Order in the Kitchen!
One thing you won’t learn from all the flowery coverage of celebrity chefdom is that chefs, by and large, are assholes. It may be a hard pill to swallow, but even behind the smile of elfin Bobby Flay and the bushy eyebrows of cuddly Emeril, there has to lie an…
Beauty Secrets
Author and style maven Jenyne Raines wants to school young people — especially assertive black women who play into bloodthirsty, power-hungry stereotypes — about the ways of acting like a lady. Don’t even get her started on The Apprentice’s Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, who Raines feels devolved into “the angry black woman”…
Half Smile
It was supposed to be the crowning moment for both the Beach Boys and their resident musical genius, Brian Wilson. It was supposed to prove that the band was about more than just sun, sand and girls. And it was supposed to one-up both the Beatles and Phil Spector, with…
This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks
Thursday, October 21 As an Indian comic, Paul Varghese is doing his best to shatter stereotypes, though he’s well aware they exist. “I’m taking salsa dancing lessons,” he deadpans. “I wanna be known as the only Arabic-looking guy who can dance without having to hold a rifle over his head.”…
Divide and Convolute
There’s a section right after the beginning part where a Casio’s playing quite fast and then a piano and a drum kit come in and they play this very hectic, cartoony-sounding thing. And eventually, a couple pianos and an organ come in to play this big chromatic scale going up…
Dream Catcher
See what in Tarnation Caouette has created when the film opens at noon on Friday, October 22. 510 Texas. For information, call 713-333-3456 or visit www.angel ikafilmcenter.com. $6 to $8.
An ABBA to Zebra of Guilty Pleasures
Guilty pleasures. Everybody’s got ’em — those jams you only crank when you’re home alone, those tunes you turn up on the car radio only after you’ve made sure the windows are rolled up tight, those CDs you hide at the bottom of a drawer or the back of a…
Mow Betta
There are times when even the most urbane among us must indulge our inner hick. For some, it’s sneaking in an Alan Jackson tune with your hip-hop mp3s. For others, it’s racing lawn mowers. Rednecks of every shade will gather in Channelview this weekend for the Big Dog Ice House…
Chasing Amigas
After hearing a lot about the raging party that gets thrown every Wednesday at the teeny-tiny Mexican eatery Bocados on West Alabama, I decided to dash on over and see what all the hump-day hubbub is about. It’s ladies’ night — but more to the point — it’s ladies-who-like-ladies’ night,…
Ladies with Balls
This is the little soccer team that could: The fresh-faced players on the U.S. Women’s National Team, once considered underdogs, have become synonymous with winning big. In their last world competition, the ladies held on by their fingertips to steal the Olympic gold from a feisty Brazilian team. But sadly,…
Playbill
Rilo Kiley, with the Elected and Tilly and the Wall The 17th-century Puritans of New England called it a conversion experience — something that brings you closer to God and makes you one of the elect few on the guest list in heaven (Puritans were so the indie kids of…
Hot ‘n’ Heavenly
SAT 10/23 There’s no mention of free Hypnotiq samples or lingerie-clad models in Dante’s Divine Comedy, but that sure sounds like Paradiso to us. Come to the Halloween Ball to celebrate the opening of Club Envy this weekend, and you, like Dante, can hit heaven, hell and purgatory all in…
Attack of the Clones
The Grudge bears the imprimatur of Sam Raimi, but alas, neither his sense of fun nor his smarts. The wunderkind director behind the Spider-Man and Evil Dead franchises has followed in the path of Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver with their Dark Castle releases, launching his own lucrative spook factory,…
Chiba Pets
SAT 10/23 There’s just something about young Japanese musicians playing Western-derived rock music. Whether it’s the transcendental freak-core of the Boredoms, the garage mania of Guitar Wolf, or the twee pop-punk of Shonen Knife, something comes through in the “Japanese” version that’s consistently absent from British and American rockers. Call…
Gender Pretender
