We've just loaded up some images from this afternoon's grocery and booze rush. Here's hoping you already stocked up. -- KP

Even though the disaster declaration that's been invoked includes an anti-gouging provision, you can expect to get hit in the pocketbook even if Ike turns out to be a Rita in terms of its Houston effects.

That's because the price of gas is going to see an Ike Spike.

Gas prices have climbed dramatically on the NYMEX exchange, and it's likely to get worse as refineries and rigs shut down.

As Reuters reports:

All you Houstonians who have been bitching about that New Orleans riff-raff that came here after Katrina, prepare to feel shame.

Ray Nagin, mayor of the Big Easy, is going to officially welcome anyone from Houston displaced by Ike.

Here's the announcement:

Mayor Ray Nagin, joined by leaders of the New Orleans hospitality community, will extend an invitation to Texas residents and anyone else seeking safe shelter in advance of Hurricane Ike, in return for the hospitality the Houston community showed New Orleanians in the weeks and months following Hurricane Katrina.

Fortunately, it looks like a bunch of old folks in Chambers County won’t be left to fend for themselves after all.

Chambers County Judge Jimmy Sylvia was quoted in the Houston Chronicle earlier this afternoon as saying two bus companies reneged on their contracts to evacuate nursing homes in Anahuac and Winnie.

However, Ryan Holzaepfel, the county’s emergency management coordinator, says the state’s emergency-management authorities have already dispatched buses and ambulances to aid in the evacuation. Holzaepfel said it’s more likely that the companies’ buses were deployed to other facilities they contracted with – so it’s not so much a problem of the companies backing out, it’s because the companies are being stretched thin. (By the way, no one seems to have the names of the companies).

The Russian Cultural Center says Nyet! in the face of a ураган.

You have to give it to the Russians. They are made of sterner stuff. Either that or they don’t understand the phrases “storm surge,” “flat land below sea level” and “contraflow” (actually that last one confounds a lot of people). Facing the onslaught of Hurricane Ike, schools, businesses and universities around Houston have announced shutdown plans for the weekend right and left starting Friday.

Not the Russian Cultural Center on Bissonnet in Houston. Saturday is the first day of its new series of language classes and by God or Glasnost – at least at this point –all beginners are supposed to be there to start their adventure with the 36-letter Cyrllic alphabet (they dropped eight other letters in the 18th Century and another four in 1918).

Even though everyone is paying attention to Hurricane Ike, a few folks remember that today is the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. A very, very few folks.

Hair Balls went out and asked the downtown lunch crowd, “How did 9/11 affect you?”

Here’s a sampling of the answers:

“It didn’t.”

“Not at all.”

If you want to stock up for Ike in an allegedly eco-friendly, warmly liberal-ish, self-satisfied way, you better hurry.

All local Whole Foods stores are closing as of 10 p.m. tonight.

We would not want to spend the post-Ike apocalypse without arugula, or water taken from the springs hidden deep in the Andes Mountains and carted down by union labor.

So adjust your plans accordingly.

-- Richard Connelly

While they may not be as hilarious as The Onion's High School Tony Awards, TUTS' Tommy Tune Awards have become an annual highlight for high school theater geeks.

Students from across the area compete for the nominations, and perform highlights at the Hobby Center before an audience of beaming parents.

TUTS has announced the list of schools that will be competing and the musicals they'll be doing.

A lot of it is the usual list of suspects: four productions of Peter Pan, three each of Grease and Cinderella.

But there are some since surprises.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett has just formally declared a "state of disaster" in the county, and oddly enough it has nothing to do with the Texans' performance against Pittsburgh last weekend.

The declaration gives Emmett power to issue evacuation orders, close county offices and direct rescue efforts.

It also triggers anti-gouging laws.

Safety first.

That’s the message from federal immigration authorities this morning who say illegal immigrants needing to evacuate or use public shelters during Hurricane Ike should feel safe to do so without fear of being detained and possibly deported.

“It shows the nature of the business,” says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Gregory Palmore, “that not only are we an enforcement arm but we are primarily concerned with public safety and making sure that individuals are safe and secure.”

According to an ICE news release, there will be no immigration enforcement operations associated with evacuations and sheltering.

Instead, ICE says its officers will be at-the-ready to help in the effort to aid those needing assistance during Ike.

See, who says ICE doesn’t have a heart? Bravo.

-- Chris Vogel

We're getting bombarded with e-mails announcing that things are closed or events are canceled Friday and Saturday. Art shows, horse races, school events, even H-E-B's plans to help the heroes at local fire stations.

So our advice is this: If you think something's going to be open, or happening, tomorrow or Saturday, double-check. Chances are it's not.

And all you degenerate horse-race bettors, find something else to lose your wages on.

-- Richard Connelly

Word has just come down -- HISD is closed tomorrow.

Spokesman Norm Uhl says tonight's board meeting will go on as scheduled, though.

Some things are just too important to stop.

Update: And some things aren't. Except for a pro forma vote on a bond matter, the board meeting has been put off until September 19 at 4 p.m.

-- Richard Connelly

“WhatchyoutalkinboutWills?”

“Hello…Newman.”

“Dy-no-mite!”

Television catch phrases, we hardly knew ye.

Is it just me, or are there simply no high-quality television catch phrases left anymore? (It can’t just be me, because my friend Matt was the one who gave me the idea for this post.) At any rate, it struck us during a conversation that lately there is a dearth of phrases used over and over again by a television character until those phrases seep into the collective consciousness of America and are repeated by the masses until the catch phrases that were once funny because irritating shells of their former selves.

According to an online survey by Sky News, the 80s were the coolest decade:

Some 41% of people questioned in an online survey said the 80s was their favourite decade, followed by the 60s and the 90s.

The Noughties polled as the least cool decade since 1960, with only 10% of people saying it was their favourite.

The Live Aid pop concert was the thing people liked best about the 80s, ahead of the Rubik's Cube and the Pac Man computer game.

The yuppie's favourite accessory, the Filofax, came fourth in the poll followed by the films Dirty Dancing and The Goonies in joint fifth place.

The Goonies? My faith in online surveys has officially been shattered.

I grew up in the 80s, and while my recollection may be warped from hours of Rush videos and Intellivision baseball, they weren't all that cool. For while the decade saw a number of exceptional films set at least partly in the city of Houston (The Right Stuff, Terms of Endearment) this sampling of that decade's H-town-related television will prove my point.

5. Houston Knights (1987)
Michael Pare is Chicago cop Joey La Fiamma, relocated to Houston for the unwise-if-noble move of testifying against the Mob. Michael Beck is the Houston cop he's partnered with. Sparks will fly as Sgt. Levon Lundy (Levon?) tries to deal with this tough-talking paisan who never wants to eat anywhere but Fuzzy's. Just be sure to stop the video after these Joel Silver-esque end credits, lest you be subjected to a Kate and Allie promo: