Houston's very own, world renowned Menil Collection has announced its exhibition schedule for Fall 2008 through Fall 2009. The exhibition schedule will be varied and broad providing an enjoyable museum experience for everyone. The Menil Collection has been open since 1987 and was built to preserve one of the most amazing privately assembled art collections of the twentieth century, the collection of John and Dominique de Menil. The Menil Collection has over 15,000 varied......

Internationally acclaimed artists, architect, and weirdo Vito Acconci will be lecturing at the MFA tonight. Over the course of his almost fifty year career in the art world Vito has stuffed marbles in his face, bitten himself, and whispered lewd remarks to strangers while inappropriately touching himself in public for the sake of his art. In the 1990's Vito turned his artistic talents to the fields of architecture and landscape design. And has developed......

::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......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits......

::Sonja Roesch Gallery Talk: Jac Leirner:: “I try to find a place for things that don’t have a place.” - Jac Leirner Join art lovers and lovers of installation art for a gallery talk with Toby Kamps, Senior Curator at the Contemporary Art Museum, about Jac Leirner's exhibition at the Gallery Sonja Roesch: January 23, 2008, 6pm Jac Leirner creates installations, sculptures, and mixed media pieces using everyday objects like business cards, plastic bags, cigarette......

Spent all your cash on girlie drinks and shattered dreams again this weekend, didn't you? No worries - Thriftster gives you the lowdown on cheap stuff to do until Paycheck Friday. Monday: Celebrate the work and life of Dr. Martin Luther King today at the Houston Children's Museum (1500 Binz) - reduced $3 admission gets you in for live performances (like a mock Civil Right rally and Dr. King's 'I Have A Dream' speech), art......

::HCP Print Auction Preview Party:: Houston Center for Photography announces its largest annual fundraiser, the 26th Anniversary Print Auction. The auction preview and exhibition open on Thursday night, January 17 from 6-8pm and continue through February 13. The auction will take place on Friday, February 15 from 5:30-10pm at the Junior League of Houston, with world-renowned photography specialist Rick Wester as guest auctioneer. Cocktails and silent auction, as well as a live auction preview are......

Houstonist has an active and amazing Flickr photo group. We receive many, many photos of Houston and the surrounding areas every day and unless you are an active visitor to our photo pool many of these photos go unnoticed. So in a weekly effort to bring you more amazing photos from Houstonist readers and photographers, we are going to feature a block of photos submitted to our Flickr photo group. The images will be dug......

::Holocaust Museum Guest Lecture:: Holocaust Museum Lecture: "From Nuremberg to the Human Genome and Beyond" Speaker: Henry T. Greely. (pictured) Holocaust Museum Houston presents a guest lecture entitled "Medical Ethics and the Holocaust: From Nuremberg to the Human Genome and Beyond" -- From Human Rights to Human Interests. Henry T. Greely, J.D., headlines Holocaust Museum Houston’s annual Leon Jaworski Lecture as part of the "Medical Ethics and the Holocaust" lecture series. He is a......

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::Double Header at AvantGarden:: A great double-book tonight at AvantGarden: Terell James opens his "Neoformalism 1" exhibit, followed by FrenetiCore's production of "Exile", a dance film. "Neoformalism" Terrell James Terrell James' paintings and prints evoke nature rather than depict it. With minimal contour line, gestural rubbing, and reserved color her works describe the landscape through abstraction. James' work is included in numerous collections including Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, Museum of Fine......

Perspectives 159: Superconscious, Automatisms Now December 14, 2007 – March 9, 2008 Opening reception December 13, 2007, 6:30-9:00 p.m. Sigh. This is Houston's last hurrah with Senior CAMH Curator Paola Morsiani, and we are sad. Having been with the CAMH for over eight years, Morsiani is heading north to become Curator of Contemporary Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, an internationally renowned encyclopedic museum in the midst of a $258 million renovation and expansion.......

::MFA Projection Bomb!:: We caught wind of this earlier this week and couldn't resist reposting. Introducing the first guerrilla drive-in theater on the roof of the MFA parking garage this Thursday night. Be part of a smart mob for a 20 minute projection bomb. Bring a car full! Details below, poster attached. (Good attendance would really help my thesis project). Thanks! Clint - - - - - - - - - - - - -......

You might have noticed a couple of changes to Houstonist — and we're here to explain what they mean. Tags Instead of being classified by categories, all our posts are now tagged with content-specific keywords. Not only will they help you find broad subjects (like sports or music), but also specific kinds of posts (like posts about the Museum District, babies, City Hall and, oddly enough, snow). Soon, all our categories will be converted to......

Reader Emily B. snapped this picture of a very soapy Mecom Fountain on her way to work this morning — kinda Christmasy, don't you think? (Sorry, but we're Houstonians, which means we have some bizarre, deep-seated belief that soap bubbles really do look like snow. Don't correct us.) Thanks, Emily! And to our other 10 readers: If you see anything around town you think we should know about, drop us a picture. In the......

Candlelight Open House at Bayou Bend Dec 7, 2007 5:00 PM at the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens This fall, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has been hosting Candlelight Open House nights at their Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens on Friday nights. This Friday night is your last chance to go to the open house and tour the property in all of its holiday season glory. The central figure in Yuletide´s Holiday Heroines is......

