katrina remembered IV; "Not as seen on TV" Originally uploaded by notnA. Used with permission. [The following is editorial content by contributor Kristina Barnett and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Austinist staff. --The Editors] Last year at this time, actual dust was settling in Austin as well as the proverbial sort after a somber September in which the term "relief effort" was on the tip of everyone's tongue all the time.......

[The following is editorial content by contributor Kristina Barnett and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Austinist staff. --The Editors] Austinist has covered the burgeoning improv scene before, but this edition of Audio Austinist is a story about how doing something like improv changes people's perspectives. Improv is about taking risks and learning to fail. It's about overcoming your fears and just plain old having a good time. Know anyone who needs a......

In his first-feature film Brick, director Rian Johnson set own to make a noir detective film. But he was tired of seeing the same old characters playing out similar storylines. He wanted to bend the genre, so it would still look and feel like a noir pic, but with a different sensibility. Enter, high school. Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has just received a disturbing call from his distressed ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin). She's......

[Austinist is thrilled to present you with the first installment in our new, ongoing podcast series, Audio Austinist. For this inaugural edition, podcast editor Kristina Barnett focuses on the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival, during which she interviewed two of America's most prominent political bloggers, Jerome Armstrong (MyDD) and Markos Moulitsas (DailyKos). Check it out below, and send us your feedback! In the coming months, we'll be covering a host of issues pertaining to Austinites --......