Photo by Bret Brookshire, courtesy Hyde Park Theatre Thom Pain (based on nothing)Through 12/22, Th/Fr/Sa at 8pmHyde Park Theatre (511 W. 43rd. Street)Reservations: 479-PLAY[info]Every so often when doing a review, we’ve gotta own up to something from our past. In this case, it’s that we used to be in a cult. In our defense, it was a good cult. Back in college we were part of the American Forensic Association*—"forensic" meaning “having to do with......

[This review courtesy of new Austinist contributor Anna Hanks! -Ed.] As much as we'd like to change a few things about our first time, we regret we’ll never be able to repeat the experience. We also can’t change history, so catching the currently playing, slick incarnation of the Rude Mechanicals' Get Your War On also wasn't our first time. (We reviewed the show last January as well.) Directed by Shawn Sides, Get Your War......

Every fall, Austin looks forward to ACL Fest, and each year, there's always a point where two of your favorite bands are playing on different sides of the park at the exact same time. ACL Band Clash is a new, theoretically weekly series in which Austinist scribes Paige Maguire and Tom Thornton examine the worst ACL scheduling clashes, and try to provide good advice on finding a resolution. Well, good advice might be a......

Ever since he dropped out of NYU Law School — to the initial chagrin of his family — Demetri Martin’s star has been on the rise. His success as a stand-up comedian in New York City led to a writing gig on "Late Night with Conan O’Brien." After honing his skills on O’Brien’s show, Martin moved over to Comedy Central, where he has worked as a contributor on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."......

Tonight you might think that Dan Rather's jelly, because chances are he’s gonna be on a roll. Or something. The venerable newsman, and Wharton, Texas native, will be live on set tonight to analyze election results. But he won’t be working with Bob Schieffer or any other straight news reporters from around the nation, as he has done for the last 44 years. Tonight he saddles up alongside Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on Comedy......

Lookin' for something fun & cheap to do tonight? Or next Saturday night? Or the one after that?? As we've mentioned before, some of the fabulously talented improv folks here in Austin have cooked up a little weekly satirical news special that runs every Saturday night, 10:30, at the Hideout Theatre. This being Income Tax Day, we suspect tonight's Whirled News will be the funniest yet! We sat down recently (and virtually) with the......

[The following is an editorial column by contributor Alison Coffey and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Austinist staff. --The Editors] In the tradition of Neal Pollack's Salon.com Grammy's post, I've decided to take us on a live tour of this year's Academy Awards, minute by minute, hour by hour, boring acceptance speech by boring acceptance speech. Well, I hope not, but odds are, the acceptance speeches are going to be boring.......

We reviewed Not Clown. Hilarious!. So much good music this weekend. You wouldn't have believed it if you didn't read it here. We might be the best blog in town, but there are plenty of other great ones out there. Jason McElwain, hoops legend. The feel-good story of the year (with video). The Texas re-districting battle takes to the Supreme Court. Round Rock Express tickets went on sale. The Great Mundane prepares to bring......

You might feel lost and confused and out of place in this conservative, W voting, war loving society (well, half of it), but just remember this next time you are thinking about a one way ticket to Canada: Jon Stewart is hosting the Oscars! Y'all, did you hear us? Jon Stewart! Something has to be right in the world. We don't pretend to be experts, but our predictions are: Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman......

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......

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon undergoes emergency surgery after doctors discover an increase in cranial pressure. Meanwhile, Pat Robertson has the audacity to suggest this is some sort of "divine retribution." The Canadian Medical Association Journal claims that supplying winos with booze might actually be good for them and everyone else. BBC lists the top 100 things we learned this year. Our favorites? "WD-40 dissolves cocaine - it has been used by a pub......

For a few years, labeling someone/thing Metrosexual was all the rage. Yea, it was shallow and trite and oversimplified and actually quite pointless, probably stemming from our need to label everything as “other,” in order to deal with our own neuroses and fears and judgmental attitudes. But it was still shoved down our throats relentlessly. Metrosexuals were the new black, and the identification of the trend was even more tiresome than the trend itself.......

In the nature of things, life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." Few of us would agree with Thomas Hobbes' famous condemnation of humanity's default condition, and yet our days aren't all picnics at Barton Springs with puppies and rainbows. As long as life is less than perfect, jokes are conducive to happiness, if not out-and-out necessary. Taking features of the external world—from banana peels to sectarian struggle—jokes turn tragedy or banality into......

The celebrity whose name we are now embarassed to type because we've typed it so many times in the last few days has gone and talked about Austin on national television again. We thought she was out on the road to promote a movie or something, but apparently she just wants to gab ad nauseum about our favorite city. This time, Ms. Bullock -- we couldn't resist! -- was on the Daily Show talking with......