Artists, take note: When in doubt about how to price your work, go high. ...

Photo from ImageAfter Art Fashion photography is gaining more credibility in the art world as of late. Critics prophesy the dilution of fine art in the 21st century, while supporters of the trend assert that fashion is a formative aspect of our modern culture that deserves official recognition in the arts world. /// UT-Austin names the new dean of the College of Fine Arts, Douglas Dempster, to replace the former dean who retired in the......

Photo of Emily Tindall and Leslie Chastain courtesy UT Dep’t Theatre & Dance Ashes, Ashes8pm Saturday, 2pm SundayWinship Drama Building (UT Campus)[info] | [tickets]Ashes, Ashes, closing this weekend at UT, is the most visually-impressive theatrical work we’ve seen anywhere in quite awhile. We’ve even been to lower-end Broadway productions that didn’t have half the visual whammy of this retro-futuristic extravaganza. We simply couldn’t tear our eyes away from the post-Victorian steampunk fantasia created by the......

"Oh, hai." Still from No Country for Old MenThis week in new movies: A cornucopia of literary adaptations, special effects, and Javier Bardem. No Country for Old Men is FINALLY opening in Austin, and we couldn't be more excited (or strangely aroused by Bardem's "lost Beatle from hell" haircut and Wranglers ensemble.) Beowulf: Robert Zemeckis reprises the motion-capture animation technique he used in Polar Express and applies it to everyone's fave Anglo-Saxon epic poem. Ray......

Image from SpyYard Texas Book FestivalSaturday November 3 - Sunday, November 4Downtown Austin [map]Free[info]We didn't think ten tips for the Texas Book Festival were enough, so here are ten more to help complicate things and confuse you you navigate the throngs of bibliophiles stalking the Austin streets this weekend. Keep in mind that seating and space is limited at most of these events. Arrive early and often! Saturday 10:00 - 10:45 Kristin Gore (Senate Chamber)......

We remember Austin Tinius over a year ago, peddling his Burger and Friends line at Circa 77, a boutique in Denton, Texas. Everything was made with a light-hearted, punk-rock sense of humor—from acid colored T-shirts silkscreened with line-drawings of Playboy models posing with a grizzly bear, to Star Wars-inspired wallets and purses. We knew he was on to something. Sure enough, Burger and Friends (finally) got some attention shortly after last year's Stitch. Austin......

The start of the fall season on network television used to be a bigger deal before cable's summer original fare became so juicy and good. We admit we still get a little excited when we read about original ideas heading our way on the big networks. The crop of new shows starting this fall seems like more of the same (sadly), but there are some that don't follow type and deserve recommendation. Pushing Daisies, ABC,......

We hate it when things end. Seriously. We cry at funerals (end of life), weddings (end of freedom), heck we even cried at the end of the last Harry Potter book for no other reason that that it was all over. Needless to say, we are all sadfaced at the moment because our favorite excuse to sit on our rear ends all summer is coming to a close this week. Yep, that's right, the Paramount......

Canadian researchers believe they have identified the Unknown Child who perished aboard the Titanic Walmart cuts costs in Mexico ... by hiring thousands of teenagers without pay or benefits Self-described Luddite Sir Elton John wants to close the internet—but only for a few years An English headteacher causes 400 schoolchildren to simultaneously freak out when she reads aloud the last page of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows The Discovery Channel acquires #1 green......

Mercury Design Studio is raffling off eight I'm Not A Plastic Bag canvas totes, designed by Anya Hindmarch to encourage recycling. These limited bags are already sold out in major cities. (Read about the nation-wide craziness, paralleling Harry Potter-like mania, reported by our sister blog Gothamist.) The 2nd Street store is raffling two bags a week through August. Raffle tickets cost $5 apiece and all proceeds go to the Town Lake Trail Foundation. Tribeza......

[This post comes from Anna Hanks, who'll soon be joining the Austinist staff!] We admit that when it comes to being entertained, we have the attention span of a kitten. We’re happily distracted by bright shiny costumes, jingly bells, and the occasional gilded, squeaky rubber chicken, especially when said chicken is employed to excellent comedic effect. Put a capable, young, red-headed actress charmed with crazy comedic timing into a twinkly, jingly costume, and we’re smitten.......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too—two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the city's Congonhas......

JK Rowling's final installment in the Harry Potter series comes out at midnight this Friday, and at least one local store has already sold out its entire pre-order. The 1,500th voucher for one of BookPeople's initial batch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was picked up late Monday afternoon, making this series finale—which weighs in at a hefty two pounds—their biggest pre-order book of all time. "We have never sold this many book vouchers......

The Senate stayed up all night to debate the troop withdrawal, and all we got was this lousy no-vote. Some killjoy put the Harry Potter ending up on the Web. In Wisconsin, it took fifty rescuers to pull a 500-lb man out of a river. What was he doing there? Tubing. Obviously. Springfield, VT gets ready for its closeup. Proof that Disney makes you crazy. (The Teacup Ride? Was that really worth it?)......

In this week's edition of the IST List: AIDS Services of Austin hosts its annual Viva! Las Vegas faux-casino soiree at La Zona Rosa, replete with top-notch catering and silent auction Transmission Entertainment's back at it again with another special guest at The Mohawk. Our lips are sealed, but the comments section certainly isn't! London's electro-dance-punk wizardess Dandi Wind works her magic at the Beauty Bar The final installment of the Harry Potter series......

