• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    Rare Birds

    Mo' Betta Meta: Amid the clutter, Internet spawns exciting new forms of onlinewriting

    Chris Becker
    Jul 2, 2011 | 11:00 am
    • Janet Flanner in correspondent's uniform
    • Janet Flanner reading The New Yorker
    • Janet Flanner

    "This was a new type of journalistic foreign correspondence which I had to integrate and develop, since there was no antecedent for it." — Author Janet Flanner on writing her "Letter from Paris" for The New Yorker

    Last Sunday, among friends after a few beers and a late night of making music, I described CultureMap to a fellow writer as “the Vanity Fair of Houston.” Now, please understand I wasn’t trying to be “snarky.” I like Vanity Fair magazine and obviously I love my gig at CultureMap. But yes, when I made that comment, I was thinking of editor at large Shelby Hodge’s “Shelby on the Seine” series. The description of the excesses of philanthropic high society folk was entertaining, though perhaps inadvertently threw into the relief (as if it were necessary) the disparity between rich and poor. Or perhaps, what parties I get to go to and what parties rich folks get to go to.

    Cake and guillotine jokes aside, the series reminded me of how much I love the published collection of New Yorker writer Janet Flanner’s dispatches from Paris, “Paris Was Yesterday.” Embedded cross the water from 1925 to 1939, Flanner wrote not only about society, scandals and political upheavals, but also the new forms of art, including the experimental writing of Ernest Hemmingway, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf.

    In our time, new forms of writing are developing thanks in part to the nature of the medium of the Internet. Whether the subject matter is a fundraiser at the Louvre or exploring the mind through music, the potential for experimental online writing is there.

    The temporal nature of writing on the Internet allows me to experiment with form, to push back against “every bright thing that files to the surface of the iPhone,” to imagine writing as a plastic art that can be shaped into new and heretofore unimagined forms.

    But what do I mean by “the medium of the Internet?” My first professional writing gigs came from websites and blogs. Before being asked to write for a blog, I maintained my own, writing about music and interviewing friends in the creative field who particularly intrigued me. I wrote about subjects close to my heart, knowing that once the articles or interviews were up, they weren’t going anywhere. My blog is sort of a library of information for me. Not to sound like a snob, but I wasn’t (and I’m still not) interested in taking photos of what I was eating for breakfast and posting them in real time.

    As soon as I started getting work as a freelance writer, where I had to pitch stories and calendar out deadlines, I realized that anything I wrote would sit in the “blogosphere” for about five minutes, be “liked” or “shared” by way of Facebook or Twitter, possibly inspire a nice comment from one or two readers I don't personally know and then — poof! — it'd be gone. Almost instantaneously, 10 or 20 new posts would go up to replace my five or 10-minute now old news and the cycle would begin again. This cycle can be frustrating for writers. But instead of simmering with frustration, I try to embrace nature of the ‘net as a challenge to my creative imagination and skills.

    The temporality of Internet culture is addressed by author and critic Katie Roiphe in her essay, “With Clarity and Beauty, the Weight of Authority,” written as part of a series of New York Times op-ed pieces under the umbrella title “Why Criticism Matters.” The points Roiphe makes in the essay are applicable to all writers, not just book critics. She writes:

    “If the critic has to compete with the seductions of Facebook, with shrewdly written television, with culturally relevant movies — with, in short, every bright thing that flies to the surface of the iPhone — that’s all the more reasons for him to write dramatically, vividly, (and) beautifully…The Critic could take all of this healthy competition, the challenge of dwindling review pages, the slash in pay, as a sign to be better, to be irreplaceable, to transcend.”

    I believe, after reading her essay several times (it’s that kind of essay), Roiphe is talking about writing in its print form first as well as the same copy transposed without any additional bells and whistles to the Internet. She’s not describing creative use of embedded links, photos, sound and video, and/or typeface and layout. She’s talking simply and passionately about writing well. I believe that writing well includes the effort to push the form.

    The temporal nature of writing on the Internet allows me to experiment with form, to push back against “every bright thing that files to the surface of the iPhone,” to imagine writing as a plastic art that can be shaped into new and heretofore unimagined forms. But just to be clear, I don’t put myself in the same category of James Joyce or Virginia Woolf. I'd need more than a few beers before making such a comparison.

    I can’t write like anyone except myself. And I don’t have the skill set required if I’ve had a rough week and just want to “phone it in.” I’m stuck with my voice on the page, and however awkward it may sound to me when I read this stuff aloud.

    Here are a few websites that offer a combination of great writing and creative use of the medium of the web, including its aforementioned temporal nature and bells and whistles. I know there are other examples out there, sites that are even crazier and perhaps even more literary in their writing. Send em my way, I'd love to hear about them.

    Objectif Magazine

    I have mistakenly and then purposely mispronounced “Objectif” and “Ob-ject-teef” in my best fake French accent, as it’s one of these collective creations that recalls the spirit of Flanner’s Paris of yesterday. But the name comes straight out of hip-hop and its great tradition of subverting language and recontextualizing its meaning. The publishers of Objectif describe themselves as: “…denizens of the underground bumrushing the monoculture. We're insouciant, irreverent and we publish whatever the heck we feel like. Our bête noire is wackness.” Word! And the fact that this is a Houston/Texas venture REALLY intrigues me. The site is still coming together, but the variety of content that’s currently up is provocative and a joy for your eyes and ears.

