• Small earthquake rattles people awake in Chicago suburbs
• Northeast prepares for another round of "extremely dangerous winter weather"
• Pakistan believes Taliban chief is dead

• Schwarzenegger continues to make us weirdly like him. (But we're still not moving to California.)
• Castro beginning to show signs of willingness to retire.
• Monkeys are better at estimating quantities than Duke undergrads.

They may not be as famous, and they’re certainly harder to have sex with, but at least Austin’s theatre-makers don’t have to try and fuck anyone with a pulse who appeared on Leno just to feel good about themselves. That’s right, dear theatre enthusiast, here in the A-burg we raise our self-esteem the old fashioned way: by putting on plays. By that measure, this week we’ll be riding that self-worth train steady on into... more ›

So, SXSW Film begins tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. Austinist realizes that we just freaked you out by saying so. Don't worry, though: we watched about 50 previews for the film festival so that you wouldn't have to. Having emerged a little bleary-eyed, we suggest the following less-heralded films as picks worthy of your time and attention: more ›

As strictly as Austinist is in the Letterman camp*, we feel we are duty bound to share this information. Following on the heels of Sunday's "60 Minutes" broadcast, NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" has invited Kinky Friedman to be a guest on this evening's broadcast. If you must, just Tivo and skip ahead of the blandness to Kinky. more ›

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... more ›