Tonight, Austin's trendiest gay bar Rain is giving you the chance to finally wrap up in your favorite garbage bag dress for a Ke$ha look alike contest. If you frequently wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy, have a habit of losing your coat at a party at a rich dude's house, or if every night you're just down to go out then you might have what it takes to be the best (or worst?) dressed on the Lite-Brite dance floor.

Today (Tuesday, May 3rd) Red Fly’s Wii version of the God of Asgard game hits shelves with a thunderous roar(though still no rain). The Austin developer gained full creative license (not just the job of tweaking the controls of a port) and they built it ground floor-style. The Wii game uses decidedly more comic book influenced visuals and even features Matt Fraction’s steady hand, (Eisner Award-winning Thor comic book writer) as story consultant. more ›

• Hermine has left a trail of epic dampness thru Austin.
• You might not be swimming in Barton Springs Pool for a bit.
• Dang…is this joint in Blessing, Texas now gonna sell out of food quicker than tiny Snow’s BBQ (in Lexington) does?

• Obama addresses United Nations today: US can't do it alone
• Massive storm in Australia blankets Sydney in a layer of orange dust
• Silence of the Cars: Makers of electric cars propose adding some artificial vroom to alert pedestrians

• Some local students see President Obama’s stay-in-school message. Some don’t.
• “Ike Dike” proposed in Galveston. This Dike would extend Galveston’s seawall by 50 miles and create a job for a Little Dutch Boy who’d save the city in case of malfunction!
• Do you get your own page in the yearbook for this? Would you want one? A 14 year-old Dallas driver led cops on a wrong-way chase.

• Texas continues to ignore that whole "separation of church and state" thing.
• Ohio politician seems to think abortion should be decided by men.
• Obama: police who arrested Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "acted stupidly."

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Austinist. more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Austinist. more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Austinist. more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Austinist. more ›

Frontera Fest is such a playing-field-leveled egalitarian opportunity for creative types from all walks and skill levels to have a night in the spotlight. Totally worth the $12 -14 price of admission but don’t wait to figure this out later. The wait for unclaimed tickets on sold out nights starts an hour before showtime and baby it’s cold outside. more ›

Google MapsGeorgetown Village, a new master planned community 35 miles north of downtown Austin, is hoping to become the first green subdivision in Georgetown. According to the Statesman: Green Builders Inc. is creating an 800-acre master-planned community with 2,000 houses that will be environmentally friendly and feature rain harvesting and energy-saving heating and cooling systems. Georgetown Village will offer 15 floor plans, from 1,800 square feet to 2,400 square feet. Several models are near completion.... more ›

Image courtesy of Tegan and Sara’s MySpace Tegan and SaraWednesday, November 7Stubbs (801 Red River)$18 (Advance) / $20 (Day Of Show), 7 p.m.[info] | [tickets]It’s not the middle of SxSW, it’s not the weekend of Austin City Limits Music Festival, heck it’s not even Fun Fun Fun Fest anymore, but November 7th might just be one of those evenings where the stars align to bring our city a number of ridiculously appealing concerts. Symphonic rock... more ›

Photo of Girl Talk by Davisayer on FlickrFun Fun Fun Fest lived up to its name in spades last weekend, showcasing local and not-so local bands of all genres on three stages in two short days. Day one included local acts White Denim, Brothers and Sisters and Okkervil River, as well as touring acts like Neurosis, Final Fantasy, of Montreal and Girl Talk. Last year's event was a success, albeit overshadowed by too-cool temperatures and... more ›

Cop shot in the foot during early morning shootout near Montopolis. UT student Daniel Toole fell to his death from Goodall Wooten dorm this weekend. Public universities in Texas cost more than the national average (for the second year in a row). UT won a state landscape preservation award (over a week ago) for their transplanting of live oaks during stadium renovation. Two kids in a family on their way to visit their wounded... more ›

Travis County has requested an injunction against the developers of the Ranches at Hamilton Pool to force them to stop construction unless they start doing more to keep runoff from their site out of Hamilton Pool. Although they presumably have an interest in keeping their namesake pool clean enough for residents to enjoy, an independent consultant hired by Travis County has determined that the development is responsible for a majority, if not all, of the... more ›

For the past few weekends, a handful of kindhearted volunteers have shown up to a patch of land in southeast Austin to help, literally, raise the roof of one Austinite's dreams. These folks are with the Austin Pride Build, the first-ever Habitat for Humanity project orchestrated by an LGBT community in Texas. Recently, they were honored as a Critics Pick for "Best Hammers of Justice" in this year's Best of Austin poll. "We're proud that... more ›

