Elizabeth Berkley is Nomi Malone.... Showgirls 2.0 with David Schmader LiveThursday, November 29thAlamo LakeCreek (13729 Research Blvd)$12, 7:30PM[info] | [tickets]The holiday season really is the most wonderful time of year, a time where we think about family and togetherness, and most importantly, psychotic strippers. As always, the Alamo Drafthouse really understands what will make our season bright and are reaching into their magical holiday gift bag to pull out a screening of Showgirls for us,......

Some would rather vote for a yellow dog. Image from DemocraticStuff.com Lou Dubose presents Bill Of WrongsTuesday, November 27BookPeople (603 N. Lamar)Free, Starts at 7pm[info] Fiery Austin columnist Molly Ivins was once described to us as "equal parts sugar, spice, piss, and vinegar" by friend and fellow yellow-dog-democrat Bob Mann. To this day we still can't think of a better way to describe her. Her death last January left a deafening silence — gone was......

Image from GWAR’s official website GWAR, 3 Inches of Blood, & The EndMonday, November 26Emos (603 Red River St)$15 | Doors 7 p.m.[info] | [tickets] | [GWAR Official] | [3 Inches of Blood MySpace] | [The End MySpace]Part rock show, part horror movie, GWAR brings its metal mayhem to Emo’s tonight. The band formed more than 20 years ago, and over the years, has had a revolving cast of members that would put fellow comic......

Austin artist Michael Schliefke—of Bolm Studios and one of the driving forces behind the annual East Austin Studio Tour (E.A.S.T.)—recently unveiled a new comic book side project that takes aim at all of the development shenanigans happening on the eastside. "Towards the beginning of this year, I got the idea to do some drawings of East Austin before it was entirely cleaned up and was completely overrun by condos and lofts," said Schliefke. "My idea......

If you ask us, "bling obsession" has long been commercial hip-hop's most shameful component (though we're totally down with the Bling! barbershop quartet). At one time, conspicuous consumption by a historically poor culture might have seemed like powerful social commentary--but now that hip hop is the music industry's cash cow, doesn't a $100,000 necklace just seem completely ridiculous? And is obnoxious ornamentation really worth the cost--not only monetarily, but socially and politically? Next week, as......

Today is the day! Fantastic Fest--North America's coolest, fastest growing genre film festival--officially kicks off this afternoon at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. With around 100 feature films, shorts and special events, Fantastic Fest is a horror / sci-fi / fantasy / action film lover's dream come true. As of yesterday, badges are all sold out. But don't despair, badgeless film lovers--you can still buy individual tickets to certain screenings. We got an early look......

Austin’s rising population and stagnant housing supply have resulted in increased housing prices. Even though there are a lot of condos under construction, few have hit the market. Our pal Wells Dunbar over at the Chronicle has a nice article discussing the complicated answers to the problem of affordable housing. One undiscussed simple answer would be to get people to stop moving to Austin. Despite our commenters efforts, that plan isn't working [ed: isn't......

Donkey Kong is a rite of passage for American youth. Who hasn't spent hours in a pizza joint, bent over a Donkey Kong cocktail table game, going for the new high score while your slice of pepperoni gets cold and the grease coagulates into a mess even more disgusting than the scent of a person who's played DK for 3 days straight without showering? Sometimes dodging virtual barrels and climbing to the top of......

ACL Previews Interview: Midlake Interview: The National Preview: The Wonderful Harmonizers, Loretta Williams Gurnell Preview: JJ Grey & Mofro and Charlie Musselwhite Preview: Young Love and the Dynamites Featuring Charles Walker ACL Band Clash, Round 1: Spoon Vs. Queens Of The Stone Age Snapshots Lollapalooza 2007 Snapshots: Summer Extrav-O-Ganza 2 Weekly Features The Argyle Academy New Release Tuesday: Art in Manila, Flight of the Conchords & Marissa Nadler Feature Review: Okkervil River's The Stage Names......

