At a time when so many indie dramas focus on directionless white twenty-somethings, it's refreshing (if not downright invigorating) to see a film about two black twenty-somethings who have no ostensible interest in dancefighting, and who have plenty to say about relationships, identity, and cultural displacement. Director Barry Jenkins' debut feature, Medicine For Melancholy, follows urbanites Micah and Jo as they shake off the haze of a drunken one-night-stand. As they bicycle around the streets......

Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist A posthumous tribute wall dedicated to singer/songwriter Elliot Smith sat defaced by graffiti for months on end -- LAist said enough, so did the fans and city council.SFist was surprised to learn that chronic presidential candidate Ralph Nader picked former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez as his running mate.Phillyist explored the possibilities of green cleaning.In the latest edition of Reel Toronto, a bi-weekly feature looking at films shot in Toronto......

Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch speaks on evil record companies, Phil Collins, the ugly faces of politicians, shitty guitar solos, future collaboration with Modest Mouse, and old reggae guys getting high. Alright, so Built to Spill is one of the greatest, most influential, and most acclaimed bands of the past fifteen years. There's really no way around it. And for those of you who are a little late to the love-in, here's a very small sample of some of the things that have been said about them:         "A band whose talent and proficiency at times seem[s] boundless." --Pitchfork Media         "Flawless." --Trigger Magazine         "In short, he's a talent more people ought to know about." --Rolling Stone, on Doug Martsch         "Better than getting laid, finding God and winning the lotto combined." --San Francisco Weekly, just last week when discussing their live performance...

Photo credit: sniderscion Torontoist spent its week uncovering who was behind mysterious ads for a drug called "Obay" that popped up across the country (Scientology? Frank Shepard Fairey?), first tracing them to an advocacy group called Colleges Ontario and then confirming their suspicions a few days later.Phillyist learned how to put on a puppet show – it's not as easy as you might think!Shanghaiist discovers that the average starting monthly pay for fresh graduates......

Classic Rock, Classic Country: As per usual, Willie Nelson will play two nights at The Backyard for both locals avoiding SXSW and tourists willing to skip one night of showcases to see Austin's most enduring music legend. Willie's shows are tentatively scheduled for 3/14 and 3/15, and will go on sale sometime in February. In another move designed to access some tourist dollars, Direct Events has announced a relatively intimate show with Van Morrison at the Austin Music Hall on Tuesday, March 11. Van the Man apparently hasn't heard about the looming recession, as tickets are priced from $102 to a whopping $257. ...

You can call it lowbrow art, pop surrealism or just plain ‘ol weird, but the work now on display at Okay Mountain features some of the best (and mind-blowingly bizarre) works by emerging California artists....

SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others. Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list. Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island. LAist received a Christmas present in the form of a drunk Santa Claus in a g-string. Bostonist launched......

Elections to continue in Pakistan despite the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif's vow to boycott them. Republican Mike Huckabee is clueless about Pakistan. Your tax refund could be delayed due to Congress' late fix to the alternative minimum tax. UT won the Holiday Bowl and the sports world yawned. San Francisco zoo director Manuel Mollinedo claims that the tiger's enclosure fell short of the industry's safety standards. Is anyone else......

Austin City Council proposed a resolution to reduce the use of plastic bags back in May, but Whole Foods is taking matters into their own hands and no longer offering plastic bags at check out. They are upping the ante from 5 cents to 10 cents for those who bring reusable bags, or customers can conveniently purchase the new 99 cent "better bag" made of 80% post-consumer waste....

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and......

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the......

Image by the "Subway Cyrano," from GothamistNew York City was at its strangest and swellest this week. On Sunday, tens of thousands people ran in the NYC Marathon, including Mrs. Tom Cruise, aka Katie Holmes, who ran it in just under 5 hours, 30 minutes. Gothamist also found out that limes in Corona are sometimes illegal, the weird maple syrup might be back and a famous punk music pioneer-turned-real estate broker was possibly killed by......

I thought I might give you a little taste of the strange and peculiar experience of moving to a new place. Not just moving to a foreign land, but also enjoying its idiosyncrasies while also attempting to replicate some of your favorite experiences in the place you loved but fatuously left....

As farmer's markets gain popularity nationwide, Austinites can stand proud as the Austin Farmer's Market does its part to support local farmers. Greenlight Magazine highlights the top 10 markets in the nation in its most recent edition, and Austin hits the list. According to the magazine: This growers-only market is limited to local (within 150 miles) farms, and boasts a distinct Southwestern flavor. Pick up Creole pralines, pecans, as well as heirloom zipper, cream, black-eyed,......

