Harvard scores papers related to Norman Mailer's sex life three years after the author sold his official archives to UT. Yo-Yo Ma will play with the Austin Symphony later this year; maybe some of the parking issues evident this Sunday will have been dealt with by then. Burnet Road Farmer's Market land for sale (again). Hope you didn't try to bribe a fake cop downtown earlier this month. Infant asphyxiation deaths at an increase this year in Travis County, Austin's Center for Child Protection reports....

Photo by slopjop on flickr More information has been released about some of the goings-on at the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) compound near Eldorado. A witness told authorities that beds at the "temple" there was used by older men to deflower their young (underage) brides. When authorities stormed the "temple", they discovered a bed in a dishevelled state, with a long hair therein. Found in the "temple annex" were......

Photo by Merrick Brown on flickr City charter revision committee wants your input on single-member districts. Executive director of CAMPO resigns effective January 15. Man attacks cop with screwdriver after the policeman catches him breaking into cars at the Highland Mall parking lot. A Hutto man is the first to be treated under Jessica's Law, legislation which deals harshly with child predators. Two adolescent boys (aged 11 and 14) have been charged with attempting to......

Son of Rambow - Free Screening!Monday, December 10thAlamo Drafthouse South Lamar (1120 S. Lamar)Free, 7pm[info]Amidst the blood, guts and graphic violence of Fantastic Fest 2007, which we lovingly embraced in all its gory glory, was nestled a small, quiet film about the wonders and struggles of growing up and growing out. Son of Rambow was like a tall glass of Iced Tea on a 110 degree day: refreshing, calming and cool. We went into......

The Paramount presents White ChristmasDecember 9th, 11th and 12thParamount Theater (713 Congress Avenue)$7 / $5 Children, Students and Seniors, 7pm-ish, Tickets available at the box office day of show[info]Being that we live in a heat belt where it is not uncommon to see kids raking leaves in tank tops and jorts on Christmas Day (seriously, we've done it...well, not the jorts part), dreaming of a white Christmas is something that we are intimately familiar......

Image from MySpace Dinosaur Jr, Awesome Color, Grand ChampeenFriday December 7Emos (603 Red River St)Doors at 9, programme at 10[info] | [tickets]There are three kinds of Dinosaur Jr fan: the 80s scenesters with a Deep Wound cassette and fond memories of J Mascis & Co doing sloppy Peter Frampton covers at the Elks Lodge; children of the '90s who thought "Feel The Pain" was probably a Foo Fighters song; and kids who read Pitchfork often......

Judge Jeanne Meurer may be running for Travis County District Attorney. Pimp C was found dead yesterday afternoon. He was 33. How To Green Your Christmas Tree: Tips for having a more eco-friendly holiday. Colors! Gmail adds colored labels. Guerrilla artist Banksy in Bethlehem, proving if "it's safe for sissy artists, I think it's safe for everyone." Here’s What We Need: Some Way to Associate Our Low Fares with Worn Out Vaginas Using a......

It’s list-making season – for children who believe in Santa, music writers, etc – and there are three rap albums that you are bound to see wherever it is that you see lists: Jay-Z’s American Gangster, Kanye West’s Graduate, and Lil’ Wayne’s Da Drought 3. These artists all create good music and lots of people purchased and enjoyed all three of these works. Lil’ Wayne, in particular, may have produced the two most gifted hours......

image from rriiccee.com RIICCEE feat. Vincent Gallo and Eric ErlandsonMonday, Dec. 3rdAlamo Drafthouse Downtown (320 E 6th Street)9:45, $20.00[info] | [tickets]Oh, Vincent Gallo, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways: a.) You slept with Paris Hilton years before she was famous. Proof. [don't worry, it's not porn.] b.) You made Buffalo 66, one of the very few late-90s "cult classic" flicks that is actually any good. c.) You offered samples of your,......

