastes most closely mirror film critic Amy Nicholson who…
This Week’s Cafe Review: Vera Pizza Napoletana-ish Pies at Pizzeria Solario
“VPN Americas is the American Delegation of the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana, an international non-profit organization founded in the mid 1980’s by a group of Neapolitan pizzaiolis (pizza makers) seeking to cultivate the culinary art of making Neapolitan pizza. On June 1984, the association was officially established as a denomination…
50 Shades! The Musical Uses 50 Shades of Blue Humor For Its Laughs
The setup: If you thought the cultural influence of author E.L. James’ erotic trilogy had hit its climax, you were wrong. TUTS Underground, Theatre Under the Stars’ newest foray into the world of risqué musical theater, presents 50 Shades! The Musical, which opened last night in the Hobby Center’s Ziklha…
Reality Bites: Cathouse: The Series
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. “Naked television” indeed. Our uneven and mostly unofficial look at reality nudity concludes with your final Reality Bites of 2013, zeroing in on HBO’s long-running Cathouse: The Series. I say…
Zapruder Analysis of Two Chicks Brawling at Intersection of Harwin and South Gessner
The holidays can be awfully stressful. The parties, the presents, the expenses, they can all make normally sane people do insane things. To say, though, that the video you’re about to see has anything to do with holiday stress is probably giving too much benefit of the doubt. Completely judging…
Burger King’s ‘Big King’ Is Nothing Like a McDonald’s Big Mac
That Burger King expects us to see their new double-decker “Big King” sandwich as some kind of NEW menu item is a little insulting. I don’t even eat Big Macs, and I knew this was a straight copycat before I took the first bite. Here is the sandwich description from…
Knowing Aaron Hernandez Is Really Bad for Your Health
Much has been made of the New England Patriots’ injury woes this football season, how quarterback Tom Brady has been missing some of his favorite playthings in the passing game at various times throughout the season. What started as the usual NFL litany of nagging injuries to guys here and…
This Week In Food Blogs: Addicted to Buc-ee’s & A Recipe for Pork Tamales
Hungry in Houston: As Texans, we are addicted to Buc-ee’s, and there is no shame in that. This week, Adam Brower writes about his addiction to the gas station mecca. He starts with the coffee, then discovers the Almond Joy creamer, and finally the sausage egg cheese croissant. One bite…
Five Life Lessons from Micheladas, Monterrey Fans and a Camel
When Pasion Rayada, a massive group of Monterrey soccer fans, first suggested that I join them for an impromptu soccer lesson this past Saturday afternoon, I was a bit skeptical. Sure, there was the promise of beer, but Saturdays are meant for lounging, not screaming at the television screen in…
What the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Got Wrong This Year
You can never get a Hall of Fame induction class exactly right. Every single year near the Super Bowl, the NFL’s inductees have plenty of detractors. But there may not be a cattier Hall of Fame process than the one employed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Monday…
Harris County GOP Sues to End Same-Sex Benefits for Legally Married Couples
On Tuesday, the Harris County Republican Party decided to give an early Christmas gift to a bunch of attorneys and drop a giant lump of coal into the stockings of legally married same-sex couples by suing the city to prevent the enacting of a policy that would extend health and…
Clumsy Butcher Group Announces Plans for New Downtown Bar: Nightingale
For months, we’ve been hearing about Trigger Happy, Clumsy Butcher’s craft beer and wine bar set to open at 308 Main next to Goro & Gun and beneath Captain Foxheart’s Bad News Bar & Spirit Lodge, but earlier this week we found out about a change of plans. Trigger Happy…
Fight Your Inner Scrooge and Shop With a Purpose: More Charitable Giving Chances
Only a few shopping days left until the gift giving bonanza! Are still looking for inspiration? I gave you a mountain of ideas for guy and gal vintage or antique shopping, but you could also shop with a more charitable purpose as our fellow blogger Abby Koenig wrote earlier this…
CSI and Science: Crime Labs Across the Country Get It Wrong
CSI, the venerable CBS television franchise, has placed forensic evidence at the forefront of many people’s mind in regard to solving criminal cases. There is a belief — albeit one without any empirical support — that CSI and its ilk have made it harder for prosecutors in cases to get…
Stay Classy and Get Ready for Anchorman 2 With This Eating and (Mostly) Drinking Plan
In case you haven’t seen any of part of one of the most innovative promotional campaigns of all time, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues opens in theaters this weekend. That’s right, Ron Burgundy, America’s most obtuse albeit intrepid news anchor, is returning to the big screen. Apparently, the sequel will…
5 Things in Video Games With Unfortunate Original Names
Like with any artistic work, the final version of a video game does not resemble the beginning of it. Ideas that seemed great in concept prove unwieldy or not fun in practice. Challenges in design may spark fresh new creativity leading to unforeseen brilliance. And then there are moments when…
Will the Next Hurricane Unleash the Dioxin-filled San Jacinto Superfund Site?
