Results tagged “industry”

At the Vortex, Rob Nash continues the saga of the Smiths in the holiday edition of his Holy Cross series, 12 Steps to a More Disfunctional Family. Nash is a wonder to behold as he switches characters, and you don't have to be familiar with the storyline to enjoy the current installation. more ›

As we mentioned last Friday, Austin entrepreneur Jim Plamondon, through his company Thumtronics, has unleashed both a new musical instrument and a new concept of music theory on the international stage that many believe could bring substantial attention to our fair city's music industry. It's called the "Thummer." Praised in last Friday's Wall Street Journal, the device addresses the difficulty that many people experience when attempting to learn how to play the regular old keyboard.... more ›

Photo from ImageAfter Art Fashion photography is gaining more credibility in the art world as of late. Critics prophesy the dilution of fine art in the 21st century, while supporters of the trend assert that fashion is a formative aspect of our modern culture that deserves official recognition in the arts world. /// UT-Austin names the new dean of the College of Fine Arts, Douglas Dempster, to replace the former dean who retired in the... more ›

Production still courtesy of Troma Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead w/ Lloyd Kaufman Live! Friday, December 7thAlamo Drafthouse Lake Creek (17329 Research Blvd)(7:30pm, $10)[info] | [tickets]Over the course of the last thirty-three years, Lloyd Kaufman's Troma Entertainment has produced hundreds of films, attracted legions of devoted fans, and influenced the likes of Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Trey Parker, Eli Roth and Takashi Miike. In fact, by Kaufman's estimation, the studio now owns more than... more ›

The first U.S. troop cutback in Iraq has officially begun. The tentative working title for this one is "Operation Mistake Acknowledgment." Human rights organization takes the Kenyan police force to task on allegations of mass murder. In order to prevent the "destruction of culture," the French government has outlawed certain forms of P2P downloading. Event is referred to as a "victory" for the recording industry. Oh reeeeally? Economist suggests that we could soon know... more ›

*The views expressed in Truesday are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole. Thank heavens.* -The Editors Every city goes through its own little evolution. Not always pretty, not always clean, but always in the process of becoming. Our little oasis is no different. There is a change upon us, and it is high time we grabbed the wheel and started to do some stunt steerin’. You know, to... more ›

Photo by Will Pate on flickrInteractive + ScreenBurn The preliminary list of Interactive panels has been released, and includes topics like "The Great Debate: Is Web 2.0 Bulls#!t?", "The Porn Police: Know the Rules," and "The Suxorz: The Worst Ten Social Media Ad Campaigns of 2007." [Preliminary List] Additional, several panels for the gaming-centric ScreenBurn fest have been revealed. These include "The Future Virtual World Game Development: Rise of the Indies," "You Are Here: Gaming... more ›

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... more ›

Hark! U.S. health care reform cometh, and that right soon! Boston Red Sox win World Series. Homus Neanderthalensis may have been the Earth's first natural redhead. Study suggests that sexual orientation is coded in genetic material. Wired Magazine's review of the new Mac operating system. French president evidently working overtime to reinforce common stereotypes held about the French people. Sacre bleu! New Jersey school proves the true importance of accessories in a Halloween costume.... more ›

The Austin Music Foundation presents the third installment of its ever popular She Rocks Calendar Series this month. Created by Ricardo Acevedo and In The RA Studios, the calendar first debuted in 2006, and has since seen notable local female rockers such as Amber Dickerson of Full Stride, Margaret Myrick of Blackholicus, Cella Blue of White Ghost Shivers, and Stella Maxwell of Cruiserweight grace its pages. The first edition’s proceeds were collected for New Orleans... more ›

If you ask us, "bling obsession" has long been commercial hip-hop's most shameful component (though we're totally down with the Bling! barbershop quartet). At one time, conspicuous consumption by a historically poor culture might have seemed like powerful social commentary--but now that hip hop is the music industry's cash cow, doesn't a $100,000 necklace just seem completely ridiculous? And is obnoxious ornamentation really worth the cost--not only monetarily, but socially and politically? Next week, as... more ›

First things first: we must differentiate between the chutzpah of a band at Radiohead's level of critical distinction and popularity initially releasing their album for donation and making the most revolutionary music industry statement since the dawn of the Internet Age... (big breath) ...and the chutzpah it takes to make truly ground-breaking musical statements. In Rainbows does not employ the latter. Still, one leaves with the impression that the boys from Oxford are convinced that,... more ›

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Yeah, we hate the term "movers and shakers" too. But the fact is that, in any industry, the big leagues run on star power. Nowhere is this more true than in the movie biz; accordingly, we saved the last post in our Austin Film Festival Panel Preview for appearances by the talented, charismatic, and/or sensational people appearing at this year's fest. Regardless of whether you've heard these names before, they've been around the block and... more ›

If you’re planning on attending the Austin Film Festival this weekend, you’re probably beside yourself with excitement about the lineup this year; with such highly-anticipated films such as Control, Juno and Reservation Road on the schedule, and appearances by legends like Oliver Stone and John Milius, who wouldn’t be? But one sorely-overlooked facet of the festival deserves special mention: the panels. Last year’s panel lineup featured some of the most powerful, if not famous, people... more ›

