I wonder: why wouldn’t the APD drug cop and the data miner want the world to know what they’re up to? They’re heroes, after all! Cleansing our streets of the dreaded indoor weed farmer. They should be proud. They're like The Punisher and Microchip....

J. M. Coetzee is probably the only Nobel Prize winner for Literature with a degree from UT. He spent several years in Austin in the 1960’s, playing intramural cricket, protesting the Vietnam War in the pages of the Daily Texan, and writing a dissertation on Sam Beckett’s novels. A few years later, he returned to South Africa, the country of his birth, and started writing one amazing book after another. (He hasn’t really stopped since then.) He’s visited Austin a few times since then, including a stint in 1995 as a visiting professor at UT....

Score one more for the acquisitions team at the Harry Ransom Center. Yesterday morning, the UT facility announced that it had purchased the papers of Tim O'Brien, American novelist and resident of Central Texas. O'Brien teaches at Texas State University in San Marcos....

You probably know by now that perennial badass Robert De Niro donated his complete collection of film-related materials to the Harry Ransom Center in 2006, including annotated scripts and research materials from his character studies (that's right, De Niro is totally an anthropologist.) One of the main reasons De Niro chose the acclaimed University of Texas vault-of-goodness that is the Harry Ransom Center is because he knew that the materials would be available for students......

...there’s some kind of breakdown in logic going on here. As in, I made an effort to move here, whereas the people who claim to be native—well, they just fell out of their moms’ vaginas....

JJ Grey & Mofro churn out funky swamp rock of the breed that made Creedence Clearwater Revival famous, minus the whole, you know, Vietnam War protesting angle. The sound is southern rock full up of funk -- music for getting down, even when the steam's so thick you could cut it with a knife. JJ Grey & Mofro Jacksonville, FL Latest Release: Country Ghetto, 2007 Friday the 14th, 5:15 p.m., Austin Ventures Stage Like many......

I Know Who Killed Me: Oh LiLo, you are such a desperate mess. Shouldn’t the name of this movie be “I Know Who Killed My Career – Me!” There is a joke here somewhere about Lohan portraying a stripper, but we can’t quite put our finger on it…. No Reservations: Yes, Hollywood has absolutely no reservations about continuing to make trite, cliché rom-coms. This one is about two chefs and (GASP!) one of them......

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......

Fielding Lecht Gallery, which specializes in the contemporary art of Vietnam, closes on the the 22nd of this month. It's unfortunate for Austin, but, as gallery co-owner Pam Fielding explains, the art scene in Vietnam is currently such hot hotness that, "the inventory we have here is needed back in Hanoi." Ergo, if you had hoped to visit the show Five Changing Identities: Vietnamese Women of Today, you best run your badonkadonk over to Congress......

(FIRST) THURSDAY [7] party • Official Space Launch Celebration at Salvage Vanguard Theater (9:30pm) music • Go Motion! at Beauty Bar music • The Dollyrots, Alright Tonight, The Sweethearts, Abby Birds at Emo's music • Vietnam and Greg Ashley, The Strange Attractors, The Golden Boys at Emo's music • Scott Miller, The Commonwealth, The Gougers at Stubb's music • An Evening with Old Crow Medicine Show at The Parish Room music • Locals @ La......

THURSDAY [10] music • Learning Secrets with Ramesh (Voxtrot), Ben Craven + Co at Whisky Bar music • Rock of Ages Cover Show with Preserve the Sound (50s), Consider the Source (60s), Seaflea (70s), Promisebreakers (80s), Say Hello to the Angels (90s) at Emo's music • The Postmarks, Shuttle Debris, Raleign at Stubb's music • Future Clouds & Radar at Waterloo Records (5pm, Free) music • Moonhangers, Love Gone Cold, Salvia Family Band, Shot Gun......

What do you give the dear leader who's already got it all? If you're a decorated war vet with medals to spare, one option is (evidently) a Purple Heart. At least that's what Round Rock resident Bill Thomas decided to do when he and his wife met with President Bush yesterday at the Oval Office, where they presented our commander in chief with one of the three Purple Hearts that Thomas received in Vietnam. To......

Trans Am - Sex Change Trans Am practice a style of Krautrock, infused with Vietnam-era mood-rock fetishism, that at first glance seems to place them uncomfortably close to the Norwegian retro outfit 120 Days. On closer inspection, however, Trans Am's mostly-instrumental style is far more musically versatile than 120 Days' self-serious posing. Sex Change, while conspicuously lacking the hooks that have made their European counterparts international stars, is light as a feather in comparison to......

Tonight, as part of their South By Southeast: The Films of Thailand and Vietnam series, the Austin Film Society presents Ong-Bak, the breakout 2003 action film that brought martial arts whiz Tony Jaa to international attention. When a nasty big-city gangster steals a sacred Buddha head from a small Thai village (thereby severely messing up the village’s karma, or something), Ting (Jaa) ventures to Bangkok to recover it. With the help of his estranged con-artist......

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......

Tonight, as part of their South By Southeast: The Films of Thailand and Vietnam series, the Austin Film Society presents Last Life in the Universe, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s gorgeously pensive tale of violence, loneliness and love on the outskirts of Bangkok. Last Life tells the story of Kenji, a timid, obsessive-compulsive librarian whose attempt to hang himself is interrupted by his brother Yukio, a Japanese gang member on the run from a vindictive Yakuza boss. After......

