The film was prefaced with the "Bad French" SXSW trailer and the lady behind me must have laughed for a good 30 seconds after it was over. It's cute but it isn't that funny. The French lady in the trailer calls Austin "Ostrich" and when they put up the SXSW title tag at the end, it says "Ostrich, Texas." Funny, but not that funny. The film ended at three and since the next one didn't start until 4:30, I thought I might go home for a few minutes and relax. When I got outside, there was quite a line for the next show, so I double checked my schedule and found out that "Knots" actually started at 3:45, so I got in line and waited. On my way to my place I saw my friend Jan and said hello. Usually she asks me about movies but she hasn't this year.

In line the people ahead of me were talking and I kept overhearing and eventually couldn't help but start talking to them. The girl was blonde, probably in her 30's and fairly attractive. I assumed the guy was gay from the way he talked but eventually I realized he was doing his best to mack on this woman and she was obviously not interested.

Eventually I discovered she was a volunteer who works some with the films but also does a lot for the music conferences later in the week. She is a middle school teacher who gets the week of SXSW off for Spring Break, so she can spend some extra time with the festival and get a badge in the process. She mentioned how cool it was to work the lines at films and see reps for HBO and Miramax and places like that come to see some of the films and know that they could be picked up. I think the guy had a blue press badge like myself but nothing he said indicated anything personal about him or his job.

She didn't seem to know very much about it. I've also been asking people about the screening of Rick Linklater's new HBO series "5:15/hr" and she told me that she had heard that the TBA on Monday at 5:15pm was supposed to be very crowded, but she wasn't sure what the film was supposed to be. Seemed like the most likely spot for that screening was at that time.

We talked about a lot of films including "Luck," which the guy and I had both seen and "Code 46" which no one I have talked to seemed to have liked. Somehow Austinite Alex Holdridge's "Sexless" which played at the festival either last year or the year before came up. The female volunteer and I both agreed that it was a very funny movie. She told me that they had several offers from distributors but apparently the film has some legal hang-up and it seems like it isn't ever going to be worked out. She told me she had a friend who worked on the film who told her this but she didn't know what the legal problems were all about.

I went and sat in the second row again. There were some people behind me talking about the Linklater sneak of "5.15/hr" being tomorrow at the 5:15 TBA slot. I turned around and started talking to them about it and we struck up a conversation. The guy worked for some company that helps SXSW get their schedules to people's Palm Pilots. I'm not sure what his girl friend did. We talked about "Code 46" and a guy next to them said he liked it. I told him he was the first actual person I'd talked to who liked it.

Somehow my website came up - well, somehow I brought it up and I gave them each my card with the website addy on it. I didn't think until later that I had a bunch of pins that Oriah had made for me during Austin Film Festival last year that I still hadn't given out in my bag and I should have offered them one. I still haven't found a good place to set these out. Anyway, we started talking about reviews and the girl told me she was looking for an alternative to Ain't It Cool. I told her that I could be really opinionated but I tried not to give away the plots of movies - or at least put a spoiler warning if I do. We talked for a while and then I turned back around and made some notes. They started talking about John Stamos' career, as he was in the film we were about to see, and I turned around to make a few more comments about that.

A SXSW volunteer eventually got up and introduced Greg Lombardo, the director of the film and he brought up Stamos, Annabeth Gish and Michael Leydon Campbell, all of whom are principle characters in the film. They did a quick intro and I took a few pictures. Since others were using flashbulbs, I decided to take a couple too but my flash barely charged in time for me to take one picture as Stamos walked away.

The film began and the SXSW trailer was again "Convergence." I am beginning to wonder if they have more than three of these trailers.

After the film, the director did a Q&A and brought up the cast again as well as a producer and his co-writer, who he met at a previous SXSW. It was a short Q&A because who ever did the film schedule this year did not allow enough time for anything after the films. The schedule is far too cramped. Only hot shot directors like Kevin Smith and Guillermo del Toro seem to have been given any room to breathe and answer questions after their films.

It was only about 5:45 but I wanted to get to the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex early for the 7pm screening of "The United States of Leland" because I assumed it would be packed. On the way to my car, I walked behind this cute guy with a backpack who had the most adorable butt. When I got to MYEC, he was there walking into the building right ahead of me. There were only a couple cars in the parking lot and I walked in and the lobby was empty, so I headed to the restroom. As I was going to the urinal, the kid walked in behind me but I guess he only had his bladder on his mind because he headed to a stall and took a wicked piss. (Yeah, like I'm going to hook up in a public restroom).

When I got back to the lobby, there were a few other people there and this volunteer guy who usually has been at the Alamo Drafthouse this year. He is a real punk looking guy and when he takes off his ballcap, you can see he has his short hair dyed like a leopard print. He is nice but he talks a little too much and acts like a know-it-all a little too much. But, at least, he seems to know what he's talking about most of the time. He told us that we could go in around 6:30 and he was going to keep the lines fairly casual unless more people showed up.

The Leopard Volunteer talked a little bit about a panel he had seen where Tim League, the owner of the Alamo Drafthouse, had been a panelist as well as some industry people and they had talked about how distribution may evolve where people can get movies "piped" directly to their homes. The impact of DVD's on theater ticket sales was also discussed. I made the point that there will always be theaters, they will never disappear, but exhibitors need to begin to think outside the box, much like Tim and Karrie League have hear in Austin. Let's face it, megaplexes are for teenagers and unmarried couples out on a date. That's who really spends there money there.

