Blogs

In Kim Addonizio’s My Dreams Out in the Street, every character has his poison. Protagonist Rita prefers vodka and cranberry; her missing husband Jimmy likes beer; private investigator Gary usually drinks Jack; and his miserable wife Annie swills Chardonnay. Smack, coke and weed figure in, too.

It’s not their fault though -- they do it because life sucks. And Rita’s worst of all. A homeless prostitute who kinda accidentally misplaced her husband one messed-up day, she wanders San Francisco hoping to find him and getting kicked in the face, fucked, robbed, chased off and threatened. Of course she’ll buy a fifth whenever she gets the chance. Her world -- the world of Dreams -- is about as abject as they come, and it’s frankly exhausting even for the reader (maybe that’s the point).

With more than 140 photos, Russell Lee Photographs is fat.

With a price of $50 and weighing in at almost five pounds, that’s $10 per pound.

I wish Linda Peterson, Head of Photographic and Digital Archives at the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin (how’s that for a title?) and the person responsible for selecting the photographs for the book, had put this baby on the Atkins Diet.

That said, this lifetime collection of Lee’s work outside the Farm Security Administration is also phat. But it took me a second time through to realize that.

So apparently everyone’s favorite wild-and-crazy astronaut was not wearing diapers on the drive to Florida.

Today Lisa Marie Nowak’s attorney informed a group of reporters that the diapers found in Nowak’s car after her historic drive off the cliff of sanity were toddler-sized and leftover from her family’s evacuation during Hurricane Rita.

Questions:

Not only does wearing a bike helmet totally mess up your hipster haircut (not in that good messed-up way, of course), but it also makes you more likely to be hit by car, according to an article we just read in Scientific American.

Last year British psychologist Ian Walker attached ultrasonic sensors to his bike and rode around Bath, allowing 2,300 cars to pass him while he was either a) wearing a helmet, b) not wearing a helmet or c) not wearing a helmet but wearing a long brown wig (in order to see how drivers treat women bikers).

The results: 23 percent more vehicles came within a one-meter danger zone whenever Walker was wearing a helmet. And if he wore the wig, he got an extra 2.2 inches. (And what lady doesn’t need an extra 2.2 inches?)

The debate continues over whether women suffering from depression should take antidepressants while pregnant.

Two studies published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine report an increased risk of babies being born with potentially fatal birth defects when moms pop Paxil, Prozac or other SSRIs during their first trimester.

The defects occur in about one in 2,500 births. “We are talking about very small risks,” one expert is reported as saying in a story that hit the news wires last night.

Try explaining that to Lisa Collins. –Todd Spivak

We need a stentorian voice here to intone dramatically the words “In The Future!”

Then again, maybe we don’t, because the full script would read “In The Future….Your butt will help you make your life-or-death driving decisions!!”

That’s the message we picked up at a demonstration this morning of the Cars of Tomorrow, put on by General Motors.

Well, gee, it didn’t take a prophet to see this coming: Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda, a.k.a. the Missouri City Jesus, has been busted using charitable contributions for his personal expenses.

The Miami Herald has the story:

The Miami-based preacher who has basked in international attention since declaring himself the second coming of Jesus Christ has used charitable donations to his ministry for personal expenses -- paying $144,000 a year in alimony to his first wife and buying property in his and his relatives' names.

Yep. And plenty more, so long as you're one of the first 100 people in line at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow for the grand opening of the new Chick-fil-A at 8609 Westheimer.

"A one-year supply of free Chick-fil-A® Combo Meals (52 coupons) will be awarded to each of the first 100 adults, age 18 and older with identification," says the press release. "The line can begin forming up to 24 hours prior to the opening."

Personally, we think you should show up in a chicken suit and start clucking about that time you caught salmonella in Tijuana. That'll show those damn cows what's up. -- Keith Plocek

In our cover story this week I take a look at the odd world of sports-talk radio in Houston. We’re not much of a sports-talk town compared to cities like Dallas, but soon there will be four stations scrambling to grab a piece of that not-very-big pie. (As for the cover….well, if my Mom were still alive she’d no doubt be thrilled to see her son’s name displayed on a jockstrap.)

A couple of things I didn’t get around to mentioning in the story: one, I realize Ralph Cooper does a sports-talk show on KCOH. It’s just not part of the battle I was writing about, so there’s no need for outraged cries of racism.

Second, there are some interesting thoughts on what will happen when the Texans radio contract runs out in five years. KILT, looking to dominate the sports-talk market, broke the bank with a $70 million, ten-year deal in the team’s inaugural season, but few think anyone will overpay like that again.

Tom DeLay, the super Republican and former U.S. representative from Sugar Land, is home free of the criminal conspiracy charges filed against him. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today agreed with a lower court finding for a very special reason. To wit:

That the crime he was accused of – namely conspiracy to violate the election code – was not a crime until 2003. DeLay was accused of planning to funnel illegal business campaign contributions to selected Republicans – but this was in 2002.

As a wise bumper sticker once said, “Practice safe sex. Go screw yourself.” Uncomfortable questions such a sticker may elicit from eight-year-olds aside (hi, niece!), it has a point. Solo sex is certainly safer.

But sex with another human is much more fun, hence that nagging worry about that random shag with old what’s-his-name back in March.

Today, Planned Parenthood is offering free HIV testing until 6 p.m. Results come in minutes. – Cathy Matusow

All entries for this month's photo contest for Houston-area high school students must be received before Monday, July 2.

The theme for June is water. Fresh water, salt water, bath water, fish water – anything that’s wet, really. Send all entries to studentphotos@houstonpress.com. Click here and here for more information. – Keith Plocek

So here’s a shocker: a group called Corporate Accountability International has inducted Halliburton into its annual Hall of Shame competition. According to the press release, “The membership organization, which wages winning campaigns against irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions, opened online voting in May with five other potential inductees: Coke, Ford, Kimberly-Clark, Merck and Nestlé.” Now, without those companies, we wouldn’t be able to wash down our black-market Vioxx with a cold, refreshing Fresca while driving our Focuses to the store for Crunch bars and Kotex. So I don’t know what they’re bitching about. Maybe it’ll make more sense if you look at the results here. -- Craig Malisow

You know you live in College Station when your purpose in life stems from your hate for Longhorns.

In December 2006 the University of Texas sued Aggieland Outfitters for violating the Longhorn symbol with its “Saw ‘em Off” merchandise. The lawsuit was settled yesterday after an agreement to change the logo and a payment of $25,000. The Saw ‘em Off merchandise now features white nostrils and a white patch near the forehead area, called a star, and may not use the burnt orange and white combination.

After a day of errands and chores, our group was sweaty and hungry. We were clad in dirty shorts, flip-flops and the like, and we had an unruly infant in tow. Our destination was a Mexican restaurant called Cantina Laredo at Wilcrest and Westheimer.

While we were looking for a space in the crowded parking lot the restaurant shares with Whole Foods, a couple walked by on the way to Cantina Laredo's front door. She was an attractive blonde in tight jeans, and he was wearing a natty silk shirt. There was an awkward silence as we watched them walk by the car. Then, to everyone's relief, I suggested that we go to a different restaurant.