COMMENT OF THE DAY: MAKING IT UP WITH QUANTITY “Using numbers to determine what is ‘cool’ is a waste of time. One of the criteria used in the article was the number of pro and college sports teams in the city. Ok, fine, but do you really think the Astros are as ‘cool’ as the Yankees, Cubs, or Red Sox? Yet quantity wise, they each count as 1 and are considered equal. The same goes for museums. Is the MFAH really as cool as the Met? This exercise could be done for any of the categories Forbes used to rank the cities and Houston would come up short on almost all of them. So while Houston may be the coolest when you count numbers, its certainly not the coolest when you’re looking for the coolest things around.” [Walt, commenting on Headlines: Houston as America’s ‘Coolest’ City; Predicting Traffic Jams]
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The Menil Collection is actually the coolest museum in the world. It’s the perfect size, and they’ve never put up a show that wasn’t top notch. And it’s free admission. The Menil is the Case Study that every new museum designer tries to examine, and even Renzo Piano hasn’t been able to duplicate his success when he’s designed other galleries.
As for sports – well if you can only be a fan of the top champion teams – the ones that have ruined pro sports by buying up star players, and causing ticket prices to soar, and forcing cities to buy new venues they can’t afford for some skybox fatcats – then you aren’t really much of a sports fan then are you?
I would agree somewhat with the “numbers” not all being equal, but it is important to note that just because other cities, sports teams and museums might get more “hollywood” media attention…. that does not make them any beter than what we got going on down here.
Mrs. Menil married my anthropology professor, which is totally irrelevant to her museum. I found this out some 50 years after he was my teacher. He taught at the University of Californa Northridge and he was so popular that it was standing room only in his class. That class changed the way I saw life. Mrs. Menil was interested in anthropology and traveled with Dr. Carpenter on his field trips. I though that was very fortunate for them both. Again, not related to the Museum.
Linenqueen.
@#3,
Don’t you mean her daughter?
Walt give us a break! These rankings are what are. Chill! Houston usually, IMO, comes way below what it should in most rankings. Let us have our minute of glory. Geez!
Is Forbes really an arbiter of anything ‘cool?’
And, yes it was Dominique’s eldest daughter Adelaide (Miss de Menil) that married Dr. Carpenter. Dominique de Menil (Mrs. de Menil) was married only once, to John de Menil. The next eldest de Menil daughter Christophe married Robert Thurman (Uma’s dad). Her grandson Dash Snow dated one of the Olsen twins for a bit.
Cooler than cool, the Mixed Media party designed by IKEA last Friday night in Cullinan Hall at MFAH accommodating 1500 decked out souls. Party can be viewed on Houston Culture Map. This party is an example of moving beyond the numbers to actual examples of the exciting events and venues available in Houston. Newly opened is the 40 minute sunrise and dusk show at the James Turrell skyscape at Rice. A visit to the Asia Society Texas Center on Southmore Blvd illustrates Houstonians commitment to high design, in this case, the work of Yoshio Taniguchi of Japan. And for the sports world, the newly opened downtown BBVA Compass soccer stadium provides a most colorful venue for the game.
@#6,
Actually, Marie Christophe is the eldest, then Adelaide, then the two boys, and finally Philippa.