We promised you more Papercut in this space weeks ago, and apparently what we covered is just the tip of the blade. A reader sent in a link to Cuban multi-media artist Elsa Mora's papercut blog. Inspired largely by her childhood in Cuba, Mora uses an X-Acto knife to painstakingly fashion folkloric images such as birds, girls in pinafores, plant life, insects, and the human heart. There is an innocence and longing in her figures that speaks volumes about the silent seiges of family relationships, uncertainty, and passion. Check out her Etsy store here. Challenging borders, both literal and figurative, is the obsession of Dutch artist Hannah Biemold. First inspired as a child by the mesh paper lanterns she saw at a flea market with her parents, Biemold has explored myriad paper artforms like cut "barcode" portraits, which make use of clever slits over contrasting backgrounds. She also makes shoes (not out of paper). An artist friend emailed me about UK artist Su Blackwell. Primarily using old books, she creates intricate sculptures using a scalpel to cut and glue the pages of books to create miniature dioramas glowing with lights in wood and glass boxes. Blackwell's artist's statement says it best, "It is the delicacy, the slight feeling of claustrophobia, as if these characters, the landscape have been trapped inside the book all this time and are now suddenly released. A number of the compositions have an urgency about them, the choices made for the cut-out people from the illustrations seem to lean towards people on their way somewhere, about to discover something, or perhaps escaping from something." In addition to a recent show of her work as part of "The 8th East Wing Collection" at The Courtauld Institute in London, Blackwell has also done many commercial works such as this 2007 spot for Beringer: Stay tuned, our next stop is Origamic Architecture.

Another day, another groundless claim from the anti-health reform cadre. Today's lesson from fantasyland comes from the editorial page of Investors Business Daily, which has already fallaciously claimed that the Obama health care plan would ban private health insurance. Strap yourself in, kids, because this one is a doozy.

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

And why is this such a jim-dandy of a whopping great big gaffe? (Deep breath) Because Hawking is British. Born in Oxford, raised in St. Albans and London, and, since 1979, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. Not Cambridge, Mass., but Cambridge in Cambridgeshire in England. So he has spent his entire life under NHS medical care. In fact, when he had to go to hospital earlier this year for pneumonia, he went to Addenbrooks, which is (drum roll, please) an NHS hospital. The editorial then indulges in this mote-plank-eye moment:

The British have succeeded in putting a price tag on human life, as we are about to.

Sorry, so what exactly are insurance premiums? And on that note, a 67-year-old academic with advanced motor neurone disease? That sounds like a pre-existing condition. Which private health insurance provider would cover him?

The local premiere last week was a hit, the L.A. premiere kicked butt, and now two of our home team bands get to see themselves on the silver screen locally when Bandslam officially premieres this Friday, Aug. 14, in Austin theaters. The Daze, who play themselves in the film, are also celebrating the release of their CD Straight Jacket Hymns at Waterloo Records tomorrow, 4:30pm. At Jovita’s on Friday night though, the Daze will be joined by Joker, the Austin power trio also featured in Bandslam. In the film, Joker plays a competing band called Glory Dogs, but this weekend, it’s strictly fun. The two bands each perform two sets to accommodate the moviegoers. Cover is $2 or free if you bring your ticket stubs from the movie. Filmed mostly in Austin in early 2008, Bandslam also features local hip-hop artists Zeale, Phranchyze, and Candice Jackson.

In this edition of Off the Record's 33 RPM, Room 710 goes out with a bang, roundball ruckus takes over Red River, and more confirmations for the 2009 Fun Fun Fun Fest.

Local punk/pop/country trio Darling New Neighbors is not only releasing a new disc later this month, it's also in the running to contribute the theme song for former Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein's NPR blog, Monitor Mix. They are currently in the lead, and deadline for voting is tomorrow, so get to it here! Update: They won!

Austin attorney Mina Brees, who ran unsuccessfully for a spot on Texas' Third Court of Appeals in 2006 and who recently ran into trouble over a plan to have a list of Texas restaurants pay her to reclaim their business names, has died in Colorado, reports the Austin American-Statesman. She was 59. The circumstances surrounding her death have not yet been made public. More about Brees' recent trouble can be found in this week's Chronicle.

Sunday's Texas Rollergirls championship ended the way most fans expected: With the Hotrod Honeys taking the title for the second year in a row. But more fittingly, it ended the only way it really could, with Barbarella of the Hustlers and Honeys captain Cat Tastrophe shoulder to shoulder on the jam line for the last time ever. They are amongst the last of the 2003 veterans of the league, and every time they sparred against each other, it was always great Roller Derby. This was no exception. Whether it was just the intensity of the title situation, or that so many players were in their final league bout, but this was TXRG skating at another level. The curtain-twitcher was the nail-chewing third-place play-off. The Hell Marys hadn't won all season. The Honky Tonk Heartbreakers came into the season as the favored challengers for the dominating Hotrods, but that wasn't to be. And from the first whistle, it was clear the Heartbreakers were showing no mercy. Olivia Shootin' John may have been wearing the jammer star, but was blocking Bloody Mary straight off the line.