Dustin Vegas - The Austinot

Austin State Hospital Hosts Easter Egg Hunts and 5K Race

April 5, 2012 by Dustin Vegas 1 Comment

The Easter season has finally arrived. The gray skies are bright blue now and the sun hangs in the sky a bit longer every day. The time has come for Austinites to leave our indoor hibernations and get back into the world. If you are still looking for a reason or way to start dropping those winter pounds, the Austin State Hospital Dash 5k Easter Bunny Run is this Saturday at 8 am. It is a fun three-mile run (or walk – Spring just sprung, after all) to raise awareness of and money for people living with mental illnesses.

The race will take place at the Austin State Hospital, 4110 Guadalupe. This is smack-dab in the middle of Hyde Park, which is one of Austin’s most beautiful neighborhoods. Trust me; I live ’round them parts. The race is between 45th and 35th Street and Lamar and Guadalupe. The course winds through the heavily-shaded hospital grounds. [Read more…]

The Blanton – A Great Austin Museum For UTexas Students

April 3, 2012 by Dustin Vegas 4 Comments

Visiting an Austin museum can be a rare experience for UTexas students who would rather spend their downtime on 6th Street. The Blanton Museum of Art, however, is something every Longhorn should take the time to see. I spent an afternoon walking around the museum to pin down exactly why I love it so much. If you haven’t been, I definitely encourage you to spend some time enjoying its many exhibits.

The museum is ever-changing and alive because Blanton’s collection grows and changes all the time. No two visits to the Blanton Museum are the same. I remember visiting their Turner to Monet exhibition once and, despite my deep respect for the 19th century masters, intended to skip the exhibit during my next visit. But alas, the museum had moved on to a new exhibit by the time I returned! The museum has exhibited everything from famous portraits to Central American folk art. [Read more…]

Black Star Co-op Serves Austin Food, Beer and Democracy

March 28, 2012 by Dustin Vegas 7 Comments

Black Star Co-op is a revolutionary new Austin brewpub. So when I was told to review their food and beer, I solemnly bowed my head to the orders of Austinot Eric.

What can I say, we all must sacrifice occasionally. Neither stout nor IPA nor pilsner nor gloom of porters will stay this blogger from the swift completion of his appointed rounds.

Since its opening in 2010, Black Star Co-op has built its reputation around mixing the novel and traditional.

First, the business is a co-operative. All of its members, from top to bottom, own part of the business. All decisions are made through a democratically-controlled voting system. The first community-owned brewpub in America, one of Black Star’s tenets is to pay each employees a living wage, so they will respectfully decline if you try to tip them.

And you can become a shareholding member of Black Star as well! A hundred and fifty bucks gets you a membership. That means voting power, patronage ref [Read more…]

Kick Butt Coffee Closed In Triangle; Still Kickin On Airport

March 26, 2012 by Dustin Vegas 16 Comments

In the words of Douglas Adams: “Don’t panic.” Kick Butt Coffee is not closed for good. It just left The Triangle and went back to its roots.

Kick Butt Coffee’s empty space in The Triangle stands out like a missing tooth. The coffee shop’s here-today-gone-tomorrow departure has left a lot of people scratching their heads: “Is the business gone forever?”

Thankfully, the answer is no. Kick Butt Coffee’s Triangle location is gone, due to unfortunate financial circumstances. However, their Airport Blvd. location remains all the more kickin’.

I first wandered into the doors of Kick Butt Coffee on Airport almost three years ago. I was in the throes of a hard night’s [Read more…]

UTexas Memes – A Picture Course For Longhorns

March 21, 2012 by Dustin Vegas Leave a Comment

“What exactly is a meme?” fellow UTexas Longhorns often ask me.

Picture me stuttering and pursing my lips. Of course I know what a meme is, but it’s not the simplest thing to describe. Nonetheless, I feel that it is my duty to provide a quick introductory course as a Longhorn and avid Internet-goer.

UTexas Memes is a massive Facebook page (Click HERE to see it). Many of the people who like the page, however, could benefit from understanding how the page came to be.

An Internet meme is a bit of information that has achieved viral state in the Internet community. Usually the information is funny, but not always (cough-Chuck Testa-cough).

Regardless of the information’s content, the only real qualification for meme-hood is that the information is repeated and kept relevant for a significant amount of time.

