• Crews struggle to clear toxic Hungary sludge flood
• Gold rises as China and US prep for currency cage match
• Gates gives $35 million to Obama's community college overhaul

This is what SXSW free day parties are all about. Twelve bands, two venues, and short sets so that you can see as much as you can stomach. Forcefield and Terrorbird are having their blow-out at Emo’s and Emo’s Jr. on the first day of SXSW, kicking things off with quite a bang. more ›

Polls are open from 7am to 7pm. more ›

Austin eco-friendly designerRené Geneva will show her hemp and organic wool designs at Fashion Week in Los Angeles with support from Austin's own EcoClean and Kendra Scott jewelery. more ›

Salvage Vanguard Theater has announced its new season! // Rubber Repertory has started airing their dirty laundry in a new, recurring series called From the Dumpster, in which they confess to madcap ideas they seriously considered staging. // There's more than music to SXSW. more ›

“And among the people whom I got to know, who became not only friends, but heroes, were Barbara Jordan, who taught me a lot about courage, and today would actually be her birthday. I remember all the time about how she got up every single morning, facing almost insurmountable odds, to do what she did. And another was my great friend Ann Richards, who taught me so much about determination. Ann was a great champion for the people of Texas. She also reminded us that every so often it is good to have a laugh about what it is we're engaged in.” -- Clinton more ›

Spiderhouse (probably one of Austin's most representative coffee shop-bar-patios) is hosting a full evening of music and fashion this Saturday, dubbed Fashion Freakout. more ›

Photos of some of the items to be shown at Fashion Freakout at The United States Art Authority (next to Spiderhouse) on Saturday, February 16th. more ›

Hillary Clinton says we really matter! Texan self-esteem at an all-time high (and that's saying something). GM wants to buy out every single one of its United States hourly workers. Texas beats No. 3 Kansas in basketball, 72-69, in front of a sold-out Erwin Center. By 2050, one in five Americans will be foreign-born, survey saith. more ›

Emo’s, as always, powers our evenings with a good amount of solid shows this weekend. Zookeeper and Zykos bring heartfelt indie-rock to the outside stage on Friday while Ume and Haunting Oboe Music take on the inside crowd with belligerent, experimental rock n’ roll. more ›

Skating, art and music has always been a big part of Warren McKinney’s life. The Austinite is sharing his passion for all three this weekend during Art on Deck, a special exhibit of rare skateboards, a skate demo and concerts at United States Art Authority. more ›

David Berman, the head honcho behind the massively influential Silver Jews, made a turnaround these past couple of years that has both shocked and delighted his many loyal fans. While Berman became renowned through Silver Jews releases like The Natural Bridge and American Water, not to mention a turn at poetry with 1999’s Actual Air, he more recently experienced a religious rebirth and crawled out of his “hell-hole life,” as he described it, discovering an only hinted-at passion for Judaism as well as a renewed appreciation for everyday life. more ›

Despite the obvious themes of power and faith, PT Anderson's vast, visionary epic There Will Be Blood isn’t primarily about oil, or about religion, or about extremism. Rather, it’s a thorough excavation of the foundation of American identity. And on top of all that, it’s the best film of the year. more ›

Chris Rose, or Car Stereo (Wars), will ensure 2008 kicks off right, with a barrage of dance floor ready material that includes a fair share of samples and mash-ups, no doubt. Happy New Year! more ›

Spider House and the United States Art Authority, along with yours truly, want to keep you away from downtown this New Year’s Eve. Sure the shenanigans on 6th St. is always stirring but keeping within the cozy confines of the campus area is arguably safer and largely less expensive. Spider House hosts a solid line-up of DJ’s with a couple of live acts thrown in for good measure. Doors are at 8 p.m. and the $12 tickets can be purchased in advance via Front Gate Tickets. more ›

• Schwarzenegger continues to make us weirdly like him. (But we're still not moving to California.)
• Castro beginning to show signs of willingness to retire.
• Monkeys are better at estimating quantities than Duke undergrads.

