I checked my mail before I left for the Paramount at 3:30 and found a new DVD copy of Dave Stewart's "Confinement" in my box. Stewart is one of the many indie filmmakers who have sent me their movies in the past few weeks and I have gotten really behind in watching them. I tried to watch his before the festival started but the DVD only played about an hour before it hung up. I was kinda enjoying it, so I asked Stewart to send me another one. It's going to be at least a week before I can get to it.

I stopped at the Wendy's by the freeway at 6th Street and grabbed a quick burger and a drink. I knew the restaurants downtown around Congress would be closed and I mentioned this to Johnny at some point. Better get some food in me before a full day of movie watching, I thought.

I got to the Paramount right on time and saw my friend Jett working in the box office. Then I went in and sat down front. All of Harry Knowles "kids" were there including Rav and a guy that I think is "Quirt" on his site, but I may be mistaken. I saw my friend Jan and said hello. Jan and I discussed the end of "Brick" where a girl whispers something in Joey Gordon-Leavitt's ear and, just like in "Lost in Translation," we are not privy to what she says. (Spoiler alert!) This has happened when the girl has told JGL that his ex-girlfriend had had an abortion before she died. This is a surprise to JGL. A character later asks JGL what the girl said and he replies, "She called me a dirty word." I think she calls him a "faggot" and tells him that she knows it couldn't have been his baby. She may have called him a "virgin" implying the same thing.

Johnny came in before the movie started. There's this concessionist at the Paramount that he likes and Johnny has written his phone number of the back of a business card to give the guy. I guess, in a way, I admire this attempt at boldness but it is hardly anything that I would ever do. Stuff like that is always doomed to failure. Anyway, I've never seen this concessionist but I've tried to look for him. There is a cute little fey boy who wears a "Falloutboy hat" that I like that works in the concession stand there. (I call it a "Falloutboy hat" because the lead singer of that band wears a cap like that in one -or maybe most - of their videos. ) I asked Johnny if it was the guy with the cap but he said he didn't think so. There were no other cute boys back there. Who was this mysterious boy whom I never saw that Johnny was so enamored with that he would want to give him his number?

A volunteer came out to introduced the film and hype the facts that Mary Stewart Masterson would be at the Monday night screening of "The Sisters;" writer/director Ben Younger would be at the screening of "Prime;" and, finally, that the film "R-Point" would not be showing and that it had been replaced with the film "Abnormal Beauty." All of this was not news to me as I had checked out the AFF website the night before. This year's website for AFF was incredible. They teamed up with some company called B-Side Entertainment and had incorporated scheduling and blogs to the site, so you can go on the festival schedule and pic movies and create you own schedule. Also, you can go on to the site after you see a film and blog about it. And their e-mails were coming daily to inform their audience of changes and special events and stuff. Electronically, AFF is reaching new heights this year. I am impressed.

After the film, Johnny was hungry, so we walked all up and down Congress looking for a place for him to get some food. The Hideout and Little City were open but both places only had little cakes and cookies and such even though they both supposedly serve food. When we were in The Hideout, two guys were discussing "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and one of them said, "He hit it out of the park," meaning Shane Black. What an idiot. If he hit it out of the park, it was a foul ball popped up over the catcher's head and behind the backstop.

Oh, and as we left the Paramount lobby, he pointed out the guy he has been swooning over for days now. This guy is nothing. Nothing. Sure, he's sort of Johnny's type but he isn't particularly cute or sexy or beautiful. He isn't even cute in that "guy next door" kind of way. I can't believe the fuss he is making over this guy. No wonder I didn't know who he was talking about; I never even noticed this guy. Next to the fey pale boy in the Falloutboy cap, this guy could be a ghost. He melts into the background compared to the beauty of that boy. I also realized one of the reasons I like the guy in the Falloutboy hat is that he reminds me of how Bowie looked in some early pictures I have seen of him from before he got famous, taken around 1967 or so.

It was about 45 minutes until "Bloodrayne, "so John eventually decided to drive over to Wendy's. I stayed behind. I was a little miffed because I didn't really want to see "Bloodrayne" and if Johnny wasn't there to see it with me I would have probably went home. The prospect of sitting alone for 45 minutes and being bored and lonely was not an exciting one

I talked to my friend Jan who was ahead of the Film Pass line and we talked about all the films we had seen plus some of the regular releases out and how we had missed some. Jan had a 9-5 job but she takes time off during festivals so she was thinking of going to some press sneaks for "Saw II" and the new Atom Egoyan film in the morning this week.

They were checking for cameras in "Bloodrayne," but I had mine stealthily hidden in my bag. I showed the guy inside my bag but he couldn't see it. I wasn't planning on taking any pictures anyway. I just didn't want to have to walk all the way back to my car. On the way in to the theater, the Paramount staff was handing out copies of "Austin Magazine" which had an article about the space inside it.

I sat down in front again by Rav and his crew. They were talking about Harry, who sits in his wheelchair up in the handicapped area, like starfuckers usually talk about their idols. Poor Harry. He has to pretend he needs a wheelchair and sit in the handicapped section to get away from these sycophants. They were also talking about how they came to see "Mrs. Henderson Presents" because the AFF program and website listed someone named Ricky Gervais as being in the film. I looked and indeed it does. Who the fuck is Rick Gervais? He's got to be some guy who stars in a lot of violent cult flicks, right, since the Knowles-It-Alls are interested in him. (I looked him up on imdb. He's in the original British version of "The Office.")

Johnny came in carrying a Coke. He sat down and he looked very upset.

Me: Did something happen? Are you okay?

Johnny: No

Me: No to which? Nothing happen or you're not okay?

Johnny: Both.

Me: What do you mean both?

Johnny: Shut up.

Me: You know John, the only reason I came to this film is because you wanted to see it but if you're in a bad mood I'll just go.

Johnny: I thought by now you would be able to read the expression on my face.

Me: You're right. I'm an idiot. I'll go.

And with that I promptly gathered my belongs and walked out right as the audience began to clap and someone got onstage and began to introduce the film.

Now. Did you catch the most important thing in our conversation? That's right. He told me to shut up. He told Lodgey to shut up. Oh No He Did-unt! Oh yes he did!

You can say a lot of things to me. You can call me a fag. You can call me fat. (Something Johnny does in his own pedantic way every time I see him). You can even tell me to fuck off. But one thing you cannot do is tell me to shut up. Snap. Snap. Snap! Telling Lodgey to shut up is like telling the queen to knell down before peasants. It's like telling Bush to pull the troops out of Iraq. It simply is not done!

I just wish you could have seen Johnny's face. He looked drained and devastated. I thought, for a brief moment, that maybe something incredible tragic, like his father or sister dying had happened. That's who white his face was. I don't think there was a single spec of it that wasn't pale and bloodless. It was only after his overblown response to my prodding that I realized nothing quite so tragic could have possible happened... He would have called and said he couldn't make the movie if something so drastic had happened. But, Jesus, my prodding came from genuine concern. My second thought (and this is all going through my head as we are arguing) was that he had given his number to the concessionist guy he likes and the guy had reacted horribly and called him a "faggot" or worse. Surely that's what happened. He gave the guy his card and the guy caused a scene. Why else would Johnny be so pale and ghastly looking.

I went home and snapped that Game 2 of the World Series was on and decided to watch that. The game was so close that I ended up skipping "Unknown White Male." Of course, in the end, the Astros lost.

Johnny called and left a message but I am pretty miffed at him so I didn't listen to it.

Lodger @ AFF2005