TV Carnage
TV Carnage NR. The Alamo calendar describes this show as “the original west-coast vandalism show, melding the most pathetic and simultaneously perfect moments of daytime TV, advertising, sitcoms, 100 Huntley Street and pseudo-journalism into a feature-length non-stop barrage of the most terrifying kind of television hugging you will ever see. Derrick Beckles watched television for…
Page Two
If he were CEO, and not governor, of Texas, Rick Perry’s lazy disloyalty would never be tolerated; look for new “Postmarks” online daily; Screens Editor Kimberley Jones decamps for graduate school; and we honor the righteous life of Marjorie Hershey.
Fill Me Up
Keep a blank book handy for jotting down deep thoughts, lightning bolts of inspiration, and cuties’ phone numbers. They also function as terrific non-traditional note-taking tools for the randomly organized. Our favorite selections were found at BookPeople (pictured above) and the Paper Place.
Patched Atoms: Feds OK Restarting the Nuke
Despite not really knowing why South Texas Project 1 sprang a leak, federal regulators are satisfied with the $4 million repair job.
In Print
The pint-sized media consumer in the family in need of some ungluing from the TV would do well to flip through this new picture book from satirist Brian Gage.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The new accepted French word for e-mail is “courriel.”When you drive above the speed limit, you’re driving on borrowed time.According to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the New Age movement started out as a project by the U.S. Army. Another source says that New Agers in the U.S. Army wanted to form an elite unit called…
Hot (Tamales) for Teacher
Educators enrich the lives of the teeming masses year after year for peanut wages. Face it: If you’re a student, they’re a part of your life. Letting them know that you consider them human might make surviving the school year easier (for both of you). What better way than a gift? Consider nongender-specific, locally made…
Fine Prison Dining: The Cheese (and Bacteria) Come a la Carte
Inmate advocates allege that TDCJ routinely feeds prisoners — but not guards — substandard and inadequate food
Short Cuts
New Line has no doubt about Tim McCanlies’ Secondhand Lions, and Guillermo Del Toro wraps up Hellboy in Prague.
To Your Health
A friend and I will take an extended hiking/camping vacation this fall, and I am looking for a way to get safe water on the trip without carrying it along or spending a lot of money for a water purifier. What are the options?
Do Shepherds Dream of Digital Sheep?
2178: A digital-music dystopia
Naked City
Quote of the Week: “I stand before you today, in solidarity, as an Israeli of the heart.” — U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, addressing the Knesset — whose seats are apportioned purely by nationwide party-line vote. Israel has no districts. Still no quorum in the Texas Senate chamber, as the war of words between…
Queer Like Them
“It seems like a mere 20 years ago that prime-time TV viewers were all atwitter about gays on television,” writes Belinda Acosta. But now, with the success of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Boy Meets Boy on Bravo, “viewers are consuming TV’s idea of gay culture as happily as a free pass at…
About AIDS
CDC Recommends Some Routine HIV Testing Are you pregnant? Ever had sex without a condom? Ever shared needles? Then the Centers for Disease Control wants to talk to you! Well, actually, the CDC wants you to talk to an HIV-testing counselor or your doctor. And if your risk activities are ongoing, it would be most…
The Indies: Pebbles in the Stream
As the actions of the RIAA shape the future of digital music delivery, independent labels, even the big ones like Matador and Sub Pop, can only stand by and watch, passengers to their ultimate fate as far as digital distribution and compensation are concerned. Even if record labels continue to exist, the fact that most…
Naked City
Next week’s City Council budget discussions will include a 6pm hearing Aug. 14 on Austin Energy and other utility rates — the only real public hearing of the budget season to focus on the power company. The Solar Austin Campaign will take the opportunity to lobby for an increased AE investment in renewable energy –…
Letters at 3AM
Ralph Nader’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge any difference between the Republican and Democratic political platforms cost the Democrats the election.
