Life and Arts

  • Lighting up the town

    By Julie Rene Tran -
    When local sign maker and artist Evan Voyles was a boy, his favorite sign was the Terminix bug. Perched on a pole at the intersection of 12th Street and Lamar Boulevard, the bug fascinated Voyles with its big, glowing lightbulb eyes, metal antenna and huge wings.

  • Novel explores feeling of social disconnect

    By Christopher Nguyen -

    The immigrant experience has become familiar ground for novels in the last decade with Junot Diaz’s “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” and Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories becoming best sellers and widening the scope of American fiction so much so that it has become almost commonplace to read. Even though Dinaw Mengestu’s latest novel “How to Read the Air” tells another story about cultural divide and immigration, it excites readers with its clarity and confidence in delineating the separation of being American yet still so foreign to your country.

  • Novel explores feeling of social disconnect

    By Christopher Nguyen -

    The immigrant experience has become familiar ground for novels in the last decade with Junot Diaz’s “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” and Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories becoming best sellers and widening the scope of American fiction so much so that it has become almost commonplace to read. Even though Dinaw Mengestu’s latest novel “How to Read the Air” tells another story about cultural divide and immigration, it excites readers with its clarity and confidence in delineating the separation of being American yet still so foreign to your country.

  • Comedian to perform in Austin

    By Sarah Pressley -

    With final exams beginning to loom over us, many students may benefit from a break and a night of laughter. Comedian John Oliver’s performance this weekend may help.

  • Ballet barre workouts gain popularity

    By Addie Anderson -

    Barres are becoming more and more popular across the country as a tool for exercise. Not the drinking kind of bars, but the ballet barre, which is now being used for workout classes that claim to create a more toned and trim physique.
     

  • Fans to hallow latest Potter movie

    By Katie Stroh -

    The Harry Potter movie franchise has always been flawed, both for casual viewers and die-hard, ultra-critical fans of the book. Screenwriter Steve Kloves usually manages to anger the die-hards by watering down plot points, misattributing character motivations and inventing his own uninspired dialogue where J.K. Rowling’s would have served infinitely better. At the same time, Kloves often confuses casual moviegoers by providing abysmally muddled plot exposition.

  • Memoir by Jay-Z examines rapper’s beliefs, childhood

    By Ali Breland -

    From even before its release, rapper Jay-Z made it apparent that his new memoir, “Decoded” was going to be an ambitious piece of work through its extremely unique marketing campaign. HiphopDX, reported that in efforts to create buzz about the book, excerpts were to be featured in random places ranging from the bottom of hotel pools, to the sides of buildings, to subways, to pool tables. In typical Jay-Z fashion, the product ends up living up to the hype.

  • Austinite steps into shoe industry

    By Julie Rene Tran -

    The afternoon sun hammers onto the tannish storage unit that’s sits next to Helm’s business office as owner Joshua Bingaman carries meter high stacks of cardboard shoeboxes from it and loads them onto the bed of a vintage, light blue GMC truck. The boxes hold Bingaman’s prized handmade men leather boots and shoes and were on their way to Stag, a local, men’s apparel and lifestyle brand and store.

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