We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Houstonist. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Gallery Furniture, where you can win $25,000 in furniture in their video contest. Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. Busted Tees, which introduces three new designs a week. If you're interested in advertising on Houstonist or any other site in our network, check out our online......

:: FOTOFEST BIENNIAL :: Fotofest starts tomorrow and continues until April 20th. Houston will be covered inside out with some amazing photography and photo-related art, and we heartily encourage you to see as much as you can. The theme this year is China and the ancillary theme (like minoring in college?) is transformations. Get a preview of the outstanding work on show here. Start tomorrow with the opening over at official HQ: the Vine......

:: 30TH ANNIVERSARY SUSAN SMITH BLACKBURN PRIZE DRAMATIC READING :: The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize honoring women playwrights from around the world, has decided to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary by hosting a reading and the awards in Houston. Five short works by local women playwrights (a talented bunch) will be presented as dramatic readings by Houston’s acting community (another talented bunch) at the Alley Theatre’s Neuhaus Stage this Sunday, March 9th at 3:00PM. Excerpts......

:: Exiles in Paris Concert by Da Camera :: At the turn of the twentieth century, musicians, choreographers, writers and painters from all over the world converged in Paris and began sharing their work and ideas with each other with the goal of revolutionizing their artistic disciplines. (We at Houstonist are expecting the same thing to happen here at any moment.) Da Camera made a series of two concerts highlights the work of these......

:: Spring 2008 Class Registration at Art League Houston :: Even if you've given up on all your New Years Resolutions by now, there's still time to make something of the year by taking a class. You can't go wrong with bettering your brain. The Art League, besides having a very cool building, gallery and coffee shop, also happens to offer classes. Try your hand (or brush up on) drawing, painting, jewelry, watercolor or......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Houstonist. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Gallery Furniture, where you can win $25,000 in furniture in their video contest. Obama for America, remember the Texas primary on Tuesday. Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. Busted Tees, which introduces three new designs a week. If you're interested in advertising on Houstonist or any......

::Sandra Organ Dance Company Performs José Limón's There Is a Time :: For the ten year anniversary of the Sandra Organ Dance Company, the group will be performing the outstanding choreographer José Limón's work, There Is a Time. Formerly a soloist at the Houston Ballet where she was the first African-American in the company, Organ founded her own company in 1998, focusing largely on black history themes. Limón's work is some of the best......

::Poison Pen Reading Series with Robert Wilder:: Robert Wilder has taken an extremely fun column about parenting from the Santa Fe Reporter and has turned it into a book, Daddy Needs a Drink: an irreverent look at parenting from a dad who truly loves his kids. He's written for NPR, Salon.com, Details, Newsweek and elsewhere, and when he's not writing, he's teaching -- hence his second book, which came out in December: Tales from......

::World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest:: Or something like that. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's barbeque contest is happening this weekend and Houstonist thinks your tastebuds are as qualified as anyone's to make a judgement. Find yoiur favorite team or choose by the most appealing name on this listing and map of the area. Besides lots and lots of stuff from the grill, expect to find mucho live music to give you a smile for......

::Land Use in Houston: Two Different Approaches:: As demand for more residential and commercial building in Houston continues, the question of how to develop (and how to preserve) becomes more and more important. Houstonians for Responsible Growth is sponsoring a free public forum tonight about land use decisions under consideration of City Hall. Houstonians for Responsible Growth appear to support market- and consumer-driven growth of the city, as opposed to land use regulations and......

::Steve Almond Reads At Brazos Bookstore:: Houstonist saw Steve Almond read several years ago after the publication of his first book, My Life in Heavy Metal. He was fantastic -- very funny, charming, a great storyteller and cute as hell. He's no stranger to writing about sex and all the tension, humor and hubris surrounding the event, which just makes for one more reason to go to Brazos tonight. He's also written a book......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Houstonist. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Gallery Furniture, where you can win $25,000 in furniture in their video contest. Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. Busted Tees, which introduces three new designs a week. If you're interested in advertising on Houstonist or any other site in our network, check out our online......

::AMC Oscar-Nominated Best Picture Showcase:: The Academy Awards are this coming Sunday and if you want to win the pool at your Oscars party, here's how to catch all the movies nominated for Best Picture: AMC is showing them all in a row on Saturday. Houstonist so loves this concept. You buy one pass for $30 and get to see five movies, plus get a free large popcorn with unlimited refills all day Saturday......

