Cover Story
From Austin to Neptune
Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas on the rise of his career-making cult favorite
Lunafest 2006
Lunafest 2006 Lunafest is a national touring festival of films by, for, and about women. This year’s winners cover a wide array of topics that address what it means to be a woman in the 21st century. In addition to providing national exposure for emerging women filmmakers, Lunafest also supports communities by donating a portion…
“The Abortion Diaries” and “Teen Mami”
“The Abortion Diaries” and “Teen Mami” “The Abortion Diaries” (Penny Lane, 30 min.) is a documentary that features 12 divergent women who speak candidly about their experiences with abortion. “Teen Mami” (Laura DOnnelly) presents the real challenges that must be faced by girls who become mothers.
Austin Theatre
NY (hearts) U
Ain’t Nobody Real but Me
Chamillionaire’s flow: Houston and beyond
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Texas Documentary Tour
‘Touch the Sound: A Sound Journey With Evelyn Glennie’
Arts Review
If there’s a surprise to the Arts on Real production of Howard Crabtree’s extravagant and campy revue, ‘When Pigs Fly,’ it’s that it’s so, well, modest
Good Night and Good Luck
Why is ‘podcast’ ‘Oxford American Dictionary’s word of the year?
Bonds for Bikes
Bicyclists ask committee to invest more in two-wheel transportation
Film News
Big ‘Lights,’ small screen; the Pod squad; and congrats and condolences
Arts Review
Shostakovich’s ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ burns with violent passions and dark deeds, and Austin Lyric Opera brings this torrid tale to blazing life
Phases & Stages
The StrokesFirst Impressions of Earth (RCA) If First Impressions of Earth isn’t quite out of this world, the Strokes’ third album still represents the happily jaded middle ground between the NYC garage rock quintet’s first two releases. Five Earth years on, 2001 debut Is This It sounds quaint in its bubbly, almost acoustic cocoon, while…
Get It While It’s Green
City pimps out limited supply of clean energy
TV Eye
AMN ‘SFS’ is dead. Long live ‘SFS TV.’
Arts Review
In the exhibition ‘Aqueous,’ artist Liz Ward provides rippling watercolors and silverpoint drawings ideal for a wintertime dip
Phases & Stages
While devastating floods are nothing new to the city of New Orleans, widespread displacement of its citizens certainly is. When Louis Armstrong wondered “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans,” he never could have imagined that so many would now be feeling his expatriate pain. As the Crescent City attempts to rebuild…
Rather Visits, Weighs in on Local AMD Debate
Iconic TV anchor Dan Rather wades into local debate over Advanced Micro Devices’ proposed development plans
Grandma’s Boy
What’s funnier than having to move back in with your parents? Why, moving in with your grandparents, of course.
Readings
‘Better to get it from the horse’s mouth, I decided, and not from some horse’s ass’
Phases & Stages
Fiona AppleExtraordinary Machine (Epic) Tidal, Fiona Apple’s 1996 debut, was once the soundtrack to my misery. We were immature back then, Fiona and I. Following 1999’s substantial leap forward, When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King, Apple’s label-embattled third go-round proves my old pity-party buddy has reached adulthood intact. “O’ Sailor,”…
The Learnin’ Calendar
You still have the opportunity to have a say about when Austin ISD begins the 2006-7 school year
Hostel
In this horror film, three backpackers check in to the wrong hostel where, unbeknownst to them, very bad things happen from dusk till dawn.
Readings
It should be hard to relate to these people, but Robert Boyers has a gift for re-creating the familiar ways in which we hide from ourselves, our behavior belying our beliefs
Phases & Stages
MadonnaConfessions on a Dance Floor (Warner Bros.) That smooch Madonna gave Britney Spears was actually a vampire’s kiss. Look what became of the poor pop tart – the pimples, the disheveled clothes, him. And what’s become of Madonna in that same time? She’s returned to what she does best, ruling the dance floor. Confessions on…
Anti-Scalito Camp Gets Vocal
Texas Coalition for an Independent Judiciary voices opposition to Alito’s Supreme Court bid with a stack of petitions containing more than 15,000 signatures
Loggerheads
Despite an overreliance on metaphor and symbolism, Loggerheads is an affecting little film about characters who struggle with issues connected with adoption, homophobia, and loss.
After a Fashion
Stephen puts a human face on football …
Phases & Stages
Kate BushAerial (Columbia) It’s been a dozen years since English bird Kate Bush slipped on The Red Shoes, and nearly two decades since she gave us “This Woman’s Work” and “Hounds of Love.” Bush’s expansive cry has always been her trademark, and it hasn’t lost momentum on Aerial, a 2-CD set separated into A Sea…
CodePink Co-founder in the Pokey
Diane Wilson doing a stint in the Victoria County Jail
The World
Using a sleek visual style and bits of animation, this elegant Chinese film explores the effects of modernism, globalism, and international commerce upon its culture and society.
