Feral Hog Contraceptive: Less Pigs in the Poke?
Apparently tired of injuries sustained while trying to apply the Aggie Hog-Rubber (ribbed for her pleasure, of course), researchers at Texas A&M are testing an oral contraceptive to deal with the state’s feral hog problem. This should really come in handy for young feral hog couples who want to wait…
Astros Slogan Contest: A Word on Milkshakes and Bringing Good Guys to the Yard
I just want you to know that I’m reading your entries for the 2008 Houston Astros marketing slogan, and I’m rather impressed by some of them. (Don’t forget, we’re still taking entries, so feel free to submit them here.) And I wanted to comment on one of them because I…
$13 at Barnaby’s Cafe on West Gray
Where: Barnaby’s Cafe, 414 West Gray, 713-522-8898 What $13 gets you: Okay food at an okay price Barnaby’s Cafe, named for the owner’s deceased sheepdog, includes three locations in a relatively small area – Hyde Park, River Oaks and Midtown. At lunchtime, all get busy as hell and loud as…
This Just In: Super Happy Fun Land Closed…Temporarily
East End art/performance space Super Happy Fun Land, which recently relocated from the Heights to 3801 Polk, was shut down by the fire marshal last Friday for failure to display an occupancy permit. That’s because, as owner Brian Arthur told Houstoned Rocks earlier today, they didn’t exactly have one. He…
Hunter Pence, a Hot Tub, and a Lot of Broken Glass
Okay, Cecil Cooper might talk about how he’s going to stress the fundamentals this season. But with one player, it might already be too late. Hunter Pence missed a decent amount of time last season, his rookie year, because of an injury to his wrist that he suffered while sliding…
You Should’ve Been There: Wild Moccasins and Sabra Laval at Boondocks
I honestly feel like I, and everyone else at Boondocks last night, cheated the Wild Moccasins and Sabra Laval: We should have paid to see the show. Including local and touring acts, it was one of the best I’ve seen so far this year, and I saw Shat last Thursday…
Andy Pettitte and HGH: Pity Jerome Solomon
Aw, Jerome, did Andy lie to you? I’m sure he’s sorry about that. But if it’s you or Congress, I’m sure any sane person would agree that lying to you is the better thing. For any of you wondering what the hell I’m talking about, it’s simple: Jerome Solomon wrote…
Andy Pettitte and HGH: The Deposition and the Damage Done
Andy Pettitte met with the press yesterday. And I guess it was a good thing that I’d just finished reading his deposition because I spotted a few things the reporters didn’t. Pettitte thought a lot of Brian McNamee as a trainer (pg. 10), and he says that the Mitchell Report…
No Mas No Depression: The Alt-Country (or Whatever That Is) Journal Shuts Down
No Depression magazine announced that the May/June issue will be its last. Explaining their decision to shutter, co-owners Peter Blackstock, Grant Alden and Kyla Fairchild issued a statement citing a decline in record company ad revenue, diminished brick and mortar retail space, rising newsprint costs and postage increases, and the…
$13 at Baby Barnaby’s Cafe on Fairview
Where: Baby Barnaby’s Cafe, 602 Fairview, 713-522-4229 What $13 gets you: Breakfast with the cool kids I lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, just as it was turning from industrial pit to arts mecca. Baby Barnaby’s Cafe is the one place in Houston that reminds me of the old Williamsburg. Set in…
Houston Humane Society Neuters 500 Tomcats
Be sure to watch the video above for our in-depth coverage of the Houston Humane Society’s mission to neuter 500 cats. Ouch. — Keith Plocek…
Choose Your Own Astros Marketing Slogan
Hey kids, guess what. We’re going to have a little contest here at Houstoned Ballz. As you know, baseball season is just around the corner, which means that soon the Astros will be putting billboards up all over the city with a stupid little marketing slogan attempting to entice you…
Drenched in Blog: Night Terrors and “Black Mirror”