Houston wasn’t hit by a hurricane this season, but there are questions about what will happen to the San Jacinto Waste Pit superfund site the next time a hurricane roars through town. The highly toxic Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site has been sitting in the middle of the San Jacinto…
2013 Holiday Gift Guide: $15 and Under Stocking Stuffers For Lucky Friends
The holidays are upon us, and that means it’s time to show your buddies you care by buying them things they probably don’t need. But there’s no reason to shell out for an expensive, ugly Christmas sweater that he’ll never wear, or a tchotchke that will sit idly at the…
Vote or Die: The Last VJ’s Top Five Videos of the Week
Welcome back to The Last VJ, music fans. As the year comes to a close the music videos just keep getting better and better. Next week, the Last VJ gives everyone a week off from competition in order to celebrate the best of the music video arts from the entirety…
Happy Gary Kubiak Picture Is a Great Way to Start Your Day
Nobody likes getting fired, and certainly when people wind up failing at their job, they internalize it in any number of different ways. For example, when current Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni was fired as the head coach of the New York Knicks a few years ago, reports surfaced that…
Rest of the Best 2013: Houston’s Top Ten Breakfast Spots
Our 2013 Best of Houston® winners have been announced, but in most cases, picking the best item in any category was no easy task. In order to show off all the culinary greatness Houston has to offer, we’ll be rounding up the “rest of the best” in some of our…
“Lido” Legend Boz Scaggs: “More Power to Doug Sahm!”
In terms of classic-rock anthologies, Columbia/Legacy’s “The Essential” series would be difficult to improve upon. The single-or-double CD sets provide a solid overview of an artist’s career with a historical essay and – most importantly – often collect a musician’s work with more than one label into a single package,…
These Are Toys? Odd Holiday Gifts For Your Kid
There is an amazingly funny old Saturday Night Live sketch with Dan Aykroyd and Candice Bergen in which Aykroyd, a toy salesman, is being interviewed on a fake show called “Consumer Probe.” Bergen drills Aykroyd on his highly unsafe and ridiculous toys such as “Bag ‘O Glass” and “Teddy Chainsaw…
100 Creatives 2013: Bruce Foster, Paper Engineer
There are maybe 100 people in the world who are paper engineers on a full-time basis. Houstonian Bruce Foster is one. Foster had trained as an artist and had a solid career as an art director when a chance assignment introduced him to the world of pop-up books. Coca Cola…
Rocks Off’s 25 Favorite Songs of 2013
“All That Matters,” Justin Bieber No R&B or pop singer decided to reinvent himself musically and be taken seriously as the Biebs has in the past month or so. So sue me. Biebervelli might get tatted across my belly. BRANDO “Berzerk,” Eminem All the old-school song samplings layered with Eminem’s…
Cashing In On Christmas: Five Shameless Holiday Songs
I love watching people whine and moan about how commercial Christmas has become. Become? It’s been this way for longer than anyone now has been alive! Sure, there’s church, and family, and great movies with warm lessons, and stuff like that. There are also presents. Loads of them! There’s big…
Punk Rock and Alleged Sexual Assault: A Timely Story
Last month, fledgling blog Put Your Damn Pants On ran a guest post entitled “I Won’t Apologize for Being Assaulted.” The article’s author, identified as “Beth,” described herself as a “recovering scenester, 30-something stay at home wife and mom. I listen to the Descendants from the comfort of my suburban…
