Classic stars, on a sliver screen, under a golden moon

Some movies are at their best when they are shown on the silver screen. That's why I don't mind when local cinemas feature classics like Gone with the Wind, or newer classics like Jurrasic Park. Drive-in theaters may seem like a thing of the past, but Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-In is bringing the past to the present.

I had never been to a drive-in before, and I was super excited when I found out that Austin had one. We loaded up the car with bags of popcorn, candy and of course a bottle of wine. The double-feature playing that night just happened to be two of my favorite movies, Grease and Dazed and Confused. I mean what other movie could be better to watch in a drive-in other than Grease?

Blue Starlite brought the fun of decades before by playing old convienient stand advertisements, and they also offered old silver window speakers. Most people blew up thier vehicle speakers with the movie's audio streaming on an FM radio channel. Sitting in the back of my friend's car gave the movie watching experience an awesome surround sound effect.


In general I think movie theaters are a magical place where you can get lost in someone else's life and forget about your own for a couple of hours. At the drive-in the atmosphere and environment is even more dazzling. I feel it's how movie's were meant to be seen, with people interacting with each other and singing out loud to "Summer Lovin'" with neighboring cars or clinking beer cans, or wine glasses, with complete strangers.

Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-In is fun for the whole family, a date night or a girls/bros night out. You can't go wrong sitting under the big and bright Texas stars watching one of your all-time favorite movies.

Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-In
Date Night featuring True Lies
8:30p., Thu, May 23
$25-$35
Old Airport
1901 E. 51st St
www.bluestarlitedrivein.com

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We Danced. We Walked. We Danced-Walked!

Dancing. Urban Dictionary defines this terms as,"the act of elaboratly flailing around your apendages in an attempt to impress or entertain someone or a group of people." Well that's exactly what went down in downtown this past Saturday. This local-group discovery is possibly the coolest thing I have done thus far in the city. Where I met them? meetup.com. Who are they? Dance Walk! Austin.

A couple of awesome ladies, Sarah Wright and Meaghan Hurley, started up the group after watching the YouTube video posted above. Basically, Dance Walking is exactly what it sounds like. There are jams blasting from a speaker in a backpack and a group of dancing queens and kings shaking their thangs.

Every two weeks the group meets up at a different location in the city. Dance Walk! Austin's first meet up had dance-walkers busting moves down South Congress Avenue, and two weeks later the group hit up the streets of downtown. I made it to the downtown get-down and had a blast. The great thing about Dance Walk is everyone who shows up is stoked to dance like a fool and have a good time doing it.

Dance-walkers, from a range of ages, walked for about an hour and got a ton of encouragement from cars driving by. We even wrangled a couple of people to dance with us. Sadly the speaker gave out on us, but that didn't stop the dance party. Our little crowd continued to dance and sang songs aloud. At one point we were dancing along with the music from the Pubcrawlers found in downtown.
Word has it that a new speaker will be joining the group at its next meet-up. The upcoming dance-walk will be over the South Congress Bridge while the bats fly out for the night. Batty-apparel is encouraged, which I am more than sure dance-walkers will be dressed in their best and most eye-catching dance-walking wear. Dance-walk is not only a great way to get your workout on, but it's an even better way to dance the streets of the city with some pretty fun peeps without feeling like a complete weirdo.
 
Dance Walk! Goes Batty on the Bridge
7p., Thu. May, 16
Ego's Bar
510 S Congress Ave

www.meetup.com/Dance-Walk-Austin

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Wieners, the fastest are in Texas

Wieners' ready? On your mark! Get set! Go! That's not something you hear everyday, but every last weekend in April the race is on for Dachshund dogs. The Buda, TX wiener dog races attract over hundreds of adorable wiener dogs who race for $500 and, of course, ultimate doggy glory.

These pups, though they are little, are fierce competitors. Owners of the racing wieners spend all year training their lean mean racing canines for race day. Each dog is put in their own lane-box and enthusiastically wait for their gates to open. It seems that bribery is the trick to get dogs running like the wind. Owners bust out their pets' favorite treats, toys and doggy sweet talking to pump-up their pups to dash to the finish line.

There are two days of racing that lead up to the final six fastest wieners. This year, the champion wiener was back-to-back champ Boomer. His owners, Brad Lawson and Jennifer Candeloria, went home with a pretty impressive trophy. Yet, it was a well earned win with all the tough competition out on the racing track. Some dogs get so excited they end up running into their competitors lane and basically tackle them out of the race.

Tons of other breeds of dogs cheer on their racing friends along with their owners. Each year the Buda Lions Club, who sponsor the wiener races, pick a unique theme for the annual event. This year's theme was called Les Wienerables after the play “Les Misérables.” Most people dress up their pets according to the theme. Past themes have included Teenage Mutant Ninja Wieners, Lord of the Wieners and Gone With the Wieners.
The wiener races may be no Kentucky derby, but it's a fun way to get into the competitive-racing mood and maybe try your luck on betting on a couple of wieners.