Man, I came home the other night and saw this new Arcade Fire video online after a long night of drinking cough syrup. I know, class out tha ass, no doubt. Whose idea was it to include a ghastly giant old man head!? Is it weird for someone my age…
Roger Clemens, Steroids and the Nanny: Not About the Money
Well, I hope all of you had a more productive and exciting weekend than I did. You see, besides going out to watch the Aeros lose, I spent my time inside reading. Oh, not reading anything fun or insightful. Nothing like that. I was reading depositions. Depositions from the Roger…
Drenched in Blog: The Wild Moccasins and Sabra Laval
Aren’t ready to end the weekend just yet? Or really wanting to begin the week on a very toasted, mellow note? Every Monday night, Boondocks (1417 Westheimer) hosts a concert series upstairs. The best part? It’s free. Tonight, check out the Wild Moccasins. These Houston art kids do some very…
Sex, Death and Oysters: Bigger Really Is Better
That’s a big one all right. A friend of mine brought me back some huge oysters from Camanada Pass off of Grand Isle, Louisiana, last weekend. These five-and-a-half-inch monsters made quite a mouthful, but they were some of the sweetest oysters I ever put in my mouth. Of course, the…
Over the Weekend: Bar Hopping and Political Posturing
So George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and a llama walk into a bar… Happy Presidents’ Day, y’all. Does anyone actually get this day off, besides Newman and Claven? We sure could’ve used the extra sleep, especially after yesterday’s beautiful weather (i.e. outdoor drinking). 12:09 a.m. at Pearl Bar; 1 a.m. at…
Aeros Shut Out by Iowa Stars. Twice.
The last time the team played on a Friday night, the Aeros were firing on all cylinders, going so far as to get five power play goals off of the Rockford IceHogs. But this past Friday, in the first game of a weekend series against the Iowa Stars at the…
Robert Novak Looks Like a Dang Fish
Tim Russert can read a newspaper like no other. Does it shock you that your own Miss Pop Rocks, popular culture whore that I am, wakes up every Sunday morning to worship at the church of “Meet the Press” and “This Week”? It’s true, I do! And with this political…
Get Lit: Diaries 1969-79: The Python Years, by Michael Palin
Michael Palin is best-known for – take your pick: The store proprietor in the Dead Parrot sketch? The priest who blurts out “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!!”? Or any of a half-dozen other memorable Monty Python characters? It’s hard to say. But Palin has plenty – maybe too much…
Get Lit: Curse and Berate in 69+ Languages, You Yellow Cab Slut
Editor R.V. Branham writes in the introduction to Curse and Berate in 69+ Languages, “Why do people swear? This is asked by Puritans, prudes, & hall monitors. One would more reasonably ask why people don’t swear more often. Mencken said that people are at their most interesting when they are…
Keep Your Hands Off My Copy: Cauldron Advisor Nicole Causarez Resigns
Student journalists – the unemployed of tomorrow! – often have a tough time with their school administrations. The administrations write the checks that let the papers live, and they often don’t like having to read the kinds of stories that good reporters do. The latest flare-up is at the University…
Weekend Music: Skyrocket!’s in Flight
Promising “if Jack Black and Jimmy Fallon started a cover band, this would be it,” Austin’s Skyrocket! has been a sensation in the Capital City since forming in 2003 as K-Tel Hit Machine. Consisting of several seasoned Austin music veterans – Ben Hotchkiss, Kyle Crusham and Paul English of the…
Chuck Rosenthal Resigns
Looks like Republicans and Democrats alike won’t have D.A. Chuck Rosenthal to kick around any more. Rosenthal resigned earlier today, citing several reasons in a press release, including possibly feeling a bit loopy of late due to a cocktail of prescription drugs. “Although I have enjoyed excellent medical and pharmacological…