Austinites are at the forefront of the blogging community, according to a new report published by a leading market research firm. Scarborough Research's new survey found that Austin tops other tech-heavy cities—Portland, San Francisco and Seattle rounded out the top four—when it comes to folks who either read or contribute to a blog. Fully fifteen percent of adults in Austin interact with blogs in some fashion; the research firm attributes this to both the tech......

While the West Coast leads the pack, it's no surprise that Austin has ranked 7th in a national survey ranking organic food consumption. In fact, the study looked at local organic juggernaut Whole Foods Market, finding "Organics consumers are 272% more likely than the average consumer to have shopped Whole Foods during the past week." According to the survey, the top local markets for organics consumers are: 1. San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, CA 2. Seattle/Tacoma, WA......

For those of you with a hankering for some nostalgic punk rock, we recommend getting a double shot and checking out the Avengers and Pansy Division tonight. The recently reunited Avengers are on their first ever national tour. One of the key components of the San Francisco punk scene, the Avengers were influential despite being relatively short lived. The line-up for this tour includes two of the original members: the hot as hell frontwoman, Penelope......

With three days left for the 20th annual Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF), the festival organizers have decided to offer up several free screenings to the public. "One of the issues we've talked a lot about this year is how to make the festival as inclusive and affordable as possible," said Lucas Schaefer, Executive Director of aGLIFF. "We want everyone who wants to attend to be able to attend as many of......

If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump. Less than a week after the Austin City Limits Music Festival packed up its gear for another year, La Grave Field in Fort Worth hosted the 2007 Wall Of Sound Festival. Presented by Spune and co-sponsored by Coors Light, the Fort Worth Weekly, and yours truly (among others), the event kicked off bright n' early on the 22nd of......

Bag the Bags Coalition is urging city council to pass an ordinance banning the use of plastic bags by large retailers and instead require those retailers to offer compostable bags. In April, city council passed a resolution directing the City Manager to evaluate and recommend strategies within 90 days for limiting the use of non-compostable plastic bags and promoting the use of compostable plastic bags, recyclable paper bags or reusable checkout bags. 90 days......

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. Bostonist got a crash course in what not......

Excuse us while we step into the blogger battlefield compost bin. This isn't an attack; it’s just our new media way of recycling – turning lies into truth, melding age-old stereotypes into something a little more flattering. Al Gore is coming to town in October, people. It’s time to set things straight. Daisy Whitney runs a blog called “Trial and Error” over at TelevisionWeek where she keeps tabs on the ever-changing medium that is......

[New Austinist contributor Eric Seufert will be covering the Out of Bounds festival all week! -Ed.] Today marks the start of the sixth Out of Bounds festival—a nationally-acclaimed improv festival taking place right here in Austin. One of the acts performing in the inaugural show at The Hideout tonight is veteran sketch-troupe Hoover’s Blanket. We were able to catch up with Chris Allen, Andy Pereira, and Bryan Roberts after a rehearsal to discuss their show.......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Hello again, music lover! The Laurie Show on KUT 90.5 will be in full swing tonight, featuring great music by local (and formally local) artists whose CDs I now have in my grimy paws. Glee! Plus, I can guarantee you that once again, your live music calendar is going to be rather......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

The Austin/San Francisco-based thoughtful, ambient rock group Monahans (previously Milton Mapes) is, according to The Parish calendar, having its CD release show there Thursday night. However, the album was released over a month ago, so make of it what you will. Either way, their soothing sounds of longing are sure to put you in a trancelike state, not unlike the effect of mixing old R.E.M. and hallucinogenics on a long, solemn sea voyage. Monahans’......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

Bishop Allen The Broken String (Dead Oceans) So, the Brooklyn-based (man, it gets tiring typing that out every week) blog band Bishop Allen are a sort of east coast Voxtrot in that they've wet the pop-frenzied masses with a series of well-received EPs over the last couple of years. Instead of releasing an album full of highly anticipated new material, however, they've polished a bunch of old tracks (and previously only available live songs)......

As part of their summer Global Minds, Other Worlds: Global Sci-Fi Cinema series, the Austin Film Society presents Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). In this masterful remake of the '50s original, director Philip Kaufman confirms once and for all that soulless pod people are, truly, a mass-anxiety filmic allegory for the ages. The first Body Snatchers (1956) saw alien seeds drifting to a small California town, quietly killing off its inhabitants and hatching......