Rush Hour 3: Don't Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker look dismayed to find themselves in the third installment of their never-ending Rush Hour franchise? If you find it hilarious to watch a BLACK GUY and an ASIAN GUY fighting crime--together!--then look out, because now they're fighting crime in France, the funniest place in the world! Which one of them do you think will be eye-rolling and making fish-out-of-water quips while dangling from the Eiffel Tower......

Named for the proclivities of a Parisian couple who planned to take out the titular monument because its lights kept them up at night, San Diego's The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower play a fairly lovable brand of jazz-inflected sass-core. Or perhaps we should say they used to; since the show is billed as part of their last tour before they disband, presumably to further their careers in hedge fund management. The......

The folks at The Vortex were kind enough to let us backstage to snap a few pictures just before the start of Zell Miller III's B-Boy Bluez and Maggie Gallant's Hot Dogs at the Eiffel Tower, so even though the shows are over, we wanted to put the photos up. Original write-up is here. One more backstage shot and two from the performances below the Expand-o-Tron.......

"Back in the days when I was a teenager / Before I had status and before I had a pager / You could find the abstract listenin' to hip-hop / My pops used to say it reminded him of bebop / I said well Daddy don't you know things go in cycles..." — Q-Tip Tonight is the last of four performances of Zell Miller III's B-Boy Bluez, 8 p.m. at the Vortex. This photographer......

A few titillating theatre pieces are going down in Austin right now, from dancing prancing ladies to pinko feminazi confessions. Curiouser and curiouser. But our list is topped by the New Plays/Fresh Voices performances running two weeks only at the Vortex. This and next weekend only, two new plays by two local playwrights will be on the boards. One of the works is the latest from local, award-winning playwright, poet, and performer Zell Miller,......

* This post comes from Austinist guest contributor Chad Beck Emo’s generally has a healthy dose of heavy bands for those who like abrasive, eardrum-shattering, live music. It isn’t everyday, however, that Emo’s plays host to groups that intend on actually punishing the audience. Some Girls, who take Emo’s indoor stage around Midnight, Tuesday the 24th, are out to do just that. Their latest record, Heaven’s Pregnant Teens (out Tuesday on Epitaph), is about......

SXSW.com released an updated lineup for this year's SXSW Music Festival earlier today, and it's one hell of a list. The SXSW committee hastens to note that "This is a partial list of performers confirmed to appear at the 2006 SXSW Music Festival. This list is current as of 1/13/06. All of this information is subject to change." International acts include: Masahiro Nitta, DMBQ, Ellegarden, Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re, PE'Z, The Emeralds (Japan)......

The Eiffel Tower replica at Dreyfus Antiques on Lamar. Where is our Tom Cruise?......

Rejoice! This day is finally here! The day we have all been breathlessly waiting for since, oh, around the time we now call “The Dance of Psychosis That Is Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s Great Love Affair” began. Not that we buy into media hype, of course. Because their love is REAL and PURE and MAGNIFICENT, not to mention sanctioned by the upper echelons of Zorbit IV-OA. Or something. Come on! Spielberg! Cruise! Aliens!......