Black Nasty Feed From Me It's hard not to start by saying "This music is totally offensive, completely cringe-worthy, and absolutely not appropriate in almost any situation you can imagine." There, we didn't start by saying that. Feed From Me is a maxi single (not an EP, CD or regular single, these are different times, folks) with ten songs that push the boundaries of what most normal people consider music. Influenced by the olden days......

This summer, you have a choice: you can see Johnny Depp as a pirate frolicking across a movie screen, delightfully impersonating a rock star, or you can see rock star David Bowie frolicking across a movie screen, delightfully impersonating a pirate, er fairy king. So, no matter what, there will be frolicking, but with the second instance you will also get singing, dancing, riddle and rhyme in the magical re-release of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. All......

Few forms of entertainment elicit such fanatical, diverse opinions on what warrants the label of being "good" as comedy does. To this day, the mere mention of Andy Kaufman's name can set off a heated debate on whether "genius" or "talentless asshat" is more applicable, and the perceived injustice that the Freaks and Geeks fan club was dealt when network suits and critics downed one of Judd Apatow's earliest efforts still has teeth. All this......

Joe Bob Briggs, the legendary Texas writer & TV personality, will say goodbye to the Alamo Downtown this Saturday with a special two-part film event. First, Joe Bob will join noted Texas historian, author and UT Professor Don Graham in hosting The Texas Show, a "snappy overview/history of the image of Texas & Texas in the movies, from prehistoric times to the 1980s". In what is sure to be enlightening/hilarious conversation, Don and Joe Bob......

United Abominations – MegadethMegadeth (AKA Dave Mustaine) follows up 2004’s politically charged The System Has Failed with, well, the politically charged United Abominations. Due to contractual obligations, TSHF had to be released as Megadeth, although it was primarily a Mustaine project. No report indicating why the new album also falls under the Megadeth moniker, but it does contain all the staples of a typical Megadeth record: Mustaine’s trademark vocals, soaring six-string solos, and insistent drums,......

We expect this to be the most popular news bits ever, as well as the best day ever, since everybody's favorite drive-in eatery (Sonic, duh) is giving away FREE root beer floats tonight from 8pm till midnight. Go ahead, locate every Sonic in town and drive around getting free floats until you can't drink root beer floats anymore. This is such a big deal, even Forbes wrote about it. And if you don't get......

So much has been written about Rubber Repertory's US premiere of the Wallace Shawn play, A Thought in Three Parts, that you'd have to have been buried under a pile of rocks not to have heard of it. Closing this weekend at the Vortex, this naughty little show has garnered an unprecedented amount of press. So we're a bit late to the party, but we finally managed to get our butts in a seat at......

Maybe you’ve been wondering whether or not you actually have a sense of humor lately. Like everyone else is laughing at jokes or sketched comedic situations, but you’re just sitting there all awkwardly quiet, like a turd in an ice machine. Maybe you’ve become a sour puss with no more feeling for the silliness of the world around you. Maybe you’ve wasted away into that clichéd armchair cynic who pisses all over everything to......

What do you give the dear leader who's already got it all? If you're a decorated war vet with medals to spare, one option is (evidently) a Purple Heart. At least that's what Round Rock resident Bill Thomas decided to do when he and his wife met with President Bush yesterday at the Oval Office, where they presented our commander in chief with one of the three Purple Hearts that Thomas received in Vietnam. To......

Tacks, the Boy Disaster's Daytrotter Session features four free songs, one of which is slated to appear on their forthcoming album. "Dying to Know" is one of the band's oldest songs, but one that needed some help before it became clear how to deal with that pesky bridge. Although the charm of the Daytrotter Session songs is their live and impromptu nature (complete with borrowed instruments and auxiliary musicians), we're anxious to hear this......