Blood on the Ice and Fans in the Stands
The Aeros come home to Toyota Center tonight for the first of a two-game weekend stand against West Division rivals the Iowa Stars. The team has been on the road for the past six games, and the guys managed to go 4-2-0-0 on the trip and are now 5-2-0-1 for…
Drenched in Blog: Avril April 25th
This is Avril Lavigne’s new Maxim cover, now on newsstands. She and her band hit the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion April 25 with emo-poppers Boys Like Girls opening. I will be there too. I will be the one in the crowd with Avril’s face painted on my bloated and hairy…
Roger Clemens, Steroids, Congress, Fox News, Republicans and Boob Jobs
Okay kids, here’s the thing. I’m suffering from a bit of Clemens/McNamee burnout at the moment. That’s what comes from spending last night reading through the depositions of some of the parties interviewed by the Congressional investigators. (What’s that you say? Last night was Valentine’s Day? What’s that? What, I…
Jay Francis, Food Explorer: Afghani Nan at Kings Chicken
When you order the 75-cent Afghani-style nan bread at Kings Chicken on Beechnut near Wilcrest, they bake it for you fresh, Jay Francis enthused. We ordered some and then hung around the front counter and watched the cooks in the kitchen throwing the big piece of dough in the air…
Holly Madison Wants Hef’s Baby…HAHAHA. Okay, I Stopped Laughing
Without dissolving into a feminist tirade (which I can do very easily, mind you), I have to take a few lines to say that I hate E!’s The Girls Next Door. Not to say that I hate Bridget, Kendra and Holly personally or anything. In truth they’re probably nice people…
Slideshow: Hot Women Athletes
Click here for the gallery. We won’t tell. The good folks at The Pop Crunch blog have a posting of the 50 hottest women in sports. The list is a bit obvious at times – lots of Russian tennis players, Danica Patrick, Amanda Beard – and it slightly suffers from…
Famine Fundraiser? Sounds More like a Famine Fun Raiser!
It’s that time of year again – yes, time for the 30-hour hunger-off brought to you by the socially conscious folks at World Vision. According to the organization, about 1,400 Houston-area teens will participate in a 30-hour famine fundraiser February 22 to 23, which will give them a “real taste…
Houston Press SXSW Concert Lineup Announced
Who: The Black Keys Health The Cribs The Soundtrack of Our Lives When: Friday, March 14 Noon to 5 p.m. Where: La Zona Rosa 612 W. 4th Street Austin, TX 78701 Cost: Free…
Too Bad She Wasn’t a Blond White Girl
Bad news for the family of a pregnant woman who went missing in Houston two weeks ago: The Chronicle reported yesterday that Texas Equusearch has called off its search of Tierra Adams, last seen January 29. Equusearch head Tim Miller was reported as saying volunteers searched for Adams for a…
Spygate: The Cheaters Didn’t Win, But the Investigation Goes On
Lost in the uproar and confusion of the Clemens/McNamee cage match was another little meeting between professional sports and Congress on Wednesday. Yep, that’s right, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell snuck up to D.C. during the Clemens proceedings to meet with Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) on the matter of Spygate. And,…
Texas Native Claims He’s the Spawn of JFK
Texas native Jack Worthington is sure of at least one thing: He’s John F. Kennedy’s love-child. Worthington, who lives in Canada, says he’s not seeking money from the Kennedy family, but chose to go public after Vanity Fair had reportedly considered running a story on Worthington. (After the magazine reportedly…
Spring Training: Let the Funk Begin
It’s February 14th across the land. Time for us to hear those four words we’ve been wanting to hear all year. Pitchers and catchers report. (What? Did you think I was going to say “Honey, I love you?” I don’t think so.) Spring training is opening up today and all…
Accidents Will Happen? Did Apnea and Drank Really Kill Pimp C?
