AUSTIN MAKES A BOOK

How do you feel about zine culture? I've always been entertained by magazines and quickly, as tiny zines began their trend, I was interested too. Incase you're confused, zines are small, magazine like publications, usually pictures and text aimed at a very specific crowd or subculture like graffiti, poetry, or political manifestos.

That being said, this new project I've stumbled upon via my daily internet networkings interested me because of it's similarity with zines and graphic type books with collections of arty photos and witty text. The project called, Austin Makes a Book will be similar to a book previously published by the city of New York called New York Makes a Book. I know, I know, following in NYC's footsteps... how cliche Austin...but ours, obviously, will undermine theirs. 

Pride aside, the book is going to be a really fun project. The premise is simple: This book is crowd-published. This means that 100 people will pay 30 bucks for their own page and publish whatever they want that'll fit onto a 7x7 page. Photos. Stories. Art. Notes. Whatever...

It's the perfect way to publish that naked Polaroid of your ex  to the rest of the world (okay, maybe pushing it) or that art masterpiece of yours that your parents never hung on the fridge. As long as you live in Austin and your submission isn't obscene or offensive it's game. Check their website for more info on submission guidelines. 

Even better...the publicists (phenix & phenix literary publicists) will be throwing a launch party for all 100 authors when the book comes out in November!

Start digging for yer masterpieces, Austinites...

Fashionistas of The Internet

Online Fashion Journalism. What's your opinon? Is it useless? I myself, spent countless years when I was younger hoping to be write for a magazine one day or have a career as a fashion editor. Not too uncommon. Anyways, blogging has made it possible for each and every fashionista out there to feel like a fashion journalist.

When the time came this summer for little old Austin, Texas to debut it's first ever Austin Fashion Week lots of local businesses jumped on the fashion blogging bandwagon to help create hipe for their businesses. Now you might pass this off as more useless information, taking up space on the world wide web, but I think this is the start of something great. 

For example, at the start of fashion week Feathers Boutique on Congress Avenue created a blog for it's shoppers. Rather dry, however. The only good aspect of their blog is photos of their new inventory and news about their events.  Still good for the over-achieving shopper. What are the criteria for a fashion blog anyhow? 

Another vintage fashion blog, The Year of Living Thriftily, is full of pictures by the writer but also links to her associated ebay store where you can buy the items seen in her blog.

More developed, magazines such as NEET have created blogs which are similar to their magazines, yet they provide fashionistas with links and showcase different shops, websites and designers weekly. Sort of like tid bits of their magazine, quickly published.

Other than establishments, there are plenty of young ladies blogging about fashion which, Thats Chic is a prime example of. Lots of pictures for inspiration, make-up reviews and tricks, 

where to get good deals online shopping, and collaging.

So, what's the use in all of this? I'm not quite sure. Most of it is just to share ideas I suppose. I do know that I've discovered some pretty great aspiring designers who sell their items online through fashion blogs. Check out http://www.snoozerloser.bigcartel.com/ if you're curious.

Summer 2010

Awaits.

Where to get your Buzz in Peace

Being a student, I guess I should throw my two cents in about local coffee shops. In order to choose favorites, I must first remind you what kind of environment is necessary to a student...one that is calmly inhabited, quiet, and perfect for studying.

This eliminates from the list plenty of coffee spots all Austinites love, for various reasons. Take Flipnotics, for instance.  The coffee shop offers a beautiful location among Barton Hills. Perfect for sipping a latte outside or having a glass of wine. Their outdoors area and deck is awesome, and although their breakfast tacos, empanadas, salads and other food aren't up to par, the menu is  quickly evolving and getting better. I will always love Flipnotics, however, it's not a study haven. Live music nightly and dim lighting makes this coffee spot tough to study at. 

Alas, meeting the requirements, my favorite coffee spot in Austin to study at is Bouldin Creek Coffe House. Not only is Bouldin Creek always calm, quiet, and full of intellects, you can never go wrong ordering from their vegetarian menu.  Veggie tacos, hummus, veggie burgers, veggie sandwiches, gazpacho, omelets, breakfast served all day- you name it. Yet, my favorite part about Bouldin Creek is their daily specials. Man do those baristas know how to whip out something innovative and tasty out of a kitchen of ingredients.  I remember going to Bouldin Creek on a hot day this summer and ordering the special which was a spicy watermelon gazpacho, and grilled cheese made with sourdough bread, goat cheese and basil. It was to die for. Their food is always, always fresh. More importantly, to a true Texas lady like myself, there are lots of spicy items to choose from on the menu (Texas chipotle brownies! Mmm).  Would you like  some cayenne pepper in this?

