Of all the documentaries premiering at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival, we’re probably most excited about seeing Second Skin, an up close and personal look at the lives of seven MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) players and the fictional worlds they inhabit. We recently had a chance to chat with the film’s Texas-born producer, Victor Piñeiro, about video games, social networks, and getting away with murder in a virtual world....

ImageAfter Art Last Wednesday, a Francis Bacon triptych sold at a Christie's auction for about $51 million. This is the highest price ever paid at a European auction for a post-war work. The sale, according to Christie's, demonstrates "the underlying, continued strength of the market" for art across the world. /// Actor Randy Quaid has been "banned for life" from the Actors' Equity Association, the labor union for American stage actors, for "physically and verbally"......

Once in a while, we like to take some time to introduce you to bands -- both local otherwise -- that we think you'd enjoy. Le Diamont Brut aims to showcase those MySpace gems we hope to see shine. Recommend your local suggestions by emailing music@austinist.com. FINAL FANTASY What’s the Deal: Final Fantasy is Owen Pallett, and yes, he is a fan of the game series. That’s actually where he got his name. His music......

If you missed out on the initial deadline to participate in this year's inaugural Maker Faire Austin festival, you're in luck! The event organizers have set a new deadline of Thursday, September 6, thereby affording you a comfortable two and a half weeks to come up with your very own zany creation. For an idea of what to expect, the MAKE blog highlights some of the inventions recently previewed at Austin Children's Museum, including hyperbolic......

Maker Faire, the annual Bay Area festival that revels in Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ingenuity, is expanding to Austin this year. The two-day, family-friendly event will showcase some of the coolest shit—arts, crafts, wickedly geeky science projects—you've never seen in your life; think Dorkbot but hulked out. What else would you expect from a festival organized by the staffs of Make and Craft magazines? If you're a "Maker" and are interested in showing off your zany (or......

From big blockbusters to foreign films, there's something for everyone being released today. These overviews should help you choose which movies you'd like to shell out for this weekend. DOA: Dead or Alive We thought DOA meant dead on arrival, but fans of video games and girls in bikinis likely won't quibble with the title of this action movie featuring scantily clad heroines. Babes! Yeah! Eagle vs. Shark Nerds kiss while wearing animal costumes,......

TUESDAY [27] film •AFS Essential Series "Climates" at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar books •Laura Van Prooyen presents Inblot and Altar at BookWoman (7:00pm) books •Robert Utley presents Lone Star Lawmen at BookPeople (7:00pm) film •"8-Bit": a film about art & video games at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film •"Where's the Beef?" best commercials of the 80s at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown music •Yellow Fever, Basic, Popup at Emo's music •O'2L at Stubb's music •Dale Watson at......

Tonight, Music Mondays, AICN and the Austin Museum of Digital Art present 8 Bit, a documentary look at the cultural overlap between video games, art and music. Through interviews with digital artists (most notably Cory Arcangel, best known for his artistic Nintendo cartridge modifications) and heaps of live performance footage, the film explores the ever-increasing influence of video games on contemporary culture, from digital art to machinima to game-influenced music. And while this might seem......

MONDAY [19] film • Alejandro Jodorowsky's "El Topo" at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown music • Melissa Ferrick, Coles Whalen at Stubb's film • "8-Bit": A film about art & video games at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown TUESDAY [20] books • O. Henry Prize Winning Short Story Adaptations at Harry Ransom Center (7:00pm) food • Central Market Cooking Class: Chef Justin Raiford - Flavors of Spring at Central Market Cooking School, 4001 N Lamar ($50, 6:30-9pm) music......

Tonight, Alamo Music Mondays presents The Legendary Joe Meek, a made-for-TV look at the life and death of the eccentric 1960s record producer whose innovative recording techniques and bizarre personal life made him one of the most interesting figures in early 1960s pop. Probably most famous for his hit songs "Telstar" and "Have I the Right", meek is widely regarded as Britain's first independent record producer, regularly churning out top 50 hits from a DIY......

Microsoft rolled into town yesterday on its Family Gaming bus, stopping at the state capitol as part of a national marketing campaign showing off "appropriate gaming and entertainment choices for their family." The "Safety is no game. Is your family set?" campaign sees the software giant partnering with Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Best Buy to teach parents how to limit their kids' exposure to raunchy video games and movie content. "With success......

