TransCanada Is Trying to Buy a Little Texas Love, Since D.C. Keeps Avoiding Keystone Issue
The people at TransCanada are by no means stupid. While the fate of the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline is still in regulatory limbo, the southern end is up and running. It’s also still unpopular but TransCanada is stepping up and doing what all oil and pipeline companies…
10 Most Stereotypical Ways to Die in Houston (UPDATED)
If you live here, generally, you’ll die from what most of your fellow countrymen and women die from: cancer, heart disease or lung disease. Oh, and accidents, too, like falling off a ladder and breaking your neck. However, here in the Lone Star state and specifically Harris County and Houston,…
The Best Taiwanese Dessert You’ve Probably Never Heard Of: Snow Ice
Snow has hit Houston for the summer. Snow ice, that is. It’s a Taiwanese dessert that’s been gaining popularity here in the Bayou City for the past few years, but in spite of its increasing adoration, many Houstonians still don’t know much about it. The ice cream–for even though it…
Indiana Jones, War Horse and Alpha Dog: Defending Movies Critics Hate
On this week’s Voice Film Club podcast, film critics Alan Scherstuhl, Amy Nicholson and Stephanie Zacharek defend movies that most critics hate, namely Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, War Horse and Alpha Dog. We also recommend a few new films, including Blue Ruin, Fading Gigolo and Next Goal…
Murder Ballad at TUTS Underground Lights up the Stage
The setup: Murder Ballad began in an intimate venue in Manhattan and then moved to a much larger venue, but in both offered an “immersive” experience, as the audience is made in some ways part of the action on stage. TUTs Underground has achieved this in the 500-seat Zilkha hall…
Leslie VanLovelace, Houston’s Jet-Setting Pin-Up Model
See that picture up there? That’s what model Leslie VanLovelace does. The East Houston native is a rising Houston pin-up model with a unique, devilish style and a beauty that cannot be denied. Her pictures have appeared in more than 100 different magazines (Including appearing on six covers) including Delicious…
Champagne in a Can and the French 75
Can an inexpensive sparkling wine be used successfully in a cocktail?
Right-Wing Valentine to Vlad
The Conservatives recent love affair with Russia’s Vladimir Putin is a mysterious contagion from a fever swamp; an odd combination of My Funny Valentine and Jungle Fever, rebranded as To Russia, With Love. It’s an odd reversal of the McCarthy era, sixty years later. Sarah Palin seems deeply enamored as…
Exploring the Changes at the Children’s Museum of Houston
I had the opportunity to explore the Children’s Museum of Houston for the first time in several months, and found that they’d done some significant rearranging. The first thing that you’ll notice is that several of the more fun motion-based exhibits have been moved out into the main How Does…
Italy à la Houston
Traveling to Europe is expensive, and not everyone has the ability, time or money to make the trip. But, good news. You don’t have to! You can actually stay right in Houston and visit a multitude of shops, restaurants and parks just as you would in a European country. A…
Bastille at House of Blues, 4/23/2014
Bastille House of Blues April 23, 2014 Bastille could very well be the next Coldplay, OneRepublic or Ed Sheeran. The London-based quartet possesses all of the necessary characteristics and already has the world’s collective ear, but first they need to choose a direction. Right now, their sound is too disjointed…
Program Honors HISD Students on the Road to an Ivy Education
Felipe Guillen, a Chavez High School student, told a crowd Tuesday night about the struggles his mother and father went through. His Mexican parents had to work, so they couldn’t pursue their education. They sacrificed being in their homeland while their son pursued his education. At one point, fighting back…
Argentinian Treats at Manena’s Pastry Shop & Deli
Sometimes the best food can be found in a tiny, unassuming establishment. Granted, sometimes those locations are abandoned because the food is absolutely dreadful, but this is not the case at Manena’s Pastry Shop and Deli on Westheimer outside Beltway 8. After hearing that the cookies at Manena’s were scrumptious,…
April Kickstarter Round-Up: Geeks and a Rotten Film
Once a month we’ll be bringing you a look at some of the best local Kickstarter campaigns in order to let you know what’s getting ready to be unleashed through the help of small investors. Magic: The Gathering Documentary: Though I don’t play much anymore I am a longtime fan…
Jim Crane Wants the CSN Houston Matter Settled, and He Means It