Aside from their foods, Bouldin also has interesting and tasty drinks, try Rose Lemonade for instance. You can add different extracts like rose to any drink, and let me tell you, it's always surprisingly good. Other than quality vegetarian food, drinks, a full coffee and tea bar, Bouldin Creek also serves beer and wine to the thirsty.

Come in their morning when the specials are at their prime and the coffee just started brewing. Bouldin Creek is located at 1501 S. First Street (Right by Jovitas) from 7-Midnight during the week and 9-Midnight on the weekends.

 

Photo by Nils Juul-Hansen

A Writer's Therapy

Finding new and fresh inspiration is essential to staying motivated and being successful.  As an aspiring writer I feel blessed to be around talented writers at my University  that inspire me on a daily basis. Tonight I was lucky enough to listen to poet and adjunct professor here at St. Edwards, Carrie Fountain, read some of her poetry on campus.

As part of a "Visiting Writers Series" Fountain read poetry from her first collection titled "Burn Lake", as well as other works.  Burn Lake consisted of 5 poems which were insightful, wise, and apparently worthy of a National Poetry Series Award  (a true accomplishment for a poets first series of poetry). Fountain mentioned that most of the material in her work was anecdotal and taken directly from her life experiences, yet much of it also came from the things she meant to say to family and friends while growing up, but never did. Another point she made about poetry... compared to other writing, was that it doesn't necessary have to be truthful but instead just aimed at truth. I liked this a lot. Mainly because, as a student writer, it is sometimes forgotten that there is writing that exists outside the analytical realm.

In the past, I've taken a Creative Writing course however not ever taken the time to read poetry until recently (thanks, Carrie). Fountain mentioned that one of her favorite poets was Emily Dickinson, so being inspired I looked into some of her famous published work: 

Through the great Waters sleep,

Though they are still the Deep,

We cannot doubt-

No vacillating God

Ignited this Abode

To put it out

(circa 1884)

From what I discovered, Dickinson's work was morbid, some of it hopeful, and a lot of reflected her preoccupation with the study of  Jesus Christ, as in this piece of work. A lot of other aspects in her writing that got me thinking... spontaneous use of dashes, capitalization and constantly changing formatting. It was nice to read someone else's creative thoughts.

Extra credit aside, I was thankful I took the time to see Fountain read because she led me to a fresh perspective on writing, and led me to read something creative this weekend, reminding me just how therapeutic writing can be. 

LOCO NUNCA

Fact: In the world today more and more young adults are joining the blog world. The Pew Internet and American Life Project estimated that, in 2006, there were nearly 12 million adults writing and publishing work on web blogs. (Source)

No telling how many are blogging today.

Opinion: This is a good thing.

That said, I'd like to advertise for some friends of mine who's work I find enjoyable. This group of young adults, most of them Austinites, write for a blog they call Loco Nunca and write from the perspective of "Generation Y". Their work is hilarious, a little obscene but worth reading if you like to identify with youth culture in a humorous way.

Their topics range from music and art to sex, politics, partying and fashion.  Some of their entries are rants, others reviews, but what's great about their site is that they have a variety of writers who all offer a different opinion on the topics of today's youth culture.

Alongside the writing, Loco Nunca also throws sponsored parties and makes videos, just to better capture the essence of youth culture in Austin. 

Check out some of their work, or join them tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz as they submit one of their short films in the first annual Alamo Public Access.

My ACL Rebound

ACL isn't happening for me this year. Choosing not to go this year will break my six year streak of attending the festival, but I don't mind too much. I've seen Kings of Leon a few times and I'm sure Karen O. is amazing live, but not worth scrounging the 60 bucks for her and the other small bands playing on Friday. Oh, but the big kicker for me was that there will be no Lily Allen at the festival as originally planned.

What I'm really stoked for this year is FunFunFun Fest. It's at Waterloo Park and the idea of a music festival in November is appealing to me on many levels. No sweaty dancing bodies or or sun burns to worry about. Plus, it's a lot more affordable than ACL. If you're a student and you buy tickets in September they're only $67 for the weekend (regular priced weekend wristbands are $75/ $45 for a day). This turns out to be a pretty good deal with 90+ bands playing.

I'll tell you  who I'm most excited to see...

Mikey Rocks and Chuck English of The Cool Kids playing on Saturday evening.

What's really awesome about the festival is that each of the four stages are organized by the genre of the artists that will be performing on them: indie, punk, singer/songwriter, and dance/hip-hop. The festival is November 7th and 8th. See you there.