The film What Would Jesus Buy is opening this weekend at the Regal Arbor (9828 Great Hills Trail). The film is described as "An examination of the commercialization of Christmas in America while following Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse (the end of humankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt.)"

At this Friday evening's show (Dec. 7) at 7:30pm, theatre-goers can give Responsible Growth for Northcross, which is fighting to stop the Wal-Mart proposed for the former Northcross Mall property, a $5 donation in the lobby to see the film instead of paying the normal price for a ticket.

Plus, during the opening weekend, the theatre will admit a guest +1 for the 'Senior-Child' price if you print out and bring in a coupon that will be available on the RG4N website.

The NCAA Women's Final Four is this weekend, at Aggie Soccer Stadium in College Station. The semifinals are Friday, Dec. 7: Florida St.-Notre Dame at 4pm; UCLA-USC at 6:30pm. The championship final is Sunday, 1pm. See www.AggieAthletics.com for ticket info. In case you can't make it to Aggieland, all three games will be shown live on ESPN2 and ESPNU. The Men's Final Four is the following weekend. Next week, Dec. 11-12, marks the end of the Champions League group stage. ESPN2's games of the week are Liverpool at Marseille on Tuesday, Lyon at Glasgow Rangers on Wednesday, both at 1:30pm. In each case, the winner advances to the knockout stage, the loser drops out. One group was finished this Tuesday, with Glasgow Celtic advancing to the last 16, despite losing to AC Milan. Details below. The draw was held this week for next summer's European Championship. Group C is brutal: Italy, France, Holland, and Romania. Details below. Mark your calendar: Highly regarded coach George Ley (Austin Rangers) leads a free soccer clinic for women, targeted for novices to intermediates, Saturday, Dec. 15, 11am-1pm at St. Louis Church, 7601 Burnet. RSVP to [email protected].

To define Stevie Wonder solely in musical terms undervalues his full contribution to humanity. The pure, unfettered joy and message of love the 57-year-old musician has spread worldwide since his youth at Motown Records – for whom he still records – takes on Martin Luther King-like proportions in their unification of a species. Stevie Wonder’s universe, musical and otherwise, functions on the metaphysical laws of mankind as one mind, body, and spirit. The full house last night at the Toyota Center in Houston stood, clapped, screamed, and sang as a single entity.

“Hello!” exclaimed Wonder in his timeless pitch of exuberance. Guided onstage by his voluptuous daughter Aisha Morris (“I know what you’re thinking,” he laughed, warning that he had a shotgun. “And I never miss.”), the former Steveland Hardaway Judkins retold the story of a dream he had upon his mother’s death last May. “She said, ‘Boy, you better get your ass out there [on tour].’” One has the late Lula Mae Hardaway to pay blessed thanks for her son’s first extended road trip in a decade.

Before opening the two hour and 45-minute concert with “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” Wonder preached exactly that then sat at the black grand piano among a city of instruments piled high around him. Soon, his 11-piece band joined in as he switched to his electric keyboards for a triptych of tunes from 1973’s Innervisions, “Too High,” the dazzling “Visions,” and “Living for the City,” which pulsed through the arena in a tsunami of communal ecstasy. All present joined Lula Mae Hardaway in her new high-rise.

Tunecore, the flat-fee digital distribution service connected to iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon MP3, among others, has compiled a 34-song sampler that’s currently available for free. Interspersed between national notables like Public Enemy, the Dandy Warhols, and Steve Vai is a handful of Austin bands, including Brazos; Pink Nasty; Belaire; Tacks, the Boy Disaster; Peter & the Wolf; and Oh No! Oh My!

White Denim, meanwhile, has released “World as a Waiting Room,” the first track from an exclusive four-song EP, to RCRD LBL, a new ad-generated blog and affiliate of Downtown Records.

Elsewhere in cyberspace, UK producer Bullion masterfully mashes the Beach Boys with J Dilla for Pet Sounds in the Key of Dee; Saul Williams follows Radiohead’s digital distribution plan for his Trent Reznor-produced The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust; Michael W. Dean’s enlightening documentary D.I.Y. or DIE, featuring interviews from Lydia Lunch, Ian MacKaye, and J Mascis, is available for free in eight episodic chapters in the podcast section of Zune.net.

The awesomely named Pissed Jeans headlines the Saturday slot of Beerland's massive, inaugural garage rock fest, Ground Zero Texas, and by that point in the weekend everyone should be sufficiently blotto.

