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The Luv Doc: Strong Emotions

Dear Luv Doc, When you have WW3 level fights, is there ever hope you’ll learn to be nicer to each other to resolve conflict? – Scrappy Here’s some happy news Scrappy: When fights are particularly heated that’s a good indication that strong emotions are involved. Yay! Strong emotions! That’s what you got into a relationship…

by The Luv Doc

The Babadook

Tyro helmer Jennifer Kent conjures a disturbing spook story about a mother, a son, and an unnerving presence in their house

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Uzumasa Limelight

The hero of this beguiling Japanese film is a kirare-yaku or “sliced actor” – a certain kind of Japanese actor/stuntman who always dies by sword in the shadows.

by Marc Savlov

Pelican Dreams

The director of The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is back with a personal doc about these “flying dinosaurs,” which have always fascinated her.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

District 3: Divided Powers

Susana Almanza vs. Pio Renteria As the most populous district race (12 candidates) inevitably dwindled to two – Susana Almanza (21%) and Sabino “Pio” Renteria (19%) – the virtual tie in an already tense race has become a political melodrama: a brother-and-sister campaign showdown. However, this isn’t simply a tale of sibling rivalry; it’s a…

by Mary Tuma

District 10: Taxes and Turnout

Mandy Dealey vs. Sheri Gallo Both Mandy Dealey and Sheri Gallo have long-established records in what is now City Council District 10. Dealey has compiled an impressive résumé of service on various city boards and commissions, including the Planning Commission and the Waterfront Overlay Task Force. Gallo has her own list of public service –…

by Amy Kamp

Excitable Boy

In 2009, the Folk Alliance International Conference took place in Memphis. The one name being whispered and hollered – John Fullbright. It was there that Greg Johnson, owner of the renowned Blue Door in Oklahoma City, took the singer-songwriter under his wing. The native Sooner would then debut with Live at the Blue Door, since…

by William Harries Graham

Politics Gift Guide

Self-Defense From the 84th Legislature They’re baaack!!! (Or will be, come Janu­ary.) Although a concealed-carry permit (with or without loaded accessory) allows you to dodge the metal detector line, we don’t recommend weapons in the gallery. What you will instead need on occasion is something to eliminate the bloviage emanating from the floor. Hughes Enterprises…

by Chronicle Staff

District 4: Getting Cray-Cray

Greg Casar vs. Laura Pressley For the first round, the Booby Prize for Political Foolishness probably goes to District 3, where 12 candidates stumbled wildly over one another, fighting for a little face-time. That race has mostly simmered down to a sibling-cum-policy face-off – leaving District 4, and especially “Dr.” Laura Pressley (aka the Candidate…

by Michael King

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

According to a 2014 Federal Reserve Bank of New York report, 46% of recent college graduates are now working in jobs that don’t require college degrees. If you had a Rubik’s Cube in each of its possible permutations and laid them side by side, they would stretch for 261 light years! Long before it became…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

Oops!

In the Nov. 21 edition of the Chronicle, Mr. Smarty Pants Knows said that the Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters. In fact, it has 12 letters from the Latin alphabet, plus a 13th “letter” called “‘okina” that is written with an apostrophe (‘). Mr. Smarty Pants wishes to say he is sorry, but since there…

by Chronicle Staff

District 6: Waiting for the Next Subpoena

Jimmy Flannigan vs. Don Zimmerman To a degree, Don Zimmerman’s profile parallels D4’s Laura Pressley. Both have scientific backgrounds – Zimmerman, as he often notes, is an engineer – and both are confident in their ability to reach their own conclusions, however bizarre some of those might seem. But unlike Pressley, Zim­mer­man doesn’t seem to…

by Amy Kamp

Hornography

The 2014 Texas Longhorns will be remembered for having a solid defense and an identity crisis on offense. Their 6-6 record exudes mediocrity. That’s okay; Charlie Strong was rebuilding a program from ground level. His team’s record wasn’t as important as how they got there, and Strong has done nothing but silence his critics on…

