Other: August 2009 Archives

Between running a coffeehouse and his recent venture, Owl Tree Roasting, Progress Coffee owner Joshua Bingaman was surely already one of the busiest people in Austin—it was of some surprise, then, when he sent out a random dispatch a few weeks ago from Turkey, excitedly announcing the launch of yet another enterprise—in footwear.

If you're a student or recent grad who went to every Texas football game, or a season ticket holder who's never missed a home game and schedules weekends around when the Longhorns are playing, it's easy to forget how it felt to discover college football. On the other hand, being new to the sport doesn't mean you can't be part of the crowd. So you don't know James Street from Sixth Street. Big deal. Let us offer up a little insight into some Texas traditions to get you ready for the season.

This week I shall reflect on the concept of change. I will disguise my reflection as a defense of recent decisions at KUT, which brought about some change, which apparently has made some people angry. These people, in turn, have lassoed their anger into cranky emails, which they have then forwarded to their friends, who have forwarded them to me. So now, not only am I receiving unsolicited emails telling me I need to be pissed off over something I am not pissed off over, but also these sloppy forwards are filled with those annoying headers, loaded with the email addresses of others I don’t know. Which would—if this fucking triple digit heat wasn’t totally stifling me into full on slothfulness— piss me off. To the point I might have to start an email campaign of my own, whereby I tell people that their cranky emails are making me cranky and then I ask them to forward my email to a bunch of other people not because I think it will accomplish anything, but simply because, you know, misery does love company. In short, KUT recently cut way back on the hours of Larry Monroe and Paul Ray. They still get to do Blue Monday and Twine Time. But much of the airtime previously dominated by these old dudes has been taken over by Matt Reilly, some young whippersnapper who—the fucking nerve of him—is playing both non-jazz AND (gasp!) stuff from the eighties and even—tres risqué!—the nineties and beyond! By which I mean, compared to what we had before, extremely modern and avant garde selections that, according to some are a threat to civilization as we know it.

The girl on his right introduced herself. "I'm today's Word Master," she said. "The word for this meeting is arcane. Arcane means difficult to understand, mysterious, knowable only to the initiate." She pointed to where she had written the word on the wipe board; the applause was deafening.

David Kalina worked on big-budget console games for Midway Studios, but after the company cancelled his project and laid off 90 people from its Austin shop, he teamed up with former Electronic Arts developer Randy Smith to found Tiger Style and begin building games for the iPhone.

Social media standout Chris Brogan will deliver the keynote address at the Ubiquity Marketing unSummit, set for Sept. 3 at the Shoreline Grill. Brogan's latest book, "Trust Agents", demonstrates how to tap into the social networks to build influence, reputation, and profits. The twist for this conference, however, is that rather than making your message broad and globally focused, you can use social media to turn your small business into a local powerhouse.

When the Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off for its 13-day mission this week, the crew will be carrying samples from an Austin biotech company. Astrogenetix has been working with NASA for more than a year, doing vaccine research in hopes of developing new medicines. The microgravity of space allows biological systems to interact more quickly than they do on Earth.

"Someone in Austin will start the conversation by telling you how progressive Austin is. The expression goes something like, "As goes Austin, so goes Texas in the opposite direction." But that may not be the whole story. Let’s take a journey through Austin history through the eyes of our local newspapers and tell the story of John Shillady’s visit to Austin as Executive Secretary of the NAACP in 1919." This is the second half of our two-part guest column.

Each Friday, we'll be offering up a sampling of Longhorn- and Big 12-related sports coverage making its way around the Web. This week: more watch lists, Blake Gideon on The Drop, and the tight end curse's latest victim.

Two weeks ago my friend Scott died suddenly. Two days ago my friend Charlie also died suddenly. I’d been mostly out of touch with both of them—Scott for a couple of years and Charlie for a couple of decades save for his trip here last spring for SXSW, when we reunited over Ethiopian food along with Chad, whose wife died suddenly five years ago. Chad and Charlie and Scott and I were all, I think, born in 1964, making us not terribly old. But perhaps, as some friends have speculated aloud upon hearing news of these deaths—and I have speculated, too—it’s getting to be “that time.” That time being, of course, when news of dying peers is going to become more common.

"Someone in Austin will start the conversation by telling you how progressive Austin is. The expression goes something like, "As goes Austin, so goes Texas in the opposite direction." But that may not be the whole story. Let’s take a journey through Austin history through the eyes of our local newspapers and tell the story of John Shillady’s visit to Austin as Executive Secretary of the NAACP in 1919."

The typical Texas Longhorn football player stands 6-foot-2, weighs 230 pounds and likes to listen to music in the locker room before the game. He loves watching SportsCenter, playing Madden or NCAA Football video games, and will tell you he came to Texas because of the family atmosphere. Also, he loves Halle Berry.

"Look at this shoe," DeLay marvels, his head wagging sassily as he holds the footwear up to the camera. "A Texan doesn't wear a shoe like this ... it's a little pahhhump with high heels!" Matthews responds with an all-too-predictable gay joke about DeLay maybe being too light in the shoes, prompting the disgraced former House Majority Leader to cackle.

