Thousands of monkeys are invading government buildings in Delhi, forcing employees to arm themselves with sticks and stones in case they are attacked. David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of Music at Wired magazine. Britney Spears' 16-year-old sister, who stars as a schoolgirl in Nickelodeon's popular TV show "Zoey 101," is pregnant. She met the father at church. Reuters photographs of the year The Pirate Bay just launched their new music......

This is a good example of poor judgment.The students of Penn State University should have taken a note from their counterparts at Tarleton State University when picking out this year's Halloween costumes. Even more idiotic than their costume idea was their decision to post the resulting pictures on Facebook. Photos of two Penn State students donning Virginia Tech t-shirts, covered with bullet holes and fake blood, were put up on Facebook and quickly spread over......

Londonist: Photo by ChloeLondonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story......

What did you dress up as for Halloween? 911 Dispatcher that fielded the first calls about the North Carolina beach house fire is now receiving death threats (w/ creepy audio). Want to beat cancer? No red meat. No wine. Eat less. The Canadian dollar is worth more than the American dollar. Double, oh no way. UK comes out with invisible tank (w/pictures). Dog The Bounty Hunter gets yanked from A&E due to Dog's racist......

Once in a while, we like to take some time to introduce you to bands -- both local otherwise -- that we think you'd enjoy. Le Diamont Brut aims to showcase those MySpace gems we hope to see shine. Recommend your local suggestions by emailing music@austinist.com. THOR HARRIS What’s the Deal: It’s hard to resist reviewing an artist named Thor, as in super-brutal, Norse god with a head full of long locks and a giant......

Here's your chance! In conjunction with Maker Faire, HEYA (Toyota's collaborative youth program) is hosting an interactive art car build with Harrod Blank, art-car artist extraordinaire. Blank is the dude behind the Camera Van, which will be cruising through central Austin tomorrow—so get out your, uh, cameras. The build will run throughout the weekend, and anyone attending Maker Faire can participate. The goal is to transform a Toyota Matrix into a "music-themed piece of art......

Britain creates new drug to combat obesity...dog obesity. Dear Abby supports gay marriage. A London judge has found nine lies in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, orders disclaimer to air before being played in schools. The Empire State Building will glow green for the end of Ramadan this year. In China, there is a 95-year old woman growing a horn out of her forehead. Houston ISD is thinking of charging students (and their parents)......

Sure, family-friendly films, "green" cinema and the corresponding warm-fuzzies you get from caring about your lil' ones and The Earth are nice. But historically, motion pictures have always been driven by violence, outlandishness and the public's insatiable and prurient interest in watching things on film that they don't necessarily want to see in real life. In this hallowed vein, the AFF Dark Matters Series explores subject matter ranging from blood-spattered vegans to Korean hillbilly gangs......

While you were sleeping, 2,000 South Africans were trapped in a gold mine. So Sooner isn't just a clever name? Prepare yourself. Minnesota Public Radio comes up with a nifty set of questions to see which candidate you'd likely vote for. Blind advocacy groups are protesting hybrids, arguing that they are too quiet. Last pictures of the life of Princess Diana were posted online yesterday. Clean, but disturbing. Beaten, but not broken. UT fans......

An Austinist reader sent us pictures of what appears to be a "small" fire in the food area at the ACL Fest. More news to come... Update: KXAN reports that the fire was the result of a propane tank explosion behind the AT&T stage. Three people were injured, two seriously so.......

[This review courtesy of new Austinist contributor Anna Hanks! -Ed.] As much as we'd like to change a few things about our first time, we regret we’ll never be able to repeat the experience. We also can’t change history, so catching the currently playing, slick incarnation of the Rude Mechanicals' Get Your War On also wasn't our first time. (We reviewed the show last January as well.) Directed by Shawn Sides, Get Your War......

While you may be dreaming of the breeziness that would occur on your man/lady bits with a pair of shorts made of screen doors, that notion actually has nothing to do with the next round of shorts presented by Screen Door Film. However, you are more than welcome to show up on Wednesday night at the Salvage Vanguard Theater wearing all mesh; who are we to tell you what to do? Personally, we’re gonna stick......

As summer draws to a close, it's frustrating at times to realize what you never got around to during the season. Whether you meant to rent a boat, go to the beach, or visit the ballpark, sometimes the time just flies right by. Thankfully, the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas have given all foodies an excuse to drive up to Round Rock and check out the Dell Diamond before summer's end (though there......

Hello angst-ridden, middle school you. Coming this October, cult comedy MORTIFIED will be playing in Austin as part of their national comedy tour, and they are looking for your adolescent awesomeness. Got an old Trapper Keeper filled with humiliating poems to that girl in 6th period? A tome of fan fiction dedicated to Joey McIntyre? A full-length melodramatic tragedy written as a budding playwright? Haul out those rap lyrics, songs written in tribute to......

Conventional wisdom holds that watercolor paintings are often small to medium-size pictures depicting an urban or rural landscape, offering a visual narrative of an old neighborhood or perhaps a lovely snapshot of a seascape in winter. "Quaint," "homey," "charming,"—such are the words and phrases that come to mind. Not so for the new collection of works by watercolor artist Jan Heaton, currently on exhibit at the Wally Workman Gallery. Heaton’s over-sized watercolors are giant effervescent......

