It's always interesting talking to mascots or spokespeople dressed up in outfits, especially when they don't seem to know too much about the products they are representing. It makes you wonder what they say to people all day. Yesterday we met the Miller Lite girls who claim to be in town to help support live music, but when asked which bands they recommend, have an interesting response. We also met the Podcast Pickle who......

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.......

One of the most well-known and influential political bloggers in America, Markos Moulitsas of The Daily Kos, will be at MonkeyWrench Books tonight to discuss Crashing The Gate. (And, word is Markos will be heading over to The Parlor for some pints and pie after the presentation.) The book is a scathing look at how the Republican party has failed Americans and how, in turn, the Democratic party has failed to step up to the......

[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......

Dear Alicia, What were you thinking?! Fucking Ben in the next room while I was sick w/ mono. UR A DIRTY BITCH and I rebuke you!!! I thought we had something special, but clearly you didn't. I hope you enjoy "tramping it up" and fucking half of Austin. Please die Sincerely, Roger Hilarious? Yes. Sad? Sure. Familiar? Probably. This is just one of the hundreds of pieces collected in the new book FOUND II, the......

If you're still choked up over Marisa dying or forgot to pre-order tickets to The Da Vinci Code, consider drunk-dancing your sorrows away tonight at the Velvet Spade, where NYC mas fuego DJ Tim Sweeney will be spinning with DJ Jeff of Houston's Boys+Girls Club. Sweeney's the wiz kid behind NYC radio show beats in space, the mix disc of DFA Record's Compilation #2, and the soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. He also......

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......

Nothing says loving like irate e-mails and death threats. A UT professor has been getting both after that venerable news source, the Drudge Report, linked to a pair of his recent speeches on population. In his speeches, Dr. Eric Pianka suggested that the planet might be better off with fewer people -- like, 90% fewer. How exactly Pianka said this and whether or not his comments were taken out of context is debatable. Regardless,......

[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 --......

Yes, there's a theme here in our favorite posts of the week: Miss Adventure's tale of mis-colored bangs and the reason her pal couldn't make it down for SxSW shouldn't be as funny as it is. Ben of The Life Unwired talks about his friend's SxSW film showing. Prentiss posts his wish for SxSW. The Armadillo Podcast is somewhat jaded about SxSW. Fergie's Tech Blog mentions the article in C|Net about the 6th Street......

Another week gone by, another bunch of favorite local blog posts: The Austin Centrist takes a look at the effects of busing (and the lack of busing) on schools in Austin. Hunter Cross wants you to go see his work at the Dougherty Arts Center. Casual Soapbox has culled all the early voting locations in Travis County so we don't have to. Jette got into UT's master class for film. She points out that......

[mp3] The Hold Steady - "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" [mp3] The Hold Steady - "The Swish" [link] The Plastic Constellations - "Iron City Jungles" [mp3] Baby Dee - "Endless Night" [mp3] Baby Dee - "Love's Small Song" [mp3] Baby Dee - "Lilacs" [mp3] Shearwater - "I Can't Wait" [mp3] Shearwater - "Whipping Boy" [full EP] Weird Weeds - "This Is Not What You Want (EP)" [mov] Nina Simone - "I Want A Little Sugar In......

Our favorite posts for the week: Accidental Julie (who has a gorgeous blog design) got shoe inserts. Fun, fun! jumpingfish is on vacation in Florida - or so we infer from his blog entries this week. Beth enjoys the hike-and-bike trail. Wish you could have heard all of Kinky’s songs on 60 Minutes the other night? The Armadillo Podcast can help you out. So he lives in Waco . . . we still like Nate’s......

Austinist editor Ben Brown was interviewed by The Armadillo Podcast, a "weekly podcast of ostentatious interviews of Austinites famous and infamous, known and unknown, with the sole intent to convince my good friend Galia, an Israeli woman living way out in California, to move and live with us here in the land of the weird and the home of the armadillo." Armadillo Podcast's host Steven Phenix chats with Ben about living in Austin, his......

Check the IST List to see when and where these acts will be playing this week Laura Cantrell 14th Street I'll Remember You I Lost You (But I Found Country Music) Bees Letters Rain Boy The Handsome Charlies (samples) Friend of Mine Eighty One Makes Me Love You Ghostland Observatory Podcast Interview with Laurie Gallardo, KUT's "Before the Break" The Deadly Snakes Gore Veil Sound Team Don't Turn Away It's Obvious What's Happening Here......

We are obviously mounted-up and riding high with the Kinky Friedman campaign for governor. (I mean, Why the Hell Not?) But we have the sneaking suspicion that this race will eventually come down to a battle between the two parties of the Establishment. With that said, the Democrats picked up a little bit of optimistic steam this morning as Chris Bell announced his candidacy for governor. In his announcement, Bell brought a breath of......