When the box arrived, I set it, unopened, on the kitchen table. That night at dinner, Warren asked, faux innocently, “What’s this?” I encouraged him to open it. I knew a friend in Houston had ordered me a belated birthday gift—a do-it-yourself-cheese-making-kit— and that Warren and I would both get a kick out of it, so I wanted him to do the honors and open it. “No, you open it,” he said. So I did. It was not what I expected. Instead, I found dog shit. Lots and lots of dog shit. Okay, so it was fake dog shit. But still, I was thrilled. First of all, I love fake dog shit. Second of all, I realized Warren had been paying more attention than I realized, and had heard me weeks before when I extolled the virtues of this particular item. This box of shit, I realized, was a gift from him in response to that conversation. So sweet! more ›

With more than 1,600 weekend screenings of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight already sold out (according to movietickets.com), it's quickly shaping up to be one of the summer's hottest flicks. So hot, in fact, that we had to stage a brutal dance-fight for the right to review it. Austinist contributors Luke Quinton and Darcie Duttweiler both caught IMAX screenings earlier this week, and what follows is a conversation about human nature, Oscar nominations, and shirtless Christan Bale. more ›