Tonight, as part of their South By Southeast: The Films of Thailand and Vietnam series, the Austin Film Society presents Academy Award nominee Anh Hung Tran's elegiac 2001 drama Vertical Ray of the Sun. Set in modern Hanoi, Vertical Ray of the Sun follows three sisters (Suong, Khanh and Lien) as they prepare a memorial feast in honor of their deceased parents. The more time the sisters spend together, the more they discover hidden truths......

Now that we're in mid-January, club bookings for winter and spring shows are beginning to emerge. While much internet browsing has already been done looking for the SXSW 2007 lineup, there are also plenty of great touring shows dropping in outside of those dates (thankfully). New shows from The Roots, Explosions In The Sky, Midlake, and a Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard double bill top the new additions, but there is plenty here for all musical......

Tenacious D in 'The Pick of Destiny' Marquee Screenings Screening Info: 7:45pm October 26th at Paramount Regional Premiere. The legend of the fabled "Pick of Destiny" infuses every page of rock history. This is no ordinary pick, my friends, its sheer power could shake the pillars of Algernon. It is a thing of lore . . . a thing of magic. Since the dark ages, this supernatural pick has been passed down through many......

Mobile Loaves and Fishes has recently started a program called Habitat on Wheels. This program supplies homeless and working-poor Austinites with gently-used trailer homes for very reasonable rental rates. This weekend the organization is presenting a renovated mobile home to Elalein Hathaway, a 63-year-old single homeless woman whose husband died in service in Vietnam. Mobile Loaves and Fishes is currently seeking land in Austin to develop its own trailer park community for this program,......

As mentioned in last week's TWIT, the Black Arts Movement Festival, presented by ProArts Collective, is Austinist's Pick of the Week this week. The Chronicle and the Statesman have also made good mention of the fest, but to catch up the few of you who've yet to get the skinny on this event, here's what's going on. For the next two weeks, BAM brings to Austin an awesome smorgasbord of performance art by African......

July had the highest number of Iraqi civilian deaths. News of bombings in Iraq seems to be almost ubiquitous, even though we are told things are calming down. Are the Iraqis better off since our forces attacked their country? Did we start something we can't finish? How long until our troops can come home? Tomorrow night Democracy for Texas will host a public forum to discuss such questions as these. The panel discussion will......

Bee Cave is awesome- life is peaceful there, lots of open air, sun in winter time. No wonder Criterion Property Co. has chosen to build its new 293-unit luxury apartment complex there. Dubbed the "Windsor," it will doubtless be a lovely place for tea and crumpets. This sprawling slice of limestone encrusted heaven** will be conveniently located close to both the Hill Country Galleria and the Shops at the Galleria. We haven't actually "been......

MONDAY [22] [film] Letters from the Other Side at Congregational Church of Austin (7pm, Free) [link] [film] Hands on a Hard Body at Austin Java (8pm, Free) [link] [film] Jarhead at Cafe Mundi (8pm, Free) [link] [film] True Stories at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) [link] [film] Salt of the Earth at MonkeyWrench Books (8pm, $5) [link] [film] Anime Monday at Ventana del Sol (7:30pm) [link] [tv] 24 Season Finale at Alamo Downtown (7pm, Free) [link]......

Hallelujah! The day the Catholic Church and all of its minions have dreaded for the past few months (or maybe years, who knows what kind of secret prophecies they’ve got locked up in the Vatican – riiiiight??) has finally arrived. No, silly, there hasn’t been a discovery of ancient scrolls written by Jesus himself proclaiming the benefits of condom usage. Birth control and personal responsibility are still just as sinful as ever. We’re talking......

Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman took the stand on behalf of convicted killer Max Soffar. Soffar is convicted of killing three people during a Houston robbery at the Fair Lanes Windfern Bowling Center. His first conviction and death sentence were overturned on appeal. Friedman met Soffar while writing an article for Texas Monthly magazine. The author interviewed Soffar and exchanged letters with him during the inmate's years on death row. Kinky testified that he......

-Keeping your cell phone on in London can get you kicked out of the theatre -Google aims to ease your holiday shopping ordeals -MTV's Real World: Austin ends tonight. Yawn. -The iTunes music store has become one of the top ten song sellers in the States -The hotly anticipated Xbox 360 hit stores today - and promptly sold out -Gary Glitter faces the death sentence in Vietnam after [allegedly] having sex with a 12-year......

The Austin Asian Film Festival kicks off tomorrow at the Drafthouse Downtown. The annual showcase runs through Sunday, and features over thirty full-length films, documentaries, and shorts. Countries represented in their schedule include Bhutan, China, North and South Korea, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, and more. A full-access pass to the festival costs $25 for AFS members, and $35 for the general public - those of you on a budget can still enjoy many of their......

M O N D AY [ 31 ] music/party · The White Ghost Shivers' Halloween Ball at American Legion Hall! Burlesque, Independence Brew, apple bobbing with the TX Roller Girls, Tarot card readings, a kissing booth and more. The White Ghost Shivers will also be performing a live soundtrack to accompany Buster Keaton's "Cops." ($25, 9pm) music · Galactic, Mofro and New Monsoon at Stubb's music · Halloween Show at Emo's with Flametrick Subs, Satans......