If the verdict from Pimp C’s autopsy leaves you with more questions than answers you are not alone. Matt Sonzala still has his doubts. He writes: “Two months later, on Feb. 4, the L.A. County Coroner’s Office concluded that Pimp C’s death was the result of sleep apnea combined with…
Web Extra: Peyote, Breakfast of Champions
Here’s the third of three videos to supplement Russell Cobb’s story about mescaline on the Mexican border. This one features an interview with Humberto Fernández, who eats peyote for breakfast. — Keith Plocek…
Web Extra: Peyote in Real de Catorce
Here’s the second of three videos to supplement Russell Cobb’s story about mescaline on the Mexican border. This one features an interview with Real de Catorce resident Juan Hernandez atop Mount Wirikuta, where he discusses the Huichol Indian’s sacred peyote ritual. — Keith Plocek…
Web Extra: Two Peyoteros on the Mexican Border
Here’s the first of three videos to supplement Russell Cobb’s story about mescaline on the Mexican border. This one features extended interviews with peyoteros Mauro Morales and Salvador Johnson. — Keith Plocek…
Steroids, Roger Clemens and Congress: Bust Out the Razor
I’ve expressed in the past that I don’t think Congress should be messing around with this issue of steroids in baseball. But apparently, Congress disagrees with me. So, that said, is it really too much to ask them to be prepared and to act professional? Roger must have autographed a…
Rockets-Kings: Steve Novak and The Shot
It should have been so much easier. It could have been disastrous. The Rockets 19-point lead was gone, leaving the club’s seven game winning streak—and all the accompanying good vibes—perilously perched on the brink of oblivion. This team, so convincing in its resolve to not just bury, but build off…
Valentine’s Day…So Maybe You Get Lucky, Maybe You Don’t. Big Whoop.
Click here for some really lame gift ideas. You know you want to. I can’t remember where I heard it or who said it, but I once came across the perfect summation of Valentine’s Day: It’s the day that you hate if you’re single because it makes you feel inadequate,…
“Death and Shit Like That”
“Death and Shit Like That” is really just a clever name meant to provoke laughter. “I’m not trying to woo everybody with how brilliant I am,” says local artist and first-time curator YAR!. “The title itself encompasses everything. I’m not trying to have a cohesive theme.” The show features drawings…
“Things Which Never Are, Nor Can Be, Nor Have Been”
Anyone with a passing knowledge of the ancient Roman gods knows that the Roman imagination liberally mixed the mythical with the real. The ornamental decoration of Roman mosaics and frescoes reflected this, with curlicues turning into creatures and people with animals for body parts. Today’s lecture at the Museum of…
Little Cakes
Ditch the box – you’re not fooling anyone. “Duncan Hines is Duncan Hines – everybody knows!” says Rebecca Masson. The head pastry chef for downtown’s Ibiza and the Heights’s Catalan restaurants will show would-be bakers how simple it is to start from scratch at her Little Cakes class today. Cupcakes…
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel starts off at odds with itself. Outside the French Revolutionary war rages on, but inside, Englishman Sir Percival (Percy) Blakenely is getting married. It’s a happy occasion, until word reaches Blakenely that his friend the Marquis de St. Cyr and his family have been killed by the…
“Take Heart”
Did yesterday’s Valentine’s Day celebrations leave you in the mood for a little more romance? Stop by the Houston Potters Guild’s latest exhibit, “Take Heart,” and see love made out of clay. Along with jewelry and traditional and free-form pottery, you’ll see Dorothy Broaddus’s textured hearts. In velvety shades of…
Adrift in Manhattan
Fans of Paul Thomas Anderson or Atom Egoyan may want to take note of Alfredo De Villa. Like Anderson and Egoyan, the Mexican-born director is putting his own distinct stamp on the American drama genre, focusing on strained familial relationships, determined quests for identity, and emotional isolation in settings bustling…
Michael Winslow
You haven’t really heard the screeching wail of Jimi Hendrix’s guitar in the Woodstock version of “Purple Haze” until you hear it come out of the mouth of comedian and human voice-box Michael Winslow. The guy best known for doing the funny sound effects in Police Academy movies and Geico…
Harold and Maude
Harold and Maude is the classic story of boy meets girl – only this time, the girl is old enough to be the boy’s grandmother. It may sound creepy (or even illegal), but not in this cult classic, which tells the story of a suicidal young man (Harold, played by…
“CSI: The Experience”
You don’t have to sing “Whooo are you? Who? Who? Who? Who?” in order to enjoy “CSI: The Experience,” but it wouldn’t hurt. The interactive exhibit inspired by the popular CBS series puts attendees into one of three mock crime scenes, letting them figure out what the evidence is saying…
George Lopez
Think you’ve had a rough life? Wait until you hear about G-Lo’s childhood. Even some recent health issues haven’t slowed down comedian George Lopez. His television show, George Lopez (the first TV series to feature a Hispanic name in the title since Freddie Prinze’s Chico and the Man back in…
Whose Life Is It Anyway?