A meme can be a video, a picture, a website, or even just a saying. A meme of rapper XZIBIT immortalized [Read more…]

The Tao of Zilker – Philosophy And SXSW 2012 Events

March 18, 2012 by Dustin Vegas 2 Comments

SXSW involved choosing between countless events for me. There were endless decisions to make – where to eat, who to listen to, what films to see. People could not stop talking about which artists were worth their time and money.

After a week of decisions and complex plans, my friends and I took some time off from the festival. We had to find our bearings again. So we made for a simpler place – Zilker Park.

We knew that we had to change how we approached SXSW. All the calculating and planning had exhausted us.

This was an opportunity to use something I learned about while studying philosophy at UT Austin. Instead of making all those decisions ourselves, we decided to follow the “Tao of Zilker.” [Read more…]

Experiencing SXSW Like a Local – A Guide for the Perplexed

March 13, 2012 by Dustin Vegas 13 Comments

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It’s halftime for South by Southwest (SXSW) 2012 in Austin, Texas. By now, you have played with the latest technology and software on the market. You have wined and dined at the swankiest parties and after parties. The film segment of SXSW is rolling along and the music segment just began. So much to do. So many choices.

Three things remain constant no matter where the festival takes you:

You gotta eat, you gotta drink, and you gotta get around town. So do as the locals do – live like an Austinite.

You can’t expect to party hard on an empty stomach. Luckily for you, Austin is famous for it’s local food stands.

People sell gourmet-style cuisine from their trailers, trucks and even smart cars. And we’re not talking about grimy peddlers trying to [Read more…]

People Watching at SXSW 2012

March 13, 2012 by Dustin Vegas Leave a Comment

Forget meeting people at the SXSW parties. People watching is the best way to experience all the different personalities SXSW brings to Austin.

There was a soft, hungover buzz in the air when I began watching my fellow festival-goers today. The city stirred back to life after yet another night of company-sponsored parties and after parties. Crushed Monster and Red Bull cans lined the sidewalks like breadcrumbs back to Sixth Street. I watched bleary-eyed twenty-somethings in suits stagger from their hotel rooms and toward the Convention Center.

You can tell a lot about these people. Despite their partying, they have the self-determination to get themselves out of bed the next morning. These are the movers and shakers of my generation. They burn the candle from both ends. Interactive technology is a new and powerful market to capture, so only the smartest and most dedicated people can handle the lifestyle.

Sixth Street is eerily quiet as tourists wander zombie-like from their hotel rooms.

The quiet hum of the morning slowly grew into a roar as people flooded into the streets and toward their [Read more…]

Mel Brooks’ Broadway Musical Young Frankenstein In Austin!

March 7, 2012 by Dustin Vegas 1 Comment

Check out what is coming to Austin this weekend. Young Frankenstein, the side-splitting Broadway musical, will be on stage live at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

The Austinot will be spending an evening in the castle of Dr. Frankenstein – oops, I mean Fronkensteen – and his snarky servant Igor.

Very few stories can compare with the comedic genius of Young Frankenstein. I make a point to watch the movie every year.

A lighthearted parody of the traditional horror genre, the story revolves around Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, the grandson of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein.

A well-known medical lecturer and teacher, Frederick has done his best to distance himself from his grandfather’s reputation. He even went so far as to change the pronunciation of his last name.

Can you blame him? Not a lot of raised hands when “Dr. Frankenstein” asks [Read more…]

Top 5 Reasons to Visit the Texas State History Museum

March 5, 2012 by Dustin Vegas 1 Comment

The Lone Star State is filled with things to be proud of. One of the factors that contributes significantly to Texas pride is the deep and rich history of the state. If you’re trying to convince your friends that Texas really is the best place in the world, the Bullock Texas State History Museum is for you.

Here are my top five reasons why the Bullock Texas State History Museum is worth experiencing:

1) It is beautiful. Right away, I noticed the giant lone star in its courtyard. The Lone Star symbol came about during the Texas Revolution in the mid-1830s, when Texas won its independence from Mexico. Today, it remains a manifestation of independence and the Texan fighting spirit.

Powerful without being ostentatious, the museum’s star says a lot about the Texas state of mind. I could not help but gawk at its elegance and size.

Behind the star is the larger-than-life museum. Massive stone pillars run from floor to ceiling, interspaced by crystal clear windows. I half-expected to [Read more…]

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