Don’t Move the Shelter!
In April, a tragedy occurred in our backyard.After years of stalking and chasing, our Shepard-mix Duke finally caught our neighbor’s white cat, Emma, who had slipped though our fence.The result– 120 lb pup vs. ...
ANNAINAUSTIN...and Company! Blog
Focusing on Horror Films at SXSW Film 2007
At the 13th Annual South by Southwest Film Festival, science fiction, supernatural and horror films comprised an increasingly larger proportion of the festival’s 600 plus films, according to SXSW film programmer Matt Dentler, 27. Among the events at the spring festival was the “Grindhouse 101” panel where “GRINDHOUSE” director Robert Rodriguez and Harry Knowles of Aintitcoolnews.com discussed their appreciation of the vintage low-budget films with shocking gimmicks that were played in the old theaters known as grindhouses.
When locals and luck collide
Earlier this month, I was standing at the bar at the Hole in the Wall with JoDee Purkeypile, lead singer/songwriter/lead guitarist of Austin’s quintet the Alice Rose. The band was playing the club near...
Fantasy Films Draw their lifeblood from Austin
For the last year, my husband has spent his Saturdays helping friends build a 9-foot copy of the TARDIS time-traveling spaceship from the BBC’s “Doctor Who” TV series. To the uninitiated, it looks like...
Living with a build-your-own DVR
Back in elementary school, I remember entertaining myself by mentally recounting the complete prime time schedule. Tuning out tedious teaching, I finally recalled exactly what aired opposite Fantasy Island. Bored elementary kids certainly aren’t...
For me, the holidays are just ho-ho-hum
Stopping by a friend’s house the day after Thanksgiving, I was amazed by both her lavishly ornamented tree and her breezy declaration of the Christmas colors she was considering for next year. Despite the...
Patchwork of fond memories keeps us warm
We live in a culture of abundance, a society drowning in stuff. Off-site storage units are a growth industry, while houses keep getting bigger to contain the avalanche of possessions. Magazines such as Real...
If you must eat animals, kill them with kindness
We’re quickly approaching “Turkey Day.” That’s shorthand for Thanksgiving, and it emphasizes the meat-centric-ness of the holiday. These days, the Pilgrims are mere Yankee window-dressing to the “Festival of Turkey.” Thanksgiving is just one...
Which Ghouls rule on Halloween? In Austin, that’s a no-brainer
Zombies are the monster of the moment, at least in Central Texas. While the ’80s and ’90s had sexy bloodsuckers inspired by Anne Rice’s “Vampire Chronicles,” zombies are now the most fashionable undead. Sure,...
Apocalypto Previw at Fantastic Fest
A version of this ran in the French magazine L’Ecran Fantastique under the byline Anna Hanks Sicard No matter what you think of Mel Gibson’s religion and politics— especially following The Passion of the...
