Daily Screens
'The Unforeseen' Now Available on iTunes
Laura Dunn's The Unforeseen has had a pretty spectacular run; it feels like there's always news of some new screening or award. Lo and behold, up cropped in our in box this weekend word that Dunn's Barton Springs doc is now available to view on iTunes. You can buy it online for $14.99 or rent it for $3.99 – and hey, minimal carbon footprint!

3:46PM Mon. May 11, 2009, Kimberley Jones Read More | Comment »

Straight From the Horse's Mouth
We'll have a proper tribute to Bud Shrake in our Thursday print issue, but in the meantime, we point you to our archives – most particularly to this interview conducted in 1985 by Chronicle Editor Louis Black. In it, a funny and forthcoming Bud Shrake talked about his career in the movies, from taking Hollywood actor Cliff Robertson to court in Travis County ("He showed up looking like somebody who had gotten dressed at the Salvation Army discard barrel") to Dennis Hopper's run-in with revolutionaries on the Mexico set of Kid Blue.

3:34PM Mon. May 11, 2009, Kimberley Jones Read More | Comment »

J.J. Abrams, Notorious Rug-Puller-Outter
If you haven't seen the new Star Trek yet, THEN FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T READ AFTER THE JUMP.

12:45PM Mon. May 11, 2009, Kimberley Jones Read More | Comment »

Found Footage Festival finds its way back to Austin
Fans of Austinite Ben Steinbauer's Winnebago Man will recognize hosts (and founders) of the traveling Found Footage Festival Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher as the guys behind the California FFF screening of Jack Rebney's infamous Winnebago commercial outtakes (a viral sensation that earned the onetime actor the title of "The World's Angriest Man") – a screening that turned out to be a redemptive, even triumphant evening for Rebney, who was in attendance. Of course, most of the footage screened at FFF isn't gonna make anybody feel warm and fuzzy – not unless you get sentimental over cable access and Eighties workout videos – but there is some very funny stuff to be seen. Prueher says there's a local angle to this year's lineup, too – a clip from Austin public access TV show Citizens Live, "a call-in show from the 1990s in which the husband and wife hosts are bombarded by a series of prank calls." The show takes place Sunday night (5/10) at 7:30pm at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. Buy tickets here.

1:11PM Fri. May 8, 2009, Kimberley Jones Read More | Comment »

This Week's Waste of Time
Call them what you will – browser games, flash games, time sucks, marriage destroyers – the popularity of simple games for nongamers is a huge market. In an attempt to save you time searching for a way to waste your time, I've started a weekly series of web-based games that, god willing, won't get you fired from your job.

First off, Cursor*10. Created by Yoshio Ishii – who made a name for himself with the beautiful and repeatedly surprising Hoshi Saga (write me if you can figure out how to finish stage 21, I'm stumped) – Cursor*10 blends stark simplicity with true innovation.

Cursor*10 offers few instructions but claims that you will "Cooperate by oneself?!" (the interrobang is his, not mine). What starts as a simple race up stairs halts when you come to a spot where another player is necessary to proceed. Frantically looking for another option, your cursor's painfully short life span ticks away. Upon dying, cursor 2 springs to life, accompanied by the ghost of cursor 1 doing everything you did on your last turn the same way. The trick is not necessarily to survive but to die in the most advantageous way to ensure that the next cursor in line can ascend more staircases. By the end things get a bit frantic as 10 cursors are flying around all trying to help lucky number 10 get to the top. The controls couldn't be simpler, and the "game over" model of play couldn't be more upended.

Click here to play.

Ishii created a second session of Cursor*10 for the people who can't stop playing with themselves.

Enjoy.

11:52AM Thu. May 7, 2009, James Renovitch Read More | Comment »

'Inglourious Basterds' Equals Happy Jews
Film distribution titan Harvey Weinstein spoke via satellite with John Pierson's Master Class at UT-Austin on Monday. Asked for comment about Quentin Tarantino's new war movie Inglourious Basterds, which will premiere in Cannes in a couple of weeks, Weinstein quipped: "There are gonna be a lot of happy Jews out there." Brad Pitt stars in the film as the leader of an American unit of Nazi killers. The film opens nationally on August 21.

4:46PM Wed. May 6, 2009, Marjorie Baumgarten Read More | Comment »

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KLRU Lays Off Staff, Suspends Overnight Programming
The sour economy forced local PBS affiliate KLRU to lay off twelve staff members on May 5, as well as make several programming changes. The most visible change includes suspending overnight hours, signing off from 1am to 6am. The Emmy Award-winning Docubloggers, which was profiled in the Chronicle last August, will go on (a permanent-sounding) hiatus, while iNCONTEXT will become a series of occasional specials focusing on the local arts community. Programs unaffected by the cost-cutting measures include Texas Monthly Talks and Central Texas Gardener.

12:30PM Wed. May 6, 2009, Belinda Acosta Read More | Comment »

Filmmaker to Talk Valentino, Man of Many Pugs
Matt Tyrnauer, Vanity Fair special correspondent and director of the documentary Valentino: The Last Emperor, will be at the Arbor Theatre on Wednesday (5/5) and Thursday (5/6) to conduct Q&A sessions at the 4:50 and 7:15 shows. (See the Chron's review here.) Tyrnauer followed the legendary fashion designer around with a camera for 3 years; we're betting he's got some scoop that didn't make the final cut. Speaking of scoop (rimshot!), check out this video of Valentino's five pampered pugs. 'Cause there's nothing like watching a pug get his teeth brushed to the sound of a Fellini-esque score to really jumpstart your afternoon.

1:35PM Tue. May 5, 2009, Kimberley Jones Read More | Comment »

'Skins' Bares It All
Skins is the best (and hippest) British teen drama you've never seen. And if you have had the good fortune of catching it on BBC America or on DVD you most certainly concur. Skins ended its first season with one of the lead characters getting hit by a bus, which is an effect the show tries to impose on viewers through the implementation of more outlandish plot twists each week. Each episode focuses on one of the many characters of the ensemble cast, expertly weaving their stories together to create a promiscuous world of teenage drinking and drugging wherein these kids (only a step up on the morality ladder from the youth of Larry Clark's Kids) deal with some adult issues. Sexual confusion, pregnancy, disabling health issues, sex with teachers, drug addiction, abandonment, what to wear, etc. – just the typical slate of problems most kids face these days. American viewers will recognize the outstanding and hilarious Dev Patel from his breakthrough performance in Slumdog Millionaire; he is just one of the many impressive actors featured in Skins. If you like your teen dramas edgy, decadent, and fun, head to your nearest indie DVD retailer or your Netflix queue: Season two premiered on a three-disc DVD (BBC Warner, $39.98) on April 14.

11:45AM Tue. May 5, 2009, Mark Fagan Read More | Comment »

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