Russell Brand Movie Kicks off SXSW Film 2015
SXSW Film divulges its first seven titles for 2015
California Split Is the Raging Bull of Poker Movies
AFS double bill pairs Altman film with Ron Mann’s biographical doc
The AggreGAYtor: January 8
What happened today in gay? Here’s your QILTBAG recap of queer news.
HB 2 Back in Court: Judges Get Critical
Abortion providers “encouraged” by judges’ skepticism
Belated Moody New Year… from Ice Land!
Wherein the GP hits Galveston, freezes tuchas, and talks like penguins
Geezerville’s Best of 2014 Volume 2
Top 10s playlist – a final spin of the year that was
Cortex and ‘Spark’
John Twelve Hawks’ dystopian thriller reviewed
San Marcos Welcomes First Gay Bar
San Marcos comes out of the closet and into the Warehouse
Luke Wilson, Tommy Lee Jones to Recieve Texas Film Awards
Hollywood heavyweights, indie icons, and an honorary Texan lauded
The AggreGAYtor: January 7
What happened today in gay? Here’s your QILTBAG recap of queer news.
There Goes the Gayborhood
By way of introduction, please welcome new GP blogger Blake McCoy
StoryCorps Reservations: The Sequel
New slots available Dec. 7, but time is of the essence
ASO’s Sweet Release!
Symphony celebrates its first CD release at Waterloo today
All Samples Cleared
The ramifications of Grand Upright Music v. Warner Bros. Records
Florida Marriage Woes
Panhandle counties gamble and fold on same-sex – and all – marriage
Two Tech Schools Open Shop
The Iron Yard Academy and General Assembly want YOU!
ATX Television Festival Plans Queer as Folk Reunion
Showtime series broke ground for gay representation on TV
The AggreGAYtor: January 6
What happened today in gay? Here’s your QILTBAG recap of queer news.
Pressley Pays Up
City Clerk announces recount on for 11am Tuesday
Welcome to the 2015 Elections
That is, if you live in San Antonio, Bastrop, or Brenham
Live from Austin – Free Week!
Saturday night at Holy Mountain and Swan Dive
Bullock IMAX Goes Digital
Say goodbye to 70mm on the biggest movie screen in Texas
The Q&A Hole Returns for Another Year
Now: What’s the hardest thing about keeping New Year’s resolutions?
First Look: Fork & Vine
Fine dining on West Anderson
News Roundup: See You in Court!
Pressley demands recount, while Zimmerman and Sec. 8 cases progress
Buehler’s Case Dismissed
Cop watch activist has one less trial in front of him
Food-o-File: Weekend Lagniappe
A little extra Austin food news
Top 10 Festival Films You Haven’t Seen Yet
Vampires, hip-hop, cults, and odd romance are our unreleased faves
The Luv Doc: Disgusting Fruitcake
Per usual 2014 was a particularly puzzling year for misogynists, homophobes, and paranoiacs – the slow movers who got bulldozed by the cow catcher of evolution. Fortunately there were plenty of answers in the advice satchel. Here are 10 bon mots from 2014 (in no particular order): On replacing vowels: When you insert an asterisk…
The Interview
See how a goofy comedy can spark an international incident.
Chinnadana Nee Kosam
Telugu romance.
Mukunda
Telugu action.
The Year in Food
Top 10 LOCAL BEER LABELS 1) JESTER KING/LIVE OAK KOLLABORATIONSBIER Featuring the uncanny likeness of Live Oak Brewing’s Chip McElroy (albeit with very high, tight buns), this collaboration between Live Oak head brewer Dusan Kwiatkowski and Jester King illustrator Josh Cockrell playfully antagonizes while also offering a subtle criticism of the objectification of women in…
Hornography
Watching the 2014 Longhorns has been like watching an avant-garde performance artist create a giant mural by throwing buckets of paint at a wall and using abstract objects as brushes. The audience may think they’re beginning to see the end result, but it just honestly looks like a jumbled wall of garbage. There were some…
Top 10 Women’s Health Stories
A dark year for reproductive rights
The Good Eye: 2014 Top 10s
Counting down what gave a lady hope in 2014
The Year in Food
Top 10 fine dining on a budget 1) BARLATA The best – and only – authentic Spanish restaurant in town also has a killer happy hour, with half off many of their most popular tapas, including a $7 daily paella (with a cocktail pairing for $10), $5 house wines, and $3 Estrella Damm on draft.…
Top 10 Local Sports Moments
10) Rick Perry made it an entire year of going for light jogs without shooting anything I believe this to be true to the best of my knowledge, but we’ve still got a week left and Perry could use a bump in the polls. 9) Rick Barnes’ agent got him an extension somehow Texas went…
William Goss’ Top 10 List
1) Boyhood Sorry, haters. Richard Linklater’s masterpiece of conceptual ambition and casual profundity will rightfully endure, corny plumbers and all. 2) Blue Ruin Anchored by Macon Blair’s devastating performance, this stomach-knotting revenge saga marks a significant leap forward for filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier. 3) The Babadook Jennifer Kent’s well-acted and confidently creepy directorial debut brings back…
