Houstonist loves to check out movies in the Brown Auditorium of the Museum of Fine Arts because it makes us feel oh-so-artsy, and tonight’s showing of the remastered Diva, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, is certain to leave our culture tanks full. Diva is a story about a postman, Jules, who becomes obsessed with the famous opera singer Cynthia Hawkins. The quirky and elusive soprano refuses to be recorded, thus making her even more tantalizing.......

::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......

::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......

::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 - - - - - - - - - - - - -......

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......

::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......

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......

Rice Design Alliance's Fall Lecture Series, Design Activism: Agents of Change will present conscientious designers from across the country who focus on socially responsible design. These professionals believe social accountability shapes the physical environment. Their work integrates civic-mindedness within design practice and education. Each practitioner seeks to establish livable cities and towns, thereby creating a sense of community. Speaking tonight is John Peterson, Principal, Peterson Architects, and Founder, Public Architecture, San Francisco, CA. The......

It's baaaaack. We can't believe it's been nearly six months since the last installment of the MFA's kick arse series, "Movies Houstonians Love." How the heck did we cope for this long with out it? Must be those doses of Mixed Media that held us over. Tonight marks the return of a new slew of presentations of some of Houston's own professing their love for their favorite flix. This series includes flick pix from the......

We promise that we're not Ethan Hawke groupies here at Houstonist. But don't blame you for thinking that given last week's Flick and this one. Hawke, Texan via Austin, hits the screen in a new film, The Hottest State, and a cult classic, Gattaca. He wrote the book; now Hawke is behind the camera to direct the film. Despite what you may be thinking, State deals with a young couple's romantic issues and not the......

We hope you are keeping the Spacetaker Optiks Gala on your radar, cuz it's been on ours for quite awhile. Bleep.....bleep...bleep..bleep, bleep, bleep. Yep, it's coming up. September 29th. Do you have your tix yet? Spacetaker September Artist Saloon This month Buffalo Bayou Art Park & Spacetaker, in conjunction with Winter Street Studios, present Sasha Dela, Jonathan Durham, and Dominic Walsh of the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater for the September edition of The Artist Saloon.......

Houston Artist Screens 9/11 Parallel Tale No matter how many years pass, uttering the phrase "September 11th" will always bring a somber reflection of memories from 2001. Whether you recall where you were, what you were doing on that day in history, we feel it is most important to do the most America activity possible. And, no, we're not talking about eating a hot dog, watching reality TV, while plotting the comeback of Britney Spears.......

Rice Design Alliance Fall Lecture Series Tonight at MFA Rice Design Alliance's Fall Lecture Series, Design Activism: Agents of Change will present conscientious designers from across the country who focus on socially responsible design. These professionals believe social accountability shapes the physical environment. Their work integrates civic-mindedness within design practice and education. Each practitioner seeks to establish livable cities and towns, thereby creating a sense of community. Lectures are held Mondays beginning today, Sept......

Houston's Museum of Fine Arts continues to present to the public significant films from film makers who shaped the industry. Their currently running Homage to Antonioni is no exception. Michelangelo Antonioni, who died at the age of 94 on July 30th, was a film maker from an era when films were more about the craft of film making, acting and provocative screenplays. His seminal films are portraits painted with characters of men and women in......

Triple Threat Edition So we couldn't decide on one event for tonight, so we're giving you three. We are so damn generous some times. Besides, this week has been so long we figured you needed an extra long Friday to make up for it. Well, of course there's the Txt Me L8r SPIN Party at HCP that we'll all be at. Two of your favorite Houstonist contributors (wait, you have favorites, right?) will be participating......

Goodbye hump day, hello rain. Did anyone else have a sucky Wednesday? And to top it off, the current monsoon over our office is making us have flashbacks of the beginning of the summer. What happened to our 108 degrees and sunny?! We are on a mission to make the most of this wet and soggy day, so we are heading to the Museum of Fine Arts tonight as they present Artful Thursdays. Because......

Some people consider Sunday the beginning of their week, we usually like to look at it as a great lazy way to wrap up a hectic 7 days, and prepare for the next round. We've decided to pull together a list of events that are ending today, so now's your chance to catch these before they are gone for ever. Kinda like last week. Bwah-ha-ha. Thoroughly Modern Millie | Playhouse 1960 The Sound of Music......

Mixed Media Series at MFA It's baaaaaack! Yep, for the last few months every time an email from the MFA popped up in our inbox we hoped and prayed it was an annoucement of a new Mixed Media series. This week we were rewarded! Whoo-hoo! [The Deets] Find where art and music intersect on select Saturday nights at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. DJs spin and bands play against an arresting backdrop of......

MFA Special Screening [Film + Lecture] Last week, we told you all about the amazing Asian Art collection that is currently being showcased all over the city in various museums, the largest at the Museum of Fine Arts. In conjunction with the MFA's RED HOT — Asian Art Today from the Chaney Family Collection they will screen a.k.a. Nikki S. Lee and prsent a conversation with the Filmmaker, tonight in Brown Auditorium. Korean photographer Nikki......

The Museum of Fine Arts is opening a huge contemporary show this Sunday called Red Hot: Asian Art Today, all from the private collection of the Chaney family. This is big news not only because contemporary Asian art is (as the title suggests) about the hottest thing going, but also because seven other galleries in Houston are presenting contemporary Asian art *at the same time.* In combination, this is probably the largest collection of......

MFA's Artful Thursday: Shakespeare's Friends, The Illustrated Version Lecture by Kate Emery Pogue Timed oh so conveniently with next week's start of the Houston Shakespeare Festival, the MFA welcomes Kate Emery Pogue, playwright, Shakespearean actress, teacher, producer, and director for a discussion and story telling based on her book, Shakespeare's Friends . Founder of the Drama Department at Houston Community College Central Campus and former Artistic Director of the Shakespeare-by-the-Book Festival, she is the author......

Discovery Green, the unfortunately named park under construction in downtown Houston, has gained its first high-profile piece of artwork: Jean Dubuffet's Monument au Fantôme, which has stood in front of 1100 Louisiana for 25 years. Dan Duncan, the pipeline tycoon who owns the skyscraper, has donated the sculpture to the park, where it will sit along Avenida de las Americas across from the George R. Brown Convention Center. "It's a fantastic piece of art," park......

Last chance, folks. That's right - somehow you have managed to overlook a re-occurring local event, and now it's about to end. Houstonist is saving the day, though, and letting you know about the FINAL Thursday Twilight Tour at the Rienzi on May 31. Every Thursday since May 3rd, elegant Htowners have been gathering for wine and wandering at the Rienzi Center for European Decorative Arts. Sadly, these Thursday Twilight Tours are coming to an......

Hello, scholar. Remember Homer? Or at least remember having that big old book with highlighting on the first 3 pages and then nothing after? Still having trouble getting through the classics? Why read Homer when you can have it read to you? Exactly - which is why Thursday night, May 31, the Museum of Fine Arts is hosting a Dramatic Reading of The Odyssey. Homer's epic poem will be brought to life by several actors......