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austin

Austin, Film, Pop Culture

Ten Best Pop-Up Movie Theaters Around the World

Pop-up movie theaters seem to be the craze as of late. Austin is no stranger to the format; the city’s beloved independent theater chain, Alamo Drafthouse, has been showcasing their Rolling Roadshow screenings for years. All over the U.S., movie fans have had the pleasure of seeing films such as Blue Brothers at the Old Joliet Prison, Rocky at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Goonies in Astoria, Oregon and Texas Chainsaw Massacre at the original house of slaughter in Kingsland, Texas courtesy of the Rolling Roadshow.

It appears that another pop-up movie theater might make a guest appearance in the Capital City soon. Bike-In-Theater debuted on an abandoned riverside street in Brooklyn last summer to much fanfare. The gang behind the bike-friendly screenings are looking to expand and Austin is on their list! Read more about the project here or donate to the cause here.

Below are some of the best pop-up movie theaters from around the globe. What is your favorite?

photo via Alamo Drafthouse

Pop-up (more…)

July 16, 2012 by
Austin

Goddamn, East Austin!

OK, gang.

The new blog is up and running.

The final verdict was “Goddamn, East Austin”.

I’m still test-driving the title. Most people and my raunchy self seem to like it, but the lady in me is saying, “What the fuck, Lauren? Do you seriously have to swear all the mother-fucking time?”

My first post is a review of the FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC! Salty Sow on Manor Road. Whooooweeee this place is good!

You can follow Goddamn East Austin’s Facebook page here.

And Twitter here.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of Salty Sow’s Bananas Foster Beignets with nutmeg ice cream.

 

May 23, 2012 by
Austin

Help Me Pick Out A Title For My New Blog!

Hipstercrite isn’t going anywhere. I will be chained to this mo-fo for the rest of my f’ing life.

I decided to start a new blog though. One that I felt didn’t fit the confines of Hipstercrite.

It is a neighborhood blog about East Austin. Sort of in the same vein as Fucked in Park Slope. Except amongst the humor, there will be the occasional crime alert because I believe that stuff is important (i.e. I’m a paranoid crazy).

The blog will have new store/restaurant openings, events, stories, interviews, crime alerts, photos, news roundups and ramblings.

I have the blog all ready to go but I’m not sold on the title. This is where I want you to help me!

Currently the blog is titled “East of Austin”. It’s simple, to the point and references literature (I soundz smart!). However, I’m not sure if it’s too simple? I’d like something a little more unique, but without having a title that a “teenage girl would come up with”, says a friend (i.e. No “Dreaming in East Austin”).

This (more…)

May 21, 2012 by
Writing

If The Tacocopter Was Real and Lived in Austin, Texas

Though the Tacocopter of San Francisco (“flying robots deliver tacos to your location”) has been dubbed a fake, let’s fantasize if such a thing existed in Austin, Texas, shall we?

1.) While waiting in long-ass lines during SXSW, the helicopter could plop tacos into our open mouths like baby birdies waiting for regurgitated worms.

2.) While hungover, the helicopter could rap tap on your bedroom window as you wait for death to take you. Instead of death, you’re greeted with tacos… and a robot. Which is kind of like death.

3.) While waiting in traffic on I-35 during rush hour, you can have tacos delivered to your window…and obliterate the cars in front of you.

4.) While waiting in line at Franklin’s you can snack on tacos…because after two hours of waiting, you’ll be hungry enough again to eat at Franklin’s.

5.) While hanging out at Barton Springs, you don’t have to leave your spot and worry about an old man in a thong taking it. Instead tacos and memory-erasing pills (more…)

March 28, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

A Story About Drinking

I rarely drink anymore.

Because of that, this post is spawned from the fact that I spent most of yesterday morning barfing up the Janis Joplin– hemp seed veggie patty, Tillamook cheese and avocado- at Austin’s beloved burger spot, Hopdoddy. I had three drinks of tequila and my body was all like, “WTF is this stingy crap going through my veins?” and decided to violently discard whatever it could find resting in my body which was mostly seeds and nuts. Lemme tell you, seeds and nuts feeling like freakin’ barbed wire travelling up your windpipe at the speed of sound. Between the liquor and the texture of the nuts, it feels like someone taking a Brillo Pad and going, “Scrape, scrape, scrape! Wee, wee, wee!”

When you get out of the habit of drinking, things like instant naptime or ralphing are common.

