Probably the best introduction to the particular and engaging humor of the Houston Chicks’ relentlessly cheery stuck-in-Houston-for-the-summer tourist travelogues is the soon-to-be-classic entry entitled “Houston: Day Seven” from last month, which begins with this striking line:
Today, we went to Rice Village…We stayed for 10 minutes…and left…
and ends, 10 photographs later, in a Galleria parking lot — after a brief repose with an egg-salad sandwich.
The brilliance of the Chicks’ photo essays is difficult to communicate in an excerpt. If you’re looking for a quick take, try The Houston Chicks Have Won!, which recounts a popular Houston archetype in only two frames.
But there’s so much more:
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Part of what makes the Houston Chicks’ art singularly compelling is its ability to communicate the essence of the tourist experience in Houston using only simple sequences of annotated images. See, for example, the Chicks’ trip to The Woodlands in Houston: Final Week!! Katy is ingeniously encapsulated in Houston: Day Eleven!, and Sugar Land gets similar treatment in Houston: Week Four (Part 2).
Houston: Part Four features fancy Galleria stores and a “lonely cowboy” by the side of the road. Houston: Week Three! is more freeform, intermixing unusual views of the Galleria with the decorations in the Chicks’ temporary apartment home.
As with all great works, the Chicks’ art gains greater meaning through comparison and contrast with the larger realities it addresses. If you have the patience for longer works, the slow humor of this video is particularly rewarding:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovcrz22FUQM 400 330]
- The Houston Chicks!
- A Tour of Houston… [YouTube]
Photos: The Houston Chicks!
These people aren’t from around here, are they?
So they represent the idiots view of Houston?
I have know lots of people that visit Houston and absolutely love it. the like that fact that it is not a tourist town and doesn’t cater to them. The idea of this is that they get to see the real Houston and real people versus a tourism facade.
Real Houston? Where’s the real Houston?
Be interesting to do a ‘tour’ of their hometown Starbucks Row and BIG mall. All of America looks a lot the same until you get outside the cities. That is why I love to drive on vacation, even if I am in Tuscany.
As much as I enjoy travelogues written by people who seem to have a third-grade command of language, they seem like a bunch of simps that don’t really know their way around the area.
As far as I’m concerned, that is a minor sin of sorts, especially if you’re going to be in an area for an extended period of time as these individuals appear to. At the very least, figure out that downtown isn’t 2 buildings near Greenway Plaza or an intersection Uptown.
The daughter’s kinda cute though.
Pardon me this morning, I’m keyed up on coffee and I usually like a bit more depth in travel blogs.
Teen1: Oh, here comes that cannonball guy. He’s cool.
Teen2: Are you being sarcastic, dude?
Teen1: I don’t even know anymore.
So, yeah, I can’t really place your angle on this whole Houston Chicks thing. I’m leaning toward total snark, but who the hell knows.
On a side note, Mom’s got a real “I shall feast on your entrails” thing going on in some of those shots, e.g. http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZQb5SmgPZXg/SFSTLIRRHTI/AAAAAAAAAI8/P08ojh9Hf0U/s1600-h/DSCN0245.JPG
Joke,
BWAAHAHA… your “I shall feast on your entrails†comment and link almost had me spew Diet Coke on my keyboard. That is hilarious.
Good job!