In the hopes of increasing registered and polite participation in our comments section, Austinist has decided to publish a "Top 5" list of our favorite reader responses from the past week. There are no prizes this week, but one never knows what might develop in the future. Now, on to the main attraction! 1 "I'm gazing into the abyss, but all I'm seeing is a 6-BR split-level mansion, with swimming pool & cabana in back."......

The Pier on Lake Austin, an old staple of Lake Austin boat cruisers and Hill Country folks since the 1920s, closed its doors back in 2005 after the restaurant/music venue/gas station lost its lease. Since that time, the place has basically sat unused. As we reported in April 2006, the original plan was to replace The Pier with a three-story development that consisted of a mix of casual and finer dining. Evidently this plan fell......

THURSDAY [27] [music] Diplo, CSS, Blonde de Role at The Parish Room LINK [fashion] Summer party with cocktails and music for Austin designer Mark Joiner, maker of some decidedly fabulous belt buckles and mod housewares at Eliza Page (7-10pm) LINK [theatre] "Petra's Cuento" at Dougherty Arts Center (8pm) LINK [theatre] "In On It" at Off Center (8pm, $17) LINK [theatre] Edward Albee's "The Play About the Baby" at play! Theatre (8pm, $10) LINK [theatre] "Radio:......

THURSDAY [29] [music] Loxsly at Whisky Bar (link) [books] Barbara Robles presents The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide at BookPeople (7pm) (link) [music] Everyone Knows Everyone Volume 3 with Those Peabodys, Visitors, Mars Wars Feat. Pure Filth, Young Love, Rory + The Artificial HeartS, Pirates Of Darkwater, DJ Shane and visual art a bunch of folks (including Austinist's own Justin "Juice" Cox and Jackie Young) at Emo's (link) [film]......

Mike Shea at BookPeople (7pm) (link) [music] Awesome Cool Dudes, Daniel Francis Doyle, Zom Zoms, Ralph White at Emo's (link) [music] Tristan Prettyman, Michael Tolcher at The Parish Room (link) [music] Pete Yorn instore at Waterloo Records (6:30pm) (link) [music] An Irish Sing-a-long with Brobdingnagian Bards and Campbell Wilson at Cactus Cafe (Free, 8pm) (link) [film] AFS 20th Anniversary Screening: Godard's Weekend at Alamo Downtown (7pm) (link) [film] Rolling Roadshow: The Goonies at Central Market......

Austin Business Journal reports on a new Austin-based website that launched recently called HomeAway, which lists over 60,000 vacation rentals around the world -- their listings span something like 90 countries and [may] eventually include castles, chalets, chateaus, houseboats and yurts. It looks like a good deal for both vacationers and homeowners alike -- for the latter, listing your property costs about $300 per year and seems to take the hassle out of finding prospective......

M O N D A Y [20] [art] Sex Workers' Art Show comes to UT-Austin at Texas Union Showroom (RM. 2.208) at UT-Austin (Free, 7pm) (link) [music] Tammany Hall Machine, Impossible Shapes, and Red Hunter at Stubb's (link) [film] "The Outdoorsmen: Blood, Sweat and Beers" at Alamo South (Monday-Thursday, 10:05pm) (link) [film] "Penitentiary" at Alamo Downtown (7pm) (link) [film] "930 F" (a documentary about DC's 9:30 Club) at Alamo Downtown ($1, 9:45pm) (link) [film] "The......