American Gangster PosterAmerican Gangster Do you really need a two-disc box set of Ridley Scott's American Gangster, which includes two different versions of last year's Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe movie, the ability to download yet a third, plus featurettes including one in which Scott is shown the ins and outs of heroin production by an NYPD officer (as if he didn't already know)? It depends on how much you like Scott, and if you do, it'll......

The story begins in New York in the year 2011. This is John McCain's recession-riddled America, where gas has edged above 8 dollars a gallon, the best-selling video game is Infidel Massacre: Los Angeles, and, with 10,000 troops still in Iraq, the war is still going strong....

Image via Big Hassle PR The Straylight Run w/ The Color FredMonday, December 3The Parish Room (214 East Sixth Street)$15, Doors at 7pm[info] | [tickets]Formed from the ashes of Taking Back Sunday, the Long Island group Straylight Run plays a blend of indie rock and chamber pop. Formed in 2003 by ex-TBS members Shaun Cooper and John Nolan, the duo left behind most of their emo influences when switching groups and recruited both Will Noon......

Apparently everyone thinks Clinton shined in last nights presidential debate, but the best sound bite came from Rep. Dennis Kucinich who said, "Impeach now!" U.S. envoy arrives to pressure Pakistani president into admitting defeat. A cyclone that slammed into Bangladesh's coast has killed at least 426 people. The Senate has blocked a Democratic proposal to pay for the Iraq war but require that troops start coming home. Iran is still shady about their nuclear......

Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho will remain in the Senate despite calls for his resignation. Myanmar junta summons U.S. envoy for talks. Ig Nobel awards celebrate jet-setting Viagra-using hamsters and our military's attempt to make a "gay bomb." East Sixth Street, between Pedernales and Robert Martinez, now open after yesterday's train accident caused it to be closed. North Korea agrees to dismantle "all" of its nuclear facilities by the end of the year.......

O.J. Simpson is just weird. Bush to appoint new legal yes-man, er, we mean Attorney General. Greenspan says Iraq War was mostly just about gettin' our grubby hands on some of that cheap oil. The world's top 10 most polluted places, according to Scientific American. Get your iPhone unlocked for, like, $50. Our legs are really, really sore from ACL. Another effect of global warming: The unthawing of prehistoric mammoth dung, which stinks!......

This Thursday night, the Alamo will host a special advance screening of the new documentary No End In Sight. The film (which won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance earlier this year) paints a grim picture of the current situation in Iraq, and suggests that key errors in policy and strategy have caused a slow but certain spiral into chaos in the war-torn country. But here's the interesting bit: rather than focus on the usual......

Stop-Loss is the first film from director Kimberly Peirce since her brilliant, award-winning 1999 drama Boy's Don't Cry. Filmed in and around Austin, Stop-Loss follows an Iraq war hero named Brandon King (played by Ryan Phillippe) who returns home only to be called back to active duty under the US military's "stop-loss policy". But rather than return to Iraq, King flees with his friend Michele (Abbie Cornish) while trying to figure a way out of......

It's the handsome downtown gallery owner with curly hair or the hot Astanga instructor at Yoga Yoga South. It's the girl in the cutoffs at El Chilito or your favorite Lone Star Rollergirl. It's your local secret crush. Just in time to scope him out while you're hopping among downtown venues for SXSW, Austinist brings you this edition's interview: Drew, The Cute Pedicab Driver With the Slightest Southern Accent. Drew continues the streak of awesome......

July had the highest number of Iraqi civilian deaths. News of bombings in Iraq seems to be almost ubiquitous, even though we are told things are calming down. Are the Iraqis better off since our forces attacked their country? Did we start something we can't finish? How long until our troops can come home? Tomorrow night Democracy for Texas will host a public forum to discuss such questions as these. The panel discussion will......

It’s the primary season of the 2006 midterm elections across America, and the name of the game is “motivating your base voters.” So, bring on the rhetoric and rabble-rousing! The politicophiles at the Austinist offer you the following tidbits: This week, in Connecticut: Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman – the centrist, moderate candidate – lost his primary to Ned Lamont, the antiwar candidate. The Connecticut Democratic Party has united behind Lamont with passionate gusto. As......

Texas - A lobbyist hired by the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations once worked closely with DeLay cohort Jack Abramoff. The lobbyist, Todd Boulanger, was a member of what was known as "Team Abramoff" (lawyers are so creative) while they were working at a law firm together. We won't bore you with all the details, but essentially Todd worked with Abramoff as registered lobbyist for Indian tribes who were coerced into "donating" money in......

Don't have cable so you can't watch the Ian McShane define cool on the new Deadwood tonight? That's ok, Austinist has a Tivo, so you can come over and watch later on this week. We like company. Instead, we recommend you head on down to the Spider House around 8:30 tonight to catch the Austin Premiere of filmmaker and native Texan Patrick Phillips' new documentary The Cost of War, an outline of the conditions, emotional......

On the hill this week select Congressmen badgered and belittled President Bush for misleading America into war with Iraq and demanded him to apologize for the mistakes of his administration. How is this in any way new or interesting? Well this time it was two Republicans. Or perhaps one and a half Republicans. Texas's own Ron Paul, representative of the 14th district and "Republican" (actually a libertarian, aka a Republican who smokes dope) railed against......