2K Sports has really done it this time. Their newest NBA sim re-creates the look of televised broadcast so accurately that my girlfriend was utterly shocked when I told her it was a video game on the screen, and not an actual TV broadcast. If this game continues to improve visually at this rate, it's gonna be hard for fans to turn off their Xbox 360s and flip over to TNT for the real deal. In my opinion, this is the real deal. Accurate facial details, signature moves, awesome arenas, realistic lighting, etc. 2K Sports has truly won me over with this game and I'll be wearing it out now through the playoffs. And the gameplay isn't half bad either. While not quite as mind-blowingly stunning as the graphics, the gameplay is still solid and the players strengths and weaknesses are reflected in the game. For fans hooked up to Xbox Live, this year's model features roster updates (I love this) and allows for up to 10 Xboxes to compete simultaneously. Sounds like that might get a little crazy but you gotta love the roster updates. That along with improved graphics are the two biggest draws for me in buying the latest model of whatever sports game is in season.

The Austin Film Festival announced this morning the audience award winners for its 2008 fest. Out of Competition Feature: Slumdog Millionaire
Writer: Simon Beaufoy
Director: Danny Boyle Narrative Feature Competition: A Quiet Little Marriage
Writer/Director: Mo Perkins Documentary Feature Competition: Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman
Director: Eric Bricker Narrative Short: “Pop Art”
Writer/Director: Amanda Boyle Narrative Student Short: “Miracle Investigators”
Writer/Director: Jeremy Dehn Documentary Short: “Road To Tlacotepec”
Director: Berndt Mader Animated Short: “The Inquisitive Snail”
Director: Flemish Beauty

Chances are you already have your Halloween plans in order, but have you considered Saturday night yet? If not, the Texas Book Festival and the Austin Jewish Book Fair are here to help. TBF's annual event at the Continental Club is traditionally hipster central – well, book lovin' hipsters, at least. This year, the hot ticket item is the Paris Review's Philip Gourevitch conversation with novelist/former The Wire scripter Richard Price. (Speaking of, have you heard his Moth piece about racial profiling that was broadcast on This American Life a couple weeks ago? Based on voice alone, the guy's got a hell of a delivery.) If you want to avoid the logjam at the Continental Club, you might want to try the Dell Jewish Community Center (7300 Hart Ln.) instead. That's where Evan Handler (Harry from Sex and the City) will be holding court, as the official opening night guest of the Austin Jewish Book Fair. He'll be talking about It's Only Temporary: The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive, his humorous memoir about battling leukemia in his mid-20s. Wait, you want more? Okay, how about Susan Orlean at the Alamo South Lamar? Orlean will be at the Texas Book Festival promoting her new children's book, but the Alamo event is strictly are R-rated, as she screens Adaptation, the Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman film loosely adapted from her nonfiction piece The Orchid Thief. Alamo programmer Lars Nilsen will conduct a Q&A with Orlean, in which she will presumably share how totally awesome it must be not only have Meryl Streep play you on the big screen, but to have Meryl Streep playing you tripping balls on orchid dust. Tickets for Orlean's event can be purchased here, along with Sunday's screening at the Ritz of Bonnie and Clyde (EW columnist Mark Harris, who wrote the fascinating critical history Pictures at a Revolution, had to drop out of the event due to a family emergency). The other two events are free, but we suspect they'll be crowded, so show up early. Oh, and happy book fest-ing.

Look, we don't really get the whole Twilight thing, but we've, er, osmosisified (nope, not a word) the thing enough to get that this announcement marks a very big deal – that the Austin Film Society will present a special Austin premiere of Twilight on Nov. 20 with director Catherine Hardwicke in attendance at the IMAX theater at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. $50 tickets get you into the screening, plus an afterparty at d berman gallery. Screening only tickets go for $15. Tickets go on sale Nov. 3. Go to austinfilm.org to find out more. Twilight opens in theaters everywhere Nov. 21.

We don't have the details yet, but local NBC affiliate KXAN has apparently settled its dispute with Time Warner Cable and is now showing again on channel 4.

Okay, so it's going to be as chilly as a penguin's patootie in Republic Square Park this evening, but that's no reason to miss the Austin Film Society's free screening of local filmmaker Nancy Higgins acclaimed documentary Viva Les Amis. Seriously, bring some blankets, a dog (or two), and a box of House Merlot and we promise you'll be fine. So what, exactly, is Viva Les Amis? To quote Higgins, it's "a documentary about Les Amis Café -- the Parisian-inspired bohemian meeting place that flourished for 27 years in Austin, Texas. The film shows the counterculture of the 70's, punk rock of the 80's, and rapid growth of the 90's as seen through the eyes of one local establishment ... and explores how a place like Les Amis Café contributes to the culture and identity of a city by capturing the cafés long history and eclectic clientele." Nicely put, but we might also add that Les Amis -- notoriously replaced by a Starbuck's at the corner of 24th Street and San Antonio eleven years ago -- featured prominently in Richard Linklater's legendary Slacker, was the cradle of Austin's still-standing boho birthright, and, frankly, had the coolest waiters and waitresses ever. But you missed it. Damn the luck and thank Guy Debord for Higgins' splendid doc. Tonight's screening opens with music by Little Big Man at 6pm, followed by a whole lotta Higgins at 7 pm. Miss this and you're not allowed to whine about the good old days anymore. And for the love of Henri Langlois, would someone please open up a Les Amis 2.0 already? (And we'll take a side of Mad Dog & Beans with that.)

Barack Obama will make his fourth appearance on The Daily Show Wednesday, Oct. 29, according to a breaking news report from Comedy Central. Obama will appear on the 10pm telecast.

The Daily Show's election coverage culminates on election night when it joins forces with The Colbert Report to present "Indecision 2008: America's Choice." The live, election night special will air from 9pm to 10pm, with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as co-anchors.

The future of the Internet is at stake if the public does not step up and let its voice be heard in favor of opening unused TV airwaves for Internet use, according to FreePress.net, a media reform watchdog group.

In addition to the presidential election, Nov. 4 is the date the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on whether to open unused television airwaves to Internet use nationwide. Opening these so called "white spaces" could provide affordable Internet access to hard to reach rural areas, where are much as 75% of TV airwaves remain unused. In urban areas, where spectrum use is unsurprisingly crowded, opening up the white space would provide some additional breathing room.

SXSW may be months away, but it's never too soon to start name-dropping the hot shots who'll be flooding town come March. And the first drop's a doozy – Todd Haynes (I'm Not There), one of the most respected and influential independent filmmakers of the last two decades. According to a SXSW press release sent out this morning, Haynes will participate in a conference talk with Richard Linklater, who recently premiered Me and Orson Welles at the Toronto Film Festival. Other confirmed SXSW '09 panelists include Col Needham, founder of imdb.com, and Jan Harlan (producer, Barry Lyndon, The Shining). For more info, check out the SXSW Film official website.