Photos by Christina Uticone

A handful of the eyeliners tested for this article. Anything for beauty.

It's not that I'm trying to be mean about Jemma Kidd's eyeliners -- you'll recall I wasn't overly impressed with her recent releases for fall/winter 2012 -- but they just don't measure up to the $14 price tag. I am interested in trying a few more of her products, based on other reviews, specifically the eye shadows and the tinted moisturizer. Everyone looks for different qualities in makeup, so what is "Holy Grail" for some doesn't even come close for another. Since eyeliner is my number one, don't-leave-the-house-without-it product, I want a $14 pencil to be a multitasker, and Kidd's I-Conic line didn't hit the mark for me.

So until I can make it back to Target to grab a few more JK cosmetics to test out, here is a list of five eyeliners I think are worth the investment -- complete with links to the season's on-trend shades.

Urban Decay 24/7 Pencils

As I mentioned in the original article about Jemma Kidd I-Conic Eyes eyeliners, the Urban Decay Pencils are widely considered the best pencils on the market. They come in basic colors like black, brown and gray, but also in a wide variety of bright neons and metallics.

Best colors for fall/winter 2012: 1999 (plum with gold shimmer), Deviant (cobalt blue), and Mildew (deep green).

Granted, the names are pretty stupid -- they turn off some makeup bloggers so much they refuse to buy the pencils at all -- but these pencils are $19 well-spent. Note: Many of the colors are vegan-friendly, so if cruelty-free cosmetics are important to you, UD is a good line to check.

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Photo by an-d

If you flipped through even one of the September Issues that came out this month, the focus on shoes was hard to miss. In addition to articles telling us what's hot for our hoofs this season, advertising also focused heavily on shoes. Harper's Bazaar ran a gorgeous, black-and-white pictorial (shot by Terry Richardson) starring Miranda Kerr in nothing but her birthday suit and pair after pair of some of the season's hottest boots. (Our favorites: the Tod's riding boots show in slide two, $1,155. A versatile riding boot is a better investment than an edgy, trendy shoe that will look dated in a year or two -- like the Givenchy by Ricardo Tisci boots in slide five.)

There are a few tiresome trends that won't seem to go away. For example, boots and booties with a peep toe. Since boots are essentially designed to keep feet warm and dry, peep-toe versions seem slightly ridiculous. Another shoe that can walk right off the runway and never appear again is the heel-less high heel--you know, those ridiculous things that make everyone look like they're about to pitch forward onto their face?

But enough of the negative, let's talk about the positive. Specifically, five shoe trends that we think look very promising for fall/winter 2012. Warm up your credit card!

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Fotopedia user Dan Brady

Time to hang up on the Telephone Museum?

News broke last week that the Heights AT&T building that houses the little-known Telephone Museum had been sold, leaving the collection of communication history homeless as of December 1 of this year.

The 46-year-old Telephone Museum (full name: The Doc Porter Museum of Telephone History) posted a frantic message on their website:

The Doc Porter Museum of Telephone History is in trouble.

AT&T has put our building up for sale, and we have just discovered that no provisions have been put in place to move or house our vast collection.

We currently are located on the second floor of 1714 Ashland Street in Houston, Texas, in the historic Heights area.

This space houses our wonderful collection of telephones, switchboards, instruments, documentation, books, and all the other pieces of telephone history that has taken many years to compile.

Our collection is one of the last in the country. With the closing of the telephone museums in Dallas and others, we are the one of the last in Texas, and one of only a handful in the country.

Most everyone who visits our Museum is extremely surprised and delighted by our tremendous collection of telephone history.

We are in desperate need to relocate. Any ideas? Please contact us.

The Ashland building is the museum's third home since its birth in 1966. So what will happen to the museum's collection post-sale? Will it be sold piecemeal to greedy collectors a la the closing of in 2011?

If that's the future, the you only have three short months to see the Telephone Museum's collection, which includes switchboards, rotaries and more. While you're at it, we've compiled five other small Houston-area museums you should check out if you haven't yet.

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Carmen Tisch: Butt painter.

What was Uriel Landeros thinking when he strolled into The Menil Collection and jacked up a Pablo Picasso?

That's the thing. He wasn't. That's why there's a warrant out for his arrest.

"I do know the repair, [currently] in the conservation lab, is going very well, all due to the quick action and lab on site," Vance Muse of the Menil tells Art Attack about Woman in a Red Armchair. "Menil conservation [has been] a major part of the museum since its conception and is known for expertise with modern and contemporary media."

Stenciling a sophomoric design on a Picasso is pretty dumb, but Landeros's act doesn't even rank among some of the most absurd art sabotages of all time.

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Free beer tastes better.