Tonight, Alamo Music Mondays presents an encore screening of Philippe Puicouyoul's 1980 New Wave love story La Brune Et Moi. The story revolves around a hot young French girl who's desperate for punk-rock superstardom, and a rich businessman who tries his best to buy it for her. But of course, the underdeveloped plot is just an excuse to showcase a long list of French punk bands, including Ici Paris, Artefact, Astroflash, Edith Nylon, The Questions,......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making......

Between fake terrorist alerts and scandals big and small, this just might be the Best Best of the -ists ever. We're exhausted just thinking about it. First up, SFist, who saw their little 'ole site be the center of what was a nice little scandal (even getting their editor on TV) only to find their scandal dwarfed by the even bigger scandal caused by their Mayor boffing one of his aides' wife. We're not......

Like everyone in the world but the U.S. has recognized for a while, global warming causes the new Katrina-caliber hurricanes. Today, disconsolate producers at Dateline find that their war on predators has missed the Taliban of pedophiles. Not saving any money? Don't worry, nobody else is either. Al Franken is maybe/probably running for Senate in Minnesota. Not to be gross, but: Harry Potter. Naked.......

The city’s number one comedy theater has a Friday night lineup that is guaranteed to get your ass laughing, regardless of your particular comedic styling predilections. The full night of comedy at ColdTowne kicks off with some hot woman on woman comedy action (interested now, you sick bastards?). In the One-Woman Showdown, local improvisers Kaci Beeler and Jill Morris interpret their favorite movies as one-woman shows. Beeler will be adapting every geeky pedophile’s favorite......

Thanks to massive snow, you might be spared another Christmas Day with your Coors-toting cousin from Golden. YouTube continues its new narkdom. Mt. Hood search called off. Final Harry Potter title announced, via elaborate and cutesy web animation. Rosie calls Donald a snake-oil salesman (from Little House on the Prairie, no less); Donald threatens to have one of his friends seduce Rosie's girlfriend. Our heads spin slowly in boredom.......

Every so often, a literary event takes place that serves to shape a generation or initiate some sort of movement. This Tuesday, November the 21st of 2006, Austinist contributor Craig McCullough, or Truecraig as he's known in the internet 'hood, takes the stage at Club de Ville to read from his new book, I Am An Idiot (but there's nothing wrong with you). The event likely won't have the same gravity as Ginsburg's first......

The surprising thing about the new documentary Jesus Camp, opening tomorrow in Austin, is how, well, un-Michael Moore it is. Sure, there are a couple of scenes in Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing's look at an evangelical kids' ministry that are already providing yet more fodder for leftist religion-haters, including this one of children praying to a large cardboard cutout of President Bush. But, on the whole, you will be amazed at the filmmakers' preternatural......

Beyond screening over 100 excellent films, the Austin Film Festival also offers over 60 panels and roundtable discussions, led by more than 100 industry professionals. This year the panels will focus on ‘telling your story by any means necessary.' The panelists will give an informative look into how they sold their scripts, got distribution deals, had their pilots picked up, etc. If you are (or want to be) a writer, producer or director, you......

The Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest? Brilliant. Here’s a contest where the point is to show the world that not only can a single human eat and vomit a whole gallon of material within fifteen minutes, but that the “material” need not even be food, let alone nutritious. It helps the entire Sub-Saharan region to understand that what might currently be seen as inedible or even deadly to ingest, is actually perfectly fine to eat if done in a highly competitive format and dipped in a cup of tepid water first. Anything can be seen as food if you’d just stop nay-saying. Stuff like sand, your own hand, or an overwhelming sense of disappointment in your fellow man. ...

J.K. Rowling has truly secured her place in the world’s collective consciousness. Not only does the Harry Potter Empire reach into bookstores and retail outlets and movie theatres all across the globe, but it’s inspiring the creation of indie pop bands whose music is based solely on HP characters and plotlines. Seriously, Rowling just might be the most powerful media force on Earth. But, self-made billionaires aside, it’s really all about kids having a good......

The annual summer tradition known as Splash Party Movie Nights kicked off last Thursday at Deep Eddy Pool. The family-oriented films are projected onto a large screen facing the pool at dusk. Regular admission to Deep Eddy gets you in ($3/adult, $1/children 11 and under). The 2006 schedule: June 17th Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory June 22nd Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit June 24th Madagascar June 29th Harry Potter......

MONDAY [8] [music] Art Brut, Birdmonster, The Robocop Kraus at Emo's (link) [music] She Wants Revenge and OKGO at Stubb's (link) [music] The Lashes at Waterloo (Free, 5pm) (link) [film] Amelie (with FREE crème brulee) at Alamo Downtown (7pm) (link) [film] L.A. Confidential at Austin Java (8pm, FREE) (link) [film] Anime Monday at Ventana del Sol (7:30pm, FREE) (link) [film] Wet Hot American Summer at Rounders Pizzeria (6pm, FREE) (link) [film] School of Rock at......

What do we want? MOVIES! When do we want them? NOW! *Before the Fall An interesting film set in 1942 Berlin about an elite school where the country’s brightest young men were trained to be future members of the Nazi regime. Yeahhh, there’s just nothing funny about that. A Good Woman Holy crap, Scarlett Johansson and her breasts are everywhere, it seems. At least this movie finally answers the question, “What ever happened to......

Ahhh, it’s that time of year again – can you smell the celebrity sweat in the air? Oscar time, baby! The 78th annual Academy Awards will air March 5 on ABC. Plan your party now: gather your friends together, don your Oscar de la Renta (that was kind of a pun, see?), break out the Dom Perignon Andre and the brie, place your bets and watch the magic unfold. The absolute best part about......