Browsing Tag

austin

Austin, Fashion/Design, Hipstercrite Life

Guess That This Must Be the Place

I have a new article up on Culture Map today that I wanted to share with you guys. Last week was my three year anniversary in Austin. I can’t believe how much time has gone by. It seems like decades ago that I moved here. I barely remember the time I lived in LA 🙁

Above are the first two pictures I took in Austin. The out-of-focus one was my Hipstercrite header photo for a long time.

Austin has become my home and I can’t imagine living anywhere else.

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Last week I celebrated my third year in Austin.

Well, actually, it kind of came and went without me even noticing. You see, Austin has become home. I no longer view it as this animate object that swept me up into it’s arms and saved me—I just simply live in it now. I’m an Austinite. I have a 512 phone number and I wear pearl snap shirts.

I used to romanticize a lot about Austin. Hell, I even drunk dialed her frequently. She was this near-mythical (more…)

October 7, 2011 by
Film

We’re Almost Finished Making a Movie!

We just wrapped our Austin shoot onLoves Her Gun. The gang is now en route to NYC in a Winnebago that looks like this:

Our three week shoot in Austin has been awesome. We had so many wonderful cast and crew helping to make this movie something special. The footage looks great and we had some amazing talent in front of the camera. Our lead actress, Trieste Kelly Dunn, has starred in the IFC filmCold Weather, the indie hit Vacation!, and starred on the law drama Canterbury’s Law. Here is a picture of Trieste getting bruised by our make-up artist Liz Rische.

photo by Brandi
Our lead actor, Francisco Barreiro, happens to be one of the hottest talents coming out of Mexico City and we are so lucky to be able to work with him. His last movie, We Are What We Are, a film about a cannibalistic family living in LA, premiered in Cannes and Fantastic Fest last year!
 
Our film also stars the absolutely adorable Austin-based actress Ashley Spillers and NYC writer/director/actor (more…)
September 22, 2011 by
Austin, Film

Slacker 2011

Austin, Texas is a film city. It is not always easy to find film work in, but it’s an excellent place to write your script or make your movie (see why here).

Moviemaker Magazine named Austin, Texas the #5 place to Live, Work, and Make Movies In.
We host arguably the #3 film festival in the U.S. (SXSW) and a respectable up-and-coming festival that features big Hollywood movies and players (Austin Film Festival). We have studio directors who got their start in Austin and continue to shoot their productions in here (Richard Linklater, Mike Judge, and Robert Rodriguez) and we have a plethora of indie filmmakers whose work has been seen at every festival on the planet, literally.

So needless to say, some pretty interesting and creative stuff comes out of Austin.

A perfect example of this is the “reimagining” of Richard Linklater’s perennial indie classic Slacker, which will be premiering tonight at the historic Paramount Theater on Congress Avenue. If you went to film school, you (more…)

August 31, 2011 by
20-Something, Hipstercrite Life

Making the Twenty-Something Leap

There comes a point in every young person’s life where they have to make the jump.

Have to because they can’t kid themselves that they’re happy with the safe route anymore. Working jobs that mean nothing to them and waking up every morning trying to kid themselves that they care. Ignoring the hunger pains of a creative appetite gnawing away at them.

“But life is sometimes about working jobs that you don’t like!” the age-old sentiment kept cycling through my head. “But not if I have any say it!” I finally answered back one day. Last week. When I realized that now was the time.

I was born from a musician and an artist. One took the safe route her entire life and regrets it, the other jumped on the Autobahn to creative anarchy. My father tried going the safe route- which included marriage, kid, and steady employment- but ultimately he couldn’t handle the confines. Do I blame him? No. Because I’m just like him. “And that scares me,” my mother can often be found saying. But we live (more…)

August 30, 2011 by
Austin

Culture Map Austin

Culture Map Austin launched today!

What is Culture Map you ask?

Well, it’s going to be THE source for news, entertainment, culture, food, sports, style and events in Austin, Texas.

After the success of Culture Map Houston, the gang decided to take the site on the road to the capital city. What better fit than real-time news and opinion in the #8 most socially networked city in America?

I’m very excited about today’s launch because I am also a contributor! I hope you will take the time to puruse the site today. I think you will like what you see. In the meantime, here is a snippet of my first post. You can click on the link below to read more…

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“I have a N.Y. driver’s license, L.A. mailing address and Austin physical address.

Please don’t hold the N.Y. and L.A. parts against me. I roll my eyes just as much as you do when somebody in Austin tells me they moved here from either place.

And if you’re a cop, please don’t arrest me. I don’t want (more…)

July 18, 2011 by
Austin

Can’t I Go to Both Hell AND Texas?

