Today's the day! This is it! Ya es el dia! Voila! Israel has now said that they might go into Gaza and reoccupy it. The Monkeywrench Gang is alive and well. Two moms in Boston got into a litigation-worthy fight at a Chuck E. Cheese. Study says, blocking TV/video game time helps kids slim down. Did you read that fishy-seeming article in the New York Times this weekend about the ex-gang-member living in Oregon?......

Body found in Lady Bird Lake this morning by the hike-and-bike trail. Fire started in Southeast Travis County, about 6 miles from the airport, by a man with a cutting torch. AISD teacher fingerprinting kicked off today. Whoop?...

Still from The Public Enemy The Public Enemy w/ White Ghost Shivers LiveWednesday, December 05Alamo Drafthouse Downtown (320 E 6th Street)9:30pm, $12, 21+[info] | [tickets]Calling all boozehounds! December 5th is your day to party 1930s style, as we celebrate the ratification of the 21st amendment to the U.S. constitution. You know--the end of prohibition! On December 5th 1933, the Twenty-first amendment was officially ratified, out-amending the sucky, unpopular 18th amendment which outlawed the sale of......

Image from Austin City Connection.According to the Statesman, our beloved mayor nearly pulled a Chuck Norris when a Monarch construction truck blocked traffic on West Fifth Street. Story is he got out of his car, walked to the construction site and ripped into the project superintendent. He later indicated that he was sorry if his vulgarity offended any construction workers. Many Statesman commenters noted that if the mayor thinks it is bad to get stuck......

The Fiery Furnaces--they of the Friday and Saturday night headlines at Emo's Inside--have an unmistakable sound and an unmistakable presence. Between mastermind Matthew Friedberger's pounding around on three different keyboards, to sister Eleanor's ultra-intense vocals, The Fiery Furnaces are a band who's crafted quite a unique little niche in the psyche of music lovers all round that big ol' world. With their two-night to-do at Emo's coming less than a month after the release of......

Bush wants $45 billion more for Iraq, Afghanistan, and a couple other wars he's not even telling us about. Southern Californian fires drive hundreds of thousands of people out of their domiciles. Police officer in NYC goes off the tracks, shoots man in road rage incident. If that police officer wasn't screwed up enough for you... Republican voters ask: What Would Chuck Norris Do? MySpace soon to feature games (beyond the game you already......

Another Friday means another round of fresh outta the box movies. With summer's end possibly mere weeks away, these are our last days to indulge in the pastime of escaping Austin's scorching good vibes to sit in distracted air-conditioned comfort. And in some parts of the country it's already fall, which means there's a bumper crop of new movies out! The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: On one hand, this period......

It seems Chuck Woolery is back from the dead, chillin' at the beach out at Horseshoe Bay. While he's there, he's making ends meet by selling time shares home sites (at lease we think he's selling home sites - we're having a hard time figuring out exactly what is for sale). The commercials have been running on television in California and offering airfare and hotels to potential buyers, leading some Austinites to cry "Californication!" If......

Today we're rolling out a new weekly feature: Fashion Flash, where we profile one standout guy and girl. We may not be the style police, but we have a style-crush on these two people this week. What do you think? Tell us in the comments!TAS2-ONEAlison Benton Musician, spotted outside of Spiro's Where did you buy your clothes? Buffalo Exchange, Urban Outfitters and Cream Vintage. (The limited edition Sailor Jerry Chuck Taylor All Stars he's wearing......

Ken Webster has been having a mighty fine time of things lately. He was ushered into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame last summer. He was the subject of a big ol' cover article in the Austin Chronicle in April. Just last week he won an acting award from the 2007 Austin Critics' Table for two of his recent solo stage appearances, Thom Pain (based on nothing) and St. Nicholas (we can't help but think......

Costa Rica SA | Costa Rica, Inc. (Costa Rica) Hideout Theater, 11 AM The film explores with satirical black humor some absurd aspects of the Dominican Republic - Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA); such as the inclusion of war weapons as objects of commerce for Costa Rica, a country without an army, or the incorporation of Central American undersea resources as part of the United States’ definition of territory. Costa Rica, Inc. was......

Ah, the nineties. Cross Colours*. Plaid flannels. Yellow nugget gold rings. Sega Genesis. It was like, well, a time that was just before the current time, but after a particular decade which really, really marketed itself much better. Which is just too bad, really. Because in and amongst all that weed, war, and Tetris of the 90s, there was Yo MTV Raps (well, in the late 80s too, but whatever). And within that haven of......

"What the Stones were; what the Dandy Warhols should have been."* Strong words, even in today's desensitized rock-critisphere, but Lions In The Street have already opened for Kings Of Leon, been shopped-and-dropped by major labels, and recorded their debut EP in a dingy basement with an 8-track and broken mics because they could hardly afford beer. What are you gonna tell them, be less rock and roll please? This is the kind of band......

Chuck Norris and his World Combat League had better work on those fists of legend, because there's a new breed of no-holds-barred brawlers coming to Austin this March. We're talking, of course, about the all-female Pillow Fight League. These fearsome ladies are Toronto's version of the Lonestar Rollergirls, and they boast similarly frightful nicknames, like Betty Clocker, Eiffel Power, and, our favorite, Champain. As in that delicious sparkling wine, but with bubbles... that kill.......

FRIDAY [8] music • Centro-Matic, Those Peabodys, Pink Nasty at Emo's (Inside) music • Anagen, Two Guy Trio at Stubb's music • The Midgetmen, The Boxing Lesson, Sounds Under Radio, Label Me This at Red Eyed Fly music • Fireside Creative Showcase with Shrapnel, Lone Star Porn Star, Nooner, Hundred Year Storm, Bayta Darell, and a chance to win a Gibson guitar autographed by (huh?) Chuck Norris at The Parish Room music • Rescue......

