If there is one issue where George W. Bush can be lifted up bodily from his political context and examined on his own two feet, it is education reform. That's not to say he...
The cinematic epic Scream 3 is not going to make anyone's Top 10 films list, unless you include the computer one-handers who express their undying devotion on the...
By now, anyone who follows American presidential politics -- heck, anyone who owns a television set -- knows Arizona Senator John McCain's family story. His best-selling...
At a recent performance at the Firehouse Saloon, the Hollisters ran through material from Sweet Inspiration, the band's long-awaited second album, its first for the reputable...
One of these days, I'd like to walk into Leibman's deli and ask for one of everything. That'd cause a stir. Imagine the genteel gasps of horror from all those well-dressed...
Willie Morris's autobiographical novel, My Dog Skip, is a nearly perfect piece of bedtime reading for kids and their parents. Each chapter is virtually a self-contained...
Forget New York or L.A., "FotoFest could only happen in Houston," says world-traveled photojournalist Frederick Baldwin, president and co-founder of FotoFest, the only...
Imagine a dark, new world, sometime in the future, where all of our make-nice rules of behavior have gone to hell. This is a place where more people are in jail than on the...
Sipping a glass of cabernet, Donald Burger sits on the back porch of his Queen Anne-styled house in the Heights. On hot summer nights the personal injury attorney looks out at...
If you don't already know that U.S. Sen. John McCain has a temper, a "gook" problem, and amazingly Nixonian hand gestures; that Texas Gov. George W. Bush smirks underneath...
In 1950, at the height of McCarthyism, Janis Ian's father, an aspiring teacher and chicken farmer in South Jersey, attended a local meeting about the price of eggs. Not long...
Mediterranean restaurants, which used to be called "Middle Eastern" before we developed an acute case of political correctness and learned to stop mapping cuisines in...
In the closing years of the 20th century, lowbrow white America finally learned to enjoy an ironic laugh at itself, led by Hollywood's cheerful mockery of the culturally...
As any cat owner will attest, you can't train the critters. You just can't. For one thing, cats are independent. They're stubborn. Cats tolerate you, eat your food, and if...
In Jessica Goldberg's prize-winning Refuge, the world is a barren place for three siblings who find themselves on their own after their parents run off to Florida, leaving only...
On a recent foggy night in League City, the Lord patiently waited His turn on a heavy City Council agenda. Councilmembers heard lesser speakers fight over the installation of a...
At an Austin club last October, Sara Hickman hosted a pajama party. Everyone was invited to show up in their pj's. Hickman, in pigtails, appeared on stage with a friend and her...
Woulxd anyone be too terribly upset if we declared the wraps fad officially over? The concept was okay -- an entire meal in one grab-and-go package -- but you can't really...
The first thought you have while watching The Next Best Thing is "Was Madonna always this bad an actress?" It's a question that soon fades from consciousness to be replaced by...
Miniature golf courses rank right up there with parking lot carnivals in the "antithesis of fun" department. Whacking golf balls into the pouch of a decaying concrete kangaroo,...
