South
by Southwest 2005 - Day 7 - Thursday 3/17/05 - St. Patrick's
Day
Had to work a full day at my day job again but had
a little more sleep and was okay. I work with a guy who
volunteers for SXSW and works in the "Film Revision" department
where they build up and break down film prints for the
film festival. He gets a badge as a volunteer and has
seen a lot of movies, so we spent a lot of time talking
about the festival. He raved about the "Roky Erikson"
documentary. We talked about how "musicians with psychological
disorders" seemed to be a theme this year with the festival
as a doc about a guy who worked with Zappa called "Derailroaded"
was also in the fest as was some narrative feature with
a similar theme. Another theme this year seems to be stand-up
comedians with films by or about Sarah Silverman and Patton
Oswalt as well as Paul Provenza's "The
Aristocrats" are being shown. And then there's a string
of edgy, sexually overt films including "A Hole in the
Head," "The
Heart is Deceitful Above All Things," and a narrative
competition film "Kissing on the Mouth" (which my friend
has seen and which I plan on seeing tomorrow) are also
highlights of SXSW and movies that people keep talking
about.
My friend also knows Ben Kobbs, so we talked a
bit about the feature he worked on "Fall
to Grace," as well.
After work, I went home and downloaded some things
I had written on my laptop onto my PC. I brought in
this dining room table that has been in my car for about
three days now. A friend of mine was fixing one of the
corner braces for me. I'm still working on getting my
new apartment set up. Soon here I have got to do a new
episode of my cable access show "The Lodger Showboat"
and I am going to have to arrange all my videotapes,
which are all over the place right now.
Anyway, I also took out the trash and grabbed a
jacket before I headed down to the Alamo Downtown for
a 7pm screening of "Max
and Grace." It's been getting really cold here in
the evenings lately.
| Parking downtown was a nightmare
and, as I refuse to pay to park, I had to put my
car all the way up on 10th street near the State
Capitol Building and walk down Colorado to 4th street
to the Alamo. The music part of SXSW has begun and
downtown was a mess. I'm starting to understand
how the people in Park City, Utah must feel when
strangers invade their town for Sundance, Slamdance
and the other festivals. It's nice to have people
come see our city, and drop a load of cash here,
but it's also a pain in the ass. |
Tina
Illman, David Payne and Scoot Whyte of "Reeker."
|
After my six block walk, I was still early enough
to get in without problems. The showing was near capacity
but not sold out. I had open seats on either side of
me and was pretty comfortable. On my way in I said hello
to a guy sitting in the lobby. I though it was Lifto,
one of the guys I see a lot at Casino El Camino, my
favorite bar. But Lifto always says "Not Gay" to me
when he sees me (I had my friend Oriah make me a bunch
of buttons that said that to give out with my Filethirteen
buttons for some reason one year) and this guy didn't.
I finally snapped that it was the volunteer who works
SXSW every year and who usually has his short, shaved
hair died like leopard-skin. This year he's been wearing
a trucker ballcap.
I ordered a Hard Core Cider. A video of Ike and
Tina Turner performing in the 70's was playing. Then
a clip from some Z- grade 70's action flick was playing.
It started in a bedroom and a woman in a nighty had
a gun pulled on a gay. He deflected a bullet with a
pillow (I shit you not) and then used the pillow to
knock the gun out of her hand. Next thing you know,
their on the streets in some sort of village in Asia
somewhere chasing each other. The film moves from a
foot chase to some sort of motorized vehicle chase.
It was pretty cool.
The lights dimmed and the Alamo trailers showed.
Then they came up again and the volunteer introduced
the film. He always does a good job with the crowd but
he never says what his name is. He told us one of the
producers from the film, Gene Miller, would do a Q&A
after. It's rare that the filmmakers stay after the
first weekend at film festivals in Austin but SXSW has
gotten so huge that this year they are staying all week.
The SXSW trailer played and people heckled it again.
This time when the guy starts to go downstairs, people
yelled, "Don't go down."
