Movie poster from Golden Compass official website** Ed note: our sincere apologies for not posting this on Friday, when you'd most likely be looking for new movies to watch. But cheer up! These are all still playing! The Golden Compass: At last, the adaptation of the wonderful, sublime, transcendent Philip Pullman books hits the screen. Nicole Kidman is the icy antiheroine, Daniel Craig is the father figure, and a child actress named Dakota (but not......

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,......

Comprised of Dominic Cooper and a few friends, The Straw Bear Band are a U.K. folktronica act poised with acoustic guitars in hand and feet sewn to synthesizer pedals. While their acoustic/electronic juxtaposition is nothing new, The Straw Bear Band try to mix things up on their debut From The Sea To The Stars with an ambitious, nearly cinematic storyline. It isn’t often that a band will summarize the scope of their album in......

The Cure will be performing at the Austin Music Hall next June as per their official website. The date has been added as a part of their (formerly postponed) The Cure 4Tour North American leg. The current line-up of the band is listed as Robert Smith (of course!), Simon Gallup (bass), Porl Thompson (guitar), and Jason Cooper on drums. A new album is in the works as well. In the interim, the Shout Out......

ACL Previews Interview: Ghostland Observatory Previews: The Broken West, Big Sam’s Funky Nation & Rose Hill Drive Previews: Billy Joe Shaver and Fionn Regan Previews: Brandon Rhyder and Ocote Soul Sounds Interview: The Broken West Previews: Sylvia St. James, Jeffrey Steele, and Amy Cook Interview: Bloc Party ACL Fest Updates: Google Mashup, Contests, Eco-Chic Previews: Augustana, Amos Lee Interview: Peter, Bjorn, and John ACL Band Clash, Round 3: Wilco Vs My Morning Jacket Travis......

A pair of tiny abandoned ducklings found battling against waves after being washed out to sea are being nursed back to health - in a teacup. Weekly World News Closes Its Doors (Not Alien Related) Deerhunter Hunted at Gunpoint After Gig: "They Took My F*cking Camel Lights" Texas = Doomed: Perry Assigns Creationist to Board of Education Spoiler Alert: Rowling Gives Details on What Happens After the Book's Epilogue......

As most of us know, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is making it harder and harder for Internet radio producers to finance their stations. Retroactive royalty fees and increased future fees are forcing webcasters into a corner: the fees increase both per-listener and per-song rates, and are based on audience size, increasing as listeners do. This proposed scheme would put public radio stations that stream their broadcasts and web-based radio programming at a great disadvantage......

[Via Chris Garcia @ Austin360] According to the Hollywood Reporter, a Memphis projectionist named Jesse Morrison was fired after writing a scathing early review of the new Fantastic Four flick for Austin-based Ain't It Cool News. (Because it's apparently some kind of closely guarded trade secret that Silver Surfer is going to blow.) In his capacity as a projectionist for the Malco Theater chain, Morrison was able to sneak a peek at quite a few......

About a month ago, we reported that Rep. Warren Chisum was pushing another weird bill through the Texas House, this time one that would force all Texans to either take a State-approved marriage counseling course or pay an increased marriage fee in order to be married in this state. This bill eventually passed the House, but minus a lot of Chisum's heavy-handed language, thanks to the alert efforts of House members from both parties. Job......

In response to yesterday's killings on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, The Univeristy of Texas will darken its tower starting tonight through Thursday, April 19. All flags on campus will also be lowered to half-staff through Sunday, April 22. In addition, UT Student Government is currently planning a candle-light vigil to take place on Monday, April 23. Although the time is yet to be determined, plan on it starting sometime......

This was not a very happy week for the -ist network as one of our own, Phillyist co-editor Star C. Foster, passed away early in the week. Her wit, intelligence, and good nature shone through the site, making Phillyist an immensely fun read. She was loved by many and will be missed by all. Phillyist paid tribute to her this week with a heartfelt letter to her and an obituary. And now, the awkward......

Photograph of Rick Santorum conceding defeat with his family by Gene J. Puskar/AP The -ists this week had politics on the brain. And what goes better with politics? Partying-- that's two great tastes in one. Oh, and Kevin Federline...can't forget about Kevin Federline. That's three great tastes in one. -Bostonist discussed two big state issues-- what sort of math constitutes a marriage and what kind of alcohol can be sold in most grocery stores.......

*Exploitation alert* But, daddy, who will protect us from the sodomites now? Apparently Rick Santorum had to concede so early that his kids didn’t even get to stay up past their bedtimes. Shucks. In his report in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, James O’Toole discusses Democratic State Treasurer Bob Casey’s victory over the much maligned Rick Santorum. Hopefully the soon-to-be-former senator’s kids pictured above in the amazing photograph by the Post-Gazette's Robin Rombach, will not......

The Austin Film Festival starts this Thursday, and if you have not purchased your badge or pass yet, you still have time. If you’ve got some lame excuse about why you can’t buy a pass or a badge, we don’t want to hear it. However, we are offering a pair of passes to the week of screenings. Enter your information below, and then sit in anticipation by your computer. We will alert the winner......

Locally, the lead up to Out of Bounds is getting so tense that Austin's finest were called out last Friday night to investigate a suspicious package next to one of the city's busiest improv and sketch theatres - the Hideout. After APD cordoned off the entire block (and evacuated all of the surrounding buildings) for a rather sad looking duffle bag, shows had to be canceled. Much like our above-reproach presidenté, we can only......