Though it first opened on Broadway back in the mid-1970s, Brian Clark’s Whose Life Is It Anyway? deals with questions we continue to puzzle over in the new millennium. At the center of the story is a sculptor who was paralyzed in a car crash. He sees no other alternative…
Cabaret Unkempt at DiverseWorks
A self-identified “Afro-Cuban American woman of size,” actor/writer Jennylin Duany put together music, poetry, circus, performance art and projected media to create the show Cabaret Unkempt, a funny, fluid, wildly current examination of body image. In one scene, thin and toned cast mate Elizabeth Doud peels the plus-sized Duany’s evening…
“Now Even Fresher”
Texas artists have long rendered our fair state as an outrageous, ironic (and iconic) wonderland, and Lubbock-based Jeff Wheeler is no exception. In 1999, he started an annual art party called “Ulterior Motifs,” and an incarnation of that exhibit is on tour through Texas, having already shown in Dallas, Marfa…
Inprints Brown Reading Series
You can’t start a writing career off much better than Dave Eggers did. His first book, the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A talented and versatile writer, Eggers also cowrote the well-received Surviving Justice: America’s Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated, a…
Manufactured Landscapes
The neon-green lakes, sky-high piles of tires and candy-like heaps of cell phones are beautiful — until you realize they’re not works of art but rather the physical evidence of our toll on the environment. These images, which form the backbone of the film Manufactured Landscapes, are the work of…
“Bill Brandt, A Sense of Wonder”
Ansel Adams was a nature photographer. Dorothea Lange was a photojournalist. Julian Mandel was a fine photographer of nudes. Bill Brandt, the subject of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s retrospective “Bill Brandt, A Sense of Wonder,” was known for his excellence in all three genres and more. Out of…
“Eye on Third Ward: Jack Yates High School Photography” at MFAH
Ask photographer/high school student Tabatha Gabriel how she got the photo Overweight, and she’ll tell you. “We were walking through the Cuny Homes and there was this gentleman sitting on a step. At first I didn’t want to take his picture, but then I thought, ‘Why should I not want…
Alamo Drafthouse Valentine Day’s screening
You and your sweetie can enjoy a yummo meal and snuggle in the dark while watching a romantic comedy when Alamo Drafthouse screens Shakespeare in Love for Valentine’s Day. The 1998 release follows a fictionalized Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), who is suffering from writer’s block and looking for a new muse…
The Endangered Sea Lions
Nothing says “Happy Valentine’s Day” like The Endangered Sea Lions: “Your camel toe is large / But I am still in charge / I’ll grab you by your lips / And make you whistle ‘Dixie.'” Okay, maybe the local trio’s show isn’t the best choice for a romantic night out…
Bear Colony
Vince Griffin penned most of Bear Colony’s debut album, We Came Here to Die, in a hospital under the notion that he did go there to die. Misdiagnosed with Crohn’s disease, Griffin spent what he thought were his last days writing tunes. After recovering, he formed a band, borrowing members…
Tambersauro
We agree with our friends at local music blog theskyline.net — there is no way to categorize Houston experimental rockers Tambersauro. (Well, unless you count the “experimental rockers” tag.) The group goes from instrumental, rocking tunes to surreal, ambient lullabies with crooning vocals and oddly timed drums. But this trio…
Bartender, Pour the Wine: Ten Great Country Breakup Songs
The late, great Harlan Howard, the songwriter behind “Heartaches by the Number,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Streets of Baltimore” and “Why Not Me” (among countless others), once famously said country music is “three chords and the truth.” And the truth is that many relationships – most relationships, even – just…
Know Your Idols
Halloween is long past, and even Mardi Gras is a memory now, but it’s always fun to play dress-up. Houston’s indie-rock community discovered as much at last month’s Hootenanny, topped by Mathletes’ rapturous turn as Talking Heads — the Mink ain’t no disco, indeed, but it sure was a party…
Mescaline on the Mexican Border
Mauro Morales picks his way through mesquite trees and prickly pear cacti. The 65-year-old cautiously steps around a thicket of tasajillo, or rat-tail cactus, just down the road from his small ranch near Rio Grande City. Tasajillo thorns stick you like a fish hook, he says. Then there’s the cola…
Tom Russell
Few songwriters are more closely associated with the term “Americana” than Tom Russell. Through his music, artwork and books, the Texan has explored the mythos of American culture as his own personal vision spooled amid the threads of history. Yet even he admits that the genre has become a diluted,…
Raheem DeVaughn
Now that Van Hunt’s third album, Popular, originally scheduled to drop last month, has been dumped by Blue Note and is officially MIA, we’re going to have to do with Raheem DeVaughn as R&B’s resident boho wild-child/bon vivant who gets us all moist with his sensual soul ditties. It’s actually…
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Ilembe: Honoring Shaka Zulu
A brilliant South African warrior and king in the 18th century, the legendary Shaka Zulu was one of the great unifiers of his nation — but he was also a strong-willed, vengeful man who was ultimately murdered by his own half-brothers, one of whom succeeded him to the throne. Now,…
Irie Time at Club Riddims
Jamaican Rum Punch is magic. Real talk. The Caribbean concoction of Overproof rum, grenadine and various fruit juices is an $8 crowd favorite at Club Riddims (8220 W. Bellfort) and has magically transformed the mostly shy and typically wall-flowered University of Houston Education major Nicolette Llerenas, 25, into the greatest…
The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Sugar Bean Sisters, The Turn of the Screw, Young and Fertle
The Lieutenant of Inishmore The Alley Theatre is dripping in bloody good fun, and we’re not speaking in metaphor. Martin McDonagh’s 2006 Tony nominee The Lieutenant of Inishmore, a festival of violence about a man so dangerous that even the IRA won’t have him, is a funny farce for the…
Gem of the Ocean is a Crown Jewel
Playwright August Wilson knows how to draw in an audience immediately. It’s 1904, and Citizen Barlow (Timothy Dickson) has run away from the racial terrors of Alabama to find solace in Pittsburgh. Once there, he’s so desperate to see the wise, all-knowing Aunt Ester (Bebe Wilson, no relation) that, when…
BEAVER’S ALL THE KING’S HORSES
The buzz in the industry circle is Monica Pope’s Beaver’s (2310 Decatur St., 713-864-2328). After hearing about this new self-proclaimed finger-lickin’ good barbecue joint near trendy Washington Street, I have to pop in and try some of the creative cocktails people are talking about. From the outside, it looks like…
Tired of the Hype, But That’s All There Is
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. William Butler Yeats was not writing about today’s music industry…
Dream Warriors
As the final notes of Don Dokken’s acoustic set echo through the hall, he thanks the crowd and departs the stage. There’s no doubt — Dokken’s still got it, and he sees headliners Queensryche waiting in the wings to tell him so. Together, riding a high of unplugged euphoria, they…
Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week
The Amateurs (First Look) The Beatrix Potter Collection (BBC Warner) Becoming Jane (Miramax) Blade: The Series — The Complete Series (New Line) Blue State (MGM) Charlie Chan: Volume 4 (Fox) Dallas: The Complete Eighth Season (Warner Bros.)Dedication (Weinstein) The Equalizer: Season One (Universal) Family Ties: The Third Season (Paramount) General…
Local Motion
Vinal Edge Records 13171 Veterans Memorial Dr. 281-537-2575 1. Cat Power, Jukebox 2. Xasthur, A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors 3. Judy’s, Moo 4. Judy’s, Washarama 5. Volcano the Bear, Amidst the Noise and Twig 6. Burning Witch, Crippled Lucifer 7. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend 8. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular 9. Daniel…
“Andreas Nottebohm: Into the Light,” “Claire Ankenman: Slices,” “Contemporary Conversations: Robert Ryman, 1976,” “Gratitude, There’s No Competition,” “Howard Sherman: In my mind, you’re inflatable,” “TexasMade” and “Option-H”