    Option Magazine Online

    It is not an understatement to say that Option Magazine back in the day kept me from losing my young mind. During the time after I graduated high xchool and before college (I took a year off), I worked at The Popcorn Outlet and later Kentucky Fried Chicken and wondered what kind of musician I was and where exactly I was going to fit in. Option at that time was writing about such iconoclastic musicians as John Zorn, Ornette Coleman, Diamanda Galas, Fela Kuti, Mark E. Smith, etc, etc. I read each issue religiously.

    Years later, the magazine is back in an online format that looks GREAT and features intelligent engaging writing from a diverse group of volunteer contributors. The homepage currently features a link to an interview with honorary Houstonian Steve Earle. Check it out. Welcome back, Option!

    In the Midst of Memory

    I hadn’t visited saxophonist and composer Matana Roberts’ blog/website for awhile and I am digging the latest overhaul. Fanzine culture informs Roberts’ site, particularly in the immediacy of the writing, which covers issues regarding music, race, family and history, as well as the collaging of images both moving and static.

    Roberts was a guest of Houston’s Nameless Sound not too long ago, and her blog entry about her Houston experience helped me to navigate my own arrival to the city not a few months later. She's an amazing musician and I hope she comes back to Texas soon.

    unspecified
    news/entertainment

    most read posts

    Houston's pioneering South American steakhouse will soon shutter in River Oaks

    Texas Monthly's BBQ Snob dishes on the magazine's new top 50 list

    'Famous' Bronx-based pizza chain fires up 3 Houston locations

    Movie Review

    How to Train Your Dragon remake puts a fresh twist on the original

    Alex Bentley
    Jun 12, 2025 | 4:14 pm
    Toothless and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon
    Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
    Toothless and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon.

    Let’s get it out of the way right at the top: The new live-action How to Train Your Dragon, coming a mere 15 years after the original animated film, serves no real purpose other than to make more money for Universal Pictures and Dreamworks Pictures. However, unlike Disney’s approach toward remaking their animated movies, this attempt manages to succeed on its own merits instead of being a half-baked vessel for nostalgia.

    As fans will remember, Hiccup (Mason Thames) lives in Berk, a town on a remote island populated by Vikings who constantly have to defend themselves against rampaging dragons. Hiccup’s dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler), is the community’s vaunted leader, with a legacy that seems impossible for Hiccup to measure up to, especially since he’s stuck in the armory alongside Gobber (Nick Frost).

    But Hiccup has a knack for inventions, and his use of one new weapon during a dragon attack takes down a feared Night Fury. Finding the wounded dragon deep in the forest, Hiccup decides against killing it, leading to an unexpected bond between the two of them. Most of the film shows Hiccup trying to prove himself to his townspeople, including the fierce Astrid (Nico Parker), while also nursing the dragon he dubs Toothless back to health with the help of another one of his ingenious creations.

    Written and directed by Dean DeBlois (who’s had the same roles on all four HTTYD films), the film is most notable for how engaging it is despite it retelling a story many already know and love. The biggest reason for this is a pivot away from telling a story mainly for kids toward one that feels like an extremely light version of Game of Thrones. Almost right away, there are real stakes for the people in the film, and the way DeBlois and his team stage the scenes, the danger can be felt by the audience.

    This sense of “realness” comes through especially well in the scenes between Hiccup and Toothless. The design of Toothless is faithful to the original, but the CGI makes the dragon feel amazingly believable. And when they start flying, the film literally and metaphorically takes off. At multiple points, the camera seems to have trouble keeping them in frame, a smart move toward verisimilitude when the filmmakers clearly could have made it an overly smooth watching experience.

    Even though it’s more serious than the original, the film still has plenty of fun to offer. Characters like Gobber (who replaces his two missing limbs with odd contraptions) and the ragtag group of teenagers who come to be in awe of Hiccup’s skills at taming dragons provide more than a few laughs. Hiccup isn’t quite as goofy as he was when voiced by Jay Baruchel, which turns out to be a good thing as his sense of purpose amps up the drama of the story.

    Thames’ performance gets better and better as the film goes along, as Hiccup goes from town whipping boy toward hero. He really shines in the last act when he’s given a few scenes that show off his acting range. Parker is equally good, demonstrating the girl power needed for the role, but also the softness of a potential love interest. Butler, the only actor reprising their voice role, is a great presence who sells the outsized personality of Stoick.

    Against the odds, this new version of How to Train Your Dragon is equal to the success of the first film, accomplishing the goal of making it feel like you’re watching the story for the first time. If live-action remakes are going to continue to come out, future filmmakers should study this film for how to respect both the history of the franchise and the audience paying good money to be entertained.

    ---

    How to Train Your Dragon opens in theaters on June 13.

    moviesfilm
    news/entertainment
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Houston intel delivered daily.
    Loading...