ACC Video Game Development Program Lecture Series

- Oct 15th — Denise Fulton, Ion Storm

- Nov 19th — Rich Vogel, Sony Online Entertainment

- Dec 10th — Mike McShaffry, BreakAway Games

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

There is no cost to attend. Lectures are free and open to the public.

Location

ACC Eastview Campus

ESV Room 8362

Spring Semester

“The -isms and -ologies of Video Games” led by Warren Spector

Early voting begins October 18 and runs through October 29. If you suspect you will meet with catastrophe on November 2 and find yourself unable to make it to your designated polling place, please vote beforehand!

Online information on early voting for residents of

• Travis County
• Hays County (refer to the downloadable PDF)
• Williamson County (refer to the downloadable PDF)

Travis County residents can verify their voter registration online using the one of the most helpful tools I’ve ever encountered on a government website!

To Sherry’s list below, I’d like to add:

The best place to study and eavesdrop in South Austin is The Green Muse Cafe, on S. First and Oltorf. Hours of reading boring texts go by in minutes, and there’s always a good conversation to listen to or join in. I haven’t yet found a coffee shop in north Austin to rival it. If you go there after 4:00, say hi to Daniel for me.

Also check out Nueva Onda on College St., just off Congress, just north of Oltorf. It has an awesome patio, friendly service, and live music sometimes, but I go there for the migas.

What is it about South Austin that compels folks that live here to actually plaster their zip code on bumper stickers, t-shirts, and signs, and tattoo it on their bodily parts? Is it the funky-retro shops which gather larger crowds on First Thursday than on 6th Street? Is it because of the South First “tex-mex mile” which has many difference nuances of the cuisine? Is it because it is home to The Soup Peddler who feeds over 1000 hungry souls and also home to the Two Unemployed Democrats who lost their jobs and created an empire based on political bumper stickers? Oh, and don’t forget Joe’s Cafe full of vespa riders, computer geeks and residents of the Austin Motel and San Jose Hotel who stayed out late at the Continental Club. Just a wee bit further south on Congress is Ruta Maya Coffee House which serves up yoga, poetry slams, political films, drag king performances and coffee.

When I was buying my house in the neighborhood my realtor said it was the most diverse zip code in the country. I’m not sure if it is the most diverse but take a look yourself at the demographics or visit Casa Neverlandia, the home of two South Austin artists.

On a sunny day take a drive to South Austin and find out for yourself. The air seems a little lighter and the people like rastas sitting on a white sandy beach looking out onto the baby blue sea. Visit the funky shops including the hidden treasure-packed Uncommon Objects, stop by the Museum of Popular Culture to see Stevie Ray Vaughan’s bell-bottoms, have lunch on the tex-mex mile or at Magnolia Cafe, visit the earth-friendly EcoWise, pick up a tincture at the Herb Bar, visit the two unemployed democrats, check out Resistencia Bookstore and Asylum Books, take home some yummy goodness from the Soup Peddler, and pick up a exotic video from Pedazo Chunk Video or stay till 9pm and watch the free nightly screening with snacks. Is my life complete, sigh, yes, and so can yours.

Visit South Austin online:

Mary Street Visual Tour

(sorry Tara Toys could not afford the rent on South congress and had to move to Anderson Ln.)

78704 Racefund 2004

South Austin, Texas

South Austin Chronicle Guide

Keep Austin Weird

Make Austin Normal (so move–I say!)

Austin Freecycle is a great concept–”one person’s trash is another’s treasure.” Instead of throwing away unwanted items–offer them free to the other 6653 Austinites who are members. When you need something–anything–just ask the group. I’ve seen everything from sailboats to half cans of cake frosting offered for free–and someone actually claimed the frosting–eek. Anyway–check the site out–and clean out that closet.

I thought I’d throw out a few cool things to do this week.

Tomorrow night, there’s the Third Annual Chronicle-Fado Adult Spelling Bee benefitting the Austin Public Library. There’s also a screening of Small Ball, a documentary about a little league team from Aptos, California trying to reach the World Series in the summer of 2002. The filmmakers will be in attendance.

Sunday is Dogtoberfest at the Gingerman benefitting Blue Dog Rescue. They’ve had a benefit for the past several years, but this one promises to be the largest yet.

“See The Elephant!” is an immersive four-screen video installation with surround sound audio that features convergent viewpoints during the 2004 Republican National Convention (RNC). The Republican National Convention was held in New York City at Madison Square Garden August 30th through September 2nd. The four video trajectories take place inside the RNC, outside the venue with the authorities, in the streets with the demonstrators, and at arms-length with mass media. Content for the projected piece includes natural sound, impromptu interviews, and overlapping content with the intent of creating an intelligible, multi-linear, political narrative.

The event takes place at Flatbed Press, 2832 East MLK Blvd. Screenings are at 7pm and 9pm, and there is a $3 donation requested. This is Austin’s chance to see it as it tours the nation before the election.

This town is positively awash in hidden geniuses. They serve you java by day, Shiner Bock by night, and then they split tips and slip out undercover of the dark to pen perfections like this atop brickyard canvases and asphalt etch-a-sketches…

Local instrumental band My Education are playing Wednesday night at Emo’s on Red River. It’s hard to describe them, so I’ll pull a quote from their web page: ” …the seven-piece My Education is an instrumental hybrid: part space-rock cacophony, part punk rock sonic wipeout, and part ambient bad trip.” If you’re curious, they have mp3s on their webpage. Starting at 11pm, they are definitely a good way to spend a wednesday evening without being up terribly late.

Here’s the top dawg his ownself, director Richard Linklater, snapped at a recent shindig celebrating the release (finally!) of The Criterion Collection’s special double-disk edition of — what else? — “Slacker.” What’s he doing these days you ask? A remake of “The Bad News Bears!” I kid you not. I guess he must have had a blast working with so many pipsqueaks on “School of Rock.”