Henry Dittman and Joan (justjoan) are the hosts of the Internet-based travelogue called The Smart Show sponsored by Holiday Inn Express. By now you're probably familiar with the H.I.E. ads that purports to convey savant-like intellect on its patrons. "I'm not a vascular surgeon, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night," says a broke writer after requesting a scalpel from the O.R. nurse. Despite having a title sponsor, The Smart Show does......

Via Austinist, the American Institute of Architects celebrated its 150th birthday last month by surveying 1,800 randomly chosen Americans on what their favorite U.S. works of architecture were. An AIA panel then narrowed those choices down to come up with America's Favorite Architecture, a list of the 150 most popular structures in the country. As you'd expect, at the top of the list are a bunch of national icons: the Empire State Building, the......

Houston police arrested Alain Robert, the French "Spiderman," as he tried to climb the side of One Houston Center this morning. Robert is known for his climbing — he's scaled the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge and Tapiei 101, the world's tallest building. Why Robert chose the 46-story One Houston Center, the 13th tallest building in town, isn't clear, but he obviously planned the trip in advance, because police had......