"Much Ado about Nothing" is really something!

A friend of ours produced "Much Ado About Nothing" in a local park the other night and we took some photos-- "Tube be or not tube be?"

Flamingo-- not flamenco

This flamingo head is part of the costumery for the Ballet Austin production of Alice in Wonderland.

Princess dog

Lots of people had on cool costumes the other day at the Dog Walk -- this lady and her pup were no exception.

Flash Back

There was a car show at Westwood Country Club last Saturday. This gal decided to add authenticity to the old TBird by wearing the poodle skirt and saddle shoes. Vintage!

Turkeys Ready to Trot

Don't you love the runs where people get into costumes? Before the start of the Turkey Trot.

Balloon Costume

There was a large Gay Pride Parade on Saturday night. Like this balloon costume.

The Art of the Bra

On Saturday night we attended the Breast Cancer Resource Centers annual Art Bra runway show and gala. The bras are made by local artists and modeled by breast cancer survivors. FFP shot this picture of some of the gals who were roaming the floor in their art bras plus themed outfits. This is a wonderful organization providing much-needed patient support to navigate treatments and choices.

Bodies on the Street

At the risk of getting hits from people looking for something other than the 'fine art' this blog usually promotes, I offer a picture of some folks our friend Jackie encountered on the way home from dinner last night. Not sure what this has to do with music/film/interactive/comedy/fashion (the things I know they are trying to cover now in this SXSW festival) but Jackie encountered this uruly crowd of body-stockinged people who were eager to be photographed. According to Jackie: "They were advertising some sort of noninvasive liposuction (oxymoron?) called coolsculpting." She says they were trying to lure people to a WEB site to win an iPad3. (Which we all know is actually and simply 'the new iPad.') Why is that gadget the prize of choice for such come-ons? SXSW is becoming the hot bed of promotions of all kinds. This same group was projecting some film of people disrobing on the side of a building when we walked home.

Guarding Snacks

We went to the Symphony Pops concert over the holidays and these troopers were out to here the music featured: that of John Williams! I'm not much of a Stars Wars fan but these visitors were causing quite a stir.

Turkey Hot Dog

At first I didn't get it but then I realized it was a turkey hot dog costume. Dog was patient with his owners and the costume but barked convincingly at us.

Ready to Trot

One of the biggest 'fun runs' (and walks and kid's K) of the year is the Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot. Thanksgiving icons ready to trot this morning.

That Time of Year

Yeah, it's that time of year when you might find a monster riding shotgun. The driver was either in Starbucks or OfficeMax.

Who Else Ran the Cap 10K?

A group of Gumbys (but no Pokeys). The costumes are a big part of the fun. Gumby was the original claymation character.

Costume Party

Thursday we went to a costume party. Our friends at Fonda San Miguel restaurant closed the place and offered up a party for a lot of friends. They indicated that festive Mexican garb or masks would be appropriate. That's FFP in a Lucha Libre mask and a friend posing for my iPhone.

Great Costume, Ben

Another from the Rally to Restore Sanity. Her sign is a quote from Ben Franklin. It is a fact...the calm, productive folks don't garner much attention. Thanks, Jackie, for these great pictures.

The Avatar Moment

OK, Halloween is over but I couldn't resist showing you the costumes the stylists wore at my friend Jackie's salon. Besides...that 3D Avatar craze is still going, right? I was so lazy about getting Austinite costumes this year I thought I'd offer this pictureup. And Austinites do love costumes as this shows. The stylists are (front and center) Stella Amaker and (reflected in the mirror) Cindy Candeles. Isn't that a great tail? Thanks, Jackie, for being our eyes around Austin.

American Icons are a Little Battered

Local Rally to Restore Sanity participants taken by our friend Jackie. Jackie got some great shots of people's calm and reassuring signs, too, but today I thought I'd show you this couple looking like a happy and resilient (bloodied but unbowed) Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam. Jackie didn't get your names, but if you want to be identified and see this, let us know! Thanks for posing. I think this is the perfect metaphor...Americans have never really been given to calm discourse but they keep coming back. The idea of a demonstration for calm discourse? Priceless.

Sidewalk Ostrich

These gals were in front of Whole Foods downtown one day and appeared to be promoting something...I'm guessing ostrich meat? We were on the opposite side of the street so we never found out!

Feeling Run Down?

During SXSW the Energizer bunny and some of his helpers did a promotion on Congress Avenue. You needed fresh batteries for the festival, that's for sure.

Book Worm

Yesterday we went to a lunch fund raiser given by the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas where there was much frivolity and an adult spelling bee. This is the Half Price Books book worm cheering on his team. The words spelled ranged from easy (gadfly) to harder (philippic and hibernaculum) to hardest (cnidarian). That last word was funny on many levels. Including the fact that Ron Oliveira of KEYE-TV who was the pronouncer gave the definition a couple of times and, each time, said it was a 'radically' symmetrical animal. This gave us all pause wondering was a radically symmetrical animal could be (a bookworn perhaps?) until a bright friend of mine said 'it is radially symmetrical!' Oh, yes. Like a squid. Ron otherwise did a great job in the acoustically difficult Austin Music Hall. So, yeah, good intellectual fun plus silliness. The Alamo Drafthouse team had pirate costumes and if their word had an 'R' they pronounced it 'errrrr.' I was cheering for their words to have an R!