::Lucy VIP Party:: If you haven't made it over to the Museum of Natural Science to see Lucy, the oldest hominid ever discovered, tonight's an excellent time to go. The museum is hosting a VIP party from 6-9PM which will be all about Lucy and other good things from Ethiopia, such as traditional coffee ceremonies, honey wine, music, native food, and of course, the lovely lady herself. Curator Dirk Van Tuerenhout will be there......

::Aaron Parazette at McClain Gallery:: Aaron Parazette's elegant paintings are a typographer's dream: he stretches, elongates and reshapes the letters of a word to make a stunning abstract tableau. The color palette is both retro and utterly of the moment, making the lines of his letters pop against each other. His "word paintings" often quite large in scale and the words he employs are all surfing terminology; Parazette grew up on the coast of......

::Chitra Divakaruni reads and discusses her latest novel:: Houston's own award-winning writer Chitra Divakaruni will be at Brazos Bookstore reading from her newest novel, fresh from the printers, entitled The Palace of Illusions. Besides being a Houstonian, Ms. Divakaruni has written fourteen books of fiction and poetry and has been published in over 50 magazines. Her books have been translated into 16 languages; two of them have been made into movies (The Mistress of......

::Miwa Yanagi Panel Discussion: A Conversation about Feminine Beauty:: Well, our eyes popped out of our skulls when we saw this, not just for the topic and the photography, but also because sharp-as-a-tack Peggy Orenstein is coming to town to be a part of this panel at the MFAH. She and several Houston experts will discuss Miwa Yanagi's photography and the themes it encapsulates: gender, identity, body image, age, feminism, and beauty, and how......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Houstonist. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Gallery Furniture, where you can win $25,000 in furniture in their video contest. Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. Busted Tees, which introduces three new designs a week. If you're interested in advertising on Houstonist or any other site in our network, check out our online......

::Cabaret Night with Kurt Weill:: Kurt Weill, the bad boy of early 20th century performance music, has not resurrected himself and come to Houston. However, Opera Vista will be putting on a cabaret of his music (hits from Three Penny Opera, Beggar's Opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) at Cafe Brasil this Saturday. The Brecht/Weill duo lives on! They focused their stories on the working class and were unafraid to make......

::Inprint Brown Reading Series Featuring Dave Eggers and Chimamanda Adichie:: Houstonist just finished reading the new books by both these authors and was *blown away.* HALF OF A YELLOW SUN, Chimamanda Adichie's novel about the Biafran War in Nigeria in the late sixties, follows the political and military developments through the eyes of several civilians, painting a human and devastating portrait of war. Similarly, Dave Eggers' fictionalized autobiography of the very real Valentino Achak......

::The Best Flowers and Chocolates We Know Of:: Yeah, so Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and Houstonist sees nothing wrong with giving some love to those you love, be it admitted or anonymous. You can move beyond Hallmark, we say, and love it up. And while we are not traditionalists in most senses, we do happen to love flowers and chocolate. If you're planning to go this way for tomorrow, or any day, we humbly......

::The Houston Center for Photography´s 2008 Print Auction:: These are some pretty gorgeous photographs and who'd believe they're all up for sale to benefit one of the coolest organizations in all Houston? Houstonist (a fan of photography, as you well know) was drooling over this one, and this one and this one too. The photographs are on exhibition right now at the HCP galleries until Wednesday, February 13th, and the auction is this Friday......

::Troy Winscott at Max's Wine Dive:: Troy Winscott's designy giclee prints will be on display at Max's, and the reception for his work is tonight. Winscott studied illustration at the Art Institute of Houston and has a background in jewelry design as well. Both crafts are at play in his tantalizing prints. Max's will host live music, light hors d'oeuvres and offer wine specials for the night. And, of course, the artist. It's a......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Houstonist. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. Gallery Furniture, where you can win $25,000 in furniture in their video contest. Busted Tees, selling a special shirt to honor the New England Patriots. If you're interested in advertising on Houstonist or any other site in our network, check......

There's a whole wide world out there, and here's the proof: DCist revels in The University of Maryland's basketball triumphs, marvels at Metro's security strategy, and applauds DC local Katie Couric's new gig. Phillyist is all about the Philadelphia Film Festival. OK, not all about -- they still have time for loitering, underage sex, and random wacky news. LAist would have to send a camera around the world to get shots as bizarre as Katie's......