Things I do or feel like talking about around town.
Hard to catch up with all the stuff I saw. Here are some more photos and videos from last Thursday at South By Southwest (Warning: Extreme close-ups). First, some photos of Ozomatli’s awesome dance circle finale, where they get off stage with the crowd. Then, if you read more, you can see to another video of Bajofondo and one of Ozomatli that didn’t make it into the last post.
At this point I’m feeling the effects of two days of concerts plus longer than usual workdays. But I had to get back to Auditorium Shores to see a classic rock act.
Not only are they still alive and playing, but they currently have the Top Selling 8-track in the World! These guys were playing before I was born… I mean, I thought La Maldita Vecindad looked old but these people make them look like Hanna Montana. I only know a few of their songs yet it was a really good concert.
Video and the rest of the bands if you read more…
Thursday. Destination: Auditorium Shores.
Read more for photos, videos, reviews, and a coupon for 6 McNuggets (expires 3/18/2010).
SXSW is upon us. Last night the Music Festival got started (the Interactive and Film parts start earlier). On the first night I went dowtown with Eli to see the shows at Antone’s. The line was really long and we barely made it in. We only got to see the last two shows of the night. I apologize for the crappier-than-usual photos: I brought my pocket digital camera but not its memory card. I guess the camera wasn’t the only thing in need for better memory. So it’s all crappy iPhone photos/video.
Read more for photos, videos, some words about the bands I saw, and to be automatically entered into a random drawing for $1,000.000USD sponsored by Microsoft and AOL once you have forward this link to all your friends!…
After two very tough acts to follow (Berry Sakharof in 2009 and HaDag Nachash in 2008), the annual Israel Block Party organized by Texas Hillel was held yesterday in UT. All in all it felt like it was less advertised, smaller, emptier, and with less energy than the previous years. Even the usual pro-Palestinian protestors didn’t show up! (or perhaps they left early).
They had a pretty good DJ playing but I don’t know who he is or where they got him from. I did not try the falafel but I did get some free tea, pumpkin seeds, and an army dog tag that does not have my name on it, so I won’t wear it to battle. Did you go?
My office’s window is turning out to be quite the interesting spot. A few days ago I could see smoke from a plane crash. Today I can see some heavy snow. Snow is rare in Austin, Texas. This quantity of snow is even rarer.
Read more for more photos and a short clip.
This afternoon the 5th Annual Kosher Chili Cook-off was held at the JCAA. This is a probably the only kosher chili contest in the world – blending Texan and Jewish culture together (although I’d prefer a kosher BBQ cook-off).
I promised last year to enter for 2010, but due to unforeseen reasons, I did not. Most of the chilies I tried were not very spicy, but there were some good things out there. I’m warming up to the idea of vegetarian chili. What’s wrong with me? Well, perhaps I will enter in 2011.
I didn’t stick around until they announced the winner, so please comment if you know. In the meantime, a few photos after the break.
This is a photo I just took of what is apparently the smoke from a plane crash on MoPac and 183. I took it from the eight floor of my building at work:
There’s not a lot of news out there but KVUE has a report (with video): Apparently a 1-engine Cessna crashed onto the Echelon building.
According to my calculations, in the embedded map you can see how far from me it happened:
[UPDATE]: Two people still unnacounted for. Let’s hope they’re ok!
[UPDATE 1:13 PM]: There was a big column of smoke I could see from my building this morning (before the crash). It was a house on fire. It’s possible that this is the house of the pilot that smashed a plane this morning, Joseph Andrew Stack. His suicide letter is online on his website.
I recently learned about a new Vietnamese restaurant in Austin called Pho King. It sounds way too close to a conjugated form of the f-word. As of this writing, their website still has Lorem ipsum text placeholders and some stock photos. See screenshot below:
The place does exist: here’s the Yelp link. So… is the name an accident? Or a stroke of viral-marketing genius? I’m happy to hear your opinions and reviews in the comments.
As promised, photos from The MKX® 7th Anniversary Bash have been posted to The MKX® Photo Central. Interestingly, this time the date coincided with the New Year’s. Go figure. Enjoy!