Year in Review: September and October

The 2nd Street District Robberies

The posh shops of the 2nd Street District were feeling the growing pains of “urban development" after six stores fell victim to burglary over one week.

Video: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison at the RNC

In this video of a small press gaggle at the RNC in St. Paul, Hutchison defends McCain's choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as running-mate. When asked why she didn't want to be vice-president, she says, "I didn't want to spend the next four years in Washington, and I really don't. And I really have decided I'm going to go in a different direction." Her "different direction"? Veering towards the governor's mansion.

Maker Faire 2008 Coverage | Snapshots: Maker Faire | Snapshots: More From Maker Faire

Austinist was out in full force with exhaustive coverage of this year's Maker Faire at Travis County Expo Center. Click through for all of the links to our related posts.

Your Maps of Austin at Maker Faire [Gallery]

If you stopped by the Austinist table Maker Faire, we might have convinced you to fill out a map of the places or things that are important to you in our fair city. Submissions ranged from informative to sassy to just plain colorful, and we presented some of our favorites here.

What Happened to the Good Flow.

Austin's own Good Flow Juice was ordered to cease production of its bottled juices by the Food and Drug Administration. According to company co-founder Judy Crofut, Good Flow had been operating under the assumption that pasteurization—the process of heating up a liquid to kill off bacteria and molds—wasn't necessary for its products since they were handmade and delivered to neighborhood grocers in less than a day. The company had previously operated as a "juice bar," like Daily Juice, with the approval of the FDA via an exemption.

Hurricane Ike Worsening As It Heads Towards Texas, Could Be "Worst to Hit Texas in 40 Years" Says One Meteorologist

With the eye of the storm out of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Ike had the potential to strengthen severely before hitting somewhere along the Texas coast.

Community Alert: Looking Out for the "Harvest Moon Bottle Sniper"

Found via Craigslist: harvest moon bottle sniper - "Last night, catching up to the Harvest Moon ride, someone who I do not know was hit with a bottle thrown from the window of a car."

Hansen Recovers Olympic Medal Lost on Flight to Austin

Former Longhorn Brendan Hansen lost his gold medal from the Beijing Games during a flight from Philadelphia to Austin, but got it back a day later thanks to a good samaritan fellow traveler.

Man Attacked on Cap Metro Bus, Possible Hate Crime

Another Capital Metro bus rider was severely assaulted in North Austin, and this time there was reason to believe that the attack was a targeted hate crime.

I Am So Popular: It Takes Two Hands: BJs and Basket Weaving

"About twenty of us, women all, gathered in plastic molded chairs and waited for the presentation to begin. On the screen, the first image of the instructional PowerPoint appeared: an illustration of a tube of lipstick. Only instead of lipstick, the thing sticking out of the tube was an erect penis."

YouTubeAustin: Fake McCain, Palin, Assorted Fauna Get it On at World Air Sex Championships [Fantastic Fest]

Following the Fantastic Fest/U.S. premiere of Zack & Miri Make a Porno, the Alamo Drafthouse hosted the final round of their year-long Air Sex Championships. The result was anything but ordinary.

The Return Of The Ginger Man

Old school Austin beer fans cried a collective "Booo!" when it was announced that the Ginger Man's space was slated for demolition to make room for -- you guessed it -- a brand new high rise.

Photo Essayist: A City of Street Artists

"On a walk through any Austin neighborhood, the sidewalks and street corners will reflect an underground movement of street artists who try to express themselves through anything they can get their hands on."

Benson Signs With Bengals

Beleaguered former Texas running back Cedric Benson signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, days after two Travis County grand juries declined to indict him on alcohol-related charges stemming from a pair of arrests earlier in the summer.

Evan Smith Chooses New Editor-in-Chief, Special Projects Ed at Texas Monthly

Current Texas Monthly President and editor-in-chief Evan Smith announced on his blog that he had selected Jake Silverstein, currently a senior editor at the magazine as well as a contributing editor at Harper’s, to assume his lead editorial position when he eventually steps down.

Texas GOP Newly Motivated by Palin VP Pick

If there was a take-away from the election season, it's that Texans love rooting for the underdog. In this case, make it the lipsticked underdog.

Austin-made Crawford Debuting on Hulu Tomorrow

We followed Crawford, the Austin-made documentary about a tiny Texas town thrust in the international spotlight after would-be President George W. Bush relocated there to perfect his wholesome good-old-boy image, since it was but a work in progress.