Photo of the Walls Unit gurney from Britannica Student Encyclopedia 25 Years of Lethal Injection: What Have We Learned?Friday, December 7Texas Prison Museum (map) This Friday marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first execution by lethal injection in the United States. Naturally, Texas, along with the city of Huntsville -- sometimes referred to as the "execution capital of the world"-- took this honor. With executions effectively on hold in Texas while the U.S. Supreme Court... more ›

Image from MySpaceBONAPARTE What's the Deal: Chances are slim to none at the moment if you are in the United States and you want to see this odd rock and roll force that's catchy, boisterous and riddled with pop culture references. Bonaparte is the name taken by the project’s mastermind and frontman who is from unknown international origins. His MySpace says he hails from Berlin, but it also claims St. Helena as well as saying... more ›

Image from SpyYard Texas Book FestivalSaturday November 3 - Sunday, November 4Downtown Austin [map]Free[info]We didn't think ten tips for the Texas Book Festival were enough, so here are ten more to help complicate things and confuse you you navigate the throngs of bibliophiles stalking the Austin streets this weekend. Keep in mind that seating and space is limited at most of these events. Arrive early and often! Saturday 10:00 - 10:45 Kristin Gore (Senate Chamber)... more ›

Mac Lethal has been called a “contemporary cross between a folk singer and a stand-up comic” by Rolling Stone – and that dichotomy of inane observation and thought-provoking insight defines his debut album, 11:11. We spoke with Mac Lethal from his tour bus while on the road for the Everybody Loves a Clown Tour with label-mates Grayskul and Atmosphere. That tour bus is currently parked outside of Emo’s, where the Everybody Loves a Clown... more ›

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,... more ›

The label and house that bear the name Natrix Natrix are the result of a fruitful and creative partnership between couple Rhonda Turnbough and Seth Whaland. To date, the label has put out eleven releases, most of which are very limited edition cassettes that feature personalized art and music from a nationwide staple of folk musicians including Viking Moses, John Rose, and compilation featuring Jana Hunter, Real Live Tigers, The Lovely Sparrows, and more. When... more ›

Like an accidental tourist, Terry George stumbled into filmmaking while penning a semi-autobiographical stage play with scribe partner Jim Sheridan about a failed prison break. Stemming from that first true-story collaboration, he has continued as both a writer and director, chronicling the triumph of the human spirit, and helping to catapult injustices in Ireland and the heinous genocide in Rwanda into our national consciousness with the critically acclaimed Hotel Rwanda. In conjunction with the regional... more ›

Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho will remain in the Senate despite calls for his resignation. Myanmar junta summons U.S. envoy for talks. Ig Nobel awards celebrate jet-setting Viagra-using hamsters and our military's attempt to make a "gay bomb." East Sixth Street, between Pedernales and Robert Martinez, now open after yesterday's train accident caused it to be closed. North Korea agrees to dismantle "all" of its nuclear facilities by the end of the year.... more ›

Back in 1996, Junot Diaz published a collection of short stories, Drown, which became one of the most celebrated literary debuts of the Nineties. Drown drew on Diaz’s experiences growing up, first in the Dominican Republic, and later, from the age of six, in a northern New Jersey immigrant neighborhood. Now, after eleven years, he has just published his long-awaited first novel, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Wao, the protagonist, is a... 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 ›

Once the camera crews, exuberant (and nostalgia seeking) fans, and Illuminati-crying conspiracy theorists had retreated to their respective rocks last week, former President Clinton decided to do some shopping at BookPeople. In town to raise money for Hillary's campaign at the home of long time Clinton family friend Roy Spence of GSD&M, Bill made a stop at BookPeople where he signed over a thousand copies of his new book, Giving: How Each of Us Can... more ›

M.I.A.'s Friday ACL performance felt so seductive because it was both spicy and sweet; but what else can you expect from a girl who salts and peppers her mango? She burst onto stage wearing pink pedal-pushers, white trainers, wrap-around glasses and war paint, all the while shimmying her heart out to Kala's "Bamboo Banga." Her dancing seemed confounded by tentative limb placement, and it marked her as one extremely sexy dork. (Hawt!) It's this... more ›

The Out of Bounds Improv Festival and Miniature Golf Tournament ended on Monday after six days of blithe musings from some of the finest improv and sketch-comedy troupes in the country. In its sixth year, Out of Bounds reached new heights of comedic exuberance over the past week—and, more importantly, surely introduced a new universe of humor to an unimaginable quantity of newcomers. But for some, Out of Bounds was more than a once-a-year... more ›

While you may be dreaming of the breeziness that would occur on your man/lady bits with a pair of shorts made of screen doors, that notion actually has nothing to do with the next round of shorts presented by Screen Door Film. However, you are more than welcome to show up on Wednesday night at the Salvage Vanguard Theater wearing all mesh; who are we to tell you what to do? Personally, we’re gonna stick... more ›