T-minus Six Days: Movies, Museums, and Haiku Wars

May your withdrawals subside now.... We did indeed miss a day of NPS countdown, so today's tips are for tonight and tomorrow night.

Choosing from tonight's offerings is tough, but for our top pick we've got to go with the man who introduced us to slam, Big Poppa E. He'll be hosting a Haiku Battle at 8pm tonight on the rooftop at Zen's south location. FREE. (Sheesh, there sure are plenty of First Thursday events to lure you down to SoCo.) Haiku matches are fast-paced and funny -- wit usually brings the biggest audience reward -- so be prepared to laugh your ass off.

If you're up for something a tad more cerebral (though the haikuthletes sport more than their fair share of intellectual heft), consider B Scene at the Blanton tomorrow night. This "monthly art party" happens every first Friday at the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, and features a rotating calendar of guests. Tomorrow it's the poets! Who else? Dig in with poet-guided tours, haiku and poetry writing, magnetic poetry installations, and more. DJ NickNack will also be there to spin some tunes.

Last but not least, our favorite theatre in the whole wide world, the Alamo Drafthouse (South Lamar location), is screening SlamPlanet, the locally produced documentary "about the pure expression and sometimes-electric politics of the National Poetry Slam." What better way to bone up on your NPS law and lore? You've got three chances to catch what Austin Chronicle critic Marc Savlov calls "an audiovisual ode in its own right."

To sum it all up, in handy chronological order:

Haiku Battle at First Thursday, FREE
Tonight, 8pm
Zen, 1303 South Congress

SlamPlanet, $6-$8 (discounts for students & seniors, tix)
Tonight, 10:15pm | Monday 8/7, 10:10pm | Tuesday 8/8, 10:10pm
Alamo Drafthouse South, 1120 South Lamar

B Scene at the Blanton, $5-$10 (discounts for members, tix)
Tomorrow night, 6-11pm
Blanton Museum of Art, UT Campus - MLK at Congress (map)