We recently talked to Ratatat's Evan Mast about this fall's tour, musical influences, and film music....

Shot in Austin, Kabluey is one of those films that you may not have heard a lot about, which gives it the unique capability to sneak up on you and snatch your heart away. Granted, it does exist in a seemingly alternate universe with a penchant for absurdity, but it has heart. After winning the 2007 Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival, Kabluey has gone on to acclaim in New York and LA, and thankfully opens to the Austin audience tonight at the Landmark Dobie Theater, with Predergast in attendance! We recently had the chance to chat with Prendergast about creating isolation, winning the lottery and trying not to die inside a big, blue mascot suit in the heat of a Texas July....

"I said, 'Aren't you the woman who was recently given a Fulbright?'" If you're a nerd for Paul Simon, you've been looking to drop this line at a party since the mid-80s. And you should totally do it if Shara K. Lange is in the room. Around this time last year, the Fulbright committee granted her an award and shipped her off to Morocco to film a documentary. She had recently graduated from UT's Radio, TV, and Film Department’s MFA program in production. Her thesis project, "The Way North," was in a stage of mid-completion, but that project is now finally wrapped up (much to our delight)! It premieres at AFS this Wednesday along with other UT films....

Of all the documentaries premiering at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival, we’re probably most excited about seeing Second Skin, an up close and personal look at the lives of seven MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) players and the fictional worlds they inhabit. We recently had a chance to chat with the film’s Texas-born producer, Victor Piñeiro, about video games, social networks, and getting away with murder in a virtual world....

Elizabeth Berkley is Nomi Malone.... Showgirls 2.0 with David Schmader LiveThursday, November 29thAlamo LakeCreek (13729 Research Blvd)$12, 7:30PM[info] | [tickets]The holiday season really is the most wonderful time of year, a time where we think about family and togetherness, and most importantly, psychotic strippers. As always, the Alamo Drafthouse really understands what will make our season bright and are reaching into their magical holiday gift bag to pull out a screening of Showgirls for us,......

Waller Creek Design Workshop. Image from City of Austin News Austin Music Commission's Town Hall Meeting Notes AMD Sued Over Birth Defects Plant a Tree for Freedom Waller Creek Design and Vision Workshop At This Rate, We're Having Our Next Happy Hour in Cancun Pangaea: It's For Real, Y'all UT Biologists Propose Biodiversity Institute Save BookWoman! Austin Music Commission Considering Plan to Stop the Rock They've Got the Lasers... Now All You Need is......

Doctors plugged an Italian tourist into a drip-feed of vodka to save him at a hospital in Australia that ran out of the medicinal alcohol it would normally have used for treatment. Plants chatter amongst themselves to spread information, a lot like humans and other animals, new research suggests. Actor Nick Nolte is a father again at age 66 after his British girlfriend of several years, Clytie Lane, gave birth to the couple's first......

As promised, today we're giving away two pairs of tickets to KLRU's ACL taping of British indie rockers Bloc Party. These are general admission tickets, which means you'll be guaranteed a seat as long as you show up by 9pm. Enter below, and good luck! This contest is now closed. Congrats, winners! Related: A Weekend In Our City - Austinist Interviews Bloc Party Austinist's ACL Coverage Bloc Party ACL Taping Monday, September 17th 9pm......

ACL Previews Interview: Ghostland Observatory Previews: The Broken West, Big Sam’s Funky Nation & Rose Hill Drive Previews: Billy Joe Shaver and Fionn Regan Previews: Brandon Rhyder and Ocote Soul Sounds Interview: The Broken West Previews: Sylvia St. James, Jeffrey Steele, and Amy Cook Interview: Bloc Party ACL Fest Updates: Google Mashup, Contests, Eco-Chic Previews: Augustana, Amos Lee Interview: Peter, Bjorn, and John ACL Band Clash, Round 3: Wilco Vs My Morning Jacket Travis......

