weekend event planner

Here are the top 10 things to do in Houston this weekend

The Balloons over Horseshoe Bay Festival is a real gas.

Easter Sunday is here. While some of us may go to church or have an Easter bun with Tastee cheese (it's a Jamaican tradition), others may wanna have a good ol' fashioned, Easter egg hunt.

Get your Easter egg hunt on — and also have a special Easter breakfast — at the Rainforest Cafes in Galveston and Katy Mills on Saturday morning. There will also be an Easter basket raffle and goodie bags.

Also on Saturday, it's 420 — so you know there will be people walking around town in a cannabis-induced fog, hungry as hell. Fortunately, two eateries will be hoping to get those folks through their doors with 420-friendly items.

Beaver's will have CBD-infused queso, pizza, Frito pies and sticky bourbon wings, while The Burger Joint will be slinging out stuff like the BS Burger (Angus patty, roasted brussel sprouts and bacon jam smothered in Muenster cheese) and Wake'n Bacon Fries (hand cut fries covered in sausage gravy, crumbled bacon, green onions, and topped with a fried egg).

Meanwhile, here's some more fun to hunt for this weekend.

Thursday, April 18

Dance Salad Festival 2019 at Wortham Center
When something shows up in your inbox called the Dance Salad Festival, it does pique your interest. It turns out this salad has been around for a long time — it's celebrating its 24th anniversary in Houston and the 27th anniversary since its inception in Belgium. The fest promises a gathering of world-class performers. Famous in their own countries, classical and contemporary dancers share the stage to form a mix of movement and compelling choreography. 7:30 pm.

Friday, April 19

7th Annual Balloons Over Horseshoe Bay Festival
Are we the only ones that think of the 5th Dimension's classic song "Up, Up and Away" whenever someone brings up hot-air balloons? We definitely started humming the tune when we were alerted about the 7th Annual Balloons Over Horseshoe Bay Festival happening this weekend. Hot-air balloons from all over the country will be there, just waiting to be taken for a ride. There will also be live music, great food, and more. 6-9 pm (6:30-10 am and 4-10 pm Saturday).

All Roads Lead to Home opening reception at Third Space Gallery
All Roads Lead To Home is the debut solo collection (and accompanying book) of artist/designer/curator/University of Houston Master of Fine Arts candidate Reema. This collection of photography, paintings, prose and poetry focuses on themes of home and memory across multiple platforms and dives into issues of displacement, intersectionality and mental health, all written in non-gendered language. It will run through April 29. 6 pm.

Deep Shadows at Shoeshine Charley's Big Top Lounge
Anytime the A Fistful of Soul DJs get together to pull out the 45s and spin some retro tunes, you know we gotta give them some love. And on the third Friday of every month, these guys head over to midtown and play some oldies, b-sides, rare deep cuts. Whatever you wanna call it, they'll be giving you some old-school soul. So, stop on by, order a Lone Star and groove to the sweet, sweet R&B that'll most likely put a slide in your glide and a dip in your hip. 10 pm-2 am.

Dazed and Confused at Landmark River Oaks
You know it's not a damn coincidence that Dazed & Confused is Landmark River Oaks' midnight movie this weekend, right on the same weekend as 420. So, expect a lot of people to show up to these screenings smelling like a bong. But even if you're not down with the ganja/reefer/sticky-icky-icky, you can still watch Richard Linklater's 1993 debut stoner classic and be amazed at all the future A-listers (Affleck, McConaughey, Zellweger) he got for the movie. 11:59 pm.

Saturday, April 20

Puppies for Breakfast at Market Square Park
The Houston Downtown Management District (Downtown District) is once again bringing this unique outdoor festival back to Market Square Park. The 8th annual, pet-friendly event features more than 50 vendors and artists, the world’s largest dog piñata, a dog costume contest, DJ Ill-set on the ones and twos, a park-wide egg hunt for dogs, and much more. 10 am-2 pm.

Girl Scouts Rock Earth Day at Children's Museum
Earth Day is officially Monday, and the Girl Scouts of San Jacinto will be at Children's Museum of Houston on Saturday, doing what they can for Mother Earth. This is what they got planned: a girl-power parade, water purification and filtration demos, Plum Landing workshops, and other things. Girls who dress in uniform get $2 off admission. 11 am.