“Andreas Nottebohm: Into the Light” Andreas Nottebohm’s tinted and engraved raw metal surfaces walk a line between art and novelty. Like those computer-generated stereograms that require forced optical distortion to make out the hidden three-dimensional forms, Nottebohm’s works can induce dizziness and vertigo if you stare at them too long…
No More Heroes is hip, bloody and indispensable
When it comes to giving a game a vibe, “awesome” is an easy mark to hit. Explosions, hot chicks, macho one-liners and salivating mutants are all awesome. And it’s just about impossible to overdo the awesome: More explosions, more hot chicks, more machismo and more mutants are only more awesome…
Bayousphere
There — up there on the ceiling — is where inspiration lies. Elli Freund focuses deeply on it, while next to her Kristin Haskins looks inward. Whatever it takes, at what the photographer insists is called Cookie Joe’s Dancin’ School in Sugar Land. To view image larger, click here…
The Spiderwick Chronicles is Both a Smart Children’s Fantasy and a CGI-dependent Weepie
Freudians disheartened by the Bearded One’s fall from psychotherapeutic grace may be cheered to learn that ol’ Sigmund lives and prospers at the movies, at least in child-friendly cinema. The Spiderwick Chronicles, an extravagantly oedipal fantasy adventure based on the popular children’s novels by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, comes…
Romero and his zombies are back with “Diary of the Dead”
Fleet-footed corpses are, from a physiological point of view, complete bullshit. “If you run that fast, your ankles will snap off,” says Jason Creed (Josh Close) to fellow film student Ridley (Philip Riccio), the gauze-wrapped lead of his no-budget Mummy opus The Death of Death. Pausing to regroup, cast and…
In Bruges: More Adventures in Gangsterland
No celebrity hairdresser should ever be allowed near Colin Farrell’s eyebrows with a tweezer. Black, fluffy and gloriously unilateral, they still aren’t the prettiest things about In Bruges — that honor falls to the Belgian city itself, known for its scenic medieval turrets, bourgeois tedium, and unfavorable comparisons with Amsterdam…
Under the Knife: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The extraordinary Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, more comfortably known as “that abortion movie that won this year’s Palme d’Or,” sheds its secrets slowly, a high-end realist drama quickening skillfully into a thriller. Though the frighteningly late-term abortion at its center hints at larger sins in the…
Ghost Town CFS: Carriage House Cafe
If you believed all the talk, you’d think that the large chicken-fried steak at Carriage House Cafe on Fallbrook would feed a large family of cougars. It wasn’t quite as big as all that. Sure, it overlapped the large oval dinner plate in several places, but I was expecting something…
Robyn O’Neil on Howard Stern, Brian McNamee on eBay, Tamarie Cooper on infernal Bridegroom
Houston artist Robyn O’Neil is a serious player on the local scene — some critics like her work, some don’t, but she’s been exhibited at the Whitney Biennial so she must be doing something right. She’s described her most recent output, in the medium of graphite drawings, as “somber. They…
Mad Vegans and Pedantic Scientologists
Scene Stealers Lack of leadership: Nice article [“Turn Out the Lights, the Party’s Over,” Racket, by John Lomax, January 24]. The music scene is dying here because it receives no support from the city’s own leadership. In Austin, the city council demonstrates its support for the music community by inviting local writers to…
Pig for a prince at Zushi
The Kurobuta pork katsu ($13.95 lunch; $18 dinner) at Zushi (5900 Memorial, 713-861-5588) look like giant McNuggets, but they taste a whole lot better. The dish originated in the late 19th century as a version of Western food, in this case a cutlet or katsu. Kurobuta is to pork what…
Mando Saenz: Bucket
Lines like “It’s alright to feel okay” will prevent former Houstonian Mando Saenz from appealing to testosterone-laden audiences, but — last I checked — male fans do not turn you into a pop star. Producer R.S. Field’s (Webb Wilder, Allison Moorer, Hayes Carll) involvement makes this record sound fairly massive,…
