Miscellaneous: December 2008 Archives
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add to facebookFrom Dylan Thomas to William Butler Yeats, from John Donne to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, if you're passionate about dead poets, you should head out to Taft Street Coffee tonight for the Dead Poets Slam. The free event will feature a poetry slam-style competition with a catch: all the poetry recited must have been written by a dead poet:
This is organized as a poetry slam, and competitors are encouraged to have two poems from their chosen dead poet ready. The audience will give scores and we'll discover who is the most slammin' of the deceased bards.And to further encourage you to give your best reading, there are even prizes! Of course, you don't have to participate in order to attend; an audience is needed, too. The Dead Poets Slam will get started at 8:00 p.m., but you'll need to be there at 7:30 p.m. to sign up. And forget about using E. E. Cummings "she being Brand"; that's our bag, and a surefire way to woo the ladies. Dead Poets Slam
ANYONE CAN PARTICIPATE; all you need to do is find TWO poems by a deceased poet and read them passionately on stage to compete for this best selection and best reading score.
Admission: Free!
Date and Time: December 30, 7:30 p.m.
Location: Taft Street Coffee, 2115 Taft Street more ›
If you're anything like Houstonist, you can easily waste two hours of your life on the trailer show on HDNet, watching trailers from movies past and present and exclaiming to no one in particular, "Oh, The Departed. That was a really good movie!" You know the trailer show... Don't look at us like that. more ›
- Chicagoist started the week with bitter cold, explored a video game based on its transit system, celebrated a fantastic year of local music and food & drink, and finished the week with warmth and flooding.
- Torontoist was supposed to shut down in the new year, but now not so much now. They prepared to ring in the new year by looking back at their city's Heroes and Villains of 2008.
- Gothamist readers had strong opinions about a video of carriage horses working in the wintry weather.
Bold words when the "they" you're referencing is Houston's Museum of Fine Art, arguably one of the best art museums in the country. But local surgeon Anthony Walter feels that the baroque masterpiece he's created in the great hall of his Southhampton home (built in 2004, natch) rivals -- nay, obliterates -- the MFA's grand collection. Included in his 2,500 square foot masterpiece are gilded murals depicting his wife and various Biblical scenes, coffered ceilings, mother-of-pearl inlays and exactly 48,762 cubic zirconias. Museum-worthy? You can judge for yourself in this slideshow of Dr. Walter's work. (NY Times, via Swamplot)
By now, we've all seen the TV ads for Second Baptist Church's legion services at Christmas, in which Pastor Ed Young slyly promises that there will be snow for all the children afterwards. Whether this is just at the main Woodway campus or at all five campuses was not disclosed in the slightly creepy commercial. But this makes Houstonist wonder: what other products and enticements should megachurches begin offering to encourage wayward Christians (and their pocketbooks) to attend their services? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.
Houstonist has been a big fan of Brooklyn Radio's The Rub podcast ever since we got a decent internet connection at headquarters. The show is produced by DJ Ayres, DJ Eleven and Cosmo Baker and is "an unparalleled mix of hip hop, disco, 80s, reggae, funk, house and everything in between." The Rub continually shows much love for Houston as evidenced by their inclusion of Houston acts on many of their podcasts and frequently teaming up with Bun B. more ›
No matter your views of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we should all agree that our veterans need our support both when deployed in theater and upon their return stateside. Readjusting to an environment not filled with IEDs, combatants and other hostile characteristics is difficult for them. Further, it is impossible for us to understand fully the challenges they faced abroad and those they face at home. Community of Veterans (http://communityofveterans.org/) is a social networking site designed to put veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan in touch with one another, which is a daunting task since less than 1% of Americans have served in either conflict. The IAVA hopes that connected veterans will be able to assist each other in regaining some sense of normalcy no matter how small.
"Holy fucking shit I wasbjust in a plane crash!" Mike Wilson, a Denver resident and passenger on Continental flight 1404, tweeted (posted updates to his Twitter account) about his experience when the Houston-bound flight crashed this weekend. According to his tweets, this was plane crash number two for Wilson. And, bus travel is becoming a more attractive option.
- Torontoist exposed infamous local fiend Dimitri the Lover's new protégé, Pavel the Lover—a man who approaches underage girls, calls them "elegant," and passes them business cards asking them if they'd like to "swing on a star."
- SFist was disheartened to hear that Equality California's executive director refused to attend next month's inauguration due to Barack Obama's regrettable decision to have anti-gay and prop-Prop 8 pastor Rick Warren deliver the invocation, but perked up when attorney general and former (and future?) CA Governor Jerry Brown said that same-sex marriage ban Prop 8 was invalid.
- Bostonist interviewed Jamie Sneider, a comedian who likes to be naked and checked out the action at Fenway's Cask'n Flagon, where fists flew at a charity ball.
- Phillyist revealed the ten names rejected by the Campbell family before they settled on naming their son for the Fuhrer.
- Chicagoist watched Governor Rod Blagojevich's quick speech and marveled at a local artist's interpretation of Blago in the nude, toasted Drew Peterson for getting engaged while his fourth wife remains missing and his third wife remains murdered, and talked about not much plowing and calling dibs on parking during a snowy week.
- DCist commenters had a lot to say about whether MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski was really mugged outside the Georgetown Ritz Carlton or just fell prey to an aggressive panhandler.