ACL Previews Austinist Launches Dedicated ACL Page! Preview: Manchester Orchestra and Patterson Hood Preview: Ian Ball and the Little Ones Interview: Paolo Nutini ACL Band Clash, Round 2: The Killers Vs. Björk Weekly Features Tales Of Mere Existence Hots On #9: Sound Off New Release Tuesday: Frisell's Floratone The Argyle Academy New Movie Releases: The Invasion, Superbad, Death at a Funeral, and More Truesday: Friesday The Laurie Show News, Features, and More Travis County......

After maintaining a low profile since their "Night At The Opera" at Hogg Auditorium in January and SXSW showcase, hometown dance-noise champs Ghostland Observatory are unleashing a triple kung-fu combo punch on Austin this summer. On Wednesday, they'll play a "secret" show at Emo's as part of the club's anniversary celebrations. Then in mid-July, the band will tape an episode of the PBS series Austin City Limits - call the ACL hotline on 475-9077......

THURSDAY [14] dance • Constellation, a site-specific dance work from Sally Jacques at Pickle & Thornberry Federal Courthouses (9pm) art • Guest Tour with Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa at Blanton Museum of Art, MLK at Congress (Thursdays are always free at the Blanton,12:30-1:30pm) art • Opening reception for "Just Been Fired," the mostly at Gallery Lombardi (7-10pm) art and books • Blanton Book Club at Blanton Museum of Art, MLK at Congress 6-7:30pm) books • Reginald......

Fielding Lecht Gallery, which specializes in the contemporary art of Vietnam, closes on the the 22nd of this month. It's unfortunate for Austin, but, as gallery co-owner Pam Fielding explains, the art scene in Vietnam is currently such hot hotness that, "the inventory we have here is needed back in Hanoi." Ergo, if you had hoped to visit the show Five Changing Identities: Vietnamese Women of Today, you best run your badonkadonk over to Congress......

We knew that local tennis star Andy Roddick kept himself in good shape, but we were still taken aback when we first came across this cover photo on the latest issue of Men's Fitness: the Austin Java fan and budding philanthropist looks like he's fixin' to hulk out of his burnt orange tee. Said bulging biceps turned out to be yet another case of crafty airbrush work, as ABC News points out in their Doctored......

Owing to construction delays, Salvage Vanguard Theater's hotly-anticipated launch party and opening production of Mud has been pushed back by at least a week. The new start dated is slated for Thursday, June 7th, assuming all goes as planned. "It's been completely crazy. We're completely crazy. We tried to wrap this job up in two months and one week. That was nuts! The reality is that it's going to take two months and two......

Do we need to explain this contest? Hot Chip are coming. We implore you to go and see them. And we have a pair of tickets for one lucky reader. Austinist Interviews Joe Goddard of Hot Chip Hot Chip's The Warning Takes #3 on Austinist's Top 15 Albums of 2006 Austinist Glowingly Reviews Hot Chip's The Warning Hot Chip Nominated For Mercury Music Prize Hot Chip Blow The Roof Off New York's Webster Hall......

"I've had a hell of a good time. I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Such was the off-the-cuff nonchalance and quirky charm that epitomized the inimitable Kurt Vonnegut, who passed away yesterday at the age of 84. With a dazzling career that spanned over half a century, Vonnegut was, to us, the quintessential American man of letters: novelist, essayist, playwright, and,......

Of Montreal, unlike what seems to be the case with most great bands recently, is not a group from Montreal. They're from Athens, Georgia, home of the now legendary Elephant Six collective. Along with that distinction comes the obligatory psychedelic noodling and Beatles-in-the-wood-chopper homages, yet they have remained a singular and most impressive voice in the realm of Indie-dom. On their most recent release, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? lead singer Kevin Barnes......

HBO Films' newest documentary project, When I Knew, asks America's GLBT community: When did you know you were gay? When I Knew is based on Robert Trachtenberg's book of the same name, which alternates between hilarious and heart-rending tales. The documentary crew is currently crisscrossing the country, hoping to capture as many interesting and diverse anecdotes as possible. Next Wednesday, they'll be stationed at the Radisson Hotel on Cesar Chavez for an entire day's......