Here in Austin, we're all about the environment and stuff. Right? Damn right! So this year's AFF Green Cinema Showcase should go over especially well with all you envirothusiasts out there. This year's program will feature three films that explore topical environmental issues like global warming, industrial hemp production and renewable fuel sources. Oh hey--if you're interested in these films, you might also want to check out Gimme Green, a short documentary exploring America's obsession... more ›

D’Ette Cole incorporates found objects items in every aspect of her work. You could say this is her signature, but D’Ette’s style is not easily summed up. “It’s Texas flavor without being hokey,” she says. “No cowboy boots hanging on the wall.” What does pop up in her art and décor are elements of surprise. One of D’Ette’s newest projects transforms empty plastic water bottles into hanging light displays, which almost looks like a... more ›

Bag the Bags Coalition is urging city council to pass an ordinance banning the use of plastic bags by large retailers and instead require those retailers to offer compostable bags. In April, city council passed a resolution directing the City Manager to evaluate and recommend strategies within 90 days for limiting the use of non-compostable plastic bags and promoting the use of compostable plastic bags, recyclable paper bags or reusable checkout bags. 90 days... more ›

[Ed.Note: Nick Courtright is a local poet and writer-at-large who took some time to share his thoughts on Akron/Family's latest release. We hope to be hearing more from him soon.] Bookended by tunes ripened on that great commune in the sky—a place where it's a good idea to feature the word "love" three times in a song title— Love Is Simple finds its true footing, and its ultimate salvation, in the middle. Powerhouse rock-out "Ed... more ›

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... more ›

...there’s some kind of breakdown in logic going on here. As in, I made an effort to move here, whereas the people who claim to be native—well, they just fell out of their moms’ vaginas. more ›

One last go-round for Zeppelin seems to be in the works. We sort of thought they were all dead. "Why, Britney...why?" Hey, don't ask us. We stopped watching MTV a long, long time ago. Interesting article about doctors that gave an elephant LSD for reasons that aren't exactly clear. If you go swimming in Lake LBJ, you might want to...not do that. Another medical study suggesting that political leanings might actually be attributable to... more ›

You know how Texas has those new Film Incentives dollars to throw around now? Well, they're not limited to movies and Friday Night Lights only. The gaming industry gets a piece of that, too. And since there are over 50 gaming studios already in Austin (not to mention the availability of increasingly slick development/programming courses) it's a given that gaming will continue to blow up here in the Capitol City. But all that's a major... more ›

Zombie is the watchword this time around. Not only is Rob Zombie unmasking his take on 1978’s slasher classic Halloween this weekend, the Alamo Drafthouse has also managed to round up a herd of zombie sheep from New Zealand for your viewing (really resisting the urge to say ewe-ing) pleasure. If you could care less about the grisly fate Rob Zombie doles out to lustful babysitters and the thought of zombie sheep does nothing... more ›

Rilo Kiley Under the Blacklight (Warner) more ›

Captivating, stereotype-busting material centered on the theme of disability often comes in the form of poignant documentaries (although the possibilities are endless in this genre, we recommend checking out Sound and Fury and 2003 Sundance favorite My Flesh and Blood). When it comes to feature films, it may take you a while to cite more than a few decent offerings that revolve around a character with a disability or a theme of disability. The... more ›

Browse and contribute to the 2008 SXSW Interactive Panel Picker. Lifehacker: Mozilla preps Firefox Campus Edition, which is pre-bundled with student-centric extensions like Zotero, FoxyTunes and StumbleUpon. What extensions would you give to our young academics? The Department of Justice wants to come up with an official list of every porn star in America - and slap stiff penalties on producers who don't cooperate. What has better sound: vinyl, or a CD? Any record... more ›

Every year comedians from around the area assemble to compete for the coveted title of "Funniest Person in Austin." For this month's installment in our interview series with performers from Austin's local comedy scene, we caught up with this year's winner—Bryan Gutmann. How long have you been doing stand-up? About three years now. I had been thinking about trying stand-up longer than that, but it took a while to get up the courage. What brought... more ›

Last week, Paige sent me a link to this story in Spin magazine, which parses the subject of leaked recordings and their effect on album sales (verdict--noncommittal). The story recounts Jack White's infamous tirade toward a Chicago DJ over the broadcast of White's album prior to the album's release, including his priceless appraisal of early album listens as "messing up the entire music business." It's a good article with lots of fascinating industry details, but... more ›

As temperatures climbed over the 100-degree mark for the third straight day on Tuesday, the Texas Longhorns are taking innovative measures to beat the heat. The Longhorns are one of a handful of college and pro teams using the CorTemp ingestible core body thermometer pill. Before practice, a player swallows a silicone-coated capsule the size of a large vitamin. Inside the capsule is a sensor that transmits core body temperature to a data recorder.... more ›