“Ever wanted to be a space ship pilot in an 8-bit Nintendo game?” With that subject title, the latest press release from local synth-pop outfit Built By Snow grabbed our attention well before we even ventured into deep space. The “rad dudes” rescue a princess in the brilliant video for “Underneath”, the first song on their debut EP Noise, eventually scoring cheeseburgers for their troubles. The video incorporates plenty of eye catching imagery and retro animation and the result is a hilarious conglomeration of pop culture influences....

ImageAfter Art Last Wednesday, a Francis Bacon triptych sold at a Christie's auction for about $51 million. This is the highest price ever paid at a European auction for a post-war work. The sale, according to Christie's, demonstrates "the underlying, continued strength of the market" for art across the world. /// Actor Randy Quaid has been "banned for life" from the Actors' Equity Association, the labor union for American stage actors, for "physically and verbally"......

Photo by smellyknee on flickr Kucinich left off Texas primary ballot for not signing Dem loyalty oath, sues. No Republican is running for Travis County DA. How's the City Manager search going? Norman Mailer archive at Ransom Center opens to the public today. We've been told that it is nigh impossible to find a Nintendo DS in town. NYTimes says the DS is as big a hit for Nintendo as the Wii. West Lake Hills......

Photo of Perry filing Giuliani’s ballot paperwork by christopherleonard on flickrCurrent Travis County DA Ronnie Earle will retire when his term is up. Now-removed YouTube video showed Perry dissing Dubya and contrasting him with Giuliani. Is nothing sacred? State Rep. Dawnna Dukes caught playing hooky in Vegas. Some parents braved the icky weather this morning for a wristband to get them in line tomorrow for Hannah Montana tix. Pimp C's memorial service was held yesterday.......

Photo by Will Pate on flickrInteractive + ScreenBurn The preliminary list of Interactive panels has been released, and includes topics like "The Great Debate: Is Web 2.0 Bulls#!t?", "The Porn Police: Know the Rules," and "The Suxorz: The Worst Ten Social Media Ad Campaigns of 2007." [Preliminary List] Additional, several panels for the gaming-centric ScreenBurn fest have been revealed. These include "The Future Virtual World Game Development: Rise of the Indies," "You Are Here: Gaming......

In an unprecedented programming feat of nostalgia and star power, the Alamo Drafthouse has announced it will screen The Wizard--the awesome/corny paean to all things Nintendo--with cast members Fred Savage, Luke Edwards (the titular wizard) and director Todd Holland live in the theatre on December 7th! Sure, The Wizard was really just a 100-minute commercial for Super Mario Brothers 3. But oh what a commercial it was. Starring a just-barely-into-The Wonder Years Fred Savage, a......

Donkey Kong is a rite of passage for American youth. Who hasn't spent hours in a pizza joint, bent over a Donkey Kong cocktail table game, going for the new high score while your slice of pepperoni gets cold and the grease coagulates into a mess even more disgusting than the scent of a person who's played DK for 3 days straight without showering? Sometimes dodging virtual barrels and climbing to the top of......

Whenever we hear the word “pinball” all we can think of is drinking suicides in the game room at Mazzio’s Pizza and the lyrical wonderment of “that deaf, dumb and blink kid sure plays a mean pinball” from the Who’s Tommy. You may think of that one time, at Le Fun, when you pinged and flipped and bumpered your way to a tour of the Addams Family mansion, not knowing that you were conquering one......

Tonight, Music Mondays, AICN and the Austin Museum of Digital Art present 8 Bit, a documentary look at the cultural overlap between video games, art and music. Through interviews with digital artists (most notably Cory Arcangel, best known for his artistic Nintendo cartridge modifications) and heaps of live performance footage, the film explores the ever-increasing influence of video games on contemporary culture, from digital art to machinima to game-influenced music. And while this might seem......

Hey you! Put down that GameBoy and keep your eyes on the road! You're gonna KILL somebody. Ahem. For those of us dangerously, illegally addicted to such handheld trivialities, but wish the sound card was a little punchier, look no further than tonight's featured entertainment at Emo's: a cover band 100% dedicated to 8-bit Nintendo soundtracks. Trade in those bloopy MIDI tunes for full-blooded rock action as The Advantage faithfully recreate the themes from such......

Post by David Nunez Tonight at 8PM, nerds are beaming down to Cafe Mundi for the second gathering of Austin's latest art, technology, and culture forum: Dorkbot Austin. Dorkbot is a monthly meeting of artists (sound/image/movement/whatever), hackers, designers, engineers, students and other interested parties who are involved in the creation of electronic art (in the broadest sense of the term). Dorkbot was started in New York in 2000 by Douglas Irving Repetto and has since......

Remind us to make plans to spend next summer in Cabo! The recent legalization of drugs in Mexico is expected to increase tourism, especially by college students. Aside from the economic benefits of increased tourism, perhaps legalization could crack down (no pun intended) on the violence associated with drug trafficking. Women in Cyprus created the world's longest Bra Chain in an effort to increase breast cancer awareness. The Stars are out! Some teams in......

Remember all of those catchy tunes that you use to play over the action of your favorite Nintendo games? Well, tonight the Nintendo-theme-playing-savant Martin Leung will be performing them Martin live on stage at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. Leung first came to internet fame on ebaumsworld and his popularity has since skyrocketed, which is no surprise as his classically-trained playing and his love of pop-culture combine to form a captivating performance. He often......

This Saturday, Church of the Friedly Ghost (209 Pedernales), everybody's favorite former chapel-turned-basilica-of-rock, is hosting a Pink Party. What is a Pink Party? We don't really know and we don't really care. All we're sure of is that we finally have an excuse to flaunt that Hanes t-shirt that was assaulted by gang of red socks a few months ago. Helping to ensure this "Pink Party" is also a dance party is a triple-feet-shuffling-tag-team-lineup which......