Photo by jcolman on flickrSam Kambo has been living in Texas since 1994 when he came to Austin to attend UT. After his graduation from UT, he worked for the LCRA. At least, he did until the fall of 2006, when he was arrested and detained in San Antonio for allegedly taking part in a mass murder. Before Kambo came to Texas, he was one of eight leaders of a coup in Sierra Leone in......

Paris Is Burning DVD Cover Scion Independent Film Series Presents Paris Is BurningWednesday, November 28thAlamo Drafthouse South Lamar (1120 S. Lamar)Free, 9:30PM, RSVP Required[info]The musical stylings of "strike a pose, there's nothing to it", "you better work" and "I'm too sexy" entered our lexicon at a time when we were still sporting a perm and a retainer, so understanding that these pop radio songs were simply a corporatization of an entire underground subculture was far......

Image from the Paramount websiteBlade Runner: The Final CutNovember 18-23Paramount Theater (713 Congress Avenue)$8/$6 children, students, and seniors. Sunday, 2, 4:30 & 7 pm; Monday-Wednesday, 7:30 pm; Thursday, 7 pm; Friday, 4:30, 7 & 9:30 pm [info]Before Minority Report, before A Scanner Darkly, came by far the awesomest flick ever to be made out of a Philip K. Dick novel (sorry, Linklater). It's noir, it's scifi, it's scary, it's mind-bending: Blade Runner, which was released......

Stay away from the Denver International Airport. Major anti-abortion group endorses that Law & Order guy. Ship spills more than 1.3 million gallons of oil into the Black Sea. As if Russia's environment wasn't effed up enough... New studies show that children who are identified as troubled in kindergarten might end up doing fine in elementary school. So give the kids a chance, okay? Having good friends at work makes you less stressed out.......

CASA QBsTonight, Nov. 7thDog and Duck Pub (406 West 17th St.)5pm - 7pm[info]CASA of Travis County is looking for a few good men. Facing an unfortunate shortage of male volunteers to match up with a growing number of boys in need, they'd like to present their case over a pint or two and complimentary snacks tonight at The Dog and Duck Pub. A brief primer if you're not familiar with CASA's work: according to......

Londonist: Photo by ChloeLondonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story......

We have a big crush on Tom Perrotta. We lurve the tales he crafts about ordinary people who end up in extraordinary predicaments because they just can't seem to bring themselves to say what they are thinking, even when knowing that it would save them a boat load of grief. We identify with being well-intentioned but sometimes ill-advised and from time to time believe that our own inner monologue is actually the narration for......

Normally we're wary of anything that hints of the pejorative chick-lit (or related single-twentysomething-hipster-trying-to- get-lucky-with-the-opposite-sex genre) as it's about as wispy-thin and over-played as emo haircuts. But Diane Vadino, whose debut novel is entitled Smart Girls Like Me, had credentials enough for us to take a closer look. Vadino was an original staff member of that magnetic bastion of literary cool, McSweeney's, who churn out more high-minded humor and literature than you could shake a......

If you're interested in cuisine as well as creating, Texas Culinary Academy is hosting its 2nd Annual Mediterranean Festival tomorrow from 10am-4pm. The event will showcase traditional foods of the Mediterranean, complete with a Mediterranean food symposium, cooking demonstrations, hands-on cooking classes for adults and children, and wine tastings. The cooking demonstrations will offer tips and tricks for Meze, Tapas, and Tagine from Noon-3pm, while the hands-on classes for adults and children (which will include......

Last year, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas (BBBS-CT) provided over 82,000 hours of mentoring to 1,588 children in Travis, Williamson, McLennan and Brazos counties. This year, they've teamed up with the Neighborhood Longhorns Program (NLP), and are currently recruiting and pairing UT students with children at AISD elementary schools for a one-on-one mentoring relationship. Volunteers are needed to provide educational and social support through mentoring and tutoring for kids ranging from 6 to......