Beyond screening over 100 excellent films, the Austin Film Festival also offers over 60 panels and roundtable discussions, led by more than 100 industry professionals. This year the panels will focus on ‘telling your story by any means necessary.' The panelists will give an informative look into how they sold their scripts, got distribution deals, had their pilots picked up, etc. If you are (or want to be) a writer, producer or director, you......

The fourth annual Austin Game Conference kicked off this morning. Right about now, thousands of gaming industry developers are probably sitting through opening remarks by Game Initiative conference director Tonda Bunge, Mayor Wynn, and Blizzard Entertainment's Rob Pardo -- the guy who brought computer geeks around the world such escapist hits as StarCraft and Warcraft III. Running through Friday, AGC includes an exhausting schedule of programming, with seminars focused on topics such as "The Joy......

Did ya think that we were skipping your Missed Connections fix for the week? Not so fast; actually just very late, as is currently the case. Don't labor too hard hunting for your connection... To the women too lazy to ring my doorbell and profess their love to me Seriously, I didn't want to bring this up, but it seems that every perfect woman really seems to slacking of in the department of being......

No place is off limits for some good old-fashioned Russian sex. American children are slacking...or not slacking enough. Bring on the video games and Cheetos! We're tired of looking at all y'all's nasty, funky, Disney-character underwear, too. Liberal Vermont is frowning at the naked teens hanging out in the parking lot just exercising their rights. Entrepreneurs are generally considered to be overconfident, hence their willingness to take risks.......

A day in the S.L.E.A.Z.Y. life of Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild fame; unfortunately, you don't get to see him in a thong. We'd like to see him strung up, though. China opens an Anger Bar- where the drunken cleintele are allowed to beat up the staff. Impress your friends with your new school supples. Teaching a teenager how to drive is more dangerous than originally thought. Alcohol is more harmful than LSD.......

With increasing frequency, state houses around the country are fingering video games for a variety of societal ills. The most popular complaint is that violent games cause violent bahavior. While evidence of such claims is dubious, speaking out against games seems to be a popular pursuit, particularly for the more conservatively inclined among us. At least one student at North Greenville College, a South Carolina Southern Baptist liberal arts college dedicated to a "biblically sound,......

Ah, the theatre. Drenched in history, glory, shame, and the passionate pursuit of dreams. Wrought with the epitomic struggles of man – the epochal moments of our modern age – wrangling that which is humanity onto our most noble public platform – the stage. So yeah, just like every week there’s a manwich-size portion of performance going on in town this weekend. Beyond the kick-ass stuff that’s already going on, the new show garnishing......

Slim pickin's today, friends. You can either choose a movie starring Oscar winners/nominees (which of course doesn't guarantee anything), or you can go with movies that cater to the lowest common denominator. Which is apparently pretty damn low these days. *Inside Man Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster. Kudos, Spike Lee, for making a movie with one fine-lookin’ cast. (*Ed. Note: We saw a sneak preview of this movie and really enjoyed the nuances......

With the understanding that the University of Texas is a public facility, and funded by the people of Texas, the president (of UT, not Dubya) has continued the tradition of having a yearly open house. Explore UT is an annual event that allows people to explore and get to know all of the exciting things that the university has to offer. From solar cars to mariachi music, from video games to Shakespeare, the open......

In conjunction with the Interative portion of SXSW this year, the festival coordinators will also be debuting the "ScreenBurn Beta Festival," billed as "the place to get your hands on upcoming video game releases, hear from industry insiders and indie developers on the edge, and see the future of game development firsthand." The combination trade show and expo will be held at the Austin Convention Center on Saturday, March 11th, and will feature E3-like......

Oh how we love the Alamo Drafthouse, let us count the ways... Five-course Italian meal with your “Godfather” screening. A bottle of champagne while you watch an old Hepburn movie. Screenings you can not find anywhere else in the state. Mr. Sinus Theatre. Real melted butter on your popcorn. Buckets of beer. Cute waiters and waitresses. Old school video games in the lobby. Videoke. Dollar Monday nights. Rolling Roadshow. Midnight movies. Private parties. Buckets......

S A T U R D A Y music · Solomon & Tummler play their last show ever (members of Recover and Visitors), Mars Wars, Hockey Night, Pirates of Darkwater, LAX, plus DJ Shane at Emo's. 10pm [mp3s: Solomon & Tummler EP via MoreFizz] in-store · Sally Crewe & the Sudden Moves at End of an Ear 6pm [mp3: Sally Crewe - Drive it Like You Stole It] party · Swerve Coffee Lounge celebrates its......