Austin, TX

It is a walking city for much of it. Just be careful, there are large cows wandering everywhere. Not to worry though, once football season is over they heard these "cheerleaders" back into the fields and things go back to normal.

I recommend visits to:

Freebirds World Burrito
Amy's Ice Cream
Alamo Drafthouse (a local theater chain)

Bruno, are you going to BNAT?

Rent a car. It will make things easier.

I would advise trying to stay downtown. If you have the money, the Driscoll (sp?) or the Steven F. Austin are excellent hotels. If not, the South Congress Street area has some cheaper motels which are cool and funky.

Try and hit the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown. Get an Austin Chronicle when you get to town and see what movies are playing or go to www.drafthouse.com.

If you are gonna be here this weekend, they are filming crowd scenes for the new Tommy Lee Jones film, "Cheer Up." Go to www.beinamovie.com for more details. It is probably not too late to get in it.

Austin360.com is the local "official" website. You might check it for other stuff coming up.

Bob Bullock Museum is the cool state museum with a neat interactive film experience. The LBJ Museum at UT is also a pretty good one to go to.

If you have a macabre view of the world, you might also want to check out the Tower at UT since that is where Charlie Whitman held up and took out quite a few people.

Hit 6th Street after dark for the bar scene. 6th Street is like Bourbon and Beale Street combined, only clean and safe.

For food, yeah World Burrito is definately good. Amy's Ice Cream is excellent especially the Mexican Vanilla or the Shiner Ice Cream. You might want to check out Stubb's BBQ too. Alamo Drafthouse serves food as well which is pretty good. Bitter End Brewey has really good food and beer, but it can be a little pricey.

There are other places I can recommend, but it all depends on where you are staying and what you are up to. Feel free to PM me or e-mail me at caseybear74@aol.com. If I don't know it, I will try and find it for you.

Have a great time when you come here.

Bruno, I look forward to seeing you. BNAT 5 this year... it's going to be something else.

Hey Bruno, I don't know of an address. I know where they film which is the Austin Studios at the old Robert Mueller Airport. I have also tried to find a physical address.

From what I know though, they are a very close knit group, much more like a family than a company. I worked this summer with a guy who is in the mix with them. He said its a great team, and they are all very close. Very hard to get a job with them since no one wants to leave.

Austin Studios is run by the Austin Film Society. You can reach them at http://www.austinfilmsociety.com. Troublemakers site is http://www.troublemakerstudios.com/.

You might also check with the Texas Film Commission.

Nordling, you know any physical address besides Austin Studios?

Let me know how staying at the Austin Motel is. I have heard its pretty cool. You will need either a car or someone to give you a ride to BNAT. Sorry I won't be there, but I will be in Vegas celebrating my birthday and my best friend's birthday with my kuyas (big brothers).

Oh, and you might also want to eat at Hut's for some great Hamburgers.

Well, how was it? After reading all the coverage I really wish I had stayed home and gone. Looks like it was damn good stuff.

Anybody out at the line at Gateway? Just wondering. Unfortunately, I am stuck here teaching today. Not very happy since I am in a class I am not suppossed to even be teaching. Well, Nordling or anybody else out there, throw a post up if you can and let me know how cool it is. I am gonna need it to get me through the day.