Dec 192006
ttrentham
Dec 182006
MSW wasn’t the only one at Trail of Lights last night. On a whim, I decided to try capturing the Austin holiday tradition of spinning under the Zilker Tree. I was pleasantly surprised at the results.
Dec 122006
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This all sounds entirely plausible and gives a better view of the parties involved in Iraq. The next time president dumbass blames the violence in Iraq on Al Qaeda, somebody should shove this article into his hands and tell him to shut the fuck up.
Dec 092006
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Reminds me of Google Earth for educators as well. Think I’ve tagged some stuff for that somewhere in del.icio.us. Might be cool for high school and college level. Can’t see it working for elementary.
Dec 082006
Ballet Austin is having its 50th Anniversary this year. Their 44th annual production of the The Nutcracker starts tomorrow evening. Some local bloggers, including yours truly and my daughter, attended the tech rehearsal last night at Bass Concert Hall. In my rush to make the rehearsal, I forgot my tripod, so you’ll have to forgive the photo quality. We also only made it through the first act; bringing your four-year-old daughter to a 7pm weeknight performance probably isn’t the best idea. Still, she must’ve enjoyed it as my wife reports that she spent most of the day spinning around and crashed for an out-of-character nap at 3pm today. I have a feeling that won’t be the last performance I attend in the near future.
Enough about my home life, how was it, you say? It was good. I attended two or three performances of the Nutcracker as a kid in Dallas. Reading a review on the Ballet Austin site from last year, I’d agree with Patti Hadad. The two dolls brought in by Herr Drosselmeyer had the most impressive performances. I was a little disappointed in the sword fight between the nutcracker prince and the mouse king. I remember it being much more impressive. I’ve always preferred the first act to the second, so maybe I’m a bit biased.
The Statesman had a story yesterday on tryouts for the Nutcracker in its Life and Arts section. Ballet Austin is comprised of the main company and Ballet Austin II or the apprentice company. It also runs the Ballet Austin Academy. The main company has 20 dancers and the rest of the Nutcracker production is filled in with dancers from the apprentice program and the academy, totaling somewhere near 100 dancers to stage the production.
I honestly haven’t paid much attention to Ballet Austin in the 15 years that I’ve lived here, but it’s apparently really coming into its own. It’ll move to the Long Center when it opens in May 2008. Apparently the addition of Stephen Mills in 2000 has really put the company on the national map and they’re a fund raising machine, sharing the generosity that they receive with other non-profits in the city. For instance, tonight’s dress rehearsal is attended mostly by people served by other non-profits, who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to attend. It’s all an encouraging sign that Austin is growing into a city large enough to support a wider range of arts than those that make it the “Live Music Capital of the World”.
There’s another photo in the extended entry after the jump.
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Dec 082006
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I disagree with #9. Most coders I know use the mouse as little as possible.
Dec 072006
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I’d never heard of this strip. Thanks to Pharyngula for pointing it out. Funny stuff.
Santa Rampage
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Dec 072006
It’s that time of year again. The tree is up and decorated. The eggnog is chilling in the fridge. And there’s a massive gaggle of Santas drinking their way down Sixth Street. Santa Rampage or Santarchy, depending on your preference is a yearly event in many cities around the country, like Washington DC.
Austin’s gathering of Santas will happen this Saturday, December 9th at 7pm at Hickory Street (8th and Congress). The santas will start their machinations there and continue on for the rest of the evening. I’m guessing they won’t be too hard to find if past years are any indication.
Image via Santarchy DC
Dec 062006
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Nothing says the holidays like a gallery of kids scared shitless in the name of Xmas. This crops up every year around this time. A classic.
Fun Fun Fun Fest
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Dec 052006
I scored a couple of free tickets to Fun Fun Fun Fest on Friday from Austinist (thanks, guys!). I got there around 6:30 or 7 in enough time to see Riverboat Gamblers. I’d seen them at the X / Rollins Band show at Stubb’s earlier this year. They put on a good show. We shuffled over to check out Peaches at the Indie Stage. I can appreciate what she’s trying to do, but the music wasn’t all that interesting to me. Next up was Negative Approach. I’d never seen them or heard any of their music. I can definitely hear their influence on current bands though. Solid Stuff. The band I came to see, however, was up next. The Circle Jerks have retained 3 of the 4 members that were around when I first heard them in 1984 or 1985. Keith Morris has been sporting some massive dreadlocks for the past 15 years or so. Like Henry Rollins and a few others, he’s become sort of a punk rock elder statesman. They blasted through several older songs, including “Deny Everything”, “Beverly Hills”, “World Up My Ass”, “I & I”, “When the Shit Hits the Fan” and “I Just Want Some Skank”.
The Chronicle had some info on the organizing of the festival. I like that Graham Williams mentioned ACL and how it doesn’t really represent the sort of bands that he had at Fun Fun Fun Fest. The crowds weren’t too large as to make it impossible to see the bands. I would recommend that they double the number of port-a-potties next time though. It was at least a 20 minute wait for the bathrooms the whole time I was there. Lines for the food and drinks were reasonable. I realize it was all kind of last minute and that Texas weather can be unpredictable anyway, but if they have it again, I’d pick a month other than December, January or February.
Joe Gross of the Statesman Blogs posted a favorable review yesterday.
I got a few shots of Negative Approach and Circle Jerks. There’s some crappy video after the jump to go with the crappy photos. I probably should bring a tripod next time although I’m not sure they would’ve allowed it.
Update (12.106.2006 – 13:43 CST) – Steve Hopson has some much better shots from the festival.
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