*The views expressed in Truesday are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole. Thank heavens.* -The Editors It was supposed to end by now. We’re supposed to already be past this. Many believe they saw it coming before it hit, and many more than that read through the lines to see the “conspiracy” for what they believed it was. Have you heard that Del Monte or Chiquita or some......

One of the films we're really excited about seeing at this year's SXSW Film Festival is A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar..., a broad, lighthearted look at America's obsession with (and simultaneous hatred of) lawyers and lawsuits. The film follows six law students as they prepare for the notoriously difficult California Bar Exam, but it also features stories and commentary from several notable lawyers, comedians and personalities including Eddie Griffin, Robert Shapiro (counsel to O.J.......

Arcade Fire Neon Bible (Merge) Unless you live under a rock, you're well aware that Neon Bible's official release date is today. As expected, the web is ablaze with commentary and reflection on the band's sophomore effort, and for the most part, it's been a lot of good news. A relief, considering the album's reference to the John Kennedy Toole novel of the same name. The book is a sort of exercise in temporal......

We've been all over the city in this column, covering houses from the south side, all the way to the heart of suburbia. In this edition, Austinist returns to our love of life on the cheap. Artists, thrift store hawks and the underemployed by choice - no need to get over a barrel when buying those new digs. This lovable city is still choc-a-block with awesome homes to be had for under 200K, especially......

As you might recall, former Austinist co-editor Matthew "OK" Odam left our humble publication a few weeks ago in search of power, prestige, and proper press passes over at the Austin American-Statesman. Today, our favorite thirty-something renaissance man and aspiring screenwriter makes his fabulous debut on Austin360's frontpage as their newest blogger. Barely three days old, The M.O. already features some killer commentary on a variety of subjects, including new South Congress restaurant The Woodland,......

There’s always a group of youth, every three years or so, who is “on the cusp of DOING something!” Something amazing. Massive in potential scope! Probably artistic and important! Maybe even important on a national if not international scale!...

Photo credit: Harry Cabluck/AP Our brief local nightmare is over. According to Homeland Security representative Russ Knocke - via The Statesman - our birds may not be safe, but our central Texas located piece of "homeland" is... for now. The official avian death toll has reached 63 and several species of bird were affected including Austin's official spokesbird, the boat-tailed grackle. Rumors that early responders on the scene had taken ill have proven to......

Emo’s might be the talk of the town during the first week of the year with its three-stage-pronged free show attack, but this Saturday, Stubb’s does its best to bite into the monopoly with a substantial triple bill. Just Guns kick off the evening with a dose of quality alt-country pop. Their debut full-length, Secrets/Spotlights, is laden with lyrical wisdom set to twangy hooks and pedal steel malaise, and their talent is prevalent every......

15. Mogwai - Mr. Beast (Matador) As ever, Mogwai manage to blend unadulterated post-rock weight to their shoegazer tendencies with tracks like "Glasgow Mega Snake" and "Folk Death 95," showcasing their ability to create anthems with no words. This is where Mr. Beast really shines, in between blistering chord progressions and gradual swings into corybantic climaxes. In some ways a throwback to earlier (and heavier) Mogwai material, Mr. Beast isn't merely a rock album.......

Austin writer Karen Olsson will be at Barnes and Noble, Westlake this Thursday to promote the paperback release of her debut novel Waterloo. The book itself was heaped with praise upon its original release last year and furnishes entertaining commentary on our existence in Austin. It comes to you now in a safe, lightweight, affordable paperback version. What's not to love? The novel is informed by Olsson's own experience living, working, and reporting in Austin.......

Long a bastion of hilarious pseudo-journalism veiling insightful and viscous social commentary, The Onion was once relegated to small hamlets like Madison, Chicago and New York City. Over the years, it has published compendiums of articles in book format and expanded its coverage to include non-pseudo-reporting with the Onion A.V. club. Now, It has taken itself one step further, reaching out to us smaller urban communities to promulgate its singular wackiness and educate the......