NY's Charles Schumer promises Dems they've got the Senate nailed down. Better not be lying to us, Chuck. Meanwhile, eighteen Palestinians were killed by Israeli artillery. Israel says this was a "technical mistake." Come on, not even Rummy could get away with that one... The World Cup was peaceful because female fans—the ultimate wet blankets—were plentiful. Chris Walken possibly to lend his haunted, schizo gravitas to Ozzy biopic? K-Fed wants the kids. No word......

Last Friday, we thought we'd celebrate Chuck Norris Day by heading out to Lake Travis for some beer and boating. While we were out there, we noticed something a little risky, a little attractive and a lot stupid. Once our hands dried, we searched around the internet and were surprised to discover a new trend that has hit Central Texas lakes: Kite Tubing. Okay, the lake's not really our thing so maybe we're a......

Mayor Will Wynn took a break from his hard work of trying to cram as many people as possible into a small area Wednesday to hold a ceremony on the steps of City Hall featuring karate legend and unfortunate pop-culture icon, Chuck Norris. If you are reading this, odds are you are live in Austin, so we thought you should know that this your city council presented Chuck Norris withThe Honorary Austin Citizen Award.......

THURSDAY [21] books • Chuck Klosterman presents Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas at BookPeople (7pm) ® books • David Oshinsky presents Polio: An American Story at Barnes & Noble, 701 Capital of TX Hwy (7pm) ® books • Ayun Halliday presents Dirty Sugar Cookies: Culinary Observations, Questionable Taste at BookWoman (7pm) music • French Kicks, The Little Ones, The Lemurs at Emo's ® music • The Yellow Umbrella......

FRIDAY [1] music • Tacks, The Boy Disaster w. The Channel, Golden Bear at The Parish Room ® books • Jacqueline Winspear presents Messenger of Truth at BookPeople (7pm) film • Chuck Norris Martial Arts Movie Mania with Chuck Norris in Person: Sidekicks at Alamo Downtown (6pm, $10) film • Lawrence of Arabia at Paramount Theatre (7:30pm) film • Chuck Norris Martial Arts Movie Mania with Chuck Norris in Person: Code of Silence at......

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week's collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week's choice posts from across the Gothamist network. Torontoist (where it's 75 degrees F as of this writing)......

Dateline: Budapest. Mullet-wearing, cowboy boot-wearing, justice-keeping, Texas martial arts phenom Chuck Norris is close to putting another feather in his black belt. Or something. Hungarian government officials need a name for a new bridge that crosses the Danube in Budapest. Being the grand, tech-savvy democracy that they are, they decided to let the voice of the people be heard, so they took the name-voting to the intraweb. And, not surprisingly, the leading vote-getter thus far,......

Danielson (formerly the Danielson Famile) is an indie pop/Christian gospel troupe band of brothers and sisters from suburban New Jersey. Formed as a result of elder Smith and frontman Daniel's senior thesis at Rutgers, entitled A Prayer for Every Hour, the band released a steady stream of albums starting the late 90s. Back in 2001 they signed to Secretly Canadian -- home to beloved indie acts like Antony and the Johnsons, Jens Lekman, Damien......

The NBA Draft takes place tonight in New York City, and besides the annual fun of watching young athletes in their Sunday finest (we’re looking at you, Chuck Person) as they walk up to the podium to shake hands with the commish and awkwardly don their new teams caps, Texas basketball fans will be watching intently to see what happens with their teams, as well as the fates of former Longhorns LaMarcus Aldridge, P.J. Tucker......

A professor at UC Davis was awarded a grant to study the relationship between music and emotion. For instance- why do some people get turned on by R. Kelly while it makes us other people want to vomit? Every kid's dream came true for 6-year-old Michael James Emanuel Jr. who was left behind at a Chuck E. Cheese on his birthday. His 23-year-old mother didn't even realize Junior was missing until the following morning.......

In this case, seven is a very lucky number: it's the number of years that Grapevine Market has had their doors open on the corner of Anderson and Shoal Creek. If you ask us, it's one of the best specialty food shops in town -- not that we're biased by all of the free samples they offer every time you visit. Opened on May 26th, 1999 by three wine aficionados, Chuck Huffaker, Steve Savina......

In case you've missed it, there's a comedy revolution brewing in New York right now. Comics like Todd Barry, Demitri Martin, and Aziz Ansari have been drawing huge audiences of hipsters and regular folk alike with satire that owes far more to the silliness and irony of Steve Martin and Eddie Izzard than to the lowbrow Comedy Central/Def Comedy Jam nonsense that's infested comedy clubs for a decade. Among the brightest lights of the......

*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......

We got a little tied-up this weekend, but here it is, your re-cap of what's what in the Ist-a-verse. Phillyist notes a fistfight between local pols that leaves one man down for the count. Jehovah's Witnesses get a Philly contributor out of bed, things get a little geeky with a film festival and geeky gets taken to a whole new galaxy when they talk with the Dragon Queen of the Dark Kingdom. Shanghaiist gets all......

Here are a few more previews to get you, dear reader, geared up for SXSW Film. Yes, we do it all for YOU. Remember, these are just our recommendations from what little we can glean from the SXSW site. That’s the beauty of the film festival: sometimes, you just never know WHAT exactly you’ll be seeing! 51 Birch Street Who’s in it? The Block family and friends What’s it about? Director Doug Block asks,......