Sugar Land-based TechRadium has sued Twitter in federal court, claiming that the popular messaging service infringes on its patents for a "mass notification" concept.

Once, back in New York, my cancer-surviving-and-deep-in-medical-debt friend and I were sitting around, watching a Japanese movie. I don't remember which movie it was, but I do remember that, as the opening credits rolled, the word 'EMOTION' popped onto the screen and some happy little music played.

The fourth annual Green Potato Ventures/Austinist/Party Ends Summer Extrav-O-Ganza boat party on is Thursday, August 27th. We're making this one a ditch-day affair, so take a half day, have a friend cover your shift, or just play hooky and join us aboard The Ark for an afternoon of beer, burgers, and bands in the middle of Lake Travis. Tickets to get on the boat are $27 each and a few are still available over on the boat party page. For a chance to win a spot on the boat, fill out our giveaway form after the jump!

The people-powered side of selecting panels for next year's South by Southwest Festival opened today as the SXSW Panel Picker came online.

Each Friday, we'll be offering up a sampling of Longhorn- and Big 12-related sports coverage making its way around the Web. This week: Lots of watch-lists, lots of camp coverage, and lots of rankings.

The fourth annual Green Potato Ventures/Austinist/Party Ends Summer Extrav-O-Ganza boat party on is Thursday, August 27th. We're making this one a ditch-day affair, so take a half day, have a friend cover your shift, or just play hookie and join us aboard The Ark for an afternoon of beer, burgers, and bands in the middle of Lake Travis.

Oh my gosh, y’all! Have you seen the news? All these Tea Party people are, like, storming Town Hall meetings hosted by Democrat representatives, and getting all up in their grills, and screaming at them that health care reform is turning us into Russia. Clearly these protestors have not had the pleasure of a bottle of Stoli and a night with Natasha—as have I—hence their poor view of our Soviet comrades. But before you go getting all pissed off at them, let’s just stop for a minute and hear them out. I think maybe they have some valid points, which is, no doubt, why they are making these points so LOUDLY. So we can hear them! Now, you might say, Spike! Are you off your nut? To which I respond, Not at all. See, I have spent the better part of the week in Midland, TX, hometown of George and Laura Bush. And, as a temp resident of the La Quinta Inn out on I-20 in Midland, not only have I been drinking the agua, I’ve had the benefit of complimentary morning lobby waffles in the shape of the Lone Star State and the pleasure of Fox News being blasted from the TV as I waffle-munch. And you know, from what I’m hearing from the Foxy anchors, sounds like this Obama fella is trying to pass some sort of sinister program that is going to, among other things, insist that we euthanize the aging baby boomers asap.

Believe it or not, Satanists are pretty much just like you and me. This is assuming, of course, that you and me wore black trench coats and played with big foam swords in the courtyard outside my college dorm. Which I did not do. But still. There's more to a person than his or her taste in outerwear or choice of sword construction material. When it comes down to it, the meeting of Satanists, Dark Pagans, Left-Hand-Path Occultists, et al. really wasn't that different from any other meeting of like-minded individuals that I've attended.

A Texas judge has ruled that Microsoft cannot sell its cornerstone word processor, Microsoft Word, because of patent infringement.

College football is more than chest-painting, screaming fans and oversized young men crashing into each other at high speed. (Although those are two of its good points.) Look deeper and you'll discover personal, dramatic elements that rival any in pop culture, from Battlestar-Galactica-level intrigue to characters as deep and complicated as those on Mad Men.

Each Friday, we'll be offering up a sampling of Longhorn- and Big 12-related sports coverage making its way around the Web. This week: Big 12 media days, Aaron Ross' crib, Jordan Shipley, Colt McCoy, and more.

Last Saturday, I got a cryptic notice from Travis County suggesting, as best as I could understand it, that my last divorce—which happened over two years ago—did not, in fact, happen. As the courthouse was closed until Monday, this gave my adorable inner-neurotic plenty of time to race to all sorts of dark corners. This despite the fact that I possess a signed, stamped, official copy of the divorce decree, which I clutched to my bosom, like a newborn to the tit, for 48 hours straight waiting for word that the county clerk had made an error. Of the various scary places I visited in my mind, I imagined what still being married might mean. It could mean that my gay marriage to Warren—we have a domestic partnership so that I can have insurance— was void. This, in turn, could mean that I wasn’t legally insured when I had my womb ripped out last fall. Which could mean I might owe $20,000 to the insurance company or even that I might have to return to the hospital to have this faulty part reinstalled.

Obviously there are lots of folks who never outgrow the spirit realm. Shirley MacLaine comes to mind first, but also some people I actually know and trust. And I've always had a sort of lurking question regarding subject: Are they feeling something I've forgotten how to feel, or do they have skills that I don't have, or are they just plain crazy?

Although DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium now holds more than 100,000 people, it still can be tough to get a ticket for a Longhorn home football game. The secret to snagging great seats lies in knowing the ways of the stock market. Here's what you need to know to be the Buffett of the box seats, rather than the Madoff of the mezzanine.