took one of the most wretched shits of my life inside a Chinese toilet in the Forbidden City in the center of Beijing, where the only toilet paper to be found within four square miles was in my treacherous memory and the air was thick with the scent of dodged death and heavy with a Marlboro Reds haze. ...

The Brave One Jodie Foster's pool-table (or was it pinball machine?) scene in The Accused was burned into our early middle-school brains, so will that make it harder or easier to watch her get brutalized again in this new movie? At least her character is totally different - this time she's an upscale New Yorker who gets beaten by unknown assailants in Central Park (and the movie is directed by Neil Jordan, of The......

Saturday night at Stubb's will likely be awfully warm (the forecast shows around 90 degrees), but it's worth braving the August heat for this strong of a bill. For reasons unknown to us, Rufus Wainwright and Neko Case are both playing at Stubb's, a venue that either performer could likely play on their own. Rufus Wainwright is the moody, theatrical brother in the musical Wainwright clan, which includes father Loudon Wainwright III, sister Martha,......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it's sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal......

The following is a weekly column by guest contributor Laurie Gallardo. Hear her Friday evenings on KUT 90.5FM -- The Editors Greetings, chilly willies. I will now quote something I heard this morning from the esteemed producer of In Black America on KUT, John L. Hanson, Jr.  Mr. Hanson is someone I hold in very high regard. Everyone should. To put it as succinctly as possible, he is a bad ass. This morning in......

Clean out that purse of yours. Go on, just do it. Notice all of those candy wrappers stuffed in the hidden side pockets? Someone decided to put those to use. That certain "someone" consists of the creative team behind Ecoist, the planet friendly, fashion forward company based on the design of three women from Mexico, Chile, and Miami. Made from wrappers that are misprinted or just discarded, these bags are little gems that need......

Seattlest saw a house party get senselessly attacked with a shotgun and end in seven dead. A local senator is debated and their version of the big dig is investigated. To truly get to the bottom of it they interview the writer Jonathan Raban. Bostonist has its first birthday party and investigates how to attach more gambling dollars to the Red Sox. Benjamin Franklin is celebrated and Johnny Damon is not. Image by Ethan Bagley......

In truth, Austinist doesn’t know much about The Gates, here in Texas. But we were living in New York last February, and here’s what we recollect: there were 7,503 of them trailing through Central Park, all saffron colored; vaguely reminiscent of temple torii with a twist of Tibetan prayer flags, they seemed sacred and fragile. But, at the time, we weren't wowed. Today, though – a full year later – we’re thanking our lucky stars......

Drawing upon the success of last year's art installation in Central Park, entitled The Gates -- the record of which is now displayed in the Austin Museum of Art's Christo and Jeanne-Claude exhibition (from the Würth Museum in Künzelsau, Germany) -- Whole Foods and Austin Green Art are sponsoring a similar art project in town. Only, rather than employing world-famous artists, the "Green Gates" exhibit is having local schoolkids doing the creating (from Austin......

Austinist presents our "Peg Your Clique Quiz" ... and we're still embarrassed by our score Additional SXSW bands were announced (Platinum Pass for auction!), and we finally saw the first week of great music releases for 2006 Reviews: Waterloo and Veronica (books); Danceworks Laboratory's latest works-in-progress showing (dance) Here's to getting past the most depressing day of the year. Thankfully, Carnivale's just a few days away! Is our fair city getting its own Central......

F R I D A Y [ 2 7 ] [music] Explosions in the Sky, Octopus Project and A Hawk and a Hacksaw at Emo's (Sold Out!) [music] Brandi Carlile at Cactus Cafe (9pm) [music] Zilla featuring Michael Travis (String Cheese Incident) at Stubb's [music] Shake Your Ass Record Release Party with Chili Cold Blood, This Damn Town, Possessed By Paul James, Black Joe Lewis & Cool Breeze at Beerland [music] Chant, Exit, and......

It has taken almost 20 years to reach this point, but the city of Austin will soon have its very own central park right in the heart of town. You have probably seen the bulldozers and construction workers and excavation going on near the Palmer Events Center over the past few months. That was Phase 1, and with it complete, work on Phase 2 will begin in the next month or so and is......

The white ducks at the Central Park pond near Central Market between Guadalupe and Lamar. The big tree all the children love to climb.......