Search results for

Austin

Austin’s Best Of ‘Best Of’ Lists

I’m sure you’ve noticed that Austin, Texas SHOWS UP ON EVERY GOD FORSAKEN ‘BEST OF’ LIST THAT HAS COME OUT OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS.

Many times Austin is ranked in the top ten. Sometimes it’s voted number one.

Now, how do you like them apples, huh?

I’ll be honest. I moved to Austin with $500 in my pocket, no job, and only what I could fit into my car based off of these lists because I’m obsessed with lists in general.

I LOVE THE CRAP OUT OF LISTS!

So, below, I’ve compiled some of the best ‘Best Of’ lists I’ve come across where Austin is named.

What have I learned from these lists? 1.) That Forbes has a big ol’ boner for Austin 2.) That if I ever join the armed forces and then retire, I’ll be very happy here 3.) That I should take up golfing again, especially so I’ll be really good by the time I retire from the military 4.) That Austin is THE BEST PLACE ON THE PLANET, DUH!

Austin is featured on so many lists, I didn’t know how to break them down! So, the list goes (more…)

January 6, 2011 by
Film, Pop Culture, Writing

Remember That I Promised I Would Write You A Blue Valentine Review?

I wrote this review back in October when I was lucky enough to see Blue Valentine at the Austin Film Festival. P.S. I write reviews like a ten year-old child.


Did you see Blue Valentine? What did you think?

It takes a lot for me to get excited about going to the movies… and by excited I mean sexually aroused when Crispin Glover has a new movie out. However, when I saw the trailer for Blue Valentine over the summer, I knew I had to see this movie.

A tragic love story named after a Tom Waits song starring Ryan Gosling AND Michelle Williams?! Hell, that is a hipster’s three-tier boner right there. The super hyped film- currently making the festival circuit with an expected release date of December 31st, 2010- was screened at the Austin Film Festival to a packed and very somber house. There was not a dry eye- from guy or gal- by the end of the movie. In fact, the girl seated next to us had to leave the theater and I had to drink more than one glass of white wine.

So why does this movie (more…)

January 5, 2011 by
Film, Pop Culture, Writing

The Time I Almost Got Punched by a Woman Wearing A Shirt That Said "I Have Issues"

 I had completely forgotten about the above statement until today, when I was online chatting with my friend Ian. Ian and I were on a reality show together and one of the characters on that show was the producer Robert Evans. If you’ve never seen it, check out the doc THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE. It is an adaptation of  Evans’ autobiography of the same name. Evans was and is a colorful character, having epitomized Hollywood cool in the 1970’s (he was married to Ali MacGraw, friends with Jack Nicholson and produced THE GODFATHER, CHINATOWN, and ROSEMARY’S BABY) and Hollywood down-and-out in the 1980’s (he was convicted of trying to buy cocaine and linked to the murder of an investor).

So here is a little backstory…
I was a featured player on a barely known TLC reality series called “Going Hollywood”. The show chronicled the day-to-day adventures of three fresh-off-the-bus interns working at Robert Evans’, Method Man’s, and my boss’ respective production companies. My (more…)
January 4, 2011 by
Music, Pop Culture

Why This Must be the Place (Naive Melody) is the Best Song in the World


I’ll never forget the moment that the film went black. A lone floor lamp is switched on as three large video panels fade into images of bookshelves. Various keyboards start to intertwine as a lanky figure in a white suit stands awkwardly onstage, about to sing one of the few windows into his heart. It was eleven years ago that I first heard “This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)” by the Talking Heads in their 1984 concert film, Stop Making Sense. It is still my favorite song. The song I want played at my wedding- if I ever have one- and the song I want played at my funeral- if I ever die. If I get a tattoo, it would be simply of the first line in this song- “Home, is where I want to be pick me up and turn me ’round.” This song has been played over 10,000 times between my laptop, iPod, and car stereo. I instantly freeze and lose complete cognitive functions when “This Must be the Place” plays anywhere.

It’s hard to understand what exactly about a song strikes a listener and then lingers in (more…)

January 3, 2011 by
Hipstercrite Life

Hipstercrite’s Trend Predictions for 2011

Did I just refer to myself in the third person? I sure did.
However, Hipstercrite is an alter ego of mine, of sorts, so I’m speaking in the third person of a person that I am not. What would the name of that be? Oh, narcissism? Ok! I’ll take it!