- Seattlest's coverage of Snowmageddon 2008 started off fun, with visiting reindeer and snowbound drink suggestions, but then two charter buses nearly took a 30-foot header off Capitol Hill onto I-5.
- Houstonist started scheming to turn a Space Shuttle into a taco truck, a teaching lab or an arts center if they could get their hands on $42M to buy one when they are decommissioned in 2010.
- LAist wondered if Obama choosing evangelical minster Rick Warren to speak at the inauguration would pick at the Prop 8 wound; to prove Prop 8 was still a priority, protests were organized this weekend, as supporters of the Prop filed a lawsuit to nullify the 18,000 gay marriages that took place in California this year.
- Shanghaiist was amused by this video of a Canadian guy singing The Star Spangled Banner in Chinese.
- Londonist salivated over space shuttles and skating Santas.
- Gothamist got to see Governor Paterson (1) get spoofed on Saturday Night Live, (2) express him anger about it, and then (3) refer it the spoof again when he introduced a bevy of new taxes, including an "iPod tax" and "non-diet soda tax."
A few days ago we wrote about the upcoming retroactive variance request from Weingarten Realty - the hearing was yesterday, but has now been rescheduled for January 8 at 2:30 pm.
Tis the season for holiday parties, which means you'll likely be exhibiting some poor judgment at some point like drinking bourbon way too fast at your company holiday party, biting cheeks or trying to use "Do you know you look very elegant?" as a pick-up line. Any of the aforementioned behavior should tip off your friends that you probably are not the best choice of wheelman to get you and yours back home in one piece. more ›
It has come to our attention that a few of you are reading Houstonist by hitting refresh on your browser every so often to check for new content. People, that is so 1999. Allow us to coach you into the 2000s with a quick lesson on Each week Houstonist checks out the Missed Connections on Craiglist. Here's a few that we found interesting. more ›
Those gift giving holidays are right around the corner, which means you're likely at the height of your procrastination habit. If you're not, we are. In fact, we don't even start to consider shopping until we put together the following list of kickassery that we call the the 2008 Houstonist Holiday Gift Guide. Any item from our eclectic selection of loot will make the perfect gift for Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. Feel free to try out a gift on us if you're worried your honey baby won't dig it. Plus, if they don't like, they'll just sell it on eBay. more ›
It's no secret that Weingarten Realty has given a big F-you to its Houston market with the much protested redevelopment of the River Oaks Shopping Center, but it just keeps getting better. A group named Stop Shepherd Noise was organized to bring to light issues concerning the River Oaks Shopping Center, and is described as a "group of concerned neighbors who want to preserve the integrity and quality of life of the neighborhoods surrounding River Oaks Shopping Center." more ›
- Chicagoist was in such a tizzy over the arrest of their Governor, Rod Blagojevich, - looking at the federal complaint, examining fellow arrestee John Harris, enjoying artists' interpretations, and comparing him to a Lego man - that they almost didn't notice that Mayor Daley wasn't bothering to have the streets plowed.
- Seattlest had visions of monkey smugglers and frozen custard dancing in their heads, and lots of shopping locally left to do before the holidays.
- Shanghaiist was surprised to hear that the US may not have a pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.
Last week it was reported that Houston-based contracting giant KBR had been awarded a $6.4 billion contract to build an oil refinery in Angola, one of the world's richest countries in terms of petrochemicals (the US imports more oil from Angola than it does from Kuwait) but one of the poorest in terms of population (70% of Angolans live below the poverty line). more ›
If you are aspiring to be an actor, Fitzgerald's offers you the chance to meet other like minded folks during Fitzgerald's weekly improvisation session! more ›
Wanna see a local blues legend for free? For the past few months on Tuesday nights at Boondocks, on the curve, Little Joe Washington has been performing his brand of local blues for free (although we're sure he'll gladly accept your tips.) more ›
- LAist wined and dined on some of the city's best international food. The Korean BBQ truck had the edge of a street taco and the Imagawa-Yaki Japanese pastries were fulfilling.
- Seattlest turned investigative reporter for a story on a major transit funding giveback and then ate some clam chowder and gourmet popcorn.
- Bostonist pondered the Missed Connections implications of removing seats from one of our major subway lines and listed the things that Harvard could have bought with the $8 billion its endowment has lost this year.
Ever since LIFE opened its archive of mostly unpublished photographs from 1750 onward, Houstonist has been obsessed with searching through old pictures of Houston (among many other things, of course). Pictures of Judge Roy Hofheinz's apartment in the Astrodome? Check. An eerily barren River Oaks Boulevard? Check. Shudde Brothers before the surrounding neighborhood went downhill and came back up again? Check. Buzz Aldrin glumly sitting in a Tilt-A-Whirl at Astroworld? Check. Houston revelling in its redneck glory at the erstwhile Frontier Festival? Check. more ›
Houston's cityscape has changed drastically since the photo below was taken by Dmitri Kessel in 1946; one would expect nothing less from a city that's continually reinventing itself, erasing its own history and creating new futures with each passing day. more ›
Last week we told you about the fantastic ice skating venue being constructed in Discovery Green. Well, brothers and sisters, we got our skate on last night. Here's what you need to know before you skate your heart out and release your inner Chazz Michael Michaels. more ›
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