The night is darkest just before the dawn Poor Michael Bay. The director of such blockbusters as Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, and Transformers apparently wrote a script for The Dark Knight that Warner Bros. rejected. There, there, Michael. It’s really for the best. Maybe you should stick to movies with less plot than The Dark Knight.
Read the rejected script here.
This statue at Spiderhouse is a douchebag Over at the Austin LiveJournal community, user stupidis, a new Austinite, has posted a question that might tell us more about the landscape of our beloved city than any poll has before or ever will again. stupidis writes:
Dear austincommunity,I’m new to this wonderful city and I’m really enjoying discovering the new sights, sounds and destinations offered therein. I was in an area to remain unnamed earlier this evening swarming with douchebaggery and it occurred to me: I really like most of the people here, dozens of warm, friendly, generous folks have made my transition great. But, well, there seem to be a lot of douchebags in certain areas.
So, I thought this might be a good conversation to have in the community. In your own opinion (and that’s why I’m being vague, because I think everyone’s definition of douchebag is different. Mine is obnoxious college kids playing pool volleyball and throwing half full beer cans): WHAT’S THE DOUCHIEST PLACE IN AUSTIN?
Bonus points if you, like me, are in fact a douchebag (yes, I know about my user icon) and can claim your own favorite hangout.
Regards,
stupidis
Nice rack Have you seen Bigfoot around lately? If you have, Archer Cannon from Liberty Hill, Texas wants you to let him know. He’s starting a blog on the subject and wants to talk about your experiences with you.
From his Craigslist post:
Hello. I am a native Austinite and my family has been in Texas for years. I have seen a bigfoot, I have heard it screams, and so has my sister, my son, and my brother.. These were all seen at different times; however almost all on the same piece of heavily wooded land in Liberty Hill, Texas. I sent my stories to BFRO, and never heard from them. They do have one story that speaks of a Bigfoot encounter near Lake Travis sometime ago and that is it.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Republican US Senator John Cornyn Big John is taking a page out of Bush’s book for his re-election campaign – he’s channeling the Texas Cowboy. Cornyn’s latest campaign ad features a slideshow of Cornyn in cowboy garb set to music that sounds like the guy that writes Hallmark cards, Johnny Cash, and tribal Africa got high and decided to write a song about politics. According to Cornyn’s spokespeople, the ad was intended as a “light-hearted, humorous piece” just for the Texas State Convention, but of course they knew that something that ridiculous would get out. The video went viral and even Jon Stewart made fun of it.
Via KVUE
Fans of Joss Whedon’s cult TV series Firefly are no strangers to fundraising. Back when Fox cancelled the show after airing only 11 of the 14 episodes (out of order, at that), Firefly fans bought over 200,000 Firefly DVD sets. That number impressed Universal Pictures enough that they greenlighted the movie version, Serenity, which Whedon had been tirelessly petitioning to get made. Since there will no sequel to Serenity, which was released in 2005, the fans had to find some other geeky pursuit to throw their money at. The solution was Can’t Stop the Serenity, a yearly screening of Serenity whose proceeds benefit the charity Equality Now. This year’s global coordinator, the passionate and talented Beth Nelson, is an Austinite. That Other Paper’s Christine Acker recently sat down with her to talk about Can’t Stop the Serenity (and got a little bit of pining over Nathan Fillion in along the way).
That Other Paper Tell me about Can’t Stop the Serenity.
Beth Nelson Can’t Stop the Serenity started in 2006 as a way to celebrate Joss Whedon’s birthday and also to get the fandom dedicated to more charitable causes. It was created by the One True b!X. That’s his nickname. I think his real name is Christopher Franconis. Over 40 cities got involved the first year of Can’t Stop the Serenity and raised around $65,000. It was all last-minute; they didn’t have much time to get these events running. All proceeds benefit Equality Now, which works to end violence against women and girls, which is a lofty goal. [laughs] Jessica Neuwirth is the founder of Equality Now, and her teacher was Joss Whedon’s mother, who has been a feminist since childhood. She’d always teach her female students to be empowered women. From Jessica’s experience with Joss’s mom, she decided to take her soapbox passiveness and turn it into something more active and actually run a charity, which is how Equality Now was born. They get involved all over the world in causes like ending female genital mutilation and sex trafficking. In 2006 there were 17,000 girls trafficked for sex in the United States alone. They protest the violation of civil liberties against women and girls from all over the globe. In 2007, 47 cities got together and watched the Big Damn Movie and we made over $100,000 for Equality Now. This year our goal is to have 55 cities involved and make $150,000. Even if we don’t hit that, the way I look at it, as much money as we can make, Equality Now can use. They deserve it.
