Travel Review: Austin, TX

Most people who know me know I'm not a fan of Austin - partially for reasons that are out of its control.  For instance, it isn't Austin's fault that the Huskers couldn't beat the Longhorns if UT started a 7th grader at each position.  And Austin didn't ask to be located on I-35, which isn't the Bolivian Road Of Death, but it's close - and has maddening traffic that can spring up out of nowhere and easily turn a nice 3.5 hour drive into a 5+ hour death march.  But getting there is only half the battle.  I've always rooted for the underdog, and Austin is anything but an underdog. It's more like the Miami Heat (go Mavs!).  Everyone, everywhere, loves Austin.  And most descriptions I've heard of Austin start with "Well, it's nothing like Dallas ..."  As someone who lives in and enjoys Dallas (yes, I understand that we have loads of Affliction shirt, bedazzled pocket jeans wearers and $30K millionaires) a part of me just wants to let everyone know that Austin isn't exactly immune to pretentiosity (pretty sure that's not a word ...), and despite what you've heard, isn't Shangri-la, the Fountain of Youth and the Garden of Eden all rolled up into one big happy free love, cheap dope Utopia.  Most people love to eat at chain restaurants, only shop at Whole Foods if it's close to their house, think Pabst Blue Ribbon tastes like crap, and pay way too much for their house.  Part of that isn't really Austin's fault either, though.  It's become such an attractive city that businesses flooded in and the resulting executives want comfortable lives.  The median income level in Austin is $43,000 - more than 25% higher than the national average!  With wealth comes a desire for comfort, and Bohemian living doesn't feel very comfortable when you have Starbucks and Chili's a block away.  In essence, I think people fall in love with an idea of "Austin" that doesn't exist.

HOWEVER ... I went to Austin last weekend for a wedding (congrats, Scott and Jacie!!) and while I was there I thought back over my past three or four trips to Austin, and each one was a super fun trip.  The trailer food parks, the neon signs on South Congress, the wacky bars of Sixth Street, the trees and beautiful Hill Country landscape, hundreds of mom/pop restaurants/coffee shops/clothing shops, the general fitness vibe ... it all adds up to a really fun place to be!  I still can't imagine living there, but I've truly never had a bad - or even a mediocre - time when in Austin.  It's been a fun trip each and every time.  

The rehearsal dinner was held at Abel's on the Lake and was an awesome setting.  It was pretty hot, but the sunset over the water and the coolish breeze helped.  The morning of the wedding, several guys played golf at Butler Pitch and Putt (near Peter Pan mini golf) and had a great time.  The course isn't recommended because of the smooth greens and lush fairways (each tee box was a square of astroturf), but we all still had a great time.  One thing that I appreciate about Austin is that it doesn't always take things seriously.  Every time I've gone to a golf course my goal is to shoot the absolute lowest score I could.  We had a friendly wager on this game, but in reality it was a great time being outside and scores weren't that important.  The wedding was at a place called Mercury Hall, and it was a little building with a nicely shaded outdoor area for the wedding.  Even though it was blazing hot outside the heat and breeze made the evening very bearable and the reception was beautifully decorated.  You can probably guess that the DJ was awesome!  He actually had turntables and everything so he truly mixed the songs and played some great stuff.  The dance floor was generally packed (don't worry - I didn't dance very much) and everyone enjoyed themselves.

So after another fun weekend trip I think it's time for me and Austin to kiss and make up (smoke the peace pipe? how do these things work in Austin?).  I'll admit that from a tourist's perspective it's a fun city with a very active (running/biking) vibe and tons of personality if Austin will admit that some of the personality is contrived and it isn't the center of the universe.  That seems fair, no?

DVD Review: The Dilemma (starring Kevin James and Vince Vaughn)

What would you do if you found out that your best friend's wife was having an affair?  That's Vince Vaughn's "dilemma" in this movie (I'm going to refer to him as Vince, b/c his character's name is Ronny, and let's be honest - it doesn't fit at all).  I'm a huge fan of Vince.  I celebrate his entire catalog, from Swingers (my favorite) to Clay Pigeons (weird) to Couple's Retreat (paycheck).  And for me, he's the reason to see this movie.  Vince and Kevin James are partners in a car engine making business (or something - you can ignore that entire plot line b/c it's nonsense.  Kevin James as a genius engineer?  No thanks.  Queen Latifah as a consultant with creepy sexual metaphors?  More realistic, but triple no thanks.), and they're best friends.  (One non-surprise: Kevin James likes to dance and isn't very good at it!  We've never seen that before, have we?)  James is happily married (it seems) to Winona Ryder and Vaughn is with long-time girlfriend Jennifer Connelly.

Very early in the movie Vaughn learns that James' wife is cheating on him (with admittedly hilarious Channing Tatum) and confronts her.  Through a series of blackmails, amateur spy operations, and other slapstick we learn that each person in the threesome has a skeleton or two that they don't want brought out of the closet. This is where the movie takes a strange turn - it stops being a buddy comedy and becomes a much darker relationship/morality play.  Vaughn struggles with whether to tell James about his wife's wandering eye, while also trying to understand James' own philanders (he like happy ending at local massage parlor).  It's easy to sympathize with him as he tries to process the fact that his "heroes" are both living relationship lies. And I give the movie credit for not romanticizing or glorifying the affair or the massage parlor.  As the stress builds, Vaughn dives into his rambling, funny man schtick with a long, uncomfortable toast at his girlfriend's parent's 40th anniversary party.  Finally, everything comes to a head when an intervention is planned for Vaughn (all of his weird reactions and creepy stalking made people think he was gambling again). The ending wraps up nicely without being trite (again, ignore the Kevin James as genius engineer part).

I personally find Vaughn's wild ramblings hilarious, so I wanted to like this movie.  And I appreciate that they tried to make the actual "dilemma" into a real dilemma without minimizing the impact of an affair.  The casting was appropriate as well because I think by now Winona Ryder has reached the petty crimes Tyson Zone (see Bill Simmons wiki for explanation) and she plays it to the hilt here.  However, there was so much other nonsense going on in the movie (Vaughn's gambling past, the car engine meetings, Queen Latifah), that it had a hard time getting the engine started.  Either it should have been a comedy a la Couple's Retreat, or it should have been a drama and really explored the emotional impact of marital unfaithfulness with occasionally funny lines.  The second option is probably beyond this cast's limitations (I'm looking at you, Paul Blart, Mall Cop), although Connelly was very good as Vaughn's patient girlfriend.