Let’s just get the term out of the way up front. The term is “fag-hag” — and a thousand pardons, sensitive readers, but there is no PC equivalent. This new film, Stage Beauty, is an absolute fag-hag fiesta. Beneath its historical leanings and classic veneer, it’s utterly gaga for girls…
Dumpling Democracy
The free-form dumplings at Santong Snacks in Diho Plaza look like meatballs in floppy wrappers. But the spicy pork stays tightly fitted inside the thick and wonderfully chewy cloak of dough. And the pink pork is generously seasoned. This humble, 11-table eatery has scuffed white walls, a dull tile floor…
Brave and Crazy
Whatever else can be said about Tarnation — and there is plenty to say — there is no denying this: It is a brave movie. Rarely is the subject of a documentary willing to lay himself bare before the camera, exposing his very consciousness to the audience, and it’s still…
Enchilada Heaven
The King Ranch enchiladas ($8.95) at Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen (12637 Westheimer, 281-679-8300) should satisfy just about any cowpoke. What makes them so good are the tiny cubes of grilled meat (chicken or beef) that have been wrapped in a tortilla and doused with a good helping of Sylvia’s own chili…
Secrets and Lies
How does Mike Leigh do it? The years pass; film fashions come and go; Hollywood churns its commercial pap. Careers sparkle; others fizzle out; whom the gods would destroy, they first make famous. Meanwhile, over in England, Leigh makes his films, tracking the intricacies of the lower-class family with the…
Bloody Good
In the world of theater, the maxim “less is more” can be either the kiss of death or a life-affirming embrace. In a fascinating production of Mac Wellman’s idiosyncratic adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company takes us into its arms and smothers us with love of theater…
Taking Aim
In a banquet room high in the Greenspoint Radisson, a former Las Vegas lounge singer disco-struts across the stage. One moment he’s flirting with a political wife across her plate of stuffed chicken, the next he’s engrossed in an endless note, clutching his Johnny Mathis hair. The act takes a…
The Heflins: An Immigrant’s Tale
It should have been an immigrant’s dream. Mariam Katamba, born in Uganda, found herself taken under the wing of one of the most powerful men in Texas. True, her accommodations in state Representative Talmadge Heflin’s storage room were not air-conditioned and were sometimes wet underfoot from a leaky roof. But…
Capsule Reviews
Castro’s Beard If not for the investigative reporting of the Washington Post’s Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson in 1967, we never would have known about the spy-vs.-spy internal workings of the CIA during the mess that came to be known as the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba — or…
Dance Fever
Reality TV isn’t often described as a force for good in the world, unless you’re one of those people who think the world needs more tedious television. But a group of parents and students at Westside High School had high hopes that reality TV would be their ticket to the…
A Side of Death
Imagine you’re going to be executed. Admittedly, it’s not a pleasant hypothetical situation, like “Gee, what if I won a million dollars?” But just supposing you were going to die tonight, what would you want for dinner? It’s an absurd question, but one that people awaiting execution answer. That meal…
Cooked Book
Juli Salvagio, the director of the Greater Houston Restaurant Association, steps up to the counter, scrutinizes the value menu and orders a No. 6 with a diet lemonade. She has offered to discuss her new book over lunch at “someplace nice,” and has chosen, after a moment of deliberation, to…
Capsule Reviews
Jessica Stockholder There’s something about Jessica Stockholder’s work that makes it instantly recognizable. With bright, broad strokes slathered on large found objects, her work contains elements of both painting and sculpture. She mixes domestic and construction items at will, creating combinations that are visually and intellectually appealing. In her latest…
Letters
Down in the Dump Flushing out the facts: Your article was both amusing and enjoyable, but I must correct one error [“Wigged Gigs,” by John Nova Lomax, October 7]. While I was at Mary Jane’s Fat Cat for the 36 Crazyfists show, both before and after their set, I was…