To Your Health
How to keep irritable bowel syndrome under control
Phases & Stages
Miles Davis The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 (Columbia Legacy) This 6-CD live set was recorded Dec. 16-19, 1970, at Washington, D.C.’s Cellar Door. Trumpeter Davis heads a fusion band including Gary Bartz, alto and soprano saxes; Keith Jarrett, electric piano and electric organ; John McLaughlin, guitar (discs five and six); Michael Henderson, bass; Jack DeJohnette,…
Off the Hook
Travis Co. grand jury declines to indict seven Austin Police officers involved in September altercation that ended with in-custody death of Michael Clark
Glory Road
Even though Glory Road presents a fictionalized account of what many count as the most significant NCAA basketball game ever played, the film remains a predictable sports rouser.
The Common Law
Austin smoking ordinance – is the smoker or the bar owner at fault?
West Side Showdown
The new political year begins with a four-way speed race for House District 48
Weed Watch
Year starts off with a bang for medi-pot advocates; and marijuana legalization efforts continue in Colorado
Last Holiday
After being diagnosed with an incurable brain disease, a woman (who is played delightfully by Queen Latifah) discovers her moxie.
Day Trips
Juniper Hills Farm between Dripping Springs and Blanco takes advantage of the rich culinary culture of the Hill Country to combine a cooking school with overnight cabins for a unique weekend getaway
West Side Showdown Update
Ben Bentzin has spent tens of thousands of dollars on heavily rotated TV ads leading up to the Jan. 17 special election. But the telegenic Republican millionaire refused to participate in a live broadcast of a candidates’ forum Wednesday night, Jan. 11 – until the event’s sponsor agreed to drastically limit televised access to the…
Point Austin: Pointed Questions for 2006
When the Lege comes back to school, will they have done their homework?
Hoodwinked
Animated retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood story has sass but little imagination.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Confucius say “takitos,” and J.K. Rowling gets ‘Fresh’
Snoring Out Loud
The local daily’s cautious toe in the water doesn’t work in the wild ‘n’ wooly blogosphere
Point Austin: Beside the Point
What’s on the agenda
Tristan & Isolde
This new version of the timeless love story is a dopey, mopey, all-around bore.
Soccer Watch
Superteams running away with championships while Galacticos fall apart
To Bond, or Not to Bond?
Bonds dominate the immediate City Council horizon
The Hightower Report
The NAM’s mess; and a quiet victory over hucksterism
Strong and Solid
Big Oak Bar-B-Que might be new, but it’s quickly establishing its roots
AISD Gets the Ball Rolling on High School Redesign
Gates Foundation grant pushes attempt to completely rethink high school
TCB
A week of free shows, a fire, and impending SXSW. Who says January in Austin is dead?
Cafe Mangù
The menu incorporates elements of Dominican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican cuisines, with an abundance of authentic choices
Remembering Hazel Obey
Local civil rights leader, whose civic career spanned more than three decades, died Dec. 30
‘Veronica Mars’ 101
“Tragedy blows through your life like a tornado, uprooting everything. Creating chaos. You wait for the dust to settle and then you choose. You can live in the wreckage and pretend it’s still the mansion you remember. Or you can crawl from the rubble and slowly rebuild.” – Veronica Mars, pilot episode “Veronica Mars was…
First Night Austin
Austinites turned out by the thousands to enjoy the first First Night Austin on New Year’s Eve, as one ‘Chronicle’ writer saw for himself
Cosmic Cafe
I was expecting (how can I put this diplomatically? I can’t) completely uninspired ‘old hippie’-style vegetarian food. Instead, I found a wonderful restaurant.
From Hard Time to New Beginning
New nonprofit Pro Con puts ex-offenders to work
Clips From ‘Mars’
Since you likely won’t gain admission to the Alamo Drafthouse’s Veronica Marsathon, for which Thomas personally compiled a clip show, I decided to do one myself. What follows is a totally subjective “best of” list of Mars-isms and scenes from the series’ first campaign. And, yes, I did get Veronica Mars: Season One on DVD…
Victory Rose
By any other name
Food-o-File
Looking back at many of the stories we covered in 2005, it seems that they came down to fire and water, one way or another
Special Election for Texas House of Representatives, District 48
The ‘Chronicle’ endorsement for the state House District 48, special election: Donna Howard
‘World’ Cinema
Three-month series AFS@Dobie launches with latest Jia Zhangke film
Luv Doc Recommends: Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival
Just about everybody at some point in life gets wasted and does something stupid. What else explains the population explosion? The Macarena? Low rise jeans? Gerbiling? George W? All of these things seemed like a perfectly good idea at the time…well, except for the gerbiling and George W. The wonderful thing about life though, is…