ASK A MEXICAN: Great Illegals and Mexican Movies
Dear Mexican, My parents were Greeks who legally immigrated to the United States in 1920. When it became harder for Greeks to immigrate, they began to jump ship in New York. My father referred to them as “bananas — fresh off the boat,” but it was mostly an affectionate name. The Greek community…
BB’s on Montrose and DiVino on West Alabama
When Brooks Bassler graduated from the University of Houston Entrepreneurship program in 2002, he wanted to open his own restaurant serving food made from family recipes. But his dad gave him some good advice — to first work in the restaurant field and learn on someone else’s nickel. So he…
The Nonstop Hustle of Houston DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives
Eric Castillo, better known in Houston and Texas music circles as DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives, has been moving in those circles for more than 20 years, but he wouldn’t be that surprised if you’re not familiar with him. He believes a palpable “generation gap” separates today’s Houston music fans from…
Molotov
Mexico City’s Molotov recently devised a way to amuse themselves while simultaneously confounding their fans and the media. First the road-weary quartet, which fuses hip-hop and hard rock much more adeptly and palatably than Limp Bizkit, leaked rumors they had broken up, then seemingly confirmed those rumors when all four…
Paydirt : “The Thames Mudlarks”
The term “mudlark” was coined during the Industrial Revolution. It referred to a young street urchin or elderly woman who scoured the banks of London’s Thames River, usually during low tide, for anything he or she could sell: lumps of coal knocked off a barge, discarded rubbish, household items and…
The Service Industry
Joining the ranks of clock-punching bands like the Waitresses, the Busboys and Mike & the Mechanics, the Service Industry examine the workaday drudgery that allows them to practice their craft on debut Limited Coverage. Cobbled together from several Austin bands — Wannabes, Diamond Smugglers, Rockland Eagles, Fire Marshals of Bethlehem…
HoustonHipHop.com Relaunch Party
After nearly ten years online, HoustonHipHop.com was near death until DJ Remix and crew bought out and rescued the embattled Web site last month. “From backpackers to the modern sounds of the South,” the new regime pledges to leave no Houston hip-hop base uncovered. “With work, the site can embody…
Definitely, Maybe is Absolutely, Positively Rewarding
Sandwiched somewhere between the American Spirit commercials and the Clinton campaigning that make up Definitely, Maybe is a surprisingly rewarding romantic comedy — one worth the effort, because some effort’s actually been put into it. Imagine, really, old-school Woody Allen starring that shit-eating smirker from Van Wilder, Ryan Reynolds, who’s…
The improbable redemption of Ashlee Simpson
Tough times in pop-starlet land these days. Britney’s in the booby hatch — though that may not be the best word choice — Jessica Simpson single-handedly destroyed the Dallas Cowboys’ Super Bowl dreams, Christina Aguilera is on maternity leave and otherwise sane, law-abiding parents are effectively ransacking the countryside for…
Bill Callahan
With 2007’s Woke on a Whaleheart (Drag City), Bill Callahan stepped, finally, out from behind the mask of his alias, Smog or (Smog), to claim his rightful place as one of the most confident, unique voices in the nebulous space between the underground and the “independent.” The sonic differences between…
Carrie Ann & the Apocalyptics
Carrie Ann Buchanan has paid some dues. The wife of local Americana fave Opie Hendrix and mother of two somehow balances music with her busy home life and career as a legal secretary. For the past few years, Buchanan has held down the early slot at Dan Electro’s happy hour,…
No Reservations, I Could Never Be Your Woman, In the Shadow of the Moon, The Independent
No Reservations (Warner Bros.) From its cheap, mid-’90s-looking package to its woefully scant extras (one pre-chewed Food Network behind-the-scenes, blech) to its wide-screen/full-screen option, this feels like something dropped right into the discount bins; it probably debuts at half off this week. And this soufflé of a romantic comedy deserves…