Good thing, that. The Philly quartet's Sub Pop debut, Hope for Men, is abrasive and bottom-heavy, but singer Matt Korvette, who definitely barks like a Yow, doesn't mind getting introspective, questioning what it is to be a white, middle class adult male with a day job in a rock band without whining about it. Korvette pokes fun at himself just like he does the Whole Foods-shopping, Ford Explorer-driving passerby ("The Jogger") or a boot-licking acquaintance ("Caught Licking Leather"). The first song out of the gate on Hope, "People Person," warns us he's not one; on "Fantasy World," he barks that he's a "special guy in my fantasy world." It's awkward, animalistic, and I recently asked Korvette about adjusting to being a grown-ass man.

Austin Chronicle: Hope for Men is one of my favorite albums this year; I like the way it wrangles the banality of everyday life and soul-sucking day jobs, which seems to be a big theme in the album. Am I off base here?
Matt Korvette: No, I'd say that's a pretty big theme in both the album and my life, really. I spend 40 hours a week at my job, and probably like 1 or 2 hours just thinking about my job when I'm not working. I'm definitely coming to terms with being an adult, one way or another.

The Texas Education Agency is caught up in a firestorm over whether science curriculum director Chris Comer was forced out of her job because she didn't back intelligent design sufficiently. She forwarded an email about a speech by Dr. Barbara Forrest, co-author of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design prior to her dismissal. The book argues that creationists use intelligent design to get their creed into schools and force Darwinism out. But who is Forrest?

A professor in the Department of History and Political Science at Southeastern Louisiana University, in 2005 she was an expert witness in the pivotal Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. The Dover school board made science teachers read a prepared speech to students saying evolution was a theory with gaps, and then point them to intelligent design tome Of Pandas and People, published by Texas-based "think tank" Foundation for Thought and Ethics. 11 parents sued, and brought in Forrest.

The Thomas More Law Center, representing the school district, tried to have her barred as an expert witness, calling her a "conspiracy theorist and web surfing, 'cyber-stalker.'" Meanwhile, the Discovery Institute, which originally recommended Pandas to the board, circulated a fake (they later claimed spoof) transcript of a radio talk show in which she was called "Dr. Barking Forrest Ph.D."

Ruling in favor of the parents, Judge John E. Jones III said teaching ID was a clear violation of the separation of church and state. What may have galled the IDers most? Jones was a Bush appointee.

I can't believe the Trail of Lights is almost here. Mentally - I think I'm ready for the race. Physically...let's just say I'm going to try really hard, and we'll see how it goes! We had what I thought was going to be our final practice last week, I was looking forward to sleeping in (well, maybe not - my kiddo gets up at 7am regardless!) this weekend...it turns out we have an "easy" practice on this coming Saturday morning, and then the race on Saturday night. Two runs in one day? This will be a record for me! And will probably never happen again in my lifetime if I have any choice in the matter. HA! Anyhow, I'll keep this blog short and sweet, but just wanted to say, vote for someone on the team for the grand prize. Anyone would be deserving. I'm so thankful for this opportunity we've all been given, and have really enjoyed getting to know everyone and get healthier and more fit in the meantime. While I haven't lost any weight, I will say, my clothes fit better, and mentally I'm much more committed to getting in shape and being healthly in the new year. Yeah, I'll be one of those annoying people with the new years resolution to get fit, but I hope to KEEP that resolution this year! Go Team Zen! See you all at the finish line, and thanks for reading! And a special thanks to my amazing husband, family and friends for their support!

A few years ago I added up the time and money I typically spent per year on personal appearance. Realizing the absurd drain it all was on my resources, especially the time spent in chasing down favorite aestheticians wherever they happened to be pitching their tents, I became home-groomed. No more Fritos on my fingers, and as for everything else, try Sally Hansen. I do have a little help. My husband has become so adept with wax and linen strips that it's tempting to pimp out his services for Christmas money.

As for clothing, historically I bought one wearable, high-end item in the spring, and one again in the fall. Those purchases, mostly shoes and bags, along with down-market supplements of what Isaac Mizrahi calls "cheater clothes," kept my closet fed. But when I took a job where it is perfectly acceptable to show up still in pajamas, sartorial slack soon followed. As usual, slack meant relief, since I hate to shop. To have shopped is, for me, the only reward.

Well, when my veteran Chuck Taylors recently gave up the ghost of all the good times, I didn't see it as a sign until it coincided with two other events. The first was an all-too-familiar summons from Real Life, this time reminding me of the good times that happen outside the city limits. The other was the fateful, crackling turn of one glossy page that revealed the panacea for my closet ennui: Ferragamo's Varina ballet flat.

Wells Dunbar makes his own dang Missed Connection headlines.

UPDATE: The sordid saga continues. Is it the mayor chiming in?