RodeoHouston 2020

RodeoHouston unveils exciting and extreme new attractions for 2020

Be a part of New York New York at RodeoHouston.

Photo courtesy of RodeoHouston

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo will have a bevy of new things popping off for 2020.

Let's start off with The Social Spur, the Rodeo's new social lounge. Located near the McNee entrance, it will feature music, TVs, photo opportunities, and engaging activations for visitors. It will also offer phone charging stations, a water refill station and seating areas for attendees to relax and recharge during their visit.

Rodeo-goers can also get a glimpse of the 2020 shopping opportunities, from clothing to home goods, located inside Hall E in NRG Center. The space is good for photo opportunities for fans to show off their own Rodeo fashion.

Speaking of photo opps, attendees can commemorate their 2020 #RodeoHouston experience with a new, larger-than-life 3-D photo opportunity. Rodeo guests can wrangle their friends for an Insta-worthy close-up in front of oversized letters that spell out R-O-D-E-O.

Party animals
Now, let's get into the animal stuff. The Extreme Dogs show, located outdoors in The Junction, will feature rescue dogs and includes all your favorite dog sports like agility, dock diving, high jump, weave pole racing, disc, and tricks with a brilliant cast. Meanwhile, the mare and foal fan favorite known as Born to Buck will feature a special tribute that showcases generations of bucking horses and celebrates their athleticism and importance to the sport, and to the cowboys and cowgirls who treat them like family. This will also be located in The Junction.

Don't forget about Agventure Park, located in Agventure, which will offer a parakeet encounter, giving Rodeo-goers the opportunity to visit the walk-in aviary, interact and feed the friendly birds. Also located in Agventure will be a balloon art display where an artist will create a balloon-filled mural featuring a scene that will evolve during the run of the Rodeo.

Rodeo-goers can see how their farming skills stack up against the competition with Farming Simulator, an interactive game that allows players to build their own virtual farm from the ground up. The exhibit, located on the east side of NRG Center, will include six stations where participants will test their farming skills in a timed hay stacking competition.

The Big Apple in H-Town
In the new carnival attractions department, New York New York is a family-friendly funhouse featuring two levels of fun with a New York-themed concept. As for new carnival games, Bottle Up is an old favorite that tests the skills and ability of the player to balance and stand up on a sloped platform, and Top Glo is a group game that allows a player and 13 friends to compete against each other by spraying a water gun at a target, racing to the top. Also, half-price carnival packs are going digital for 2020. Rodeo carnival guests will need a smartphone to access their ride/game tickets and coupons by downloading the free RodeoHouston App and the Rodeo Carnival App.

New for 2020, the rodeo will host a Sensory Friendly Experience on Thursday, March 5 from 10 am to 1 pm in select areas of the carnival to promote an accommodating and positive experience for all Rodeo guests with sensory sensitivities or challenges. During this time, there will be minimal lights and sounds permitted in the carnival, according to a press release.

Cook-off and more
As for contests, The World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest Jr. Cook-off will be held on Saturday, February 29 — open to teams only — and 25 children ages 8-14 years old will be chosen to participate via random drawing. In the School Art Graphic Design Poster Contest, high school students who attend a school currently enrolled in the School Art Program may compete by graphically designing an advertising poster encouraging students to participate in the School Art Program. And, in the Industrial Crafts Competition, students from Houston-area school districts will be armed with the project plan, necessary materials and tools to build a barbecue skid/smoker. Constructed projects will be displayed at the east end of NRG Center beginning Friday, March 13, and will be judged by industry experts.

New times for old favorites
There will be a few date and time changes. Go Tejano Day will be on Sunday, March 8. Black Heritage Day will be on Friday, March 13. The RodeoHouston Super Shootout will be on Sunday, March 15. And, finally, the RodeoHouston Super Series Championship will be on Sunday, March 22. And, the Free Family Wednesday will have NRG Park admission for seniors (60 and over) and children (12 and under) until noon (previously 7 pm). This does not include rodeo/concert admission.

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For more tickets, schedules, and more information, visit RodeoHouston online.

rodeo

Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

movies film