We like Chris Bell; we really do. He's a (oxymoron alert - to preempt any comments from snarky readers) great lawyer and a proven civic leader with his heart in the right place. We'd love to see him win the governor's mansion. We really would. We miss the days when the big white house at 11th and Colorado was occupied by a Democrat. We even shed a little tear into our sour cream at Las......

Spoiler alert: in this show, actors dress up like red cans and do stuff. That’s the long and the short of Rubber Repertory’s latest production with the straightforward title. For a show boldly proclaimed to the crowd as a “new breed of performance” by the guy that took our tickets (actor Lowell Bartholomee), the show is surprisingly safe (artistically speaking) – amounting to a rudimentary investigation of group dynamics, some X-Files moments, adolescent scare......

For the past 40 years, the federal Fair Housing Act has made it illegal for newspapers to run discriminatory housing advertisements. Ads like this have become more common in the online world, with the numerous amount of housing and advertising sites available on the internet. The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has a case filed against Craigslist stating that they should be required to screen these posts. A hearing is currently......

There is a Delicious Barbecue Sandwich alert going out to Central East Austin, where, over the weekend, it was discovered that the tiny Pig Out! Restaurant (which specializes in catering as well as eat-in) at the corner of Manor and Rogge has a chopped beef sandwich that should be inspected post-haste by all area barbecue nerds. In an effort to stick it to July, it's recommended that all thirsty patrons suck down a gallon......

It's getting pretty damn difficult to be a smoker these days. First the city kicks us out of our beloved bars to enjoy our filthy habit, now the state is grabbing into our back pocket without even the courtesy of a reach around. Self--righteous jerk-offs. As Bill Hicks once said, "I'd quit smokin if I didn't think I'd become one of them." The legislature finally passed bills to finance the state's schools. The legislation......

The National Weather Service is putting you on alert, Austin. There's rain coming. And wind. And hail. Really big hail. The NWS says winds of up to 80 mph can be expected. EIGHTY! The rains are expected to hit Austin around 10pm, [from the Statesman] "Bob Rose, a meteorologist for the Lower Colorado River Authority, said the line of storms likely will move into the Austin area around 10 p.m. and will remain in......

*Congratulations to reader Jenny Miller, winner of the ticket giveaway.* Next Tuesday night, Spark: KLRU's Engaging Speaker Series will feature hip-hop pioneer and social activist Chuck D, along with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Leonard Pitts. UT professor S. Craig Watkins, author of Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Popular Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement, will lead the discussion. *Ticket Giveaway Alert:* We're giving away a pair of tickets to go be part......

*(Giveaway Alert: Email us (editors@austinist.com) with the names of two of your favorite Alejandro Escovedo songs and be entered to win two tickets to By the Hand of the Father.*) By the Hand of the Father, the critically acclaimed original work written by Theresa Chavez, Oscar Garza, Eric Gutierrez and Rose Portillo, returns home to Austin this weekend. The performance, featuring music by the legendary Alejandro Escovedo (whom you already know we love), dramatizes......

Geek alert! Someone at SXSWi is uploading photos from today's Kottke/Armstrong keynote as it goes on. Technology at work! More from SXSWi......

As mentioned yesterday here on Austinist, Rude Mechanicals has mounted an upgraded version of last year's workshopped production, Get Your War On!. ( In case you haven't been reading Austinist, or didn't see the cover of this week's Austin Chronicle, we'll give you the lowdown on this unique work. Basically, shortly after 9/11/2001, a New Yorker named David Rees started writing, and publishing online, an acerbic, satirical comic strip called Get Your War On!.......

*UPDATE: The Amber Alert has been called off after Ms. Olvera called police and informed them she would be coming in to talk to them about the incident. Good for you, Jessica. There has been no confirmation of the rumor that Jessica was at Planet K.* An Amber Alert has been issued for a missing Cedar Park sixteen year-old, Jessica Olvera. Her ex-boyfriend Daniel Andrade Jr. is thought to have abducted her around 9:30pm......

If you celebrate the Day After Thanksgiving, we'd like to alert you to a shopping holiday of equal import. The seventh-annual Texas-wide Sales Tax Holiday is this weekend, August 5 - 7. While the state is still going to take its cut on sales of frivolous items like safety clothes and ski boots, most standard-issue shoe and clothing items under $100 are tax-exempt. The powers that be offer a comprehensive list of exempt and......

The terror alert in the U.S was raised to code orange for the nation's mass transit systems in response to the rush hour explosions in London. The heightened alert will apply to "regional and inner city passenger rail, subways and metropolitan bus systems." The nation's overall terror alert status will remain at yellow. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said U.S. authorities have no specific credible evidence pointing to an attack in the United States.......

Someone sound the mother-effin' alarm, cause here at Austinist HQ, the Dance Party Alert Phone is ringing off the hook. It seems that tomorrow night, June 10th, Big Red Sun (1102. E. Cesar Chavez) is hosting ROCKIT 4. This dance-tacular party starts at 8pm and runs until midnight. Cover is $7 and free Pale Ale will be provided. DJs Bigface, Manny & Tigre Liu are lined up to spin the jams, and Brownout will......

Apparently many gay Roman Catholics this week were dissapointed with the selection of Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI. A staunch doctrinal conservative, even for a pope, Ratzinger has made it quite clear that homosexuality is a 'tendency ordered towards an intrinsic moral evil." Ouch. Well even if the Church is against them, at least their is still the state. Oh wait, yeah sorry gay commmunity this isn't your week. Earlier today the House......