You weren't invited to the company picnic again, and the cruel, cautionary yellow of that "visitor" badge has worn a sizable hole in your hope, not to mention your résumé. Where to go? What to do? FairJobs.org, for starters.

BY COURTNEY FITZGERALD

Short Cuts

We're No. 1. But we knew that.

BY MARC SAVLOV

TV Eye

Thirty years later, Jeff Krulik and John Heyn still find the best spots

BY BELINDA ACOSTA

Film Reviews

The Butterfly Effect

Ashton Kutcher lays to waste a promising script involving time travel and unforeseeable consequences.

Disney's Teacher's Pet

Animated film about a dog who wants to be a boy – unusual fare from Disney that will please kids and alterna-adults.

Tokyo Godfathers

A homeless drag queen adopts an orphan in what is, but for some violence and harsh language, old-fashioned, big-hearted entertainment in high animé style.

Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!

A hotshot movie star learns about small-town virtue in a forgettable romantic comedy.

arts & culture

The Earth Moves

For choreographer Ellen Bartel, dance does make the world go 'round

BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER

Survey Says: Arts Rule!

According to a new study, three out of four Austinites agree that the arts are where it's at

BY ROBERT FAIRES

Articulations

Playwright Dan Dietz gets his second play staged at the Humana Festival in Louisville, Johnson / Long Dance Company heads to Hamburg, and Zach shuffles its season

BY ROBERT FAIRES

Arts Reviews

The Road to Wigan Pier

Despite its focus on the bleak lives of English coal miners in the 1930s, The Road to Wigan Pier, with its live music, film, and skits, is a ridiculous amount of fun

Topdog/Underdog

Pro Arts Collective makes Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog / Underdog -- a play dense with racial, societal, and economic queries -- into a fast-paced and engaging hour and a half

The Winter's Tale

You should go to the Austin Shakespeare Festival's The Winter's Tale only if you'd like to see a truly magical story of hope from despair, joy from grief, and life from death

columns

Page Two

What would have happened if we had not invaded Afghanistan and Iraq?

BY LOUIS BLACK

Postmarks

Our readers talk back.

After a Fashion

This week, your Style Avatar dresses to the nines and eats well

BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

The Cooper caper, conscious corpses, and the calibur of Caladfwlch

BY MR. SMARTY PANTS

To Your Health

I desperately need more energy. I know my adrenal glands are not up to par, and I have heard about using adrenal gland concentrate for this. Is it safe to try?

BY JAMES HEFFLEY, PH.D.

About AIDS

Octopus club sets a record -- party on!

BY LEW ALDRIDGE

The Common Law

I bounced a check, and now the store is threatening to press criminal charges against me if I don't pay the amount I owe within 48 hours. Can they really do that?