Denmark darling Figurines will be playing tonight at Emo's (in the lounge) in support of their most recent release, When the Deer Wore Blue. For those unaware, Figurines play a charmingly off-kilter form of retro pop, and their catalog is a must-have for fans of the European refiguring of American indie standards. That's great and all, but we're more excited to catch Dappled Cities, an Australian outfit that, for reasons unknown to us, haven't... more ›

In the mid-'80s, a movement of Los Angeles denizens later described as the Paisley Underground rebelled against new wave and hair metal by getting psychedelic and pretending that it was 1967 all over again, replete with Rickenbackers and sunshine pop. The bands involved in the Paisley Underground included the Three O’Clock, Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, and even The Bangles before they walked away like Egyptians all the way to the bank. While all this was... more ›

What, exactly, is postmodernism? We ask ourselves this question whenever the work of a postmodern playwright makes the stage in Austin. Charles L. Mee is one such playwright. Did you know that he encourages writers to "pillage [my] plays as I have pillaged the structures and contents of the plays of Euripides and Brecht and stuff out of Soap Opera Digest and the evening news and the internet, and build your own, entirely new, piece..."?... more ›

Fat Man and Little Boy seem like innocuous pejorative phrases, possibly used to tease other kids on the monkey bars, but when associated with a date, specifically August 6th and 9th, 1945, those words become something else altogether. No longer mere verbal darts, those words evoke images of pillars of fire and shredded skin, of a war certainly ended, but possibly not won. Wednesday night, Academy Award winning director Steven Okazaki will take you on... more ›

We entered the park around 1:10pm to the strains of a seriously thrashy number from Yo La Tengo. It was impressive to hear how determined YLT were to throw out some serious noise rock at such an early hour. Being a bit sunburned and rather low-energy, we listened rather than watched, grabbed a blissfully freezing cold beer, and headed over to grab a spot for The National. The National (1:30pm): What perfect music for... more ›

It’s time to channel the patio-dwelling, agua fresca-drinking short film lover inside of you, for Nueva Onda restaurant will be serving up some Purely Austin Shorts tomorrow night free of charge. All you have to do is show up, sit down, and stuff your face. The synopses of all four films sound promising and the line up is eclectic enough to suit a variety of tastes. The night begins with Room of Ghosts --... more ›

Think you know Austin? Austin360 isn't so sure: "There should be more to being a true Austinite than just moving here because you had a great time at South by Southwest and thought it was like that here year round. You should have to know a few basic things about Austin before you can officially refer to it as your hometown." Take their "AQ" test and find out. Another mortgage company with employees in... more ›

*The views expressed in Truesday are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole. Thank heavens.* -The Editors I cry about it every year. What can I say? I’m Nordic. My peoples battled chill and rain-brought illness. Snow drifts and day long nights. Christmas trees and rowing to Greenland to fish. Various doings in the cold. They never sweat to death. So this current variety of heat, though delayed this... more ›

Feeling awash in connections? Underwater with a number of dates? Social life raining good karma? Then perhaps we're not the place for you. Although, if you're having a dry spell this might be the oasis you've been seeking. We've rounded up the best of last week's Missed Connections, so put on your rain suit and take a look... late night couch peeing and amazing sex - w4m i peed on the couch, then you... more ›

Feeling awash in connections? Underwater with a number of dates? Social life raining good karma? Then perhaps we're not the place for you. Although, if you're having a dry spell this might be the oasis you've been seeking. We've rounded up the best of last week's Missed Connections, so put on your rain suit and take a look... MC with the F'ing SUN! Rain is good. It fills our lakes, rivers and aquifers. It... more ›

We know you've heard the name, and we know you know they're not Japanese. Or police. They're actually just some kids from Canada who met in fourth grade and are living the dream: playing in an awesome, fun, and increasingly popular band. Elementary friends David Monks (vocals, bass), Graham Wright (keyboard), and Josh Hook (guitar) met Greg Alsop (drummer) in high school and formed Tokyo Police Club. Shortly thereafter, and totally out of the... more ›

No, this isn't a plot for the pilot of a new Sci-Fi Channel original series, it's a real life epidemic that has forced the University of Texas to temporarily dim the lights of its most revered building on campus, The UT Tower. The University has sent out this e-mail: "As some of you may have noticed, there is a cricket infestation on campus particularly affecting the area of the Main Building and UT Tower.... more ›

Mindful of the rain and lightning debacles that canceled both the Blonde Redhead and Yo La Tengo shows earlier this year, promoters have moved tonight's Travis gig to the drier confines of La Zona Rosa. All tickets purchased for the Stubb's show will be honored, and will-call tickets have all been moved to the new venue. Doors open at 7pm, and the show begins at 8. We doubt that Travis are afraid of the... more ›