Robert Downey, Jr. definitely has caused some Internet chatter with his blackface performance in the movie Tropic Thunder, currently out in theaters, but an exhibition on view at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston reminds us of a simpler time, way back in 2001 when he played Jesus for artist Sam Taylor-Wood’s “Pieta.”
We've just loaded up a slideshow of images from "Houston Collects: African American Art," on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston through October 26. Have a look. Hair Balls will still be here when you get back. -- KP
In prison, you see, a common way to protest something (or someone) is to throw your urine or feces on it. Why bother losing a shoe when you can use nature’s own projectile, the logic goes.
However, we’ve just learned from the estimable news outlet known as Ghetto Bragging Rights (now featuring terrorists!) that, despite what you might believe, throwing feces and urine is not an acceptable form of protest in the outside world.
Or is it?
The Administration for Children and Families found that caseloads in Texas are still too high, and children in the state's care aren't visited on a monthly basis, as required. (The report is supposed to be available online, but isn't.)
But before state legislators go and drop a couple hundred million (as if) in reaction to these findings, they should remember one thing:
The court ruled the FCC acted "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" in punishing the network for the nine-sixteenths of a second in which Jackson’s evil titty could be seen by television audiences.
As a service to you, dear reader, we just spent the last hour trolling the Internet for parody images of the incident, and we now proudly present some of our favorites. – Keith Plocek
Sometime Tuesday night, one or more individuals vandalized the utility pole at the corner of Dickey and Sixth streets, which visitors say displays the image of Jesus.
A black marker was used on the “face” of the pole, adding a thick mustache.
(Number 4,528 on Things We Don't Understand: People paying hundreds of dollars for a ticket to a movie they could see for ten bucks the next day.)
We're not the world's biggest Bat-fans, but we're sure we'll end up seeing it.
The question is: How plausible is it?
Scientific American magazine has the answer.
Introducing: Camel Crush. Each cigarette contains a menthol capsule in the filter; if you squeeze it, the cig is minty fresh. If you don't, it stays non-menthol.
But, um, why? Don’t you either smoke menthols or not? Unless you’re a smoker who is tired of not being able to lend smokes to your pals because you prefer menthols and they don’t. But we’re pretty sure that’s the best part of smoking menthols.
Camel is planning to test-market Crush in Houston and we got a pack of our own thanks to a super-secret connection (AKA blood relative) who’s helping with marketing.
An arrest warrant was issued yesterday for the now-infamous Rozita Swinton, the woman who allegedly posed as a teenage girl and reported abuse by a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The call eventually led to the raid of the church's YZF Ranch near Eldorado, Texas, not to mention a media circus here in Houston and in San Angelo.
The warrant was issued after Swinton missed a probation hearing in Douglas County, Colorado, according to Rob McCallum, a spokesman for the Colorado judicial branch.
"My understanding is that she is on her way to court now with her attorney to rectify this matter," McCallum told Hair Balls this afternoon.
For reasons of His own choosing, the Messiah has chosen to reveal his face on a telephone pole. The Alice Echo-News picks up the tale, and furnishes a couple of pics of the miraculous pole.
“The further you get the more detail you can see,” said Mirabel Martinez, whose home is on the corner next to the supposed image. “I had to see it for myself because I didn’t really believe.”
Editor's note: The following announcement appears in this week's paper. Why are we posting it here? Because Houstoned is soon going to become Hair Balls, and we thought you'd like to know, since you are reading Houstoned, after all. We promise all the same great content; there's just going to be a lot more of it.
We’ve studied the matter long and hard, and we’ve come to this conclusion: There just might be something to this “Internet” thing after all. We’re thinking it can be a place where people read about stuff — on their computers! Or other contraptions! — and then comment on it. So, just as Barack Obama would say, we’re announcing a change we can believe in. As of July 14, 2008, Hair Balls becomes Web-based.
On the Web, it will be expanded, it will be updated constantly, it will become a destination for all who point and click and want to experience the sweat-drenched mystery that is Houston.
We won’t completely abandon our print roots for pixels. The hard-copy edition of the Houston Press each week will include a roundup of items from the blog. But you, as a savvy user of -cutting-edge technology, will have already seen what those poor, benighted readers who stick to print have been anxiously awaiting every Thursday.
Non-fiction writers who’d like to improve their long-form narrative style and would-be true-story book writers burning to find an agent might want to look into the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest ’08.
Sponsored by the Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism out of the University of North Texas, the weekend conference (July 18-20) is in Grapevine, Texas and offers a hard-working, hard-partying agenda. For instance, the party at the end of the first day’s events starts at 9:45 p.m.
Texas photographer Marilyn Davenport smooth-talked her way in to the Neon Museum’s boneyard in Las Vegas a while back and took pictures of the retired signs that live there. The resulting exhibit, “Modern Jackpot: Vintage Vegas Signs by Marilyn Davenport,” will soon be on display at the Museum of Printing History. For those who can't wait, we've loaded up a sneak peek of "Vintage Vegas Signs."
The exhibit opens July 1, with an official reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 10. Regular viewing hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Through September 13. 1324 West Clay. For information, call 713-522-4652 or visit www.printingmuseum.org. Free. – Olivia Flores Alvarez
Like a perfect storm, what are all the components that need to come together to generate a crime? Could a crime that occurs in one part of Houston have happened in another, or in the suburbs? How much does place as well as persons have to do with all that follows?
In “Paranoid Reality,” the first installment of our new Crime Story column, writer Randall Patterson tries to answer some of that. He begins with the case of Whitt Bruney, a master craftsman living in the Montrose section of town who ran afoul of a neighbor with ultimately tragic consequences. His friends thought he was over cautious, just this side of maybe crazy. Turns out, he wasn’t cautious enough. It’s an “I told you so” from the grave. – Margaret Downing
Hey you – yeah, you. You know what you need? A dog. Or a cat. Or a few of each. Pets kick ass, and they make you live longer, too. And right now, there are a bunch of loveable critters who need your help.
Country Paws Rescue, a Hempstead animal shelter, has closed due to a lack of funds. All adoption fees will be waived. Go here to find out more. (The site’s having problems loading pics of the cats and dogs, so just use your imagination until all the kinks are worked out.) -- Craig Malisow