The Millennium Tour at Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land
Get ready to be blasted back to the early-to-mid aughts with this throwback concert. Literally every male R & B heartthrob you were listening to on your first iPod is on this tour: B2K, Lloyd, Pretty Ricky, Mario and Bobby "Slow Down" Valentino. For the hip-hop heads, Chingy and the Ying Yang Twins will also be performing. 8 pm.

Rockets Playoff Viewing Party at Brick House Tavern + Tap
Rockets fans can view Game 3 of their opening playoff series against the Utah Jazz over at this Sugar Land spot, where they will also be hit with a lot of bells and whistles. We're talking a Rockets Power Dancers appearance, an appearance by Clutch (the NBA’s favorite mascot), drink specials, 2019 commemorative “Run as One” glassware, games, and giveaways. Playoff merch will also be available for purchase. 9:30 pm.

Sunday, April 21

The Joe Budden Podcast at House of Blues
If you're not aware of The Joe Budden Podcast, you may not be a fan of rap — or hearing one of the most outspoken people in the rap community state his opinions or spill the tea about the rap community. The former Eminem cohort-turned-hip-hop loudmouth has become one of the most popular podcasters in the game. Last summer, his show was often the No. 1 podcast on iTunes’ music podcast chart. Now, all you local fans can see him and his on-air partners live this weekend. 7 pm.

event-planner

Movie Review

Cookie Queens goes behind the scenes of Girl Scout Cookie season

Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Girl Scouts in Cookie Queens.

Few people are strong enough to resist the lure of Girl Scout cookie season every year, with the cookies’ limited availability and unique flavors a strong incentive to indulge. But only the girls and their families who have sold the cookies know the joys and stresses of trying to get people to buy them, a process that is detailed in the new documentary, Cookie Queens.

The film by documentarian Alysa Nahmias uses the stories of four different girls to represent the nationwide ritual for the Girl Scouts. They include 12-year-old Olive in Charlotte, North Carolina, a longtime top seller; 8-year-old Shannon Elizabeth in El Paso, Texas, who wants to earn the reward of going to camp; 5-year-old Ara in San Diego, California, whose goal is modest compared to most other girls; and 9-year-old Nikki in Chino, California, who has to compete with her older sisters in the cookie-selling bonanza.

The girls represent a cross-section of both ages and backgrounds, with some girls coming from wealthy families and some girls dealing with more limited means. And how much money your family has makes a big difference, as not only does someone richer have more freedom with their time and supplies, but all scouts are required to reimburse the organization for every box they take in, regardless of whether they’re able to sell it or not.

That caveat makes the journeys of the four featured girls feel wildly different. It’s clear from the start that Olive and Nikki’s families don’t give a second thought to the personal economics of selling cookies, with each girl taking in thousands of boxes at the beginning of the six-week selling season. With both Olive and Nikki rightfully confident that they’ll have no problem offloading their supply, their stories turn to how selling is personally affecting them, with each trying to reconcile the fun of doing it with the pressure they feel from their family members.

Shannon Elizabeth’s story is more harrowing, as her parents feel a strong desire to help her accomplish her lofty goal, but worry that the cost might literally be too high for the family as a whole. More than once, the parents are shown fretting that they won’t have the money to pay back what they owe should they fall significantly short in their sales. Their selling approach, which includes walking through an empty swap meet and standing outside a chain restaurant at night, only adds to their stress.

The most fun story to watch is that of Ara, whose innocence is matched by her confidence. Her parents teach her how much money they’ll owe with her small goal of 55 boxes, but right away she takes on more responsibility than expected. She’s shown making sales pitches and tallying the total number of boxes she’s sold with little-to-no help from either her mom or dad. With her high voice, glasses, and a monitor on her arm to manage her diabetes, she becomes the cute and sympathetic part of the film.

There are times that the film starts to feel more than a little manipulative, however. While many of the moments documented come off as organic, some of them seem like Nahmias is actively guiding the participants in order to get a better story. This is especially evident with Shannon Elizabeth and her family, whose early struggles turn into a miraculous feel-good story by the end, a turnaround that seems implausible at best. Everything with them might have been aboveboard, but Nahmias and her team edit the family’s journey in a way that pushes a bit too hard for emotion.

Cookie Queens, which was produced by a company owned by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, helps to give insight into the business of selling Girl Scout cookies for those who’ve only been on the purchasing end of the transaction. The dedication of each girl toward selling their allotted supply proves fun and interesting, even if the filmmaker tries to gild the lily on occasion.

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Cookie Queens is now playing in theaters,

movies girl scout cookie film