For the next two Friday evenings, the Museum of Fine Arts will be showing The Cool School. Jeff Bridge narrates this award winning film that tells the story of Walter Hopps, the first director of the Menil Collection and an American art icon. Hopps, together with partner Ed Kienholz, created Ferus Gallery - a seminal force in the development of LA's postwar art scene. The provocative and dynamic works sparked controversy, dialog and, consequently, development......

::Steel Lounge Underground at the CAMH:: Did you miss the HIWI party last night at Lawndale? (Apparently some of us probably should have, given we mistook it for a drinking contest.) Well loyal readers, you are in luck. Two great things rolled into one awesome basement tonight: the Houston: It's Worth It folks will be hosting the final Steel Lounge of the year at the CAMH. In almost a deja vu of last night, DJ......

Here we go, the big mother of all holidays. Love it, or hate it – it’s nearly December and whether you’re into Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa or whatever else you may be into, December is a really bigass month. If nothing else, the streets are more congested, people drive even crazier than normal and the average Houstonian is pelted with food, drink and festivities. Yeah, we hate drinking and eating, we know how you feel......

::Touring Taste of Dance Salad Film at MFA:: Ok, so you're perplexed on what to watch now that Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance have both finished their seasons. We feel your pain. I mean, how else are you supposed to practice your movers for the company holiday party? Well, dance friends, you are in luck. If you missed the 2007 Dance Salad Festival, catch a special (read: free) screening......

::Movie Monday - Double Feature:: Two series we love return tonight: Monday Night Movies at Domy Books, and Movies Houstonians Love at the MFA. Liquid Sky, 1983, 112 min Domy Books | 1709 Westheimer 8:30 - 10:30pm FREE Drugs, 80s Art Punks, and Aliens translated through director Slava Tsukerman would be the easy way to describe Liquid Sky. The hard way would include the endless amount of unlikable characters (including the two leads played by......

So we're not sure what qualifies Leonard Nimoy to be an expert on this subject, but, we fully support feminist concepts, especially when negative stereotypes and cultural biases are put into question. So we're going with it. Especially considering Mr. Nimoy seems to have really tamed his raging machismo since his space-traveling days, as evidenced by the disturbing image seen at left. We commend him for growing as a person, and as a Vulcan. Tomorrow......

What is it about the term "crafts" that is so off-putting to some of us? Well, for one, it reminds us of suburban housewives with wooden figurines adorning their shelves, reminding us that we're in a "Kountry Kitchen," or that (hee) "Back Door Friends are the Best Friends!" It was many years before we realized just how funny that sign in our wacky Aunt Grace's kitchen was. That, or that wacky Aunt Grace led a......

::Lucy Lecture at HMNS:: Tonight is your chance to catch the discoverer (how weird does that sound?) of the infamous, Lucy, now on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Special Lecture: Lucy's Legacy The Houston Museum of Natural Science Distinguished Lecture Series presents Lucy's Legacy, presented by Donald Johanson, paleoanthropologist and discoverer of Lucy. Lucy continues to be a diadem in the crown of hominid fossils and serves as an important touchstone......

Spent all your cash on girlie drinks and shattered dreams again this weekend, didn't you? No worries - Thriftster gives you the lowdown on cheap stuff to do until Paycheck Friday. Monday: Start the week out on a socially responsible note with the Houston Grand Opera at the Museum of Fine Arts Brown Auditorium (1001 Bissonnet St.). The event is honoring writer Leah Lax and who interviewed hundreds of Houston immigrants from around the globe......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • There's an Amber Alert for a missing teenager from Fort Bend Co. • Houston Dynamo knock off FC Dallas to advance in MLS Western Conference Playoffs • Local authorities have released artist renderings of Baby Grace • An HPD office was hurt overnight in an accident on the Gulf Freeway. • The Museum of Fine Arts has raised over 3 million dollars......

::MFA Presents Movies Houstonians Love:: "Singin' in the Rain" Guests Speaker: Lauren Anderson, Houston Ballet We are big fans of this MFA series, as past participants include Bun B, Barbara Bush, Larry Dierker, and Mayor Bill White. Tonight's film, "Singin' in the Rain," will be presented by principal ballerina, Lauren Anderson, who danced with Houston Ballet from 1983 to 2006, starring in classical ballets, appeared across the world to critical acclaim. In January, Anderson assumed......

Calling all cool kids (or, just kids aiming to be cool at some point in the future...cool adults are fine, too...or, well, you know...)...Contemporary Arts Museum Houston brings us a Steel Lounge Underground Halloween Bash tonight with their friends at KTRU 91.7 Rice Radio. Come early for a special preview screening of the season premier of art:21, focusing on contemporary artists and romance, beginning at 8 p.m. in the Cullen Education Resource Room at......

Get your Halloween partay kicked of a little early tonight at the Houston Museum of Natural Science at "Spirits & Skeletons", the spooky special edition of the Mixers series. See and get yourself seen tonight, beginning at 8:00 p.m. where the night kicks off with Danse Orientale Belly Dancers, questions answered by Fatima and her band of merry Psychics (Miss Cleo? Nah, she's busy with her hotline - Fatima has it all going on, anyway......

With so many fun and interesting gallery openings this evening, we thought we would briefly give you a few options and let you, dear readers, decide which one to attend...or maybe gallery hopping is your thing! Eating, drinking, being merry, viewing art and what-not. Either way, there is much interesting work on view this beautiful fall evening in Houston. First up is the opening of Jack Zajac A Survey: 1967-2007 at Gremillion & Co. Gallery.......