Last week, domestic airline Era Alaska, whose regional flights consist of quick hops between cities with names like Eek and Kwigillingok, discontinued its free beer program. Yep, you read that right. The Alaska-based airline that takes customers all over the Alaskan terrain was having a free beer promotion during its Dash 8 routes between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Deadhorse, Homer and Kodiak. According to Era's original statement, they would be partnering with local brew masters Denali Brewing Company to offer free samples of the company's Single Engine Red Brew for the month of June.

Allegedly, the airline has discontinued the program because state law doesn't allow using alcohol as a marketing tool. What country is Alaska in again? Not being able to use alcohol as a marketing tool is like saying you can't use shoes to cover your feet. Incidentally, the law becomes fuzzy once a plane is airborne, but Era airlines is stopping the program as a "courtesy" to the state. Stopping your marketing plan to be a nice company is as crazy as a Macy's salesman telling his customers to go buy Christmas presents at Gimbels instead.

For your reference, flying from Anchorage to Fairbanks takes just about an hour, more or less a trip from here to Dallas. If you've ever taken the quick flight to the Big D, you know that there is barely enough time to power up your laptop, let alone chug a free beer.

The promotion makes sense, though, if you think about it in terms of the flight from Houston to Dallas. When faced with the trek, most people opt to drive. It's cheaper, and the time in the car is not all that bad. But consider the notion that instead of driving the long four hours, you could fly and have free beer. Sounds pretty good.

What else can you do in an hour that would be better with free beer? Oh, just about everything, but here are our top five.

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Baaaa nuuuuu dunaNAAA nunuh naaahhhh nuuuuuuuu

So Game of Thrones ended a few weeks ago. Most new viewers haven't read the books. No worry. To be honest, the novels seriously decline in quality after about book 3. George R.R. Martin has an infuriating way of really toeing the line on his narrative, dragging out characters over multiple novels and thousands of pages, but the carrot of resolution is forever dangled and never caught.

For many of you fantasy series noobs, though, all this really means is a severe drop-off in violence, topless women, sex, rape, infanticide, stonings, hangings, decapitations, incest and intrigue until Season 3 starts back up in the next year.

You could read the Old Testament and get your fill of most of these lesser human traits, or you could try and branch out into other realms within the great world of fantasy novels.

Not all fantasy novels are about dragons -- although admittedly, most of the best ones are.

There is variety in fantasy covering a great many topics, but if you are starting to jones for some knights, battles, ogres, family feuds or magic, pick up one of these great reads and escape into another world.

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Photo courtesy Flickr user reedwade

The ship used in Red Dwarf

It's often been said that "if it isn't broke, don't fix it." However, sometimes Hollywood needs a little creativity when coming up with ideas for shows. Therefore, it seeks inspiration from across the Atlantic -- the United Kingdom -- and, sometimes, in Australia. (The U.S. remake of Kath and Kim starring Molly Shannon and Selma Blair?) Unfortunately, when the U.S. television creators try to do this, it comes across as unoriginal. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule: The Office (original creator and star Ricky Gervais is involved in the U.S. version), Sanford and Son -- which was based off the hit BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son, All in the Family (the UK original is called Till Death Do Us Part) and even Three's Company.

Likewise, British television also borrows from U.S. television -- such as the recent remake of Law & Order. Still, there are some British sitcoms that should remain untouched.

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The age of common sense has apparently expired.

In what could be the most ridiculous example of an overbearing homeowners association, an HOA in Denver, Colorado has banned children from fun.

As of Wednesday, kids in the Stapleton neighborhood are no longer allowed to draw chalk art of hearts and stars and little ponies on the sidewalks. (Because the better alternative is to stay indoors and play video games?)

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Unlike these overrated lists...

5 Most Overrated Paintings of All Time

5 Most Overrated Photos of All Time

5 Most Overrated Art Movements of All Time

...ranking the five most overrated statues of all time is a bit trickier.

To keep it uniform, we didn't include works such as when some guy thought it would be a good idea to carve the mugs of former U.S. Presidents into the side of a mountain.

Abstract pieces aren't on here either.

What made the cut? Michelangelo and a baby who can't control his little baby bladder.

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I grew up in a non-religious household, and while that's made me somewhat out of step with a lot of America I don't really feel like I've missed anything of note. Sure, I lack a traditionally organized set of rules and norms and possibly a sense of community, but I've picked up on the whole not killing, not stealing thing pretty well and I tend to be anti-social so I don't mind not having a building to meet other like-minded people in on a given Sabbath.

I mostly I don't bother with organized religion because over the years I've reached a deeper spiritual bond with pop culture than I ever could have with the message of Jesus Christ or Buddha or, I don't know, the Scientology guy. It's where I draw my strength from in times of need, and where I find the lessons that make up my morality. So if you're not the church-going type have you considered...

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