Phases and Stages
Jane’s AddictionStrays (Capitol) Audioslave is the reigning master of the alt-rock universe, Queens of the Stone Age have all the hipster cachet, and the Donnas are the feisty, trash-talking young hellions. So where does this leave nominal Lollapalooza headliners Jane’s Addiction? The nostalgia slot? Well, not quite, but Strays — Jane’s first true album since…
Naked City
A dozen or so close relatives of Austin state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos joined U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett Monday afternoon to announce the “Unity Is Our Strength” rally against congressional redistricting and in support of the exiled Texas 11 — to be held Saturday at 11:30am on the south steps of the Capitol. The senator’s son…
DVD Watch
Atom Egoyan’s cri du coeur about the Armenian massacre of 1915 gets a fitting two-disc release, with interviews, featurettes about the genocide, and director’s commentary that hardly pauses for a breath. Marrit Ingman offers her own commentary.
Second Helpings: Slices of Life, Part III
“Second Helpings” offers tasty, bite-sized restaurant listings compiled from new and previous reviews, guides, and poll results. This week’s entries were updated by Erin Mosow. For quick, reliable info about Austin eateries, check here. Austin’s Pizza various locations This scrappy upstart takes aim at the big delivery chains by offering large four-topping pizzas for $9.99…
Daytrips
Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch is the place to begin a search for a new pet. The worst thing that can happen is you get an excuse for a nice drive in the country. The best result, of course, is that you find a new best friend. The ranch rescues stray and unwanted animals, dogs mostly,…
Phases and Stages
MogwaiHappy Songs for Happy People (Matador) The greatest thing about the new Mogwai record? It illustrates just how good the last one was. Happy Songs for Happy People offers many of the thrills of Rock Action, but without the diversity and succinctness that made that album shine. Happy Songs picks up where Rock Action left…
Naked City
Austin author/activist Rahul Mahajan will speak at BookPeople, 603 N. Lamar, on his latest book, Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond, today (Thursday) at 7pm. For info, call 800/853-9757. The Campus Greens Third Annual National Convention will be held in Austin Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 7-10, highlighted by a Super Rally at…
Freaky Friday
Freaky Friday 2003, PG, 93 min. Directed by Mark Waters, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Harold Gould, Chad Michael Murray, Mark Harmon, Ryan Malgarini. This remake of the 1977 Disney movie about a mother and daughter magically switching bodies for one day is better than you think it’ll…
TCB
Scuttlebutt from the Dead Club Capital of the World
The Taste of Summer
The perfect meal, searching for seafood tamales, eating wild strawberries stoned, and more memories of heat and hunger
Phases and Stages
Gang StarrThe Ownerz (Virgin) “What the fuck is that shit you’re listening to on the radio these days? You call that shit hip-hop?” No question, for more than a decade Gang Starr has presented itself as one of the most dependable staples of the hip-hop universe. DJ Premier’s signature utilization of chopped samples, coupled with…
Did Farmers Buy Off Nixon?
Whistleblower Isabelle Arnold charges that Farmers Insurance paid noncovered claims by tort-reform sponsor Rep. Joe Nixon to “secure a friend” in the Legislature.
S.W.A.T.
S.W.A.T. 2003, PG-13, 151 min. Directed by Clark Johnson, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, Jeremy Renner, LL Cool J, Olivier Martinez, Michelle Rodriguez. The original ABC television show S.W.A.T., which ran for little over a year back in 1975-76, wasn’t what you would call one of Aaron Spelling’s…
Screens String
Who: Marlo Poras What They’ve Done (and Won): Mai’s America premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2002 and was soon embraced as one of the best festival films of the year by the likes of LA Weekly and IndieWIRE, not to mention The Austin Chronicle, who saw it with everyone else here at…
The Taste of Summer
Summer’s Feast At least once every summer, and more often if I’m lucky, I feast on what has always been for me the definitive summer meal. This particular meal hearkens back to the summers of my childhood when I took trips with my maternal grandparents to visit Pop Walden’s sisters in Oklahoma. Some of the…
Phases and Stages
EelsShootenanny! (DreamWorks) The Eels craft the sort of dormitory melancholy you would use to cry yourself to sleep if you weren’t too busy musing at how clever it all is. Five albums into their career, this outlet for perpetually depressed singer-songwriter E has developed a smart and ragged record called Shootenanny! Through painful pleas, E…
Lowe’s Offers City a Deal
The big-box retailer makes an “SOS-equivalent” proposal for its project over the aquifer.
