We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Austinist. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. UT's Harry Ransom Center, finding out if you're a Beatnik. Elsewares, where you can get a 10% off your order with the discount code "ist". Busted Tees, selling a special shirt to honor the New England Patriots. If you're interested......

The Utter Reading Series is back tomorrow, with more pathos than Hillary, more transcendance than Barack, more grit than McCain, and more exposure (for local writers) than a bead-strewn balcony on Bourbon Street. As always, the reading is free and open to the public, and the audience is invited to join the readers afterwards for drinks and conversation at Opal Divine's on 6th....

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” ...(but) F. Scott never met our president....

Did you hear that story in the New England Journal of Medicine this week that talked about how our own weight is significantly influenced by the weight of our closest friends? Well, our friends better watch out because we're likely to plump up in a hurry now that Stortini has come to town. Stortini is the newest restaurant in the El Chile family of eateries and it’s in the space on Manor Road where......

Kind of a slow week for new releases here in Austin. You can either bro out and get amped on some new Die Hard, or submit to the CGI summer blockbuster force that is Ratatouille. Oh, and Michael Moore wanted to talk to you about some things. Live Free or Die Hard: John McClane is back! Now shorn bald (and resembling a very stern penis), he must jump off careening jets and donkey-punch the......

Austin, Texas: It's not exactly New England here. We don't have the Liberty Bell or historical plaques on every block explaining how the Pilgrims invented the Internet in some old tavern. But we do have history! You just have to look a little harder to find it. For instance, did you know that in Austin's oldest standing structure, the French Legation, some dude's pigs broke into the bedroom in 1841 and ate the papers and......

Fútbol in the United States has had its share of peaks and valleys. From the heyday of the North American Soccer League (NASL) to the quarter final run of the national team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup , there have been quite a few success stories in a country that is supposedly averse to the sport. Austin, too, has had its share of hits and misses. The Austin Lone Stars, Austin Lightning, and the......

Austin needs another bike shop like it needs a hole in its head. The shops have reached such a level of ubiquity (three within a half-mile of our house) they cause Volvo wagon traffic jams on our streets on Saturdays. It is the source of a bit of consternation with us; we’re not even sure why. But we recently came across a small outfit on the East Side that we love – East Side......

Well, we've just about had it with our stolen cable. For some reason, and we are beginning to think this is some sort of ironic punishment for writing these recaps, the reception we get for MTV is getting worse and worse. It started out a bit fuzzy. It has since degraded to a screen 3/4 of which is taken up by a unmoving static blur, and 1/4 of which is taken up by a......

Ozzy’s days are numbered. For ten years, Ozzfest has been the premier showcase for the best that metal has to offer as well as the best place to see the new crop of metal bands waiting for their big break. Although other tours have tried, like Pledge of Allegiance and Tattoo the Earth, Ozzy has had a lockdown on the summer metal festival scene. This summer will be different because there’s a new tour......

Austinist knows summertime is just around the corner when, each late May, we walk into Whole Foods and there greeting us at the seafood centre in all its naturally bright pink glory, is the magna cum laude of fish: Copper River Salmon. From the pristine glaciers of the Wrangell Mountains in southeast Alaska clear through to Prince William Sound, the Copper River is an icy marathon of strong rapids and vast stretches of pure,......