Houstonist has been waiting 22 years for a movie version of The Mist. Our prayers have finally been answered. Note: the last time we got our prayers answered, Point of Impact was brought the screen in the form of Shooter. Let's hope The Mist delivers more betterer than that film. King first published The Mist in 1980 as a submission for a horror anthology called Dark Forces being compiled by his friend, Kirby McCauley.......

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: If you're still in the Halloween mood, after all that blood red jell-o shot slurping and blacklight body paint application, hit the Lawndale Center's (4912 Main St.) retablo exhibit. Doors close at 5pm, which gives you plenty of time to nosh on some......

Hey Houston ladies - dudes cramping your artsy time? Boys getting in the way of your needlework? Significant other not respecting your personal papier mache space? Ditch 'em and join the Art Partiers for a chicks rule and boys drool evening of creative chica camaraderie at Terror Cat Studio this Thursday at 7pm. Pack up your knitting needles and BYOBooze - it's going to be a wild and crazy night. What: Ladies craft Art......

Good morning, Houston. Where do you go when you want to get away? The Chronicle asked some of its readers that and published their answers Friday — and it's not such a bad list, with day trips, museums and natural attractions. (Also on the list: the mausoleum at Forest Park Westheimer cemetery, which definitely takes a certain kind of person to enjoy.) The suggestion we're most interested in checking out is ex-state Rep. Debra......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network. It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by......

Senior Time magazine columnist Joe Klein will speak tonight at the Wortham Center on Islam, Iraq, and the War on Terror. Klein is "one of America’s most astute observers of politics and international affairs" and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of a number of books, including his most recent Politics Lost: How American Politics Was Trivialized By People Who Think You’re Stupid, a tirade against political consultants in......

As expected, Halliburton's announcement Sunday that it'll establish a corporate headquarters in Dubai and move its CEO there sparked some criticism in Congress yesterday from legislators who claim the company is making the change so it can increase business with Iran and take tax benefits in the U.S. "I think Congress ought to hold hearings to try to determine why one of this country's major defense contractors has decided to move its principal offices offshore,"......

Aggie President Dr. Robert Gates has accepted President Bush's nomination for Secretary of Defense in the wake of former Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation. Rumsfeld announced his resignation on Wednesday in the wake of the large Republican losses in Tuesday's midterm election. Gates is no stranger to the Intelligence and Defense arenas or politics. He began his career in 1966 as a CIA analyst and moved up from there eventually serving as the Director of Central Intelligence......

If we told you that the Texans would win a nail-biter over the Dolphins 17-15, would sack Dolphins QB Daunte Culpepper 5 times, and Mario Williams would get 1.5 of those 5 sacks, would that be something you might be interested in? Well, if the crowd at Reliant Stadium is any indication, Houston Texans fans' interest is at an all-time high. With the win over the Dolphins, the Texans get their first taste of victory......

Celebrate Ben Franklin's 300th birthday with the Bikini Bandits and Phillyist! (NSFW). Speaking of Mr. Franklin, send in a picture of Ben (or Ed Rendell) with a red tongue and win a free t-shirt. And they might have the next YearlyKos in Philly. You know who's going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater. LAist's sex advice column on......

We figure the next couple of days might be among the safest for air travel, considering all the security regulations that went into effect yesterday after British authorities foiled a terror plot involving transatlantic jets. But they may also be your best chance to be on TV or in the paper if you're in the right place: Local media has descended on airports to check up on travelers and see how they're coping with life......

In case you missed it between the terror alert and the recovering penguins: Former TSU Priscilla Slade made her first court appearance yesterday morning since being indicted on felony charges of misusing funds, and not much happened. Her hearing was reset for Sept. 14, and that was that. Except, of course, that really wasn't that. Slade's attorney, Mike DeGuerin, fired a few parting shots at Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal, saying Rosenthal might have tainted......

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week's collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week's choice posts from across the Gothamist network. Torontoist (where it's 75 degrees F as of this writing)......

DCist is screwed in the event of an oil crisis. Not that we're not all screwed in the event of an oil crisis, just D.C. is more screwed. Don't sell your car yet, District resident, a cabbie can kick you to the curb if he doesn't like your address. Not even Metro can save you now. Londonist experiences the London of the future through the wonders of 3D modeling, but while the 3D guys are......

Remember those rolling blackouts we had last week when it got hot and the power grid wasn't ready? About 200,000 customers in Texas lost power, 68,000 of them in Houston — if you were one of those people (or even if you weren't), you'll be interested in a report due out today from the Public Utility Commission. The blackouts started the afternoon of April 17 as temperatures climbed into the 90s and 100s some places......

Torontoist throws down the gauntlet and challenges all comers: pillow fight, bitch. They also stand up for a fellow blogger taking heat from the TTC and welcome city-wide WiFi. SFist can finally admit it: It's possible that Bary Bonds juiced. Is Bay Area artist (tempted to put quotes around that) Thomas Kinkaid "kinda crappy" or "explosively crappy" or does he just like marking territory? SFist wonders. Technology comes in the form of new Mac goodness......

Joel Osteen's life must be pretty tough. Not only does he have to run the nation's largest church, keep up with the demands of a rigorous television and personal appearance schedule, maintain his preternaturally well-groomed image and rake in tons of money, but he also has to find time here and there to try to bring us all closer to God. So Houstonist is sure Pastor Joel wasn't too happy when his wife acted like......

Two classic statements from two news figures in two days — we know it's Christmas! Yesterday, we had the pleasure of talking about Ken Lay's "wave of terror" speech, and today there's an interview with Charles Victor Thompson, who shared insights into his November jailbreak with KHOU and the Chronicle. Thompson, you'll remember, walked out of Harris County's Baker Street jail Nov. 3 wearing civillian clothes and posing as a state investigator. Thompson said a......

Add Ken Lay to your list of things to be thankful for this holiday season. Remember how he put Houston on the corporate scandal map? How he dutifully sacrificed some of his homes and cars to show that he's just like you and me? And yesterday, Lay saved us from the horrors of a potentially Enron-free holiday season with a highly entertaining luncheon speech. Lay quoted Winston Churchill, saying "Truth is the great rock" and......

A month before his federal trial on conspiracy and fraud charges, former Enron head Ken Lay accused prosecutors of riding a "wave of terror" in a speech today ConocoPhilips, Houston's largest company, will become even larger when it pays $35.6 billion to acquire Burlington Resources; the deal will make Conoco one of the biggest natural gas producers in the country Catcher Brad Ausmus signed a two-year, $7.5-million contract with the Astros A Continental flight from......