Like an accidental tourist, Terry George stumbled into filmmaking while penning a semi-autobiographical stage play with scribe partner Jim Sheridan about a failed prison break. Stemming from that first true-story collaboration, he has continued as both a writer and director, chronicling the triumph of the human spirit, and helping to catapult injustices in Ireland and the heinous genocide in Rwanda into our national consciousness with the critically acclaimed Hotel Rwanda. In conjunction with the regional......

Austin SWAT has been deployed outside a North Austin home where a man has barricaded himself. According to the Statesman, the incident was precipitated by APD attempting to serve an arrest warrant. The Austin school district has asked the parents of Walnut Creek Elementary School students who live in the Longbranch Apartments at 304 Masterson Pass to make arrangements to pick up their children from school today. Students who ride the Austin school buses, Rabbit,......

Even people with kids like to watch movies. Partly because family films are just plain fun and educational, and partly because they, if only for a short period of time, provide a distraction from the endless, high-pitched squealing that children provide. But whatever the motivation, the Austin Film Festival's Family Film Series has a little something for everyone this year. Check out our rundown! Moondance Alexander | Dir. Michael Damian Saturday, October 13 12:30pm, Regal......

Last Thursday's Texas Conference for Women brought 7,500 folks to the Austin Convention Center for some estrogen-fueled networking and personal development. With panels on starting a small business and caring for children and elderly parents, the conference served its diverse demographic well. While we wished for a little more substance from some of the speakers and panelists — the keynote session featuring Nancy Giles and Elizabeth Vargas mined well-worn material to the point of blandness......

Welcome to the latest edition of Band Slam!, wherein I navigate the murky waters of Austin's club listings for the best and worst band names playing this week. The only rule: I can't know anything about the actual band, thus limiting my critique strictly to the band's chosen moniker. Let's cook!! Harptallica - Elysium, Friday 10/05 After the Radiohead reggae album, all bets are off as far as taking ultimate creative license with canonized......

Austin couple wants neighbors to know that they are not sex offenders. Large community turnout last night for forum on the future of Johnston High. The ER at Dell Children's hospital is already overwhelmed. Horses are allowed to stop at state-owned livestock pens at the border on their way to Mexico to be slaughtered. In other border news: Mayors of some Texas border towns are trying to stave off the border fence by not......

Sad, but true: Sunday night, after having some drinks on Sixth Street, a young couple drove to Hutto and left their babies in the car as they indulged in margaritas at a restaurant. The children, a one-year-old boy and five-month-old girl, were locked in a Ford Expedition for half an hour on that warm evening before the cops were called. Luckily some people in the parking lot had noticed the small children in the......

Your tax dollars at work: while the Governor's Mansion is being worked on, the Perrys will be renting a million dollar home in a Barton Creek gated community. 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day could be put into Bear Creek if Belterra developer's permit gets approved. Fifteen people were involved in a multi-car collision on Mopac early this morning. Tx Dept. of Health Services Commissioner tries to convince the feds our state is prepared......

Today is National (Park)ing Day, where groups from all around the country get together to create temporary art and beautification projects in metered public parking spots. "National Park(ing) Day is an opportunity to reclaim public parking spaces for parks and open spaces - places for people to enjoy," say event organizers at the Trust for Public Land. "The quality of our daily experience is only enhanced by often neglected necessities like parks, playgrounds, and gardens......

Austin's PBS affiliate KLRU-TV received a record 21 Emmy nominations from the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The awards dinner will take place in Dallas on Saturday, October 27th. The complete list of KLRU honors includes: KLRU producer Elena Ramirez (Public/Current/Community Affairs Feature Segment category), for her story "Getting By in Austin." This documentary, which aired on Austin Now, focused on the difficulty of families making minimum wage......

When Will Stewart of Austin bought a ticket in the outfield seats for the Chicago White Sox-LA Angels game on Sunday, he had no idea he was about to become a part of history. But he was in the right place at the right time as Jim Thome's game-winning home run bounced off the rows behind Stewart and into his hands. It was Thome's 500th career home run, a mark that only 23 players in......