After the movie, the producer of the film did a
Q&A. I only stayed to kill time. The producer mentioned
that they were having a little trouble getting a distribution
deal for the film and... Well, I'll just be nice and
not say anything. The guy seemed really nice and I wondered
if he really knew the film was a piece of shit. I wondered
what in the hell attracted him to the film in the first
place. He told us that originally there was no notion
of using Tim Blake Nelson in four roles but it just
sort of evolved as they were filming. He told us that
Nelson left the set for several days when his wife delivered
a baby and there were several scenes that had to be
rewritten because of this. He also told us that Krumholtz
had been sort of a last minute replacement when someone
else dropped out.
After the Q&A, I had a lot of time to kill. I had
originally thought that I would drive to the Arbor and
see "Old Boy," but since it is coming out later in the
year anyway, I decided to just stay in town. I decided
to go to the Paramount and see "Reeker" rather than
stay at the Alamo and see "Straight Line." The only
reason I did this was because the Paramount was closer
to where my car was parked so it would be less walking
after. Both of the movies started at the same time.
I had 45 minutes or so to kill. There a pizza place
called "The Onion" on 5th Street that I've always wanted
to go to and it was open but for some reason I didn't
go it. I also noticed that what used to be a Wendy's
next to The Hideout was now a Texadelphia. For some
reason, I didn't want to go in there either. I don't
know if it was open.
I walked to the Paramount and noticed that the
pizza place across Congress from the theater was open
with people inside. It was just a little before 9pm.
I walked over and their sign said they closed at 8pm.
I went in and they only had cheese pizza and some sort
of stuffed spinach pizza left and so I didn't get anything.
I called my friend Johnny Oh! and we talked for
about 15 minutes. I hadn't seen him much lately since
he doesn't do SXSW. After I hung up, I still had a half-hour
to kill and I had to go to the bathroom, so I went inside.
The balcony was closed which means the only men's
room open was the one downstairs. I went into the stall
(I had to do more than just pee) and was putting my
bag on the little hanger and about to pull my pants
down in this quiet, quiet empty bathroom when someone
came in and went to the only other stall right next
to me. Now, boys and girls, I am a little poo shy. I
couldn't go. I thought I would wait this person out
and when they got some toilet paper, I thought I had
done so. They the guy next door got toilet paper again.
And again. And again. And again. He grabbed a single
sheet of toilet paper (I could hear it pull and rip)
at least 15 times. He was like a machine. And he didn't
use it to wipe. I would have heard that. He didn't blow
his nose. He didn't do anything else. It was fucking
bizarre. I pulled up my pants, flushed and left.
|
Tina
Illman, David Payne and Scoot Whyte of "Reeker."
|
I sat in the back room near the door and decided
to kind of watch the door and see when it might
be empty. But I couldn't really crane my neck
and tell. I could kinda hear the door open and
close, so I just sat their for about five minutes
and decided to try again. Sure enough the place
was empty. I went back into a stall, put my bag
on the peg and began to pull down my pants when...
You fucking guessed it. Some guy came in and went
right into the stall next to me. I felt like I
was in a bad "Twilight Zone." Picture if you will...
A man who is poo shy trapped in a nightmare world
where the stall next to him is always occupied.
I decided to wait this guy out and this time
I succeeded. I finally got some privacy and did
my business. I finished, washed my hands and went
and sat in the front of the theater.
|
Within a few minutes a volunteer came out, told
us the filmmakers were still here (Wow) and that there
would be a Q&A after the movie.
David Payne, the director; Tina Illman, who produced
and starred in the movie and Scott Whyte, one of the
lead actors did a Q&A after the film and were quite
nice and funny. They told a lot of interesting stories
including one about a character in the film that is
supposed to be a man who has been cut in half but is
still alive. He says a line and crawls away. At first
they thought they were going to have to use blue screen
and build a trench and do some special effects. But
then as Payne put it, "I figured that I'm in L.A. There's
got to be half an actor out there." And they found just
such a person through an agency. Scott also told us,
"He had a little crush on me."
After getting to my car, I drove to the Domino's
near Lodgopolis house and ordered a pizza. I got their
number so I can order them by phone in the future. My
ex-roomie Amanda used to order pizza all the time. She
used to cook homemade meals for me a lot too. I'm already
missing her.
Lodger at SXSW2005
|