New American Talent: 22, up at Arthouse at the Jones Center for another month, has received positive reviews. That's unsurprising, considering Anne Ellegood, curator of the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., juried the show. Picking and choosing from nearly 900 submissions, she landed on 96 works generated by 45 artists, 15 of whom are from the great state of Texas. You might recognize locals Roberto Bellini, William Hundley, Rebecca Rothfus, Joseph Phillips......

Oh hey, have you heard? The Original Alamo Drafthouse is closing. Closing! Well, closing and, in a few weeks, re-opening mere blocks away, but whatevs: This is the END of a glorious era in Austin movie-going and communitas. Memo to all you bloggy, film nerdish, or just share-a-holic types: It's time to take to the Internets and divulge your fondest memories from the venerable old building at 409 Colorado. Did Harry Knowles' hair brush your......

This Thursday, May 24th, Marisha Pessl will be at BookPeople to support the paperback release of her hefty debut tome Special Topics in Calamity Physics. We gave it a thorough reading about a year ago and you can read the review here. You like? Want to own this lovely novel that reads like a gripping murder mystery, is formatted like a class syllabus, and has a couple of pictures too? -What can't this book do?-......

The AFS retrospective of Michael Haneke's films concludes tonight with Caché (Hidden), a film which was lauded by critics yet went largely unseen during a national release just over a year ago. Haneke's insistence on audience discomfort probably has a lot to do with this, as he calls into question everything from Western abuse of wealth (by the French) to the inherent goodness of children. The film begins with a videotape of a Parisian......

Strawberries and chocolate. California and Schwarzenegger. Spiderman 3 and Xanax. All classic pairings that destiny and the Austin Museum of Art have been working to outstrip this week, with the presentation of two new exhibits: The Target Collection of American Photography: A Century in Pictures and 24 Summers at Barton Springs Pool: Photographs by Will van Overbeek. Both shows open this Saturday. A Century in Pictures presents nearly ninety photographs taken by men and women......

Opening May 19th, 2007: A Century in Pictures and 24 Summers at Barton Springs Pool. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.......

Update: Thanks to a confounding formatting glitch, it now looks like the previously mentioned rumor of tomorrow's removal of Mr. Johnston's mural was just that -- a rumor. Austinist and our sources at City Hall were both fooled by the mix-up. Our apologies for any confusion caused by this, and good on you to those who exhibited enough care to call in the story. Daniel Johnston's historic mural is safe, for now. -- Ed......

Filmmaking legend Francis Ford Coppola needs little introduction, but it can be daunting to keep track of everything that this prolific director, producer, screenwriter, and (yes) winemaker has been responsible for. For instance, we'd completely forgotten that he directed the amazing 1986 3-D space opera, Captain EO (see below). Youth Without Youth, his first directorial effort in over a decade, is set to be released later this year. The romantic thriller is set in......

Dear Austin pervs, creeps, voyeurs and general lurkers (we know you're out there—Missed Connections and A Shot in the Dark speak volumes): Tonight is your night! Jason Bitner and Arthur Jones of Found Magazine will descend upon the Alamo Drafthouse to celebrate the new issue of Dirty Found, the paragon of accidentally found porn. They invite you to "witness all-new pervy PowerPoint festivities, packed with improbably lusty love notes, red-hot fantasy doodles, intimate bedroom photos,......

Austinist recently had the opportunity to speak with Rue McClanahan in anticipation of tonight's book-signing at Book People and her Sunday afternoon appearance at Zach Scott Theatre. For the latter, in a format much like Inside the Actors Studio, Ms. McClanahan will be dishing with Zach’s Dave Steakly about her new book, her upcoming projects, and all-things-Rue. Tickets are selling fast…so fast that the appearance up and moved to the Kelberg Stage to accommodate a......

Ben Wear has an informative article in today's Statesman, providing more details (and lots of purty pictures) on TxDOT's plan to expand MoPac. This picture is our favorite, as it shows that the new lane isn't getting added between the current lanes and the train track - it is replacing the existing shoulder (between the highway and the houses). TxDOT has promised a "noise wall," but we'll believe that when we see hear it.......

When Laurie Limbacher (pictured above right) of Limbacher & Godfrey Architects stood in front of a skeptical crowd at last Monday's Town Hall Meeting to discuss her firm's renovation plans for Barton Springs, she told a brief story of an old, wooden bathhouse that once sat atop the north hill next to the pool. The bathhouse at Barton Springs Pool was a romantic building, built of iron and wood and outfitted with a bar......

EL VIOLÍN | THE VIOLIN (Mexico) Paramount Theater, 7 PM "Pure and emotive cinema that shakes you with its honesty" – Guillermo del Toro Cine Las Americas is honored to present Francisco Vargas Quevedo’s award winning drama El Violin at the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Austin. El Violin won the Knight Grand Jury Prize for Ibero-American Cinema at the Miami International Film Festival in 2007, where it was called “a perfect film, perfectly......

THURSDAY NIGHT! It was one year ago (with some down-rounding) that we first started darkening the patio of Beauty Bar. Back then they didn’t have the credit card machine working just yet, but their cheap Lone Star & whiskey specials kept things kosher on the cash front. It’s been a pretty wild year for them ever since, what with the arrival of those blessed credit card machines (there’s no money quite like fake money)......

We bring you this customer service announcement for those of you in need of a little friendship in the 'burbs. It seems to be fairly specific, so if you fit the criteria you best apply. *Cowboy Hats Not Included. My friendship My good friend and neighbor of nearly 6 years is moving to Georgetown. As with all (non-gay, strictly friends) friendships, we enjoyed some great experiences from attending games downtown to poker nights to......