Hurts So Good
Our top books of 2014 provided pleasures despite the pain
Top 10 Creative Things I Lucked Into in 2014
In 2014, reality and fantasy battled it out in theatre and art that was equally exquisite and unnerving
Day Trips: Top 10s (+1)
Remembering a year of Day Trips
Top 10 Environmental Stories
Local environmental news wasn’t all bad this year
Hurts So Good
Amy Gentry’s top reads of 2014 thematized suffering in language so beautiful, she winced with every word
Top 10 Theatre Duos & Trios of 2014
Remembering a year in theatre in which performers distinguished themselves in twos and threes
Top 10 Reasons (+3) I Stayed in Love With Theatre in 2014
Valentines to theatre and comedic craft played a large part in making 2014 a memorable year in theatre
Top 10 10-1 Stories
Just 10 of the crazy things that happened during 2014’s historic election
Hurts So Good
In Jesse Sublett’s top reads of 2014, wherever the protagonists go, trouble follows
Top 10 Kicky Linkups in 2014
This year, dance was all about the partnering – some of it unusual, all of it captivating
Top 10 Dance/Classical Music Treasures of 2014
It was a year in which the personal shone through in dance and classical works small and large
Top 10 Criminal Justice Stories
2014 was a busy year for crime
Hurts So Good
Jay Trachtenberg’s top reads of 2014 gave him more insight into the culture of Turkey than a dozen guidebooks
Top 10 Things to Happen to Classical Music in 2014
The year saw Austin go big in classical with big-name artists and competitions coming to town, and big crowds, too
The Year in Film
Austin Chronicle critics throw in for Boyhood
Top 10 State Stories
The 10 stories that defined politics in Texas in 2014
Hurts So Good
Jessi Cape’s top reads of 2014 show welcome signs of improvement in the way women are celebrated in literature
Top 10 Video Games
From impossible geometry to glitching goats, it’s our favorite games of the year
Kimberley Jones’ Top 10 List
1) Force Majeure Ruben Östlund blew the roof off with his bravura black comedy about what it means to be a man, a woman, and/or/always a fallible human being. 2) The Grand Budapest Hotel Grand is the right word, all right. Also: antic, slapstick, humanistic, and terribly, tenderly sorrowful. 3) Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue…
The Year in Food
The 2014 tastes we couldn’t stop thinking about
Do Ho Suh
Do Ho Suh brings to Austin his fresh perspective on what physical and emotional sructures make a home
Top 10 Education Stories
The year in local education
The Year in Food
Top 10 LOCAL Trends 1) Y’ALL COME BACK NOW If 2014 happened faster than a knife fight in a phone booth, Southern food slowed us down. Whether from a humble Airstream (Red Star Southern) or an Eastside oasis (Jacoby’s), pimento cheese was everywhere. 2) THE BRASSICA RING If brussels sprouts are the Margo Channing of…
The Great Gig in the Sky
The best albums of our lives – and the afterlife
Review: Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose
This nonfiction account of a teen’s encounters with sex, drugs, and jail is one long, raw primal scream
Civics 101
Thursday 01/01 No Phone use while driving Use of electronic handheld devices while operating a vehicle, including bicycles, is now a class C misdemeanor, with fines up to $500. The City of Austin. Resource Recovery Slide Day Your collection day slides to one day later if it falls on the next two days: Thursday pickup…
The Year in Food
Top 10 Oddities, Frivolities, and Absurdities in Austin food 1) DESIGNER ICE CUBES Not content with artisanal liquors, Half Step, Drink.Well, No Va, and others are getting ice into the act, serving it up in big blocks and customized shapes. 2) HOUSE-MADE SPARKLING WATER I was offered this at laV earlier this year. (Code for…
Headlines
City Council is on holiday hiatus and electoral interregnum: Mayor-elect Steve Adler and the 10 Council members will be inaugurated Jan. 6 at City Hall, where there should be enough chairs. (The first regular meeting of the new Council is scheduled for Jan. 29.) If you’re reading this on Jan. 2 – don’t do it…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Author and psychic-medium Betsey Lewis predicts Marilyn Monroe’s diary will be rediscovered in 2015 and it will reveal that she knew too much. Psychic Craig Hamilton-Parker predicts satellites will have serious problems throughout 2015 and many communications will be down. According to the Spiritual Science Research Foundation, World War III will begin in 2015 and…
The Year in Food
Top 10 Vegetarian Dishes 1) SMOKY HEN OF THE WOODS, OLAMAIE I sampled this dish at an early pop-up, and it’s what got me excited about the restaurant. Once Olamaie opened its doors, this hearty, flavor-bomb of a dish didn’t disappoint. 2) WUNDERSHOWZEN SMOOTHIE, JUICELAND Sometimes you want a smoothie with some heft, one that…