AMD To Split Into Two Companies

Advanced Micro Devices, one of Austin's largest tech employers, entered a new phase of its history by announcing that it would split into two companies: one focused on designing microprocessors and the other on manufacturing them.

Merchandising Daniel Johnston: Jeremiah the Innocent Makes Appearance on Fanny Pack

Medicom Toy created a line of gear featuring Daniel Johnston's Jeremiah the Innocent illustration.

Austin Asian American Film Festival is All Grown Up

Started in 2004 by a couple of enterprising University of Texas students, the Austin Asian American Film Festival has, in a very short period of time, grown from humble roots into a full blown cultural event.

Update on Hot Real Estate Listings: El Sol y La Luna Moving into Emo's Lounge

Back in August of 2007, we found a hot real estate listing for Emo's Lounge, and this time we found a resolution. Our friends at the Statesman reported that Emo's Lounge would soon be the home of El Sol y La Luna, a popular SoCo restaurant.

Gory Homecoming Tee Infuriates LBJ High School Parents

Some parents of LBJ High School students were "outraged" over the t-shirt design, intended to show school spirit in advance of a big football game against Reagan High School on Halloween.

UT Changes Their Minds About Signs

There was some to-do made over the fact that cousins/UT roommates Blake and Connor Kincaid had a political sign (supporting Obama) in their Brackenridge Hall dorm window.

Snapshots: Recycled Fashion Show

Photos by Ann Harkness from the Recycled Fashion Show at Treasure City Thrift Store.

College Station McCain Worker Fakes Attack

20-year-old Ashley Todd, originally from College Station, Texas and working for the McCain campaign in Pittsburgh, gained national fame after claiming that she had been assaulted and robbed, allegedly by an Obama fan who noticed the McCain bumper sticker on her car and "became enraged."

Distortion: Austinist Interviews The Magnetic Fields

"Stephin Merritt leads The Magnetic Fields, but it hardly defines him. The prolific and genre-hopping songwriter and arranger also leads the groups The 6ths, The Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes...when he feels like it. In addition, he's writing the music to a Broadway adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novella 'Coraline' that is due in 2009."

Austin "Best Bang For The Buck" on Forbes List

Say what you will about real estate prices downtown and boutiques shilling $300 designer denim—at least as far as the rest of the country is concerned, Austin was still the best city to get a good value for your dollar.

Prop 2: Charter Amendment to Stop Retail Subsidies

The election ballot in Austin included a proposition for an amendment to the city charter to "prohibit the City from providing financial incentives ... for projects that include one or more retail uses." The proposition was the result of a signature drive by Stop Domain Subsidies.

Central Texas Republicans and Democrats Resorting to Vandalism

Tensions were flaring with so little time left before the elections, and here in Central Texas it was the cars that are suffering as a result.

I Am So Popular: Black Men Are Everywhere!

"I think I might be the most racist person I know. Let me clarify. When I say I’m a racist, I don’t mean that in the classic sense which, in my case, being a whitey, would shake down as me discriminating negatively against groups outside of my own race. Like the blacks. Or the Jews. Au contraire! For often enough it is the lily white man—usually the one in the business suit pushing me out of the way at the airport—that most alarms me. Those others? Well let’s just say sometimes I go overboard in the opposite direction."

15 Minutes with Matthew Dowd [Interview]

"Back in 2004, everything moved fast. John Kerry claimed he voted for 87 billion dollars of war funding before he voted against it, and the George W. Bush campaign was on top of it, quick as a grackle on a sticky candy wrapper."

KXAN + Time Warner = Friends Again

KXAN announced via Twitter that the channel was once again available to Time Warner cable subscribers.

Photo Essayist: Charles Alexander meets Barack Obama

On Sunday, October 26, eight days before Election Day, Sen. Barack Obama held a rally with over 100,000 people in downtown Denver, Colorado--the capital of a state that has voted for a Republican in nine out of the last ten presidential elections. One of those people in the crowd that day was 86-year old Charles Alexander, a Boulder resident that has lived a remarkable life, combated a variety of hardships and out of it all personified a true American story, with a life dedicated to family and service.

Cap Metro Union Announces Strike

Jay Wyatt, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1091, said the Cap Metro bus drivers, mechanics and maintenance workers in the union would begin a strike in response to continued failure to reach a settlement in contract negotiations.