You know how sometimes when you are out on the town for a nice dinner, you wish that you could order tiny versions of everything on the menu because all of the dishes sound so delicious? Well, that's how we feel about film sometimes - if only we could watch 20 minutes of splatteriffic gore, 20 minutes of absurdist comedy and round it out with a piquant documentary or two, we would have all of......

Sure, family-friendly films, "green" cinema and the corresponding warm-fuzzies you get from caring about your lil' ones and The Earth are nice. But historically, motion pictures have always been driven by violence, outlandishness and the public's insatiable and prurient interest in watching things on film that they don't necessarily want to see in real life. In this hallowed vein, the AFF Dark Matters Series explores subject matter ranging from blood-spattered vegans to Korean hillbilly gangs......

D’Ette Cole incorporates found objects items in every aspect of her work. You could say this is her signature, but D’Ette’s style is not easily summed up. “It’s Texas flavor without being hokey,” she says. “No cowboy boots hanging on the wall.” What does pop up in her art and décor are elements of surprise. One of D’Ette’s newest projects transforms empty plastic water bottles into hanging light displays, which almost looks like a......

Those dang Emo's ... always inching around for a little extra room to crowd bands in. We have to say though that we love Emo's Lounge maybe even a little more than the old indoor stage: better sight lines, ingenious two-tiered standing room, and the band has to enter/exit the stage through the crowd, giving you that much more of a chance to feel up Marnie Stern or whoever. Tonight's bill will feature local......

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......

FRIDAY [9] art • Joey "Jo E" Santori paints a 6'x3' piece live while DJ O'Cal spins at Canvas Bar and Gallery (10am-6pm) art • Contemporary Art Trunk Show thru Feb. 11 at Art on 5th (10am-6pm) comedy • Bog Saget at The Paramount Theatre film • Master Pancake Debuts with Titanic at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • Weird Wednesday Reel One Viewing Party at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • Spike & Mike's Sick......

First Night Austin Schedule 2-5pm Family Festival 5:30-6:30pm Grand Procession 7pm Family Finale at City Hall 7-11:30pm Evening programming Midnight Grand Finale First Night Austin takes over downtown this Sunday, kicking off the second annual festival with three hours of family-friendly activities, performances, and art installations. From hip hop freestyling to Appalachian-style clog dancing, there promises to be enough culturally-rich distractions to entertain even that obnoxious nephew of yours who'd rather stay home to......

Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the web... As a holiday special, we're bringing you one of the best Missed Connection's from last week. Enjoy, and have a happy holidays... Need i need a love affair i need a triple-dog dare i need some hot sex that AIN'T from an ex i need a moment of clarity and i need charity not for me, but in me and i need parity and......

Multi-instrumentalist and programmer Evan Mast and guitarist Mike Stroud are very busy boys. Between day jobs running record labels and graphic design, studio and tour stints with the likes of Ben Kweller and Dashboard Confessional and a wide assortment of side projects, the New Yorkers formerly known as Cherry found time to record one of the summer's most talked-about albums and are now touring the U.S. The sound is a more studio developed one......

THURSDAY [21] books • Chuck Klosterman presents Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas at BookPeople (7pm) ® books • David Oshinsky presents Polio: An American Story at Barnes & Noble, 701 Capital of TX Hwy (7pm) ® books • Ayun Halliday presents Dirty Sugar Cookies: Culinary Observations, Questionable Taste at BookWoman (7pm) music • French Kicks, The Little Ones, The Lemurs at Emo's ® music • The Yellow Umbrella......

WEDNESDAY [20] film • Cinematexas Fest at Various (Various) ® music • Acid King, Black Cobra, The High Divers, Ghetto Princess at Emo's music • Lebanon (ISRAEL), Snake Trap, UME, Something Fierce at Beerland music • Five Times August, Stephen Speaks at Cactus Café music • Jet at La Zona Rosa ® music • Secret Weapons, Til We're Blue or Destroy and The Quicks at The Chain Drive (9pm) food • Angel Valley Organic......

