Things to do in Austin

[Written on Friday.]

I’m glad I came into Austin early; for one thing, I’m far better rested this morning than I would be if I’d gotten in last night, and for another thing, it was nice to see Austin. We stayed at the Austin Motel, on South Congress Street, which is pretty clearly the hip area of Austin. Funky stores, good clubs, ice cream, and good Mexican food — what’s not to like?

The rest of Austin kind of weirded us out. I think it’s something to do with the available space. I’m used to compact cities that use all the space available. Austin, you can drive five minutes from the center of the city and it’s practically rural by my coastal standards.

The main college drag is a typical college drag, Sixth Street has lots of bars, the gaming stores are OK, and the SF bookstore seems to be closed.

We hit Pedazo Chunk in the afternoon. It is in fact about as cool as promised. There’s an awesome Asian movie selection, a good horror selection, and so on. We pretty much didn’t want to leave. Harry and his dad dropped by while we were there; he apparently really paid attention to the “admission applications”:, cause he greeted us by name on sight. After much discussion of cinema and the need for Pedazo Chunk to move to Boston, we rented Vidocq and retired for the evening. A Powerbook will serve as a region-free DVD player in a pinch.

Cheap comparison department: if you liked Brotherhood of the Wolf, you’ll like Vidocq. It’s directed by Jeunat’s production director, and it is just lush through and through. The story’s also pretty cool, albeit I think there’s some French political symbolism I’m missing. There is not as much martial arts as there was in Brotherhood, but there are gorgeous French people. Recommended, if it ever comes out on a region 1 DVD.