Photo by Osei (Ozzy) on flickrLast summer, a Glamour magazine staffer in New York City sparked controversy during a lunchtime talk on appropriate business attire when she told listeners that Afros were a "Glamour don't." When the story started showing up online, Glamour, which is known for supporting diversity, scrambled to respond to the many women who wrote to express their anger and dismay. Ultimately, the staffer left Glamour. Then last November, the magazine put......

SFist worried over drugstore chain Walgreens celebration of Black History Month.Gothamist was surprised that apparently New York City is the fourth most miserable city in the country, after Detroit, Stockton, CA, and Flint, MI.Shanghaiist finds out what the Chinese think of Hilary and Obama.It was with a healthy amount of schadenfreude that Phillyist reported that former Eagle, and now Cowboy (ew), Terrell Owens owes the Eagles a significant wad of cash.Torontoist is two weeks......

MovieMaker Magazine has just named Austin the "Number One City to Live, Work and Make Movies". This is the seventh year in a row that Austin has placed in the top three, and the second time we've been numero uno (unseating longtime fave New York City, which slipped all the way down to #4 this year)....

Photograph of memorial outside Heath Ledger's NYC apartment Gothamist learned that actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment, cause of death unknown so far (but apparently the masseuse who found him called Mary-Kate Olsen before 911).Bostonist considered sending a link about the Super Bowl, but damn! The New Kids are reuniting!Although Sylvester Stallone is a native of New York City, his Rocky character lets many Philadelphians consider him a native son......

Photo by Tim Saccenti courtesy of MySpaceTHE SHARP THINGS What’s the Deal: New York pop isn’t owned only by the young and tragically hip. Nope, sometimes it’s powered by stately sophistication and a classical refinement. The Sharp Things, a name which immediately conjures images of a brash garage rock group, are a chamber pop group comprised of eleven members playing smart sounds taking influences from jazz, soul, indie rock, folk and classical, to name a......

The Onion (Grand Master Onion)Austinist got a chance to swap sarcasm with Chet Clem, The Onion’s Editorial Manager and one of many fine writers for their newest hard-covered print offering: Our Dumb World: Atlas Of The Planet Earth, which is an atlas bursting with humorously doctored images and witty insights into our little Earth (as it has been politically divided to-date by drunken Brits). We asked Chet about The Atlas, his affinity for dated pop-culture,......

White Shoes & the Couples Company are rumored to be coming in from Indonesia (via) for SXSW 2008. The band, formed in 2002, is inspired by Indonesian films of the '70s and retro disco beats, as well as classic '30s jazz. They recently signed to Minty Fresh, and we predict 2008 as their break-out year, provided they roll into town with a couple of good shows booked....

Now in its sixth week, the Writers Guild of America strike is still going strong. And despite Alec Baldwin's hilarious/bizarre advice and Michael Eisner's name-calling, WGA members show few signs of giving in any time soon. Though the effects of the strike are most evident in places like Los Angeles and New York City, you may be surprised to learn that there are around 100 WGA members living here in Austin....

Judge Jeanne Meurer may be running for Travis County District Attorney. Pimp C was found dead yesterday afternoon. He was 33. How To Green Your Christmas Tree: Tips for having a more eco-friendly holiday. Colors! Gmail adds colored labels. Guerrilla artist Banksy in Bethlehem, proving if "it's safe for sissy artists, I think it's safe for everyone." Here’s What We Need: Some Way to Associate Our Low Fares with Worn Out Vaginas Using a......

Image from www.ajataharimarsh.com In addition to being a photographer and designer, Chef Aja Tahari Marsh (pronounced "Asia") is a trained chef with a focus on sustainable and organic foods. She studied at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City and has brought her skills home to Texas where she now works as a personal chef and cooking instructor. Tonight, she'll be teaching a knife skills class, and upcoming classes......

Image by the "Subway Cyrano," from GothamistNew York City was at its strangest and swellest this week. On Sunday, tens of thousands people ran in the NYC Marathon, including Mrs. Tom Cruise, aka Katie Holmes, who ran it in just under 5 hours, 30 minutes. Gothamist also found out that limes in Corona are sometimes illegal, the weird maple syrup might be back and a famous punk music pioneer-turned-real estate broker was possibly killed by......

Former Westlake High teacher resigns to teach at a lower-income school; less than pleased, Eanes school district attempts to get him suspended A UT journalism student has a nice chat with Dan Rather during a morning Jet Blue flight from Austin to New York City A routine traffic stop in Hunt County turns up two dozen embalmed human heads in the back of a tractor-trailer A woman in the Dallas/Fort Worth area comes forward with......

Governor Rick Perry today announced his official support of Republican presidential candidate and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose pro-abortion stance has enraged many conservatives. Perry, in today's declaration, admitted that reconciling the hot-button issue was the biggest obstacle in his endorsement. Giuliani, in turn, pledged to nominate hard-line "strict constructionist" judges to the Supreme Court. Perry replied that he was "comfortable" with this answer. "For the last six months, I have cogitated,"......

With three days left for the 20th annual Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF), the festival organizers have decided to offer up several free screenings to the public. "One of the issues we've talked a lot about this year is how to make the festival as inclusive and affordable as possible," said Lucas Schaefer, Executive Director of aGLIFF. "We want everyone who wants to attend to be able to attend as many of......

The Austin Museum of Digital Art (AMODA) is bringing back its monthly Digital Showcase tomorrow night at Club DeVille, and, as usual, they've managed to assemble an impressive roster of electronic musicians and visual artists. Saturday's headliner is New York City's DJ /rupture, aka Jace Clayton. A gifted musician and producer, Rupture has enjoyed a prolific career that's run the gamut from releasing mix albums and performing with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (as a turntable......

