Poppahop

U-Tote-Ums immortalized in Townes Van Zandt song... Talkin' Thunderbird Blues Among the strangest things I ever heard Was when a friend of mine said man, let

What's going on there? Anybody know? I suppose it's not going to be an expansion of Dunlavy Park...

Naah -- it has to do with the fact that there are over 9,300 "institutionalized persons" (read: jailbirds) living downtown. Harris County Jail counts as a residence for these purposes... And there are more male cons than females.

When I was living in England about ten years ago, the BBC aired a trashtastic cop drama, 100% shot in Houston, called Miller and Mueller. Despite the fact that it was in English, I think the show was a German production. Anyway, the premise was an American cop named Miller was getting a divorce from his American wife, who was also a cop. For some reason he was sent to crack a case in Berlin, where he met a hottie cop named Mueller, who he married while he was over there. He brought her back, and confusion ensued when he discovered that he was still married to Mrs Miller. And then he got shot like 50 times while he was on a rusty tanker in the Ship Channel and tumbled overboard into that nasty water. (Somehow he survived that -- I think he was lingering near death in the hospital through most of the show's run.) So of course the brass at HPD decided then to make Mueller and Miller partners... It was terrible, but great location-spotting. Poe Elementary was in it -- for some reason pretending to be River Oaks Elem. That Mexican restaurant that was near Travis and the Pierce Elevated was in it too, but the main thing was that the director had a serious fetish for the skyline. It was in just about every shot that was filmed outdoors.

What happened to the historic Texas Revolution battles exhibit that used to be upstairs at the Museum of Natural Science? When I was a kid, they were my favorite things there, but when I moved back here in '97, they were gone. Anyone know where they are now?