One of my favorite
blogs happens to be local to me. Eric Berger, the Houston Chronicle's "SciGuy" usually reports on the
weather. But he also posts entertaining and serious stuff as well.
[more inside]
posted by PapaLobo
on Nov 22, 2011 -
3 comments
During the past 4 days, the
Cockrell Butterfly Center at the
Houston Museum of Natural Science has stayed open 24 hours to accommodate the
record crowds filing into the museum at all hours. Why? A rare
Amorphophallus titanium, aka
“Corpse Flower,” named
Lois is
finally about to bloom. Now, Lois is
not your average, run-of-the-mill
stinky plant.
Only 28 Corpse Flowers have bloomed in the US, so Lois has become a
local celebrity with
her own blog,
Flickr feed,
live webcam and
cupcakes. She even has
her own playlist, with songs such as “That Smell” by Lynyrd Skynrd, “I’m Comin’ Out” by Diana Ross and the classic “Smelly Cat” by Phoebe from Friends. And like any trendy Corpse Flower, Lois also has
her own Twitter account. She's also a
bit of a diva. Yet despite predictions, Lois
still hasn't bloomed as of Wednesday morning. In response, Lois
makes excuses,
bad jokes,
complaints and
snarky comments.
posted by yeoja
on Jul 14, 2010 -
30 comments
Robert Earl Davis Jr., better known by his stage name
DJ Screw, died almost ten years ago, on the 16th of November, 2000. He is widely credited as the originator of one of Texan hip-hop's unique stylistic quirks - the slowing of a track to create a blurry, psychedelic take on the original. So profound is the association between DJ Screw and this style that it is usually
named after him. An 11-part documentary on YT explores Screw's life and music.
Part 1, with the rest below the fold.
[more inside]
posted by Dim Siawns
on Jun 7, 2010 -
12 comments
At Sammy's at 2016 Main, on September 8, a historic jam session occurred, an impromptu reunion of many of the city of New Orleans's finest musicians. Each player who walked in the door was much more than a mere musician that night -- they were an affirmation of life. Not only did their attendance indicate that they had survived the storm, but their collective presence also indicated that their music would survive, too.
The
New Birth Brass Band (and friends) tears it the hell up in downtown Houston post-Katrina. The
whole show is great, but if you're short on time, parts
one and
three are especially smoking.
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas
on Dec 14, 2008 -
3 comments
For many people who lived in Houston in the early 1970s, trick or treat brings up memories of "The Candy Man," serial killer
Dean Corll. He, along with accomplices David Brooks and
Wayne Henley (YouTube), kidnapped, raped, and tortured to death 27 boys between the ages of thirteen and eighteen between 1970 and 1973. Thirty-seven years after the bodies of their victims were discovered in mass graves in southwest Houston and the Bolivar Peninsula, three still were unidentified until recently when the efforts of forensic anthropologist
Sharon Derrick identified victim ML73-3349, now known to be
Randall Lee Harvey.
posted by WolfDaddy
on Oct 31, 2008 -
32 comments
"Girl, he died a hero with tons of people loving him." A jack-of-all-trades worker from Florida came to Houston to help clean up in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, and was
killed while trying to save three dogs on a freeway. At first, it seemed the man, while praised as a
local hero, and receiving tons of support in death from animal lovers, would remain an unknown
loner in death as he had been in life. Then a Google search and an exchange of e-mails led one Houston woman to the man's daughter, living in Pittsburgh. The young woman had been searching for her father for thirteen years.
posted by WolfDaddy
on Oct 8, 2008 -
37 comments
When
Conrad O. Johnson heard
Otis Redding in concert in the year 1967, he was inspired to bring the kind of explosive energy he felt from that performance to the high school band he was charged with leading. He wanted to lead not only the best high school stage band in Texas, but the best high school stage band in the world. And with the
Kashmere Stage Band, it's arguable that that's
exactly what he did. Check out the Texas Thunder Soul.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Sep 29, 2007 -
19 comments
NewsFilter: I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?
posted by I Love Tacos
on Feb 18, 2006 -
154 comments
So long, and thanks for all the thrills. This weekend, Astroworld (I refuse to prepend "Six Flags") will close its doors. Envisioned in 1968 by
Judge Roy Hofheinz (who also brought us Houstonians a
major league baseball team, and a
stadium in which they could play), the amusement park was where I spent a lot of my childhood in the 70s.
Grass roots movements to save the park have
failed, and thus it's time to say goodbye to the place that played host to one of the
best rollercoasters in the world, a ride that
scared the crap out of me, a
double ferris wheel with a twist, as well as the
Boogie Fog Disco, where I learned how to do The Hustle. All's not lost, as at least I can download the
Texas Cyclone, but I still feel a little misty-eyed for the boy who spent most of his weekends in this magical and wondrous place. Farewell.
posted by WolfDaddy
on Oct 24, 2005 -
58 comments
Fireflies in Houston. As a kid growing up in Houston, I remember going out into the front yard every evening and seeing hundreds and hundreds of fireflies dancing through the air, one of the most magical memories of childhood. As I grew older, their numbers declined, slowly but surely (in fact, at one point as a kid, I thought I was partially responsible as I'd caught so many of 'em in Flintstones jelly jars). Now back in Houston as an adult, I haven't seen a one, and am wondering,
where have all the fireflies gone? This site aims to tell you, and it's not just for Houstonians.
posted by WolfDaddy
on Aug 3, 2004 -
41 comments
After 25 years away, I've recently moved back to the metropolis of my birth, Houston, Texas, and have been reminded that a lot of my favorite buildings here are from the
Modern Movement in architecture. However, many of these buildings--much less than a century old!--are now giving way to newer ones, and many
unique residences fast being replaced with
McMansions. Even the
Astrodome's fate is in the air.
HoustonMod is trying to preserve these buildings and their place in history. More power to 'em.
posted by WolfDaddy
on Apr 23, 2004 -
21 comments
Lesson learned in Houston, Texas yesterday: shop at a 24-hour Kmart in the middle of the night,
go directly to jail. If you're a 10-year-old girl having a late dinner with your father at the next door Sonic, well, it's off to jail with you, too.
posted by ewagoner
on Aug 19, 2002 -
103 comments
Enraged about Enron? Buy the T-shirt The latest Enron related meme in Houston is a slew of anti-Enron shirts. Just today at lunch I picked up the coolest one to date, the Enrage shirt, for $10 with a $2 donation to the ex-Enron employees fund. Other Enron shirts can be found
here.
posted by DragonBoy
on Feb 14, 2002 -
8 comments
At least 12 people are dead and damage could be $1 billion as a result of flooding in the US' fourth largest city of Houston. Some areas received more than two feet of rain in a 24 hour period this weekend after the remains of Tropical Storm Allison regrouped and poured on southeast Texas. Why does this story only get one page on the major news sites, when the Seattle quake was covered extensively all over the country?
posted by LeiaS
on Jun 10, 2001 -
15 comments
Yesterday I went to a local Comic Book Store here in Houston, Texas. I was looking for the hard to find '
Death Row Marv' figure that recently made the news across
the nation. After I asked to see the figure (it was kept behind the counter) and dicided that the price was right, the sales person asked me if I was a policeman. I told him I was not and asked why. He told me that the Death Row Marv figure is very popular with the
Houston Police Department. The officers like to have them on their desks and in their squad cars - scary huh?
posted by DragonBoy
on Sep 10, 2000 -
3 comments
