I was off from my day job and felt totally lethargic all day, although I was able to hammer out a review for "March of the Penguins," I just couldn't seem to get in mode to write a review for "Roll Bounce" or write up Day One of AFF. Hell, I didn't even hop in the shower of brush my teeth.

My plan was to skip "The Ice Harvest" at the Paramount, in order to go to the screening room at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel and see "The Ape." I had looked this one up and indeed the writer/director/star of the film, James Franco, was the hottie from the "Spider-Man" movies and he was supposedly going to be in attendance.

It was already getting dark when I walked down Congress from my parking spot. There were thousands of birds in the trees making the most godawful chirping and squawking noises. I was glad I didn't part under a tree. I also got to pass one of Austin's notorious homeless person on South Congress, just steps away from the state capitol building, who walked past me mutter obscenities in a loud voice. Ah... so wonderful how the local color of the citizens really emerge on the street when the Republicans are in office.

The lines were just going into the Paramount and for a moment I thought about just going in there to see "Ice Harvest." but I figured it would be to crowded and I was stick to my original plan.

I went into the hotel, which is literally next door to the Paramount, and went up the stairs to where the conference room turned into a screening room was last year. There was a line of about 20 people.

An attractive young woman got in line behind me and then a guy in a wheelchair with two women accompanying him rolled up. I was sort of standing around brain-dead and eavesdroping. The girl was from Ohio and she said she had went in the Paramount because she had Mapquested the address of the theater and saw the lines. She was pleased at how many people were coming to see a competition film before she realized she was in the wrong theater and came over to the hotel. They continued to talk and the wheelchair guy said he had won his tickets by being the thirteenth caller to KLBJ and answering a trivia question. The girl asked him what the question was and he told her it was "What is the definition of chaos" and when she asked what his answer was, he said, "Texas." This gave me a wide grin.

He continued to say that it also meant "Friend" and "Strong Protector." Finally I snapped that the question wasn't "What is the definition of chaos" but "What is the definition of Tejas." I laughed and told them about my misunderstanding. The guy was telling the girl that he thought he won more for being the right caller than having the answer they were looking for.

I sat up close to the screen as is my wont. The girl from Ohio sat where I wanted to, in the second row, and so I sat behind her so as not to seem a weirdo. Guys were immediately sniffing around her as she was quite beautiful. Within a minute or two, a thirty-something attractive man was sitting next to me and we began to talk about the future of film and exhibition. We had a ten minute conversation about Mark Cuban (this guy seemed to like reading Cuban's blog) and Soderbergh and the issues that have come up recently regarding the lackluster box office like price, noisy patrons, kids and cheap DVD prices. The guy was nice and the conversation interesting.

A guy from KLBJ, I think it was the same guy who introduced "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" last night, got up and introduced the film and told us Franco would be there after the film for a Q&A. Then there was a funny little short called "Indians vs. Vikings" that seemed to be made just for the festival. Then there was the standard AFF trailer with Troy Grant in L.A. that I described in Day One and there was the "Wiener" cell phone animation as well.

This was followed by what seemed like another AFF introductory piece called "How I Write in 60 Seconds" or something like that which used interesting cut and paste CGI animation and a film noir narrator to describe the torturous process of writing in an amusing yet edgy way. It was quite clever.

After the film, Franco and his producer did a short Q&A. I tried to take so pictures but I was too far away and there wasn't enough light. Franco was dressed in a three-piece suit with a pink silk tie. He seemed extraordinarily shy and rarely look anywhere but at the floor or to the ceiling. He reminded me enormously of James Dean for some reason.

Afterwards, people kinda congregated at the front of the room and took pictures of him. I made my way over to the Paramount for the showing of "The Dying Gaul." I met up with Johnny Oh!, who was coming to see the film with me, and saw my friend Jett who runs the Paramount Box Office. He actually came outside to talk to me. I really like Jett, so I was glad he had time to talk. I certainly don't want to bug him at work.

I went inside and saw my friend Jan and we talked about "The Ice Harvest." Jan never stays for Q&A's for some reason (they are rather tedious and drab sometimes) but told me that Harold Ramis had been there for the introduction of the film. Ramis was being honored by AFF this year and in addition to his new film, "Ice Harvest," they were showing "Ghostbusters" on Saturday night. A lady next to Jan, when we were discussing the Q&A, said about Ramis, "He did a good job."

Within a few moments, another guy from KLBJ was onstage and introduced the film.

There was no Q&A, so we left after the end credits and went to Katz's for a late dinner. There were a lot of cuties there, as usual, but the waiter we had was a disaster. He didn't bring my salad until he brought out all our food and we were sitting at a tiny little table. He could tell I was pissed and actually asked me if I wanted him to put my meal up under a heat lamp. I said, "No, that's not what I want" and he didn't get it. He wasn't smart enough to just wait to bring it out and let it sit under the lamps without telling me. What a dumbass. I left him a smaller tip - under 15%

I drove home and it was about 2:30 am. The bars were closed and people were driving back to their homes. At the stoplight at Riverside and 35, a cab was sitting in the lane next to me and one car up. All of a sudden the back door on the driver's side opened and a gorgeous young blonde in an expensive black strapless evening gown tossed her head out and began vomiting profusely. I went into hysterics. I was overjoyed. I went crazy laughing and clapping. With each upchuck it was as if a tremendous weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Her chundering was like a glorious regurgitation of all the tension and stress I had been feeling lately.

It was magical.

Lodger @ AFF2005