by Eric Sollenberger

District 7: Back to the Future

Jeb Boyt vs. Leslie Pool District 7 begins at 45th Street and stretches north, largely between MoPac and Lamar Boulevard, before mushrooming just north of Braker Lane. It ranges over a stretch of land with two distinct developmental patterns, split sharply by U.S. 183. To the south is the “Lower Seven,” which begins the 10-1…

by Chase Hoffberger

Soccer Watch

Supporters Social #1 (and MLS Cup watch party), is a “first effort to bring together members of the various Austin supporters groups to chat, discuss ways to collaborate, and other topics.” It’s put on by Supporters Union, a nonprofit network of Austin soccer supporters clubs, with a mission to help build the local fan base.…

by Nick Barbaro

Headlines

Early voting for the Dec. 16 City Council run-off election began this week, and runs through next Friday, Dec. 12. Also on the ballot are Austin ISD school board and Austin Community College board of trustees candidates. The last regular City Council meeting of the year – and the seven-member at-large era – convenes Thursday,…

by Chronicle Staff

Quote of the Week

“Rather than serving as a measured response to murder, the execution of Mr. Panetti would only serve to undermine the public’s faith in a fair and moral justice system.” – A letter addressed to Gov. Rick Perry and signed by 21 conservative leaders, urging the governor to commute schizophrenic death row inmate Scott Panetti’s sentence…

by Chronicle Staff

AISD: One for the Money

District 1: Edmund “Ted” Gordon, David “D” Thompson District 6: Paul Saldaña, Kate Mason-Murphy At-Large 9: Kendall Pace, Hillary Procknow Unlike City Council, where a deluge of new faces takes power in January, the Austin Independent School District board is in a slow, but equally landmark, transition. Three years ago, votes often turned on a…

by Richard Whittaker

ACC: Low Turnout, High Stakes

ACC Board Place 2: Gigi Edwards Bryant and Jade Chang Sheppard If voter participation is a concern in all the Dec. 16 run-offs, it’s a five-alarm panic in the Austin Community College second round. With an electorate spread across six counties – five of which have basically nothing else on the ballot – the Austin…

by Richard Whittaker

Mayor: A Numbers Game

Steve Adler vs. Mike Martinez As run-off voting proceeds (through Dec. 12), the respective messages of the two remaining mayoral candidates are well established. Attorney Steve Adler is running as an anti-incumbent, for a “New Way Forward” – arguing that the city and the City Council have lost their way, and are “moving in the…

by Michael King

District 1: A Hill to Climb

Ora Houston vs. DeWayne Lofton The District 1 race looks to be the most perfunctory: Ora Houston only barely fell shy of an outright majority (49.1% among nine candidates), and second-place DeWayne Lofton won only 14%. But Lofton is determined to push on, and argues that his voters will be more motivated for a December…

by Michael King

District 8: Partisan Nonpartisans

Ed Scruggs vs. Ellen Troxclair It’s not the City Hall Ed Scruggs knew as a City Council reporter for KLBJ-AM in the early Nineties, but sitting beside Ellen Troxclair on the dais for the last forum before the run-off, it was as though he never left. “I couldn’t believe I was in a city where…

by Nina Hernandez

Chronicle Endorsements

Here are the Chronicle editorial board’s endorsements for the Dec. 16 run-off election. See more info at austinchronicle.com/elections. Austin City Council Mayor: Mike Martinez Entering the run-off, we’re aware that Martinez faces an uphill battle: He was behind 37-30% in the first round, his broadest support appears to be in lower-turnout districts, and the only…

by Chronicle Staff

Dec. 16 Run-Off Election

Early Voting: Dec. 1-12 Election Day: Tuesday, Dec. 16 Early voting: You may vote at any early voting location in the county in which you are registered. Election Day: You may vote at any precinct polling place in Travis County. VOTER ID: Texas law requires registered voters to show a current photo ID issued by…

by Chronicle Staff

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