THURSDAY [21] fashion • Dirty Librarian Chains Trunk Show with DJ Chicken George and Daetron Vargas at FactoryPeople (5-8pm) film • The Christmas Pop! Sing-Along at Alamo Downtown (7pm, $10) film • La Femme Nikita at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) film • old Joy at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm) film • Terror Thursday: Blood Beach at Alamo Downtown (11:55pm, Free) music • Ugly Beats, Bellfuries, The Deadly Companions at Emo's music • "A Parish Christmas," featuring... more ›

Monarch Breaks Ground [07.07 in Urban Development] Yarrr…Pirates' Oversell Shipping Screw-Up Stymies Excited Fans [07.07 in Movies] They Don't Call It Gastronomic fer Nuthin' [07.07 in Food] Back on Track: This Week in Theatre! [07.07 in Theatre] Stay Cool, Honeybunny [07.07 in Rankings] Best of the Austin Blogs: Week of July 3 [07.07 in Special] Austinist Interview: Loaded Gun Theory [07.07 in Interview] The Bikini Turns 60 (or, 3,607) [07.07 in Fashion+Style] Le Tour... more ›

Several weeks ago we told you about SXSWclick, the annual competition held by the SXSW-offshoot organization that seeks to showcase "short-form storytelling" on the web and on mobile devices. Entrants were invited to submit short films running under 10 minutes long in one of five different categories: "Old School Shorts" (narrative), "Really Real Shorts" (documentary), "Animate-It" (animation), "Sound Checks" (music video), and "What the F*#!?" (experimental/machinima). SXSWclick trimmed the hundreds of entries received down to three finalists for each category; a separate jury will convene later this month to decide which of each three deserves to be crowned king. This year's judging committee includes Margaret Brown (Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt), Danny Leiner (Dude Where's My Car?), Karina Longworth (Cinematical), Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking), and the fellow from Super Size Me. More interesting than what these critics ultimately decide, though, is what you, the internet public, collectively deem to be the best! Vote up to once daily until midnight on July 26th at the link below; the Popularity Contest Award winner will be announced with the others on July 28th. All winning shorts will be screened at next year's SXSW Film Festival. [Vote!] more ›

: : FRIDAY : : [music] Nic Armstrong and the Thieves & Ian Moore @ The Parish, 9:30pm [in-store] Happy Families @ End of an Ear, 6pm [comedy] The Sinus Show's "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park" @ Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, 7pm & 9:45 also Saturday [theatre] The Vortex Repertory presents "La Femme: The BareBones New Works Festival," 8pm [comedy] The Austin Improv Co-op presents "The Womb of the Pagan" and "Hoover's Blanket"... more ›