Northfork
Northfork 2003, PG-13, 103 min. Directed by Michael Polish, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring James Woods, Nick Nolte, Claire Forlani, Duel Farnes, Mark Polish, Daryl Hannah, Robin Sachs, Ben Foster, Anthony Edwards, Graham Beckel, Josh Barker, Peter Coyote, Jon Gries, Kyle MacLachlan, Michele Hicks. Northfork, Mont.: 1955. This sleepy hamlet in Big Sky…
Speaking Out From the Border
A new play by Gregory Ramos, Border Voices: An Intimate Theatrical Montage about Sex, Fear, and Love on the U.S.-Mexico Border revisits the complex symbolism of the border in the personal stories of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered individuals living in El Paso, Texas; Juarez, Mexico; and Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Milagro en Tamiahua
My partner Will and I drove our truck on a 10-day trip to Mexico’s Gulf Coast to do some research for my book about tamales. The plan was to go through the Huasteca on our way to the coast of Veracruz. The Huasteca is a beautiful subtropical region in the states of Tamaulipas, San Luis…
Phases and Stages
50 Cent, Jay-ZVerizon Wireless Amphitheater, Selma, Texas, Aug. 1 Halfway through his set, hip-hop’s grand puba 50 Cent declared to an adoring crowd at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Friday night that the longer they kept him onstage, the less time headliner Jay-Z would have to perform. They eventually let the young MC go, but their…
Parents Sued in Mosley Case
Carolyn Mosley Samuel files a wrongful-death suit against the parents of her daughter’s killer.
The Holy Land
The Holy Land 2003, NR, 96 min. Directed by Eitan Gorlin, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Oren Rehany, Tchelet Semel, Saul Stein, Arie Moskuna, Albert Illuz. The modern Israel portrayed in this movie is anything but a holy land. Instead, the view it offers is one of the secular and quotidian, a teenager’s…
Articulations
Owing to budget woes in the College of Fine Arts, the UT PAC Prop Shop is closed for business, and local choreographers and dance companies earn national awards and international gigs.
Rubies Among the Shooting Stars
Years ago, in my salad days, the cartilage in my knees was a lot friskier than it is now, and strenuous backpacking trips with hippie friends to the high mountain ranges of New Mexico occurred on a regular basis. One such trip to the headwaters of the Pecos River in July 1976 resulted in the…
Phases and Stages
Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Readerby Lester Bangs, edited by John Morthland Anchor Books, 415 pp., $15 (paper) Where Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung is the essential collection of Lester Bangs’ peripatetic rock writing for those who go for the gonzo, Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste is the collection for…
At Capitol, the Sky Is Falling
Chicken Littles Perry, Dewhurst, and Craddick try — and fail — to create a scandal to blame on the missing Democrats.
I Capture the Castle
I Capture the Castle 2003, R, 111 min. Directed by Tim Fywell, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Romola Garais, Rose Byrne, Tara Fitzgerald, Henry Thomas, Marc Blucas, Bill Nighy, Sinéad Cusack, Henry Cavill. “I am never going to fall in love. Life is dangerous enough,” declares Cassandra (Garais), the unusually grave narrator of…
Exhibitionism
For the 18th edition of the annual “New American Talent” show at Arthouse, curator Dominic Molon has steered away from choosing what might be the “best” new art today and chosen instead what suits his particular tastes, which means art that is sardonic, humorous, and hip, with lots of brightly surreal color and texture.
The Taste of Summer
Three Layers of Revolution There’s a neighborhood in Virginia that has taken on a misty, watercolored hue in memory. It was the neighborhood of my elementary school years, and it had lots of kids, leafy yards without fences, access to woods safe for walking or exploring, a brook with lots of guppies and similar Lilliputian…
Let the Battles Begin!
The new city budget promises less is less.
Council Gets Un-PATRIOT-ic
The City Council considers making Austin the first Texas city to condemn the USA PATRIOT Act.
Lucía, Lucía
Lucía, Lucía 2003, R, 110 min. Directed by Antonio Serrano, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Cecilia Roth, Carlos Álvarez Novoa, Kuno Becker, Héctor Ortega, Margarita Isabel. Five minutes into Lucía, Lucía – after we are introduced to the charming title character (Roth, of Almodóvar’s All About My Mother), who appears to be leading…
Exhibitionism
In Broadway Texas Academy’s production of Guys and Dolls, the cast of youthful actors look to be joyfully immersed in Damon Runyon’s picturesque world, reveling in the extravagant personalities of its gamblers, gangsters, and nightclub dancers with knockout gams.
