Four days remain of the 2012 SXSW Film Festival -- plenty of time to catch some good stuff. Wondering what to see? Yesterday we told you about the Tugg.com Buzz Screenings, and last night the SXSW Film Awards were handed out. more ›

The Radio Television Digital News Association has awarded two National Edward R. Murrow awards to KUT News. The public radio station's first national Murrow awards are for the "hard news" story Doctors on Healthcare (reported by Nathan Bernier) and the "audio news" series on the end of the space shuttle program. Since the News program at KUT was established in 2002, they've garnered 26 regional Murrow awards. The complete list of the 2011 National Murrow awardwinners is here. more ›

Local baker Barrie Cullinan has baked some of your favorite breads, even if you might not realize it: Cullinan is formerly of Vespaio, and now bakes and delivers bread to La Boîte Café, Antonelli's Cheese Shop, Jo's Coffee, and Royal Blue Grocery. Her creations are also the house breads at Eastside Show Room and David Bull's brand new Second Bar + Kitchen. In the upcoming January 2011 issue of Bon Appetit, writer Andrew Knowlton names Ms. Cullinan one of the "Top 10 Best Bread Bakeries in America," which is quite an accomplishment - especially for someone without a retail storefront (yet). While there will be a retail spot at some point in 2011, in the meantime, it's nice to know that our cheesemongers, chefs, and grocers have such an eye for locally-sourced artisan products. more ›

What you can do to participate in recognizing your gooderest-of-gooder peers is to simply think of someone (or hell, several someones if your clique is that tight) who has done something really kick ass this past year, write up a quick summary of that kickassedness, and then email it to Spike. BUT DON'T TELL THEM ABOUT YOUR EFFORTS TO DO THIS. Why the hell not? you might be asking yourself. Well, because it is awesome to surprise people with positive reinforcement. So here's what's meant to go down after Spike has agreed (she only has about 20-25 spots she can fill, so she will have to be prudent with her award-choosing-methodology) with your kickass opinion: more ›

• Rio police concentrating more on favelas in prep for 2016 Olympic games.
• Freezing weather shuts down Gatwick airport.
• FTC wants more privacy protection for online users.

On Tuesday night the SXSW Film Festival and Conference announced a bevy of jury and audience selected award winners. We were pleased to see that two of our favorite films of the festival, Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture and Jeff Malmberg's Marwencol (both of which we previewed here and here) were awarded the Narrative Feature Jury Prize and the Documentary Feature Jury Prize, respectively. Besides the absolutely outstanding programming this year, there has also been a SXSW Film Festival first: within hours of its World Premiere screening last Saturday night, Monsters, a sci-fi alien infection tale by first time feature director Gareth Edwards, was picked up by Magnet Releasing. more ›

Round Rock Donut has been one of Austin's best snacks and desserts for the better part of 70 years. While it flies somewhat under the radar, the devoted cult following has led to both distribution throughout the Austin metro area and widespread acclaim. The latest chapter in this story comes from Bon Appetit's Foodist and "Iron Chef America" judge Andrew Knowlton, who named Round Rock Donuts one of "10 Best Places for Doughnuts Across the Country" in an article last week. For the record, Knowlton's limited comments lauded the bakery's low prices and cake-style consistency, and name checked the applesauce, chocolate, and blueberry as flavor favorites. more ›

March 6th (7 to 10 p.m.), 2010 marks the 12th Annual Austin Under 40 Awards hosted by the Young Men's Business League, and Young Women's Alliance at the AT&T Executive Conference Center. more ›

• Abstinence-only programs might actually work?
• Finally, "don't ask, don't tell" will go under review.
• Groundhog sez: Six more weeks of winter, where winter actually exists.

For over thirty years, the Austin Visual Arts Association (AVAA) has supported area artists behind the scenes and behind the canvas by organizing weekly classes to foster artistic talents, arranging discussion panels to encourage conversations about art, and assembling exhibits to give exposure to deserving artists. Tonight, AVAA will host the first ever Austin Visual Arts Awards to recognize the many talented creatives that call Austin home. The awards ceremony will take place at the Austin Museum of Art Downtown beginning at 7pm. Tickets to the awards may be purchased online or at the door for $25.00 - admission includes a cocktail reception and networking event. more ›

• It's snow, people. Relax.
• Evil corporate empire buys another evil corporate empire. No plans to charge for , so that's good.
• The state of Virginia is launching a probe into a shady business run by the partycrashing Salahis.

Thursday, March 12 (we’re giving you a bit of heads-up so you have time to make rezzies), Billy Bob Thornton will be inducted as an honorary Texan. The Oscar-winning actor, writer, and musician was born in Hot springs, Arkansas, but is actually being honored for his “quintessential Southern ‘bad boy’ image,” which really, when you think about it, a “Southern bad boy image” is so Texan we might as well have invented the damn thing. more ›

• Obama's Blackberry ushers 2002 technology into the White House.
• The First Family causes J.Crew website to crash.
• Oath do over!

The American Red Cross of Central Texas is currently accepting nominations for their Heroes of Central Texas award. Any Central Texas resident can nominate; the nominees must reside in the American Red Cross of Central Texas service area (Bastrop, Burnet, Caldwell, Hays, Lee, Llano, Milam, Travis and Williamson counties) and their good deed must have taken place between 1/1/08 and 1/31/09. Past nominees have been animals who have committed courageous acts, youths who have helped their community, private citizens working to better the community, members of the armed forces and more. Nominations should consist of: nominee's name, address, phone and email; nominator's phone, email and address; the story of the nominee's deed (with pictures and/or links to news stories detailing the act included). E-mail nominations to heroes(at)centex(dot)redcross(dot)org. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on March 25, with both nominees and winners celebrated on the organization's website and other media throughout the month of March. [American Red Cross of Central Texas] more ›

The Radio-Television News Directors Association's 2008 Regional Edward R. Murrow award-winners were announced yesterday. Texas and Oklahoma share Region 6, and some of our local news broadcasters cleaned up. more ›