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features
Holiday Wish Lists 2006
Give 'til it helps: Part 2
news
Worldwide Radio Wrestling!
HD format hopes to body-slam satellite radio to an industry draw
BY KEVIN BRASS
37th Street Lights
Will the elaborate holiday illuminations burn brighter or burn out?
BY DANIEL MOTTOLA
WilCo Constable Lawsuit: Crying wolf ... and mayhem
Courthouse dogs bark that Constable Gary Griffin may have broken law by including mental-health-call-related 911 logs as evidence in his civil case against county
BY PATRICIA J. RULAND
2006 Political Procrastinators' Holiday Gift Guide
Some of these ideas might even be real
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Point Austin: Wal-Mart's Xmas Gift
Bringing coal to Northcross, something better for the rest of us
BY MICHAEL KING
Beside the Point
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like 2007
BY WELLS DUNBAR
Reefer Madness
Results of new study suggest environmental factors have more influence on behavior than government would like us to believe
BY JORDAN SMITH
The Hightower Report
The Nobel Prize for Greed; and Camp Wellstone Winners
BY JIM HIGHTOWER
food
Two Trips to Costco
A private chef and a mom share their notes
The Host on High
Some entertaining words of caution
BY MARION WINIK
Just Another Drop of the Midleton, Please
It's Irish whiskey weather
BY WES MARSHALL
Wine of the Week
Big bargains at the big box
BY WES MARSHALL
Food-o-File
Lambert's Barbecue's big debut and, yeah, more gingerbread
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
music
The Kingdom of Heaven
Psychedelic pioneer Powell St. John, on the Right Track Now
BY BILL BENTLEY
Music DVDs
TCB
Last-minute musical gift ideas, a nasty feud down South, and a quiet move portends Red River's inevitable eastward migration
BY CHRISTOPHER GRAY
Phases & Stages
Loreena McKennitt
An Ancient Muse
Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, the Clipse, P. Diddy
Kingdom Come, The Blue Carpet Treatment, Hell Hath No Fury, Press Play
Tomasz Stanko
Lontano
Frida Hyvönen
Until Death Comes
Yusef Islam
An Other Cup
Aterciopelados
Oye
the Blue Van
Dear Independence
Sufjan Stevens
Songs for Christmas
screens
Vertical Helical Scan, We Hardly Knew Ye
You'd better record this on your VCR – it's probably the last time we'll ever mention it
BY JOE O'CONNELL
Crew Stories
Jeff Schwan, stuntman
BY TODDY BURTON
In Space
Hurry! Surely your 2006-launched site qualifies for at least one of the 16 categories
TV Eye
Heroes and zeroes
BY BELINDA ACOSTA
Screens Reviews
The Spirit of the Beehive
"They felt the film was ... simply unendurable. That no one would go see it."
Film Reviews
Dreamgirls
Dreamgirls is an infectious experience of sequins and songs that lives up to the hype. Opens Monday.
The Good Shepherd
Matt Damon abandons the cat-and-mouse theatrics of his Bourne identity to play the reserved fictional functionary whose life serves as the prism through which this film examines the early years of the CIA.
The History Boys
If you like your British movies quick, raunchy, reflective, and bittersweet, then The History Boys, based on the stage play, is for you.
Night at the Museum
Amid crummy sight gags and predictable physical comedy, sputtering scenes, and the stale and watered-down Stiller in another nonsense story, Night at the Museum is at best a rotation of backdrops for a parade of visual effects.
Rocky Balboa
This final chapter in the Rocky saga is terrific – maybe not great, like that first kiss of fist in ’76, but good, solid, exhilarating entertainment of the stand-up-and-cheer variety.
Vajra Sky Over Tibet
In this documentary, the director wears his affection for Buddhist philosophy unashamedly on his sleeve, and as a result his movie nearly drowns in solemnity and noble intentions (not to mention chanting).
We Are Marshall
There are football movies, and then there’s this 800-pound gorilla of a gridiron weepie, which should be penalized for roughing the viewer.
arts & culture
The Comics (Artist) Panel
Five Austinites on the state of the sequential art, from comics to comix to manga and beyond
BY JOEY SEILER
The HRC's Beckett Online: Googling for Godot
With "Fathoms From Anywhere: A Samuel Beckett Centenary Exhibition," online in perpetuity, Web-wanderers can plumb the depths of the Ransom Center's Beckett collection, which is among the world's finest
BY KATHERINE CATMULL
Austin Theatre: That was the year that was
Three of Austin's finest theatre folk - director/actress Lorella Loftus, director Sonnet Blanton, and lighting designer Jason Amato - describe how 2006 was for them and the local stage scene
BY HANNAH KENAH
Rogue Performance Venue: Paradise lost
James Cotton thought he'd found an ideal spot for his new theatre, but he may be forced to leave over conflicts with a neighboring rehearsal studio for bands
BY ROBERT FAIRES
365 Days/365 Plays: Week 7
The yearlong festival of plays by Suzan-Lori Parks continues with seven short plays presented by Red Then Productions in Week 7
Arts Reviews
It's a Wonderful Life, 70s Christmas Special, Starring the Fonz
Rob Nash's It's a Wonderful Life, 70s Christmas Special, Starring the Fonz is a masterful melding of Seventies television and Frank Capra's film, but unless one has studied either subject in depth, the meeting proves perplexing
'Take Me to Bed or Lose Me Forever'
Volitant Gallery's exhibition "Take Me to Bed or Lose Me Forever," which both employs and questions many of love's clichés to reflect on our experience of the emotion, is a smile and a good laugh
'EVR: e-flux video rental'
Arthouse's EVR: e-flux video rental offers a chance not only to see some very interesting, hard-to-find pieces of film and video art, but also to participate in a study of our own patterns of communication
columns
Page Two: A Little Light-Rain Music
A holiday meditation
BY LOUIS BLACK
Letters @ 3AM
One of the great lessons of civilizations is that smarts don't count for much in the long run
BY MICHAEL VENTURA
After a Fashion
Gather 'round children and listen to the tale of how Eight Is Enough factored into a big family reunion
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Day Trips
River View Bed & Breakfast in Blanco provides small-town ambience while offering guests a central base camp for exploring the Hill Country
BY GERALD E. MCLEOD
The Common Law
Tips for buying on eBay during the holidays
BY MEGAN LONERGAN
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Folk-rock grudge match and the unmanning of men
BY MR. SMARTY PANTS
Luv Doc Recommends: Armadillo Christmas Bazaar
Austin Music Hall, Friday, December 22, 2006
BY THE LUV DOC
Feedback
Letters to the editor, published daily
sports
Soccer Watch
Bob Bradley names 29 players to U.S. men's training-camp rosting
BY NICK BARBARO