A popular dance-workout phenomenon that's been getting asses in shape in New York City and Chicago is now catching on in Austin. It's called the Dance Dance Party Party — think of it as a ladies-only, free-form, DIY Sunday night Rock the Casbah to help you work off that weekend of boozing. In their October/November issue, BUST magazine explains its appeal as bringing back that "giddy, uninhibited spirit of those bygone slumber parties, when you......

You bring up the idea of “art”, and you’re definitely begging for some heated shit talking. Opinions are the first to fly, then potentially followed by epithets, then perhaps some brass knuckles. All metaphoric in form, of course. Why must these disagreements come to pass? Notorious MSG comes to mind. It could be said that this is exactly what art and artists, as functional cogs in the machines of social industry, are supposed to......

The complete schedule for the 14th annual Austin Film Festival has been announced, and it looks pretty amazing. 79 feature films and 98 shorts will screen over the course of eight days at various locations in Austin, beginning on October 11th with Brett Morgen’s much hyped docudrama Chicago 10, starring Hank Azaria, Dylan Baker, Nick Nolte, Mark Ruffalo, Roy Scheider, Liev Schreiber and Jeffrey Wright. Jason Reitman's brilliant new comedy Juno (starring Ellen Page, Michael......

Trent Summar’s story-telling capabilities and straight-up country sound drive his latest album, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. His music has been covered by artists such as Jack Ingram (who scored a hit with his adaptation of Summar’s “Love You”) while Summar has also collaborated with country stars like Pat Green. (They co-wrote “Somewhere Between Texas And Mexico” off Green’s Lucky Ones record.) Summar fronted the band Hank Flamingo prior to working with The New Row Mob.......

Excuse us while we step into the blogger battlefield compost bin. This isn't an attack; it’s just our new media way of recycling – turning lies into truth, melding age-old stereotypes into something a little more flattering. Al Gore is coming to town in October, people. It’s time to set things straight. Daisy Whitney runs a blog called “Trial and Error” over at TelevisionWeek where she keeps tabs on the ever-changing medium that is......

From his beginnings in youth flicks like Explorers and Dead Poets Society to his modern-day gigs with Rick Linklater and Sidney Lumet, Austin native Ethan Hawke has done his fair share of acting. Now he's jumped behind the camera to direct an adaptation of his novel The Hottest State, a story most believe is based on Hawke's 90's fling with singer Lisa Loeb. Regardless of the truth of that rumor, the story centers around......

Danny Taylor and Simeon Coxe III created The Silver Apples in 1967 in New York City. With Simeon supplying the vocals and synth, and Taylor providing the percussion, the duo created psychedelic soundscapes accentuated by electronic beats. Their name was coined from a William Butler Yeats poem while musically, the duo employed all the tricks of the trade that might seem fairly standard now but were truly innovative at the time. Simeon utilized multiple audio......

Silver City Pink is an award-winning, all-female improv troupe from Los Angeles performing tonight at the Hideout (10pm) as part of this year’s Out of Bounds improv festival. The eight women of SCP met while taking classes at The Second City L.A. and have performed at the LA Improv Festival and the Del Close Marathon in New York City. I spoke with SCPer Amanda Tate about the festival experience and their Los-Angeles-colored impression of......

Last week, we told you a little bit about the 2007 Femme Film Texas Festival, featuring short films from female filmmakers around the globe. Centered on the themes of identity, perception, and reality, the festival is designed to demonstrate how we can all experience the same events differently, and what the variations in our experience mean. The festival takes place this Saturday, July 28, at The Hideout downtown. After the jump, we've included the full......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too—two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the city's Congonhas......

Highlights from this week's IST List: Folk-pop crooner Page France brings the sparkling jingle-jangle of Page France and the Family Telephone to Emo's, alongside Bishop Allen, The Teeth, and Frank Smith Sidebar's turning three, and they're buying you a drink on the house to celebrate. Join them for Ruby's BBQ, DJ Supafly, and giveaways Alas, one of our favorite social butterflies is flying away to--where else?--New York City. Before he leaves, join Dave "KidIndie"......

Austin native Rebecca Rosenberg has been living in South Korea teaching English, and she wants to share her experiences abroad with all of Austin. Austinist believes that we could all use some Korean culture. The other morning I woke up with one of those hangovers belonging in a special class. I call it a please, someone, shoot me in the face morning. Sure, it was a Sunday after the Boryeong Mud Festival [dear lord,......

After an incredibly (too) long hiatus, the lovable local kaleidoscopic synth pop band Belaire return with a brand new album titled Exploding, Impacting, despite the non-stop touring schedule of members Jason Chronis and Matt Simon (thanks to a little side project they have called Voxtrot) and twin sister (and singing partner) Christa Palazzolo now living in New York City. The album is a tour de force of Cari Palazzolo, who, with this release, has emerged......

It’s really cold right now in Sydney. But Australia’s arty-pop, indie rock five-some, Dappled Cities Fly (although they are taking a break from the ‘Fly’ for a while), are about to make the trek across the ocean and the seasons to begin their first U.S. tour. They’ve built up a sizable resume of flattering Australian press. But now, with the release of Granddance in the U.S. earlier this year, these Aussie lads are beginning......

Unless you have been under a very large boulder, you are well aware that the Original Alamo Drafthouse is closing its Colorado Street doors this Wednesday night. Soon you will see people wandering the downtown streets, suffering from celluloid withdrawal and desperately looking for their next film reel hit. We know it’s hard, we’re suffering too, but the Paramount Theatre knows what you want and they’ve got what you need, as they continue their 32nd......