Austin Film Festival Volunteer Appreciation Party

The Austin Film Festival put on an appreciation party for volunteers at the Great Outdoors tonight.

Amidst the flora, we dined on BBQ, and watched cinematic gems like The Monster Squad and Evil Dead II. The weather was a perfect compliment to the outdoor festivities and the turnout was great.

I was delighted to win a free AFF tote bag in a raffle, and other lucky volunteers took home additional swag, one winning a coveted Producer's Badge for next year's festival.


Bruce Campbell, BBQ and free stuff: I'd call that a success!

Rocky Horror Picture Show @ The Alamo

We spent the latter half of our Halloween at an interactive performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Alamo Village. The event included a costume contest as well as all the seemingly sacred rituals performed before and during the show.

Performers put on this show every Saturday at Midnight, and almost nightly around Halloween. You could tell the regulars were really having fun; they chanted nonsensicals and danced around in delight.

But it wasn't really my cup of tea.

There were hilarious moments, don't get me wrong. But loud obnoxious inside jokes and fleeting partial nudity definitely aren't my scene. The best part of the experience was an old standby, Alamo Drafthouse chips and queso.

It was a fun thing to do once, but I don't plan on going back. Next time I go to a movie where they talk over the dialog, rest assured it'll be a Master Pancake.

Dear Blog,

Today was a good day for a number of reasons.

1.) I found out Time Warner and KXAN resolved their dispute, meaning after nearly a month, NBC is back!
2.) I got to bust out my Amy Winehouse Halloween costume early at our night of Mischief and Mayhem, a collaborative event between Dujarie hall, the Casa, and BMH.

and..

3.) Our class articles ran in XL. Talk about cool, I raided the Statesmans on the BMH news rack to score a couple keepsake copies.

Stay tuned this weekend for Halloween commentary--


For now, it's going to be exciting to watch Conan for the first time in weeks....

If the world could vote...

Barack Obama would undoubtedly be President.

And if anyone had any reservations about that, a new website provides some proof.

http://www.iftheworldcouldvote.com is a website created by three men from Iceland who were curious about seeing what the outcome of the US presidential election would be if every country in the world were given a say.

Anyone, including US citizens can go on and vote for president, and the website detects your current geographic whereabouts.

The site features a pseudo-electoral map of the world, and all countries are shaded from red to blue in accordance with their preferences.

With over 600,000 votes counted from around the world thus far, Obama is currently holding an overwhelming 86.8% of the vote. Comically, McCain's only strongholds are Albania and the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia.

But don't worry, he also holds 50% of the vote in the coveted swing state of Lesotho.

If only the World could vote in our election, pretty sad when you can trust Bahrain to make a better decision on US politics than half of us can.

$8 Sale at Hush Hush

Head on over to Hush Hush, the clearance store for Austin area Strut stores. Today, everything--clothes, shoes and accessories are only $8. The sale continues tommorow, and everything will be marked down to $6. Additionally, everything at Strut is 40% off for the next two days.

Some of the items at Hush Hush have landed there because they have minor imperfections like broken zippers and missing buttons, while others are simply overstock and maintain their mint condition.

Strut is famous for these drastic markdowns and secret sales, sometimes only applying the discount if a password is given. So, if you like a bargain, sign up for their mailing list so you'll be in the know.

My purchase today included a $90 coat, sold for $8 because its missing a button, now that's what I call a steal!

Master Pancake: Friday the 13th

If you are an Austin resident and have never had the pleasure of witnessing the Alamo Drafthouse's Master Pancake Theater crew mock an overrated movie, what are you waiting for?

This month's mocking of horror classic Friday the 13th may be one of the funniest I have witnessed. I'd say the general rule of MPT is: the worse the movie, the funnier the jokes. So, it comes as no surprise that this terrible movie would generate plenty of hilarity.

Friday the 13th will continue at the Alamo Ritz until November 1st. And starting November 7th, the crew will take on the timeless classic, Forrest Gump.

Synecdoche, New York [Movie Review]

Eccentric and esteemed screenwriter Charlie Kaufman makes his directorial debut with Synecdoche, New York, a goulash of human and cinematic constructs. The film paints the rapidly progressing existence of theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a man trapped in an empty, estranged marriage, and suffering from a debilitating and mysterious illness.


One by one, Cotard begins to lose control of his autonomic functions, and terrified by the idea of his impending demise, sets out to achieve his masterpiece. He creates a massive and multidimensional theater project, a living and breathing metropolitan replica, housed in a New York City airplane hanger.

When viewed through strictly analytical eyes, the film’s beauty can be easily overlooked and the plot can become maddening. The audience is left to constantly guess whether or not the events on the screen are occurring in reality or are simply products of Cotard’s ailment. And from this view, the film’s progression, or perhaps lack thereof, becomes drudgingly anticlimactic; the big pay off never comes.

Conversely, absorbing the film’s stylistic and humanistic charm as it plays, and not harping on the logistics of it all, is an incredibly rewarding and engaging experience. The film is superbly acted and delightfully crafted. The dialogue is consistently witty and charming, and quirky nuances coat the screen at every turn. Synecdoche, New York is a film that transcends space and time, and reveals some insightful truths about the nature of both life and death.