The Taste of Summer
Deviled Eggs, Angelic Eating Not too long ago, I attended a potluck buffet where, as is my habit, my contribution was a big platter of deviled eggs. I learned long ago that this humble staple of church covered-dish suppers, family reunions, and summer picnics is an infallible winner at any social gathering, be it ultrahip…
Your Questions, Comments, and Concerns …
How to get info about and give feedback for the city budget.
Planned Parenthood Wins Round 1
A federal judge halts (temporarily) the state’s plans to deny funding to Planned Parenthood for nonabortion services
Exhibitionism
With Norman Normal Saves the World, writer and solo performer Rob Nash creates a breakout vehicle for the sinus-clearing, “I could kill you right now” über-geek of Nash’s Holy Cross Sucks!, and its absurd hilarity, along with Nash’s usual clarity in characterization, chameleon comic abilities, and ever-sharp wit, make this Holy Cross installment a fine…
The Taste of Summer
After Absinthe When I get home this evening, I think I will have a pastis. First, I will fill a small pitcher with water. I will take down a tall, narrow glass from the shelf. I will fill it two fingers full with pastis, and then add an ice cube. The ice is too big…
Budget ‘Highlights’ — the Bad News
The major cuts in the FY2004 proposed city budget.
Albuquerque or Bust!
The Texas Senate Democrats make a stand in New Mexico against congressional redistricting.
Fixing Up the Fringe
“I was sick of the place, and sick of staring at all of the work to be done.” This is the fourth in a series of articles by Josh Medsker as he attempts to re-establish a zine library in Austin. For the previous installments, go to austinchronicle.com / issues / dispatch / authors…
Food-o-file
Virginia B. Wood gives The Restaurant a room-temperature review, and plates up the latest local news in this week’s “Food-o-File.”
The Budget’s Downhill Slide
City of Austin General Fund Financial Forecast All figures in Millions of $ FY 2003 FY 2004 FY 2005 FY 2006 Expenditures $459.39 $499.20 $494.87 $517.23 Minus budget reduction ($38.20) Total expenditures $459.39 $461.00 $494.87 $517.23 Revenues $445.96 $461.00 $465.75 $482.98 Deficit ($13.43) ($0.00) ($29.12) ($34.25) Beginning Balance $41.33 $29.56 $29.56 $0.44 Ending Balance $29.56…
Austin @ Large: New (and Improved)
The new Liveable City survey confirms a community consensus on development and governing issues.
News/Print
My mouth is like the motherfuckin’ Sahara Desert up in here.
Prescriptions for Survival
When it comes to going back to school, what will be, will be…
Austin Taxes
For years now, this reporter has caught holy hell for suggesting that Austinites’ property taxes are too low. (“I’m stunned every time you say that,” a certain city manager tells me.) But there’s no arguing that Austin’s tax rate isn’t high enough to cover what the city spends; the Austin Police Dept. alone consumes more…
The Hightower Lowdown
Republicans come out against “misleading information” — oh, the irony! And, patriotic defense contractors refuse to buy American.
Ourshelves
Susan Anderson Managing Librarian for Centralized Selection, Austin Public Library What do the bookshelves of the young librarian who heads up the team that will select titles for the entire Austin library system hold? Surprisingly, not too many books. But Susan Anderson is a reader. “I read about two to three books a week,” she…
Don’t Whack the Back
For ergonomically sane backpacks and book bags, Whole Earth Provision has a selection that we found to be both kind to the spine as well as to the pocketbook. Prices range from as low as the high teens upward to reasonably low three-figures, in a rainbow of colors, offering an assortment of pockets, inserts, flaps,…
With Minimal Drama, Saltillo Project Lurches Forward
Capital Metro hires a planner and appoints community advisors for the rail-yard redevelopment
Love Is a Battlefield
In ‘The Holy Land,’ indie auteur Eitan Gorlin Feels at home as an interloper in a world of religion, romance, and war.
Luv Doc Recommends: Alamo Drafthouse’s Camp Hacknslash
It’s been a long, hard day of Frisbee golf, and after skateboarding all the way home carrying a Slurpee, a microwave burrito, and a king-sized bag of Funyuns, all you really want to do is eat dinner and veg out with your GameCube until you’re blissfully overcome by sweet slumber. It’s tough being a grownup…
