Austin-based blogger Cindy Casares of Guanabee.com has a knack for turning up some doozies on her beat following Latino life and culture in these United States (see my profile of her here).

There are some SXSW panels that stick with you. Reel Murder: From Crime Scene to Big Screen wasn't memorable just because of the guests or the topic. It was because the panelists spoke from experience about the horror of violent crime.

Okay, folks: Running game. The Chronicle's Gay Place will buy whoever bags Jake Shears drinks for a year. Are we kidding? Well, that depends if you have video. Knotwhutimsaaaaayin'?!?

It's official: House Bill 1, the draft state budget for the next two years, will kill almost 150,000 private sector jobs.

I sit on my bed as I write, with my two very wild and weary boys. I remember when I first got my sonograms to determine their sex. Were they boys or girls?? The question was asked by every person I met, my ever extending belly provoking conversations from strangers and friends alike. Boy? Or Girl?

While South by Southwest many be over, the leaf reading on this year's festival ain't. On the Totescast this week, Richard Whittaker and Wells Dunbar tackle the SXSW aftermath, more Open Meetings silliness at City Hall, the latest on the spring City Council races, and more.

Talks on awarding the city’s long-suffering, long term recycling contract dominated City Council’s meeting yesterday. And while Solid Waste Services’ suggestion to award the contract entirely to Balcones Resources would create the most value for the city, the discussion doesn’t look over yet.

If you're my age (26) then you probably don't know who she is, but Victoria Jackson has come out of her food hole to spread homophobia on Showbiz Tonight. I, like you, are asking "Why should I give a @#$% what Victoria Jackson thinks?"

Biking though, then past the central density of SXSW, I think to myself ‘I really need a helmet.’ Wind ripping at my bike’s balance, I rode quickly through thick traffic south then east. I ran into a friend who tells me the Hunx & His Punx show is running two hours late. Trailer Space, she told me, was packed, and hot.