The place had started to fill up a little and the Leopard volunteer asked if anyone had seen some good films. He asked if anyone had seen "Super Size Me" and when I said yes, he asked me, "Was it great" and I said "I think I'm the only person who didn't think it was great." Some young college-aged further back piped in "Yes, you're the only one." I thought that was funny.

I asked the volunteer guy if he knew anything about "Hellboy" at the Paramount that evening and how passes would work but he seemed to know less than I did.

Eventually we got to go into the theater and I noticed the cute blonde boy sat with the couple from San Antonio. I hadn't even realized that they knew each other when we were waiting in line. I sat and wrote some notes and a girl came up and said, "Hi. Remember me? We sat next to you last year at 'Bubba Hotep.'" I did recognize her and said hello. I asked her if she had seen any good films and she said she had liked "Gozu" and a think called "Mail Order Bride." She told me the latter was a mockumentary but when they were walking out they overheard some people talking who thought it was real. We both thought that was rather amusing. I told her I had liked "I Love Your Work" and "Knots." After she departed, I looked up "Gozu" but the Film Festival Guide said it only played once, Friday 3/12 at midnight. The film started and the SXSW trailer was one I hadn't seen before, in the flavor of the French New Wave, it was called "La Cineaste." It wasn't very good either. The SXSW trailers this year are really lacking. The film was not threaded properly and the sound was a little warbly and the framing was a little off, but the film was so good that these distractions soon faded.

At the end of the film, which is quite moving, I was crying a little and decided not to dry my tears as I walked out. When I went out the door to walk to my car, I looked over and saw this guy and for half a second he reminded me of John Christensen, whom I met at the Austin Film Festival in 1999 and who died in late 2000. I got to my car and busted out crying for a second. Sometimes, just out of nowhere, I really miss John.

I drove home and stopped on the way at Taco Cabana. I was really trying to decide if I wanted to go to "Hellboy" at midnight or not since I had heard that perhaps up to 800 seats were being set aside for Harry Knowles people and there was no real confirmation that SXSW badge people would have a good chance of getting in. I decided to go to the Paramount at around 11:30 and if I got in fine, if I didn't fine.

I wrote some notes and watched some "Simpsons" while I ate and answered a few e-mails. My friend Jimmy Bolton, who made a film called "Eban and Charly" and has a new film in the works called "The Graffiti Artist" has a friend who is coming to town to shoot some photos for a rock mag at the Polyphonic Spree show at some Microsoft party. He was looking for some friends to put him up. I told him that I might be able to load him a sofa for one night but my roomies parents are coming to visit next weekend, which is true.

At around 11:20 I headed to the Paramount. I drove by the theater and the line wrapped all the way around the block to the other side. It was long but the Paramount is huge, so I decided to park, walk to the line and check it out. I got there and this volunteer girl tells me that Harry Knowles has only set aside about 100 seats for VIPs which leaves 1,200 seats for the public and the line seems to be only at about 850, so I decided to wait. For some reason we talk about movies and I again recommend "I Love Your Work."

I wait in line until way past midnight. There is this adorable guy behind me who looks like my old friend Tim Norfolk, only hotter, and he is talking to his friend softly but the crowd seems quite docile. I try to make some "film festival chatter" with the guy next to me and he politely talks to me for a few seconds but doesn't seem interested in conversation. Maybe my blue fingernails through him off.

It is now past midnight and the line still has not moved. I see Bob Ray the local filmmaker walking by and say hello. He has been working on a documentary about the small league of Roller Derby Girls that has been trying to get established in Texas for a couple years now. I had read an article about him and his co-filmmaker and the project in the latest issue of the Austin Film Society rag, "POV." He tells me they are just about done shooting and are getting ready for post. I ask Bob about the long amount of time he's been working on the film and he mentions that during the first year of the "league" there was some drama but then chooses not to elaborate. He knows the drama will be good for the film but he doesn't want to let the cat out of the bag yet. Wise man.

I asked Bob if he had helped with putting together the Music Video showcase this year and he said he had not. He did it for a couple years then didn't really get involved with it after that. The one year that he worked on them and I attended the screening, it was kick ass stuff. Bob did an awesome film called "Rock Opera" which was about drug dealing but had Austin music and musicians as its backdrop and its just awesome. It is thanks to Bob that I even know about a few bands here in town.

The line finally starts moving and Bob goes to the back. I feel bad that I didn't think of a graceful way to let him cut. It takes forever for the line to slowly lurch forward and as we slowly go, my phone rings and its my friend Johnny Oh! He has been to see "Secret Window" and we talk about the film some.

I get about 15 people from the front door and the line stops and does not move anymore. It is now almost 12:30am. Finally, after about five minutes, someone comes out and says the house is full. I start to walk to my car and then get pissed because the stupid volunteer told me there would be no problem getting in. It pissed me off. I walked four blocks to my car and when I drove by the front of the Paramount, the place was almost deserted, except for this small group of 10 people going inside the fucking theater!

Oh well, that's 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back. I was a bit upset until I remembered that it was only "Hellboy" and really the only reason I wanted to go was because Guillermo del Toro would be there and he is an amazing speaker. His film looks like a complete rip-off of "X-Men" but because he has directed it, I want to see it. I can easily wait three weeks until it comes out. Hey, it least I got to talk to Bob Ray for a bit. That was worth the 90 minutes right there.

Tomorrow I go back to work at my day job, on very little sleep, and then hope to attend "Dogville" and "Intermission." You know, if I can make it through without dozing off.

Lodger@SXSW2004