I’ve been reading a lot of “trend reports” for 2011. According to ABCNews cupcakes are totally f’ed for next year. In 2011 we should be expecting pies to take over the world. I read somewhere that books are dead too. USA Today says that a lot of people will be doing Civil War-related activities in 2011 and I say, hasn’t Civil War reenactments ALWAYS been in style?? I’ve been dressing as a Union soldier and partaking in Gettysburg battles since I was a little girl. Refinery29 predicts that the color orange, pajama-style day clothing, and futuristic military garb is in for next spring….just let your imagination run wild with that.

I have a few predictions of my own that I’d like to add to the list.

What trend predictions do you have for 2011?

1.) Travel– (more…)

December 30, 2010 by
Writing

The Best Blog Posts of 2010

Hot damn. I can’t believe this year is over.

It was an eventful year, to say the least.

I was let go of one job, immediately found work at another job, and then left that job for a job in publishing. The artist/dreamer side of me should have taken THAT FREAKIN’ UNEMPLOYMENT, but being raised the way I was and the current state of the economy, I decided it was best to, you know, be a working adult. I’m excited to see where my new job will take me.

I road tripped through West Texas and New Mexico with my mother. We wanted to strangle each other and at one point I had to take a *pee in the middle of the desert, off the side of the road, in front of everyone driving on the God forsaken New Mexico highway known as I-25. It was a memorable trip full of romantic meth villages and endless horizons.

I was voted Blogger of the Year in Austin and Hipstercrite won the category of “Best Blog to Find Comments or Discussions” over at the Austin Blogger Awards. Though she may try, Hipstercrite (more…)

December 29, 2010 by
20-Something, Hipstercrite Life

When the Flame Faltered

Most of the time she doesn’t think about how she’d like to be in love.

Except for those nights when she watches a movie where the lead characters walk hand-in-hand through Central Park. Or where the man realizes he made a huge mistake and jumps a plane ride back to his love. Or where a couple banter like Tracy and Hepburn. Or where a woman decides that he is the one. Or when someone who may or may not be Cary Grant holds the object of his desire in his arms and won’t let go.

Sometimes the thought enters her mind when she reads a book like Patti Smith’s Just Kids. A tragic love story that causes young women to yearn for the affection of a tortured young man. A man that they can believe in more than themselves. This sort of romantic tale makes her long for Sunday mornings in bed or Saturday nights sitting on the floor and creating.

On the occasional happenstance, she’ll acknowledge the thought when she’s sitting at the train station and sees two people completely lost in one another. (more…)

December 28, 2010 by
Hipstercrite Life

Monday My Ass

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday.
I don’t feel like writing a blog post today. I’m just going to keep on dreaming about the above view of Los Angeles I had for the past three days.
So, there ya go….

See you tomorrow.

December 27, 2010 by
Hipstercrite Life

There’s No Place Like Los Angeles for the Holidays

source

“People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles,” I will say to my father when he picks me up at LAX tomorrow morning.

“They sure are.” he’ll say.

“No, Dad. It’s a line from Bret Easton Ellis’ Less Than Zero.” I’ll think for a second. “It means that the people of Los Angeles are afraid to interact with others. It’s much easier to hold back and stay to yourself then joining the other kids on the playground.”

My Dad will nod with indifferent acknowledgment. He’s just happy to see me.

“Or it means that Angelenos really suck at driving. I’m not sure.”

I want to be Clay coming back to the city. However, instead of decadent holiday parties, apathetic sexual encounters, and coke-induced bloody noses, I’ll be spending time with my father. Though not a man of nihilistic behavior, he is still very much a character in a novel.

I used to carry Less Than Zero on the plane trip back home to New York during the holidays. I’d read it on my flight east and pretend that I related to the questionable (more…)

December 23, 2010 by
Hipstercrite Life

Blue Christmas

This year I will not be going home.
This Christmas is the first time in my life I will not see my family.
The combination of new job and shameful flight prices to Upstate New York is causing me to travel to Los Angeles instead to see my father. I’m very excited to see him, but considering the unconventionality of our relationship, it will be interesting to spend a holiday with him typically devoted to my mother and grandmother.

Before the arrangements were made to travel west, the idea of maybe being alone for the holidays struck me very hard. It made me contemplate what the holidays mean and made me aware of many newly formed realities in my life. Am I getting to the age where I should be creating my own holiday traditions? Am I at the age where I should actually be interested in finding a partner and having children to form these traditions?

Another reason why I was unable to see my family for the holidays is that my mother and grandmother could not travel down to Texas because of my Grandma’s (more…)

December 22, 2010 by