Yesterday my mother emailed me the above picture with the caption, “Remember this picture? I call it “Future Texan”.

I’d like to call it, “Future Toddlers and Tiaras Reject”, but “Future Texan” will suffice.

I’m a Northerner. A Yankee. I come from land where for six months of the year social interaction and entertainment is hunted for it’s rare and delicious meat. My ass had never seen the sun nor had my virgin taste buds made love to anything spicier than vanilla bean. Vanilla bean is not spicy, you say? You’re right. The word “vanilla” just seemed appropriate in this paragraph. Growing up in central New York makes you vanilla. I was vanilla. Diverse culture and cuisine are not prevalent in central New York. That’s not true. Diverse culture and cuisine outside of all the white people from Old Country is not prevalent. I had never even seen a Mexican restaurant until I moved to California. Sushi? Indian? Ethiopian? These things did not exist where I was from. I once heard there (more…)

May 20, 2011 by
Austin, Hipstercrite Life

I’ve Become Scared of My Own Shadow

Lately I’ve had this growing illogical fear that every single evening someone is trying to break into my house.

Every single night.

Typically around 4AM.

I guess that would make it morning then? 4AM is that ungodly time that really deserves it’s own time of day. It’s the gateway from night into morning. It’s dark and ominous and you most likely won’t hear a soul except for the psychopath hiding outside your window. My window. He likes to hang out there and tap melodies on the pane and dance on dead leaves. He’s a pretty bad dancer from what I can tell, but are psychopaths ever really good dancers?

This fear has begun effecting my life greatly. My sleeping patterns have become distressed and I often wake up to my heart pounding through my chest. Recently I even found myself standing on the street corner in my silk robe dialing 911 in one hand and brandishing an Ikea paring knife and Swiffer mop in the other. That evening I was absolutely convinced someone was in my house and (more…)

March 23, 2011 by
Austin, Film, Music, Pop Culture

Dear God Please Give Me the Strength to Get Through SXSW

SXSW is starting in eleven days and I’m absolutely shitting my pants terrified in complete denial.

My brain simply does not want to admit the reality that this behemoth is descending upon us like Godzilla with a bad case of diarrhea over Tokyo.

The South by Southwest Interactive/Music/Film festival is so big, they can’t even narrow it down to one category. It has to be three. And not just three rinky dink categories, but three of the largest in the world! SXSW has become a festival like no other. Everyone and their Mom visits Austin and the city functions in a mass state of chaos for ten days until every collectively blacks out.

How big is SXSW you ask? Well, according to the official SXSW website, last year alone there were almost 2,000 musical acts, 300 feature and short films, and 500 interactive events. These are just the official events. What makes SXSW unique is that, unlike many other festivals, there are equally if not more unofficial events surrounding the festival. (more…)

March 1, 2011 by
Austin

The Hollywood of Texas: Relocating from LA to Austin


“Hi, I’m an editor from LA and I’m moving to Austin. Is there work for me?”

“Hi, I’m a camera operator from LA and I’m thinking of moving to Austin. Is that a smart idea?”

“Hi, I’m a writer from LA and got totally burnt out. Do you think Austin will be a good place for me to write?”

Hi, my name is Lauren and I moved to Austin from Los Angeles.
Yes, it’s true.
I’m one of them.
One of the people you make the above bumper sticker about and place them all over town.

Since moving to Austin, the aforementioned sentences are all questions I’ve heard repeatedly over the past two years. In fact, during the beginning of the 2010, I was fielding at least 2-3 phone calls a week at the production company I worked for, in addition to the frequent inquiries from friends and blogger buddies.

This year’s South by Southwest Interactive even held a panel for creatives, titled, “Making the Move from California to Austin“.

So why are Angelenos moving to Austin?

In generalizing fashion: (more…)

August 25, 2010 by
Austin

Photographing Austin

Another freelance article about the best photo ops in Austin…but this one got rejected.
So, f you. I’m putting it up on my blog.
(If you find this post boring, I don’t blame you. I was bored writing it. Taking the pictures was fun though! I will have new material up this week, I think? I HOPE!)

Let the cheese begin…

Mount Bonnell
Location: 3800 Mount Bonnell Drive Austin, TX 78731

Why not say “I love you” with a breathtaking panoramic view of Austin? Mount Bonnell, located roughly fifteen minutes from downtown Austin, is the spot that lovebirds have been flocking to since the 1800’s. It’s secluded location and beautiful views of Lake Austin make it a great place to get a little ol’ fashion necking in or take snapshots with your honey. Due to it’s expansive and scenic backdrop, the park has also been a popular destination spot for photographing marriage proposals. If the sights don’t win your girl over, just point to any of the multi-million dollar homes in the area and promise (more…)

August 16, 2010 by