Cover Story
Austin’s Noisy 2020 Top 40
Stories within stories shaped a year of sitting still
Fatale Attraction
Deon Taylor on bringing back the ’80s erotic thriller
Programming Maestro Jim Brunzell Leaving aGLIFF
Award-winning artistic director departs after seven years
Amidst COVID-19 Surge, Austin-Travis County Moves to Stage 5 Restrictions
Officials urge extreme caution over holiday break
Checking In (Again): Kevin Russell Hasn’t Wavered Amidst the Great Wall of Empty Time
Shinyribs Santa closes the questionnaire circle on No. 100
Sweetgreen’s on the Drag, Carne Lenta is Slow Good, Huckleberry Visits Vista, Fowl Mouth Is Making Us Cry
All the news that’s fit to get your taste buds quivering
New Year’s Eve Dining
Say good riddance to the old year with a belly full of yum
Tired of the Same Old Christmas Movies? Try These Instead.
7 unconventional picks to scratch your holiday itch
A Handful of Holiday Events to Keep You Busy and Safe
Xmas weekend offers online and drive-in things to do
Checking In: French Diva Lou Rebecca Moves to Los Angeles
Pandemic claims Parisian expatriate to her local collabo’s city
These Five Last-Minute Gift Ideas Might Be the Best You’ll Ever See
Because, frankly, most other listicles like this are boring AF
Top 10 Most Read Screens Stories of 2020
Big exits, big changes, and the pandemic make for big stories
Top 10 Most Read Film Reviews of 2020
The pandemic picks you wanted to read about
Weekend Wine: Imported “Herculean” Wine
Profit sharing pays dividends to everyone.
In Live Music Preservation Fund’s First Week, 79 Austin Venues Applied for Relief
The slow road to dedicated venue funding now moving fast
Mama Duke Drops “Braggadocious” Debut Album Ballsy
Local rapper celebrates release with a five-hour livestream concert
Monster Hunter
The beast-slaying game gets the Paul W.S. Anderson treatment
Greenland
Gerard Butler brings back the classic disaster movie
To the Ends of the Earth
Japanese travel story captures the isolation of culture shock, with fear and levity
Sister of the Groom
Stilted rom-com is clueless about what to do with its star
Skylines
Bonkers SF franchise finally goes into space
The Bloodhound
Poe adaptation relishes tone over text
Chronicle Photographers Share the Stories Behind Their Most Arresting Images of 2020
John Anderson, Jana Birchum, and David Brendan Hall documenting Austin history
Day Trips: Ten Ways the Pandemic Affected Daytrippers
What a long, strange trip 2020 has been. After a ban on nonessential travel due to the coronavirus pandemic was lifted, the fear of the virus continued. 1) Canceled for the first time since World War II. With an abundance of caution, the state fair, Fiesta San Antonio, and younger events skipped this year. 2)…
Headlines
Red in a Sea of Blue: District 10 Council Member Alison Alter will see another term on the dais, while her fellow incumbent, D6 CM Jimmy Flannigan, was defeated by Mackenzie Kelly in the Dec. 15 run-offs. Kelly will be the first Republican to serve on City Council since 2018. Read more. Meet Your New…
Robert Faires’ Top 10 Works That Spoke to Me About 2020
Throughout 2020, performances and books seemed to contain messages about the year – its trials, its traumas, and its echoes in history
Boswell, Lugo Claim Open Seats on AISD Board
Run-off election results
Richard Whittaker’s Top 10 in 2020 Cinema
“Who knew?”
Top Nine in Visual Art of 2020, Plus One Exceptional Other
Wayne Alan Brenner chooses outstanding visual artistry that made this year a feast, save for one performative and culinary experience that was the cherry on top
Street Fee Coming for Developers in 2022 to Help Offset Growth Costs
New fee will be charged to developers
Marjorie Baumgarten’s Top 10 of 2020
With all due respect to the many, many movies I missed this year – hindsight will have to be my 2020. I’m sorry. I promise to catch up. I’ve been distracted … you know. Back in the Before Times, my life was governed by when each day I had to be at a movie and…
Top 10 Arty Ways 2020 Was the Best Year Ever
Barbara Purcell shares art highlights from a year that tested our sanity and humanity
Soccer Watch: 10 Steps Toward Major League Soccer for Austin FC
I usually list the Top 10 soccer stories of the year in this space, but in a year defined by empty stadiums and daily plague tests, there’s little to celebrate. Locally, UT truncated their season, and St. Edward’s canceled theirs altogether and scrapped the men’s program permanently. The Austin Bold’s season was suspended after one…
Josh Kupecki’s Top 10 Films of 2020
In a year that saw usage of the word “unprecedented” second only to that of “pandemic” (with “Four Seasons Total Landscaping” not too far behind), 2020 lodged a number of monkey wrenches into the film industry. With movie theatres dark and empty, Hollywood studios and independent distributors didn’t have much of a choice but to…
Top Fiction of 2020 for the Angry Girls
Rosalind Faires chooses several tales of righteous indignation
UT Health Austin Among First in Texas to Receive Pfizer Vaccine