Jim Crane met with the members of the Astros media on Monday before the team’s win over the Seattle Mariners. Topics of discussion included his disappointment with the team’s start and the progress toward a new spring training facility. But it’s his comments regarding the continuing CSN Houston saga that…
10 Best Food Emojis We Desperately Need
While working on the article about searching Yelp using emojis this week, I realized that the emoji canon has some rather glaring omissions. Sure, I could search for a burger place or Italian food or sushi, but what if I want a sandwich? A cupcake? Some charcuterie? Emojis were first…
The Rocks Off 200: DJ Baby Roo, Vegetarian Hip-Hop Veteran
Welcome to The Rocks Off 200, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. See the original Rocks Off 100 at this link. DJ Baby Roo, who grew…
Houston’s Connection to The Retrieval, Now Part of the Sundance Screening Room Series
We caught up with The Retrieval writer/director/editor Chris Eska while he was on the road. Ah, yes, the glamorous life of an award-winning film director on a promotional tour. “I’m on my way from Shreveport to Lafayette today to show my film to 60 people in a little church building…
Sugar Land Wine & Food Affair Kicks off With Judgment of Paris Recreation
My view of the film Bottle Shock was partially obscured by a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, but it didn’t really matter, because there were five wine glasses before me waiting to be filled. At the kick-off event for the 11th Annual Sugar Land Wine & Food Affair, the intent was to…
First Look at Cadillac Coffee Food Truck
It’s no secret that Houston has an ample number of food trucks serving lunch and dinner. But lately, the expansion of food trucks seems to lean more toward breakfast options and caffeinated beverages. Espresso Rescue joined the food truck scene just a few months ago and often sets up shop…
The Most Horrifying Episode of Jake and the Never Land Pirates Ever
I’m a big fan of whenever my Comcast on demand service updates and allows me to persuade my daughter to watch a new episode of something instead of her personal favorite for the 18th time. Up this time is a new episode of Jake and the Never Land Pirates, and…
Houston’s Hungry to Dine on Feral Swine
A hog is a hog but a feral hog is widely held to be a pain in the ass. Over half the estimated 2 million to 6 million feral hogs in the United States reside in Texas and they do about $400 milllion worth of damage on an annual basis,…
Rockets Down 0-2 to Blazers: Here Are Six Reasons It’s Okay to Panic
Long before Portland took their largest lead of the game well into the fourth quarter of game two in the first round of the Western Conference at Toyota Center, the cracks were showing in the Rockets’ foundation. Despite a blistering start with Dwight Howard absolutely dominating on the low post…
Rest of the Best: 10 Best Places for Parkour in Houston
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, parkour is basically what happens when people play Super Mario Bros in real life. You find yourself a good spot full of interesting terrain, then you jump, climb, spin, and flip off of it until you basically collect all the underwear of anyone who…
Walking an Awesome Mile With Nathan Quick
The last time I had heard of Nathan Quick it was a passing notice that he’d captured the 2012 Houston Press Music Award for best singer-songwriter. I always meant to check out his stuff, but life got in the way. Now I regret it because if his latest six-song album…
Can’t Knock Me Down: Vex Singer Returns for One Last Howl
In a time before Houston was overly infested with sprawl, when portions of downtown were dripping with decay, mechanical bull-riding mesmerized crowds at Gilley’s, and police violence regularly marred neighborhoods, bands like Vex, peppered with heavy duty politics, the “plague” of punk, and bruising live sets, set themselves far apart…
The Last VJ’s Five Best Videos of the Week
Welcome back to The Last VJ, music fans. This week I show you the most disturbing thing I have ever run across. It makes Grinderman’s “Heathen Child” look like a Bieber video, and no, I’m not joking at all. Plus, Jason Voorhees tries to turn his life around and we…
We Broke Up, But Now I Want Him Back. Help!
Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off’s advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, “funny, serious or unpredictable.” Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! I BROKE UP WITH HIM, NOW I WANT HIM BACK Dear Willie D: I just got…
The 10 Most Memorable ’80s TV Theme Songs
Oh, how we miss the ’80s. It was a happy time, when life was full of neon spandex, leg-warmers and high-top Reeboks as far as the eye could see. Sure, there were too many dudes sporting man-perms, but they always threw in an accompanying mullet for good measure, and the…
