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That Other Paper presents Punchline, a BYOB stand-up comedy show happening this Friday at ColdTowne Theater.

Half Price Books

Half Price Books is one of our favorite places in the city. This store is huge — they have a book for you no matter what your interests. You could spend hours and hours just looking around.

Not only that, they also have a healthy selection of vinyl and CDs. This is a great place to come for records especially — along with obscure wax, they also have popular albums from back in the day.

Everything is very well-organized and easy to find. You can’t, however, call ahead to see if a particular title is in stock. Since people are bringing in books and other media daily to sell, there’s no way for them to keep an inventory.

A couple of more tips: If you’re looking for a particular author, you’ll not only find titles by that author under his or her name, but you’ll also find books about that author and edited collections of their work. If they don’t have a title that you’re looking for, ask them at the counter in the back of the store. Though they won’t be able always be able to tell you, it might happen that that title has just passed through someone’s hands and they know where to locate it.

MonkeyWrench Books is a volunteer-run, collectively owned, non-profit bookstore. Not only that, it’s also a space for various community events.

Formed in 1976 by UT Students, the Wheatsville Co-op is now one of the most successful in the state of Texas, with over 8,000 members — and selling over $7 million in groceries a year.

About Torchy’s Tacos

Order one of Torchy’s delicious tacos and stick around for a while — the relaxed creekside location has plenty of seating, and there’s even a basketball hoop. If you’ve driven by before and thought, “Eh, just another taco cart,” you were wrong, friend. Torchy’s Tacos goes above and beyond. So much that some of their patrons created torchystacos.com, the “Torchy’s Tacos Fansite.”

Torchy’s Tacos reviews

• Torchy’s Tacos review by James Bickham

Drawing over 65,000 people a day, ACL Festival has quickly become one of the country’s best known music festivals — and it’s only been around since 2002. This year’s festival features big names such as Bob Dylan, The White Stripes, Bjork, Arcade Fire, Wilco, and more.

Tickets

Unfortunately, three-day passes are sold out, and so are tickets for Saturday only. You can still get tickets for Friday only and Sunday only by going here. We hear Craigslist’s Tickets section is a promising place to pick up three-day passes a few days before the festival.

The lineup

Find out who’s playing at ACL Fest here. That Other Paper will be interviewing many of the lesser known bands playing at the festival to help you decide who you’re going to see. As we publish more band previews, we’ll list them on this page.

• John Ralston
• Daddy A Go Go
• Rose Hill Drive
• Farmer Jason
• Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
• Mario Matteoli
• The Jellydots
• Big Sam’s Funky Nation
• Back Door Slam
• Kara Grainger
• Guy Forsyth
• John Dee Graham
• The National
• Blonde Redhead
• Butch Walker
• Young Love
• Dax Riggs

Make a schedule

Sure, ACL has its own official online schedule maker. But why not take advantage of fancy new internet technology and check out Bill’s Map. It’s a mashup of Google Maps and YouTube to show you exactly which stages the bands will be playing on as well as a music video to sample their sounds. Go get ‘em.

Where to park

Parking near Zilker Park is a bad idea, unless you want to park in a neighbor’s driveway for $40. Your best bet if you aren’t within biking distance or if you can’t get a friend to drop you off is to park near 4th and Guadalupe Streets downtown and take the free shuttle to Zilker Park.

Another option for parking: The Austin Elks Lodge at 700 Dawson Rd (about one mile from Zilker Park) is charging $15 per day to park in their lot. Proceeds go to the Texas Elks’ project for handicapped children.

What to bring

ACL goers can bring in a backpack (frameless). We suggest packing it with sunscreen, two 1-liter bottles of water (that’s the maximum you’re allowed to bring in), cash, a camera, and your ID. Packing a blanket (one that you don’t mind getting dirty) is another good idea; you can also bring a chair, but that means you’re going to have to carry it around.

About the Draught House Pub and Brewery

Need a night away from the downtown scene? Try the Draught House Pub, a little bar in North Campus with the all the charm of a British alehouse. With over 70 beers on tap, plus a few of their own brews, you’re sure to find something new to try. They also have a selection of pub grub in case you get peckish. A perfect place for the beer enthusiast.

Daily specials

• Mondays $2.25 Guinness and Murphy’s
• Tuesdays $2.75 all pints
• Wednesdays Free pizza (made on Mangia crust)
• Thursdays $2.25 huge house beers
• Fridays $2.75 pints of Real Ale
• Saturdays Free bratwurst (with sauerkraut and Dusseldorf mustard)
• Sundays $1.75 domestic pints

Bradley Jackson reviews Knocked Up and falls in love with Judd Apatow all over again.

Dozens of top comedians, bands, and musicians will be playing a FREE, two-day party during SXSW. “Curated” by David Cross, it’s one of the best free events at this year’s South by Southwest Music, Film, and Interactive Festival for People Who Can Afford It.

Chris Trew didn’t cut his hair for two years. Then he went to Birds Barbershop.

Coffee and dessert on the lake.

Who knew a hotel bar could be this awesome?

About Suzi’s China Grill

There’s not much to be said about Suzi’s China Grill. As one of the best Chinese restaurants in Austin, Suzi’s serves traditional plates you’d find at just about any other Chinese restaurant. But at Suzi’s, they’re outstanding. The taste, the prices, the presentation — it’s all good.

One of the best Pan-Asian restaurants in town.

Latin and South American food meet – then they go out to dinner and eat themselves.

This brightly painted bungalow, located just east of I-35, offers critically lauded Mexican food and margaritas at reasonable prices.

Vivo is one sexy restaurant.

Home Slice hits a home run. Cheesy, but true.

Any restaurant named after a 19th-century Italian opera just has to be good.