Plucking showrunner geniuses from the pool of Austin Film Festival panelists for a word or two about the origin of their content, their writing habits, and their unique experiences in this eclectic city is one of our favorite past times. This year, we had our sights set on Austinite Rob Thomas, the cult-fan-favorite television darling that has sprinkled absorbing, relatable stories across several mediums, including YA novels, film, and even the local music scene. We sat down at AFF homebase, the Driskill Hotel, in an attempt to discover how exactly a show (and even a soundtrack) gets the Thomas touch, as well as discover the fate of his future projects. more ›

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Ace Fu buzz crew Annuals have come on strong in 2006, thanks to their luminous debut Be He Me and tours with The Dears and Calexico; besides that, they got a song on "Veronica Mars," and is there no surer indie taste-maker these days? Bassist/engineer Mike Robinson kindly spoke to us about, well, SXSW and everything: more ›

TUESDAY [23] film • AFS Essential Series presents Beautiful Boxer at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar ® books • Jean Davison presents Ostrich Wakes at BookPeople (7:00pm) comedy • Bil Dwyer at Cap City Comedy Club film • Estrangement is Death at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • The One-Man He-Man Show at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • "Gilmore Girls" and "Veronica Mars" at Alamo Drafthouse Village food • "Dinner With Friends" Cooking Class with Chef... more ›

She's arty, but her songs are as catchy as hell. She was an anti-folk regular on the New York club scene, but also hangs out with The Strokes. Tonight, Antone's hosts the entertaining contradicton that is Regina Spektor in a sold out show. Spektor's latest album Begin To Hope has received accolades from NPR, Pitchfork, The Onion, and Rolling Stone, so we suppose that just about everyone likes it. The disc is a blend of... more ›

Holy Cylons, Batman, The Alamo Village is hosting TV Parties for all our favorite shows! If you are a fan of "Gilmore Girls," "Veronica Mars," "Smallville," "The Office," "My Name is Earl" and/or "Battlestar Galactica" then you've got a lot of awesomeness ahead of you. The Alamo Village is screening your favorite shows weekly as part of their new series of TV Parties. Here's the schedule: Every Tuesday, 7:30pm - "The Gilmore Girls" followed by... more ›

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TUESDAY [3] music • Viva Voce, Silversun Pickups, The Kingdom (Inside) at Emo's ® music • Sparta, Soundteam, Lola Ray (Outside) at Emo's ® music • Alice in Chains, Hurt at Stubb's music • HAAM Benefit Concert with Carolyn Wonderland at The Parish Room music • Citizen Cope at Waterloo Records music • HAAM Benefit Day - 5% of store proceeds go to the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians - at Waterloo Records music... more ›

Austin's teams finished second and tenth (out of 73 total teams) in last night's first prelim rounds for the National Poetry Slam. To put it in perspective, a perfect score is 90; TeamAustin/NeoSoul (which we've erroneously been calling South Flavas, mea culpa) scored 87.2, and TeamAustin/Ego's scored 80.9. We'd like to point out that NeoSoul is competing in their first nationals ever. Way to kick some ass! We're mighty proud of our local poet... more ›

We know that the CW is coming this fall to replace UPN and WB (or incorporate them, however you choose to view it). We were wondering which local channel would carry the CW programming, and Diane Holloway posts on her blog that KNVA (currently Austin's WB) will become the local CW affiliate on September 5. We had thought that both KBEJ (currently the UPN station) and KNVA might carry CW for Austin, but it... more ›

Favorite Random Blog of the Week: I Can Kick your Ass at Trivial Pursuit. Kandis blogs on "Veronica Mars" and other items of pop culture importance. more ›

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F R I D A Y [ 13 ] [party] Box Magazine, purveyors of tastefully-obscured softcore porn, are throwing another swank launch party to celebrate the release of Issue 2 - this time at The Peacock. DJs, "debaucherous times," and a special performance by Skinny Boy Burlesque. [music] Heard on Veronica Mars Featuring David Garza, Fire Marshals of Bethlehem, Daylight Titans, and Rite Flyers at Stubb's BBQ [in-store] AUX CD Release Show at End of... more ›

: : FRIDAY : : [culture] End of Ramadan (EID) Festival, 9:30am-4:30pm @ Richard Moya Park [homework] Deadline for the Soup Peddler's Soupie Cookbook [film] New Movies! @ Your Local Theater! [dance] Armagetdown with New Berlin, DJ Big Face and DJ Manny, 9pm @ Progress Coffee [music] Cruiserweight, The Fall Collection, The Always Already and Paper Airlines @ Emo's [music] Fluffer's Union and American Graveyard @ Trophy's [theatre] Paul Rudnick's "The Most Fabulous Story... more ›

Okay, we don't watch Veronica Mars, but the critics love it and it has a pretty sizeable cult following. Thanks to one of our daily blog reads, we found out about the Veronica Mars-athon at the Alamo Downtown. This marathon will feature each episode of the first season along with Q&A from creator (and Austinite) Rob Thomas and stars Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni (does anyone remember that show Hope and Gloria?), and Jason Dohring. The next day the Alamo will show a brand spanking new world premiere episode. Only in Austin (and not until January 14)!! more ›

Once upon a time, Hollywood television writer and producer Rob Thomas more ›