Today Mozilla, the open-source software guru, is releasing Firefox 3 at noon CDT. This isn’t your typical software update – Firefox users tend to be rabid about their love of the browser, and Firefox has been promoting the release of Firefox 3 for several weeks, and its beta has been available for months. Not only do they have a huge red banner on their website proclaiming “Download Day 2008,” they’re trying to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. To achieve this record, they’re relying on us, the Firefox consumers, to download Firefox 3 today. So get to it, you savvy Internet user, you! Not only will you get a swank new browser, you might contribute to a Guinness World Record. Take that, Internet Explorer!
With gas hitting $4 a gallon, Americans are taking public transportation in record numbers. NPR reported this morning that in the first quarter of 2008, Americans took 85 million more trips on public transportation than they did last year. Austinites are sure to follow suit, and Cap Metro, perhaps in an attempt to take advantage of the surge in demand for public transportation, has proposed a fare increase. Standard fare would increase from 50 cents to 75 cents, and other fares would increase also. Cap Metro says that “a new fare structure is needed to achieve a financially sustainable future for Capital Metro,” and reminds us that it has never raised its fares before.
Josh Blue is not your typical comedian — he has cerebral palsy. Far from letting it hold him back, he embraces his disability with humor and grace, and his fans in turn embrace him. After competing in seasons two and three of NBC’s stand-up comedy competition Last Comic Standing, Blue finally won season four in 2006. His list of other credits is quite impressive -– he got his start on Mind of Mencia, has appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, and won a Relly Award for his appearance on Live with Regis and Kelly. He’s also a Paralympics soccer player!
Don’t miss this talented comedian at Cap City Comedy Club tonight through Saturday.
8pm; 10:30pm | $18-$21 | Get tickets
Cap City Comedy Club
801 Red River St • Austin, TX
Harry Potter fans the world over are trying not to die today over the publication of J.K. Rowling’s short story about an exploit of James Potter and Sirius Black’s for Waterstone’s Booksellers’s “What’s Your Story?” event. For this event, Waterstone’s asked 13 world-class authors, including Rowling, Neil Gaiman, Nick Hornby, Doris Lessig, and Tom Stoppard, to submit stories written on a piece of A5 paper (which measures 5.83 x 8.27 inches). Sotheby’s then auctioned off each of the 13 stories yesterday. Rowling’s 800-word story sold for $48,855, all of which went to the charities Dyslexia Action and English PEN.
Chuck Palahniuk has made a career of twisted yet smart and relatable novels, the most famous of which, Fight Club, became an instant cult classic upon the release of the movie version in 1999. His latest of nine novels, Snuff, is about an aging porn star named Cassie Wright who wants to end her career by having sex on film with 600 men in one day. Palahniuk will be doing a reading and signing at the UT Performing Arts Center’s McCullough Theater tonight at 7. Get tickets here.
Don’t miss The Daily Texan’s fantastic interview with Palahniuk.
I could watch this amazing remix (originally found at YTMND) of the music from Kirby’s Dreamland and Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” all day. It gets ca-RAZY at about the 3:14 mark.
Good news on the green front – soon it will be even easier to recycle in Austin. Beginning October 6, the City of Austin will switch from its current recycling system to single-stream recycling, which basically means you won’t have to sort out your recyclables anymore. The city will hand out new 90-gallon blue bins to Pay As You Throw customers over a three-to-four month period, and all you’ll have to do is throw everything into the new bin and set it out on your specified day. No more sorting, no more excuses.
In addition to being easier, the new system will allow you to recycle more materials:
I can haz? I saw the Sex and the City movie this weekend (it was pure estrogen ecstasy), but in case you haven’t yet and you want to refresh your memory on how the series ends, the Belmont is doing a special Sex and the City marathon for today’s Monday Margaritas and Movies. Instead of a movie, they’ll be playing the final eight episodes of Sex and the City and handing out free popcorn and door prizes from Fetish, Rae Cosmetics, and more. Margaritas and the Fab Four – sounds like the perfect way to spend a Monday evening.
5pm–9pm | FREE
The Belmont
305 W Sixth St • Austin, TX 78701
More early voting! This time, the race is for Austin City Council Place 4. In the May 10 election for Austin City Council, none of the candidates running for Place 4 won a clear majority. Out of the six candidates, Cid Galindo and Laura Morrison won the most votes – Morrison had 12,888 and Galindo had 9,735 – so voters will decide between the two in the runoff election on June 14. If you can’t make it on the 14th, worry not – early voting begins today and runs through June 10. Find your early voting location here.
Ten points if you can name that song If you’re sick of singing “Wannabe” alone in front of the mirror with a hairbrush microphone, if you want to share your beautiful voice with the world but don’t want to audition for American Idol, or if you just plain want to get drunk and belt out Mariah Carey at the top of your lungs, sign up for the summer session of the National Karaoke League.
Recent comments