Buda Annual Wiener Dog Races
$3, Kids FREE
Buda, TX
www.budalions.com

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Don't mess with a Texas girl on skates

In the 1930s an endurance race was held in Chicago where skaters would skate over 3,000 miles around a track. Two skaters from each team were required to be skating at all times, or the team would be disqualified. Teams would sleep on cots in the middle of the track during the race, which consisted of eleven and a half hour daily skating sessions. With time, the endurance race turned into a sport that involved a bit more roughness, which we now call roller derby.

 Texas Roller Derby a hit in Austin 














More than a decade ago some feisty Austin women revamped the sport which has now spread worldwide in popularity. Today roller derby is one of the toughest contact sports I've ever seen women play. Not only are they zooming round and round a track on roller skates, but they are also full-on body bashing each other.

Luckily, for me, I moved to Austin in perfect timing, because the Texas Roller Girls' season was underway. I was first introduced to the sport by watching the movie Whip It. I figured there were two things required to play roller derby, toughness and be a complete bad ass.

After experiencing my first roller derby the girls competing were exactly what I thought, completely awesome. I was able to catch two bouts, or rounds, at the Texas Roller Girls' derby. The Hot Rod Honeys took on the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers, and 2012 champions the Hell Marys battled it out with 2011 champions the Hustlers.

At first I was a little confused about the rules, all I knew was the girl with the star on her helmet scored the points, but after a while I caught on. Basically the game is played with four blockers and a jammer. The blockers try to prevent the other team's jammer from passing them, and they also help their jammer score points by blocking the other team's blockers. Each opposing player the jammer passes is one point.

Sounds simple enough right, well these girls have a ton of guts and endurance to stay on the track. The blockers take huge hits and give them right back. I was most impressed with the jammers who would fling themselves into a chaos of bodies that were sometimes three times the size of their own, and they still manged to get out of the herd on eight wheels. 

My favorite part were the derby names the players chose, like SlaughterMelon, Meow Meow Kitty Karnage and Flash Gorgeous. That night I became a fan of BabyFace Assassin, she was a showstopper in my book. She was a jammer that stood 4 feet and 10 inches tall and dominated most of the jams (plays) that night. She was swift and sneaky and most of the time left the other team's blockers eating her dust.

The roller derby experience was right up my alley, because it involved a rowdy environment, an awesome competitive sport, and well, the beer didn't hurt either. There are four more bouts left in the season, and its a very smart idea to catch one before the season is done. It is a unique way to spend an evening with good peeps, and watch talented and ruthless girls duke it out on roller skates.

Texas Rollergirls' Next Bout
5p., Sat, May 11
$12-$25, Kids FREE
Austin Convention Center
500 East Cesar Chavez St
www.texasrollergirls.org 





 

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Starting your week off $#ITY, not such a bad idea

Picture this; a bar that looks like it might of been a church at some point, a piece of wood with BINGO numbers painted on it and a crowd all staring at a chicken waiting for it to poop. Sounds a little Hick right? Well it might be, but it's just good Texas fun. At first when I heard of this event I thought to myself, "what the hell, people find this entertaining, I have to check it out." I must say, Chicken $#IT BINGO is the place to be on a Sunday afternoon folks. It's definitely an experience like no other.

I'm a small town girl. My hometown has a population of 9,000 people, and the key of surviving growing up in a place like this is self-entertainment. With that being said I've seen a bunch of odd things that people do to keep entertained, like catching a lizard and racing it at Lovington's World's Greatest Lizard Race. I grew up hunting deers,doves and squirrels with my dad and brother and watching rooster fights. So I know what it's like to find strange things entertaining.

Ginny' Little Longhorn Saloon brings in rowdy locals for an evening of putting your luck literally on chicken $#IT. The game starts off with the purchasing of a BINGO number. The numbers sale out fast so be sure to get in line as quickly as possible, but if you miss the first game no worries you can still play in one of the next two rounds. I missed out on the first round, but I was still able to join the fun and watch the chicken make its mark on someone's lucky number.

The first round lasted quite a while, because the chicken was not cooperating. Who can blame it, if I was under that much pressure to do my business in a way too crowded bar, with all eyes on me, I'd freeze up too. Especially with a crowd enthusiastically cheering me on to poop. The problem was solved
when a second chicken was thrown in the game and had no problem relieving itself on the winning number.

I stuck around for one more round and bought a ticket to try my luck, sadly I had a non-$#ITY number that didn't win. Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon is a true Texan bar with live country music and great deals on booze. Lone Star beer does taste much better when it's only two bucks. Chicken $#IT BINGO is an event you have come out and try if you're in the area. You won't regret it and I'll guarantee you'll leave with a good story to tell about the time you started your week off $#ITY and you didn't mind it one bit.

Chicken $#IT BINGO
5p-8p., Sundays
Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon, (512) 407-8557
5434 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX 78756

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