Marjorie Baumgarten’s Top 10 List
1) Boyhood A formal experiment becomes a naturalistic drama and documentary about the human experience. 2) Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) It begins in mid-levitation, and soars steadily higher, creating a gravitational pull all its own. 3) Ida This unforgiving Polish drama reminds us that the present is merely an inescapable accumulation of…
The Hightower Report
Daddy’s Philosophy: Everybody does better when everybody does better
The Year in Food
Top 10 Global Grub 1) A+A SICHUAN CHINA Cyndi and Ling have edged ahead of their just-down-the-road rival, Asia Cafe, for dominance in Austin’s Sichuan food scene. 2) BALKAN CAFE & GRILL Z and Zakilna, with Chef Goran at the stove, are putting out the finest chicken sandwich that Austin has ever seen, not to…
Critics Poll
Best Roadshow Beets: Protomartyr, North Door Caligiuri: Trombone Shorty, Emo’s Curtin: Jayke Orvis & the Broken Band, Holy Mountain Freeman: Nick Cave, ACL Live at the Moody Theater Hernandez: Nick Cave, ACL Live Spearman: Childish Gambino, ACL Live Stegall: The Gories, Red 7 Toland: Nick Cave, ACL Live Trachtenberg: Mavericks, ACL Live Best Local Show…
Awaiting the New Rules at TCSO
Sheriff’s Office awaits implementation of Priority Enforcement Program
Josh Kupecki’s Top 10 List
1) Force Majeure With exacting precision, this film turns a fight-or-flight moment into a wicked treatise on trust, identity, and the tenuous bonds of, well, everybody. 2) Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Iñárritu finally pulls the stick out of his butt, and the results are fireworks. Imagine that! Dude from Beetlejuice is pretty…
The Year in Food
Top 10 Savory Bites 1) BISCUITS, OLAMAIE The best $3+ biscuits in town aren’t on the menu, but they are well worth the asking price. Skip the schmaltz, go with honey butter. 2) BURNT PEACH SAUCE, OLAMAIE The depth and complexity of this Texas summer flavor enhanced a toothsome pork chop. 3) BRUSSELS SPROUTS, HIGHTOWER…
Austin Top 10s
Best in local albums 2014
Steve Davis’ Top 10 List
1) Boyhood Richard Linklater’s gutsy 12-years-a-movie experiment pays off in so many rich and rewarding ways. 2) Whiplash A mesmerizing showdown of male egos in which insults and drumsticks are the weapons of choice. 3) The Lego Movie Everything is AWESOME about this surprisingly smart and funny movie that sets a new bar for animated…
Marc Savlov’s Top 10 List
1) Boyhood Richard Linklater’s soulful, cinematic masterwork is utterly sui generis, and it’s almost certainly more timeless than childhood itself. 2) Only Lovers Left Alive Bela Lugosi is dead but this dreamy portrait of eternal love in a jugular vein is louche, alive, and biting. 3) A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Speaking of…
The Year in Food
Top 10 local Food blogs 1) LOVE & LEMONS Another year of hitting the ball out of the park for Jeanine Donofrio. This blog has kept up with frequent posting, topical recipes, engaging writing, and as always, the graphic design is stunning. www.loveandlemons.com 2) HILAH COOKING In addition to making videos, posting recipes, and writing…
National Top 10s
Eight critics, 80 lines by genre
Top 10 Local Stories
The top 10 Austin-area stories
Top 10 Quotes of the Week
Relive 2014 through our favorite quotes of the week
The Year in Food
Top 10 Sweet Bites 1) MACARONS, LAV Whether in rainbow hues and flavors as they were at Sips & Sweets, filled with peaches in the summer, or made with chocolate, caramel, and nuts in the fall, I always wish for Janina O’Leary’s delicate French treats by the truckload. 2) TEXAS WHISKEY PECAN CARAMEL GELATO, TEO…
Gay Place: Seal ’14 With a Kiss
Seal ’14 with a kiss
Top 10 City Council Stories
The big stories of Council’s last seven-member year
Top 10 (+1) Major Shifts in Austin Visual Arts in 2014
In the visual arts, 2014 was marked by transition: for galleries, curators, and critics
The Year in Food
Top 10 Food nonprofits 1) GREEN CORN PROJECT Named for a Native American celebration, Green Corn digs in and helps underserved communities learn the magic of building and maintaining organic gardens – demonstrating that fostering a love between children and homegrown veggies is the future. 2) URBAN ROOTS Through paid internships, Urban Roots teaches sustainable…
Soccer Watch: Top 10 Soccer Stories of 2014
There were two really big soccer stories in Austin this year: The Austin Aztex transitioning from amateur to pro, and World Cup fever engulfing the town for a month mid-summer. Each could make a Top 10 list on its own. 1) Austin Aztex go pro, with an expanded ownership team The Aztex finished their three-year…
Hopkins’ Eight-Day Suspension From APD Overturned
Hopkins wins backpay, and the suspension will be removed from his record