A billowing American flag against a pitch background opens this compelling story of a Seattle grandmother, Bev Harris, who started asking questions after presidential candidate Al Gore managed to get negative votes (-16,022, to be exact) in Volusia County, Florida in 2000. After a media distraction over "hanging chads" and other discrepancies, the overall results in Florida effectively lost the election for Gore. As simplistic as it sounds, Harris made a search engine find......

Hailing from the great white north (Canada, not Plano) where inspiring bands just seem to be multiplying by the hundreds, Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think roll into town this week to play a show at Stubb's. The beauty of BSS is that the band is in constant metamorphosis based on who shows up on stage that night. Ranging from anywhere from 4 to 17 band members, Broken Social Scene’s music has......

While it may only be two thirds as tittilating as the panty raid party at Beauty Bar happening shortly thereafter, the Austin Symphony opens its 96th season tomorrow night at Bass Concert Hall, with a program featuring Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell and works by William Schuman, Beethoven, and Brahms. Bell, who plays a 1713 Stradivarius Gibson ex Huberman valued somewhere in the millions, has garnered accolades and recognition far too numerous to list. From......

If you're not heading over to the Parish tomorrow night after our party at Birds Barbershop, here are two excellent alternatives: The IV Thieves -- that's "4," mind you -- formerly known as Nic Armstrong and the Thieves, returned to Austin a mere week ago after a whirlwind stateside tour supporting The Pretenders. Originally hailing from the tiny village in England of Nottingham, this lovable foursome now (mostly) call Central Texas their home. They'll be......

Earlier this morning, Tamara Hoover posted the following announcement to her MySpace blog: Hello all. Under advice of my lawyer (and not without great resistance on my part) I have agreed to settle the matter with AISD out of court. With this agreement the district asked that I resign my position as an art teacher at Austin High School. My legal bills were mounting and my lawyer felt that the settlement was in my......

Elsewhere in the Ist-averse [08.05 in Special] Out the Other's ACL Previews: Son Volt, Willie Nelson, The Long Winters and More [08.05 in ACL] Keep Keith Away From The Trees: Stones Confirm Zilker Details [08.04 in Music] Political Tidbits & Outlawing Cleavage [08.04 in Politics] It's Not What You Think! [08.04 in News] Walker, Hungarian Ranger [08.04 in News] Extremely Rare: Free Concert Worth Attending [08.04 in Music] Project Runway #1 In Our Hearts......

Standing before thousands of screaming geeks at this weekend's 2006 San Diego Comic Con International, Quentin Tarantino announced the cast "Death Proof," one-half of a double-feature collaborative project entitled "Grindhouse" that he'll be working on with Austin director Robert Rodriquez. From wiki: A "grindhouse" is an American term for a theater that showed exploitation films; it is also used as an adjective to describe the genre of films that played in such theatres. While just......

Austinist is recruiting! We're looking for 5 or 6 proficient, dedicated writers. If you're interested in covering: Music Art Film Local News Politics Fashion Food Interviews with Austinites Then we'd like to talk to you. To get a sense of what joining our staff would entail, we've lifted this from our IST brothers and sisters over at Shanghaiist: Ask yourself What would I like to write about? If you're a good writer with style and......

Here are a few more previews to get you, dear reader, geared up for SXSW Film. Yes, we do it all for YOU. Remember, these are just our recommendations from what little we can glean from the SXSW site. That’s the beauty of the film festival: sometimes, you just never know WHAT exactly you’ll be seeing! 51 Birch Street Who’s in it? The Block family and friends What’s it about? Director Doug Block asks,......

M O N D AY [ 31 ] music/party · The White Ghost Shivers' Halloween Ball at American Legion Hall! Burlesque, Independence Brew, apple bobbing with the TX Roller Girls, Tarot card readings, a kissing booth and more. The White Ghost Shivers will also be performing a live soundtrack to accompany Buster Keaton's "Cops." ($25, 9pm) music · Galactic, Mofro and New Monsoon at Stubb's music · Halloween Show at Emo's with Flametrick Subs, Satans......