On Tuesday, Dec. 15, the first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Austin were administered to front-line health care workers at UT-Austin, confirmed Dr. Amy Young, vice dean of professional practice at Dell Medical School and chief clinical officer for UT Health Austin, the clinical practice for Dell Med. UT Health Austin was one…
Steve Davis Top 10 Films of 2020
I had big plans for 2020, the first year of my newly minted retirement from professional life as a lawyer. The social restrictions of the pandemic, however, quickly squelched most of those ambitions. But the isolation of sheltering in place actually nourished my most personal goal for this year: the continued development of my film…
Top Books to Read in 2020 As Everything Falls Apart
In a COVID-strained year, tales of families repairing their lives and the caste system’s effect of Black Americans made an impact
The Dimension Sculpture Park Is Newly Illuminated
… and the darkness cannot overcome it
Jenny Nulf’s Top 10 Films in 2020
At the beginning of 2020 I went to a Hyperreal Film Club event for Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels. I hadn’t seen it yet and I wanted to before the restorations hit theatres later that year (spoiler: They are online now). Sitting in a room crammed with cinephiles was one of my favorite ways to pass…
Top Books of 2020 That Struck a Literary or Musical Chord
A writer’s fictional joyride, a rock & roll memoir, and jazz fairy tales are books that sang this year
We Have an Issue: Looking for Bright Spots in a Historically Bad Year
The Top 10s Issue
Marc Savlov’s Top 10 of 2020 in Film
2020 continues to be the single most nail-gnawing, agoraphobia-causing year on record. And for film critics and film fans alike, so used to crowded, unending festivals and weekly trips to the theatres – sometimes in snarling cineaste packs – it’s proven to be a forlorn and lonely year, indeed. Personally, I’ve sought refuge less in…
Our Favorite Austin Restaurants for To-Go-Style Meals and Treats
New world takeout order-date night (or day)
Qmmunity: 2020’s Biggest Queer and Trans Stories
Looking back on a rollercoaster of a year
Matthew Monagle’s Top 10 in Cinema in 2020
A few years ago, Columbia Business School professor Sheena Iyengar wrote a popular book on the concept of consumer choice. Her conclusion was that some choice is desired, but too much choice should be avoided; if you give your customers too many options, then analysis paralysis sets in and they end up making no choices…
Top 10 Local Fried Chicken Meals of 2020
Wear your masks and support Austin’s restaurants
Faster Than Sound’s Musical Top 10s of 2020
Eleven lists of Austin’s best releases, theme songs, livestreams, creative pivots and more.
Austin FC Brings First Squad Into Focus Through Expansion Draft, Trades
Inaugural club roster swells to 11
2020’s Standout Family Friendly Restaurants
New world takeout order
Kevin Curtin’s Top 100 Austin Albums of 2020
Why stop at 10 when 10 times that still only scratches the surface of year-topping ATX releases?
New Austin Music Worth Your Bandwidth This Week
What we’re listening to
Some Austin Tips & Treats That Kept Us Fed in 2020
New world takeout order
Austin’s Best Food and Drink Events This Week
Dinner parties, farmer’s markets, beer, wine, and more for the week of December 17, 2020
Free Will Astrology
Your weekly horoscope, December 18-24
Ten Key Moments in Austin’s Year With the Coronavirus
The Plague Year
Arts Listings
Virtual galleries, streaming improv, and more
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Scientists have come up with a layer of gold that is only two atoms thick. You have probably heard “Mysterioso Pizzicato” by J. Bodewalt Lampe but didn’t know it by name; it’s also known as “The Villain’s Theme.” According to economists at the United States Department of Agriculture, as of 2011, the average American adult…
Ten Key Moments in a Year of Endless Texas Election Drama
Vote Early and Often
Opinion: Breaking Up With 2020
Dear 2020, I’m not sure who broke your heart or didn’t love you enough in your early days. Maybe you hung out with the wrong crowd (1547, 1520, 1942, or that mean girl 1920). I’m not sure if you saw our 2019 “Dumpster Fire” memes and decided this would be your year of protest. If…
Holiday Dinners, Holiday Treats
And this list will grow as the year grows toward its end …
Ten Local Stories That Got Overshadowed
Most of these could top the charts in a normal year …
The Luv Doc: A Formal Issue
The premise of average sexual frequency is somewhat ridiculous
Alter Holds Onto Her Council Seat, While Flannigan Is Narrowly Defeated
A tale of two incumbents in the run-off election
Top 10 Local Quotes of the Year
We cull our quotes of the week to only the best (and worst) words
Friends to the End (of the World)
Ric Roman Waugh and Gerard Butler reunite in Greenland
Armadillo Den Opens on Manchaca, Jester King Celebrates a Tenner, Smithville Gets Meaty, and but There’s Some Sad News, Too
All the news that’s fit to make your taste buds quiver
Council Recap: Clearing the Decks for 2021 in a City That Never Stops Growing
Zoning, housing, and COVID relief dominate year’s final meeting