I never was a big drinker to begin with.

Considering I come from a family of non-drinkers that have the ability to drink two sips of wine and then laugh for five minutes while they (more…)

February 8, 2012 by
Austin

Update Regarding the Death of Esme Barrera

For those of you familiar with the tragic New Year’s Day death of Esme Barrera or read about it on my blog, the police just announced that the prime suspect in her murder was found dead of an apparent suicide on January 12th. You can read more details at the Statesman or The Chronicle.

The suspect was implicated in several other attacks and sounded like one terrible piece of shit. I’m glad he won’t be able to harm anyone ever again.

I’m so happy that the city of Austin has some sort of answers and I can only pray that the police are right and this will help the Barrera Family have some closure.

January 27, 2012 by
Austin

Austin Is Changing: How Do You Feel About It?

On my CultureMap column, I’ve written a number of posts about how wonderful Austin is and how much I love this adopted city of mine. For this, I’ve received comments telling me to “go home” and that “I’m the problem with Austin’s recent changes.”

These comments make me think of a conversation I had with a waitress at relatively new neighborhood restaurant here in town. The restaurant does not stay open late and caters towards respectable diners, but that hasn’t stop a disgruntled neighbor from chasing down patrons who park in his neighborhood with a hammer.

I think it’s fair to say that some Austinites don’t like change.

The only other town where I saw physical opposition towards not just newcomers, but visitors too, was Marfa, Texas, where a man in a cowboy hat stalked us down Main Street giving us a sermon about the evil city dwellers from Austin, New York and LA.

Change can suck ass. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

I’ve been here 3 1/2 years and even I can remember (more…)

January 23, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

The Winter of Wanderlust

During the holidays, we drove through West Texas and New Mexico. A trip I’ve done before and a journey I never tire of.

It had all the makings of a romantic anecdote.

Four of us were nestled in the body off an all-terrain truck. We listened to country music from the 1950s. We marveled at the thousands of wind turbines, the out-of-commission gas stations, the dead deer and the pink skyline. I drifted in and out of sleep comforted by the fact that I had slipped back into time.

Driving through West Texas and New Mexico makes you feel like you’re cool as shit. That you’re the only person brave enough to step foot into this frontier. For the duration of the drive, you entertain moving to a town called Milagro or Truth or Consequences and you know that you could be happy there. You’d grow your hair long, make art out of found desert objects and create a shrine to Georgia O’Keefe.

As we made our way into Santa Fe, I took note of the sand colored pueblo-style houses with splashes of (more…)

January 16, 2012 by
Austin

In Memory of Esme Barrera

source

In the wee hours of New Year’s Day, a young woman was murdered in Austin. She had walked five blocks from a large New Year’s Eve party at the 29th Street Ballroom to her house located just north of the University of Texas campus, a neighborhood people typically feel safe in. She was killed in her home. She was the second woman to be attacked in that neighborhood that night and not the last. The other two women got away and based off of one’s description, the police and the community have an idea of who they’re looking for, but, unfortunately, still no leads.

The young woman’s name was Esme Barrera. I did not know her, though many of my friends and acquaintances did. She was a teacher’s aid at a local elementary school, a mentor at Girls Rock Camp Austin and worked at a highly respected music store here in Austin called Waterloo Records. Friends say that she was an avid music lover, fun lover and all-round special person. Words like “light”, “infectious”, “warm” and “positive” (more…)

January 4, 2012 by
Austin, Hipstercrite Life

I Wasn’t Born in Texas, But I Got Here at an Average Speed

Oh man, did it feel good to stay away from the computer this weekend!
I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and that most of you are still on break and not at work reading this post.
Wanted to share with you last Friday’s CultureMap post. It meant a lot to me. It’s about the the generous and familial culture in Texas and how inspiring and comforting it is.
I hope I don’t offend any of my fellow Upstate New Yorkers here. I think you’ll get what I mean…

I Wasn’t Born in Texas, But I Got Here at an Average Speed

I’m a Yankee. Born and raised in the armpit of the Rust Belt. In the land of fallen big box giants, frost-bitten morale and Wonder Bread tans.

I have not lived in the North in over seven years, but one can never really change where they’re from, right? Where you were born is in your blood. Always.
The fact that I’m a Yankee is not something I advertise, but it’s difficult to hide when you develop instant heartburn just looking at Polvo’s salsa. The sweat on your (more…)

December 26, 2011 by