MONDAY [18] film • La Brune et Moi with Cry Blood Apache live at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm, $2) ® music • Darling New Neighbors, Coach & Four at Hole in the Wall (10pm) music • David Garza at Cactus Café ® food • Dining for Life at Participating restaurants all over town More than 50 of Austin's best restaurants donate 15% of their dinner proceeds to Aids Services of Austin ® books • Greg......

Okay, we must take a quick moment here to talk about Pirates of the Caribbean Part Deux, which we should have talked about sooner but didn’t because, well, quite frankly, we kinda forgot we’d seen it until two hours ago, when yet another preview came on TV and we said to ourselves, “Hey, didn’t that scene come after that other scene and hey, how do we know that? Oh right, we saw that movie......

Another Austin writer has made good. Attorney and novelist Mark Falkin has written a coming-of-age story about a man coming to terms with his life after losing his mother to cancer. (Aside: All of the proceeds from the book will go to the American Cancer Society. Bravo, Mr. Falkin.) Told in a modified stream of consciousness style, Days of Grace portrays a young man's confusion and anxiety as he sets out on a humorous and......

The current political buzz is that Democratic candidate Nick Lampson will officially call for DeLay's immediate resignation. If DeLay resigns, Governor Rick Perry will have to call a special election to replace him, which would be held on May 13. However, if DeLay stays in office through June like he wants to, the election to replace him will be held November 7. Basically the longer DeLay stays on the more time the new Republican......

We reviewed Not Clown. Hilarious!. So much good music this weekend. You wouldn't have believed it if you didn't read it here. We might be the best blog in town, but there are plenty of other great ones out there. Jason McElwain, hoops legend. The feel-good story of the year (with video). The Texas re-districting battle takes to the Supreme Court. Round Rock Express tickets went on sale. The Great Mundane prepares to bring......

A week or so ago we were coming out of a meeting in preparation for our fabulous slew of parties that will occur during a certain week in March. We were hungry, so having about 90 minutes to kill before going to a concert, we figured we'd be brave and eat on 6th Street - not the part of Sixth where Thai Tara and Maiko reside, the other part. In between Congress and Red......

Did you attend all three days of ACL in September? Does the event inspire fond memories that don't include the heat and dust? Hey then -you're the perfect candidate to try out for Survivor. There's an open casting call at Sam's Boat on Braker beginning at 3pm today. We can only imagine what you'd be required to do to prove to them that you're hard-core enough, but they want you to at least be......

*This post comes from Austinist contributor Ami. One day she will learn how to use the intraweb on her own. We promise.* We went to Petco at Hancock Center to buy dog food yesterday. Immediately upon entering the store, we were overwhelmed by what can only be described as a horrific wall of odor, the likes of which we had never fathomed possible. Please understand that we aren’t just whining here or suffering from......

If you’re looking to have your funny bone tickled this weekend and you can’t get us on our cell phone, head on over to The Hideout Theater for the Out-of-Bounds Comedy Festival. We checked it out last night, and as you would expect, some groups were stronger than others. Both the upstairs and downstairs stages run acts simultaneously. Last night there was improv upstairs and sketch comedy downstairs. The absurd and cute Rat Girl......

Local news channel KXAN alerted us of a nifty new feature on Austin City's website that allows the public to view restaurant inspection scores from the Austin/Travis County Health Department. The online records date back to early 2003, which means you might find up to three consecutive scores for local restaurants. Austinist ran a quick search on a few of our favorite eateries and some more famous ones, and found the following (scores out......

If you're starting to feel like a gym rat or a trail rat, you're more likely to lose interest in exercising. We've been feeling that way ourselves, so instead of hitting the gym and pounding away on the treadmill or heading to Town Lake, we decided to take our routine to the street. We drove to the Enfield/Exposition area, where it's hilly is some spots to up the challenge. The neighborhood on either side......

This past weekend, exhausted from all the goings-on of Friday and Saturday nights, Austinist temporarily fled Austin to seek refuge in the Great Outdoors. We headed out west along HWY 290 to Pedernales Falls State Park, where we hoped to go on the 4-Mile Loop hike. Upon arrival at the Park's Headquarters, we were dismayed to learn that the river was too dangerous to traverse, what with all the recent rain we've had. As a......