What is art? Is it a French impressionist oil painting or is it a good book? A couple of local art students suggest that the answer might be more metaphysical than, say a (highly) interperative dance or a chocolate Jesus sculpture. Interdisciplinary Arts students from the University of Houston's Cyntha Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts present He Ate Love at the always cozy Antidote Coffee in the Heights. An abstract presentnation of love in......

:: 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......

Robert McKiver exploded for 52 points last night as the Houston Cougars (21-6, 10-3) ripped apart Southern Mississippi (15-12, 7-6) for a much need 95-67 win. McKiver's 52 points was the most by a NCAA Division I men's player for this season and was also a C-USA and Hofheinz Pavilion record, breaking the mark set by Indiana's Larry Bird (1977) and UNLV's Bob Florence (1973). For the night, McKiver was 17-for-34 from the field......

Straight outta TX-22 and in front of the microphone: Rep. Nick Lampson is teaming up with the Veterans Service Office and communications students at UH to help document the stories of American veterans for the Library of Congress. From the department of Did You Know?: “Houston is proud to have the largest concentration of veterans in the United States. We are obligated to do all we can to honor their service,” Lampson said. “The Veterans......

Good morning, Houston. Remember the city's smoking ban, which went into effect in September? Well, so does KPRC. The station checked around and found something that will shock you to your very core: Houstonians are still smoking in bars and restaurants! No, really. One of the bars Channel 2 visited was Henry Hudson's Pub on the west side, where reporters found customers and the bartender smoking — and "we even bought a pack of......

>> City offers $15.5M for possible stadium site: The Chronicle reports that the city has said it'll pay more than $15.5 million for five downtown blocks that could become the site of a stadium for the Dynamo. The parcel is bounded by Texas and Walker on the north and south and Dowling and Hutchins on the east and west; it's just east of the Lofts at the Ballpark and immediately south of a vast......

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

Three day weekends are a beast. You end the previous week by slacking in some fashion on Friday, since you're planning all the shennanigans you'll be committing over the weekend. Then you pick things up after the weekend with the realization that you've got to fit five days of work into four. Plus, it's cold and depressing (like a Packers fan on Monday) and that pretty much explains why a Monday feature is appearing on......

She's back Houstonist! Taucha Hogue has advanced to the championship round for College Cheerleader of the Year and she needs your vote! Taucha squares of against Arkansas' Laura Cole and she currently trails 54% to 46% as of Monday night. Ok, Taucha, here we are in championship round. Are you starting to feel the pressure of being in the BIG game? There is pressure out there for the fact there are so many people......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Apple Swap Meet Next Weekend It's coming! The Houston Area Apple Users Group semi-annual swap meet is happening next weekend, January 26th at the UH Hilton. Please check the HAAUG site for registration information and fees. Good luck finding that Apple Newton or Lisa you've been looking for! Sprint Nextel To Close 35 Retail Stores In Houston From the Houston Business Journal come this interesting news......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • A small plane made an emergency landing on a street near Lake Conroe. The plane landed safely, no one was injured and now it's up to the FAA to decide how to move the plane. • Several people were robbed while standing in line to by sneakers (did we just type that?) at Greenspoint Mall. The thief fled in a black Chevy......

Houstonist interviewed the darling of the Bayou City last week, Taucha Hogue, as she was in the quarterfinals for the College Cheerleader of Year Award. Now, after a convincing win over Mississippi St., Taucha has advanced into the Final Four against Kansas. Houstonist will continue to follow Taucha as she looks to capture the coveted crown as Cheerleader of the Year. Congrats on moving on to the Final Four. Do you find yourself doing......

CBSSports.com hand-picked 16 cheerleaders around the nation and decided to hold a College Cheerleader of the Week Playoff system with the winner being crowned College Cheerleader of the Year on January 21. UH's Taucha Hogue defeated what Southern Cal had to offer in the first round and now she's in the quarterfinals. Hogue took time out of her busy schedule to chat with Houstonist. First off, please give us some information about your high......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • A bicyclist was killed early Friday evening after being struck by a van on Old Katy Road. • A new three million dollar ad campaign to enhance the city's image is set to launch in February. The ad campaign will feature celebrities such as Beyonce and heart surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley. Expect to see these ads in The Wall Street Journal, USA......

After speculating about unearthing former head coach Jack Pardee, the University of Houston Cougars decided today to go with Oklahoma University assistant coach Kevin Sumlin as their replacement for the departed Art Briles. At OU, Sumlin rose to the rank of "co-offensive coordinator, passing game coordinator, and wide receivers coach", which has to be the damn longest job title in the world, short of Elizabeth II. He's been a journeyman, having coached at five other......

Good morning, Houston. We heard a few weeks ago about a bat infestation at TSU, but now there's something else happening in the halls of academia: a bee infestation at UH. It seems 100,000 of the industrious little critters have taken up residence in the walls of the Cullen College of Engineering, but rather than exterminate, the university is planning to move the bees to a wooded section of campus. Beekeeper Mike Knuckley will......

Remember when you were a little bitty Houstonist and someone would read to you at night and you could just lose yourself in the story, abandoning all other thoughts of the day? Well you can still do it now, you know. In fact, you might be all the more eager to shed your quotidian annoyances now that you're grown. Here are a few places to hear some stellar writers read from their work: Friday......

In October of 2005, there were many voices to be heard in Houston calling Brad Lidge to be shipped out of town or worse; two years later, those voices were heard. Tonight, the Astros finalized a trade to send Lidge and utility infielder Eric Bruntlett to the Phillies for center fielder and University of Houston grad Michael Bourn, relief pitcher Geoff Geary, and third base prospect Mike Costanzo. This marks the Astros' first serious move......

Houston vs. Dallas. Does anything else need to be said? Robertson Stadium, which is located on the campus of the University of Houston, will be hosting two different versions of this great Texas rivalry. Tonight, the 2006 MLS Champion Houston Dynamo will take on FC Dallas in the second game of this home-and-home Western Conference semi-final playoff game. In the first game, which FC Dallas hosted, the Hoops took game 1 of this aggregate-scoring......

Today’s Photo of the Day comes from flickr user and Houstonist photo contributor Myel Photography. This gorgeous sunset was taken from the south facing deck at UH Downtown. Higher education pays off yet again. If you have a passion for Houston and photography, consider joining over 430 of Houston's best photographers in the Houstonist Flickr Photo Group. If Houstonist uses your photo for Photo Of The Day, submit it here. For more great photography......

Dammit, Houston *is* a literary town! Here's a slew of readings happening this week, from the hilarious David Sedaris to the wry Nick Hornby and the unbalanced Lisa Belkin. Her word choice, not ours. We love books. Wednesday, October 24th at 7:30PM William Henry Lewis and Justin Cronin at DiverseWorks 1117 East Freeway, *FREE* Two heavy-hitting writers with a bucket of awards apiece. Lewis is the author of In the Arms of Our Elders......

Good morning, Houston. There's a new weapon in the battle to make Houston the most beautiful city in America: Beginning next week, commercial property owners will have to hide their Dumpsters behind a building, wall, fence, berm or shrub. Officials said they hope the rule — which City Council approved six months ago — will help increase property values and make properties safer (and, of course, prettier). Anyone who violates the ordinance can be......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Socially Speaking The Chron picks up this article about Houston web based startups and their Houston connections. If you've been reading Houstonist and Tech Buzz, you've already heard about most of them! Phone + Podcast = Phonecast Found over at abc13.com is this story about listening to podcasts on your phone. It's Houston based phonecasting.com and by visiting their site you can get phone numbers to......

Every week, usually on Mondays (sue us), Houstonist braves the wilds of the internets to bring you a summary of what people on sports blogs are saying about your hometown teams: -Shasta, the UH Cougar mascot has responded to the assault at the wings/hands of the Oregon Duck from the first week of the college football season. Sounds like he's got a pretty good attitude about it. - The Colts-Texans game took place on "Deep......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. StartUp Weekend Houston "Startup Weekend is an idea, an experiment, a chance to gather the tech community and create a company over one jam packed weekend." If that interests you, head over to houston.startupweekend.com and get your reservation. StartupWeekend Houston is limited to the first 100 participants and space is limited. Andrew Hyde, Startup Weekend founder will be on hand along with Gwen Bell of Blogger,......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Comcast Raises Your Rates In October Get ready to dig deeper to pay your cable bill because the amount you pay will be going up. Yes, that's right, Comcast will be raising your cable rates starting with your October bill. How much is this rate increase? Comcast says bills are going up 6.1% for all its subscribers. What are you getting for this 6.1% increase? Increased......

Looking for art tonight? We gotcha covered. It's all over. Tons of it. Tonight, and all weekend long. Check out openings tonight at Diverseworks, Vine Street (Fotofest), UH Downtown (O'Kane), CTRL Gallery, Inman, Finesilver, Kinzelman, Glassell, Blaffer, Art League, and much, much more. We just got tired of typing. See: help wanted. b.s. Artblog has a nicely coordinated list here, and ArtsHouston weighs in with their picks here. Seems like the top of everybody's list,......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Houston, A Top 10 High Tech City According to Popular Science, Houston is ranked #10 in high tech cities. Popular Science ranked cities based on 36 technology indicators as well as expert and staff opinions. The best part of this survey is that Houston outranked Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. Richard Yoo and Hush Labs Richard Yoo and Hush Labs were recently featured in The Houston......

A couple of University of Houston stories for your Friday, so listen up Coogs. First, back on August 13th, Cougar offensive lineman Jarrod Butler collapsed while lifting weights in an on-campus weight room. It was later determined that he had suffered a heart attack as a result of an electrical abnormality in his heart. After spending the past two weeks under observation and treatment at The Methodist Hospital, Butler is being released today to return......

Cell phones can be annoying, sure: when someone takes a call in a movie, for example, or during a funeral. And that's just the voice part — something that tends to get overlooked is how some asshats can now take pictures of anything they want to using their camera phones. It's happening at the University of Houston, where